At the risk of lending too much intellectual credence to a television entertainment, it has always struck me that the show’s popularity was based on the fact that Tony Soprano is our Everyman. His contradictions are our contradictions, insofar as our privileged lifestyle is enabled by a brutal foreign policy financed with our tax dollars. To choose one easy example, our “cheap oil” is not really cheap at all, not if you count the unseen costs (human, environmental, and financial) of maintaining a global military presence tasked with keeping those foreign oil spigots flowing.

On some level, most U.S. citizens are aware of their personal complicity in the crimes of our rogue government. Most of us avoid looking at our own responsibility for the atrocities committed in our name because such introspection is uncomfortable. Yet this reluctance to confront such unpleasant truths has largely hog-tied the American peace movement, rendering it helpless in the face of a regime determined to wage war wherever it sees fit.

I rarely hear any discussion of tactics in the Left press: How can we stop the Bush/Cheney juggernaut? Instead, Beltway myopia keeps political pundits focused on whether or not a Democratic congress will confront the White House. When writers and activists do call for mass action by the grassroots, it tends to be of the acquiescent variety: another march on Washington, another candlelight vigil, or — at its most militant — a carefully choreographed civil disobedience.

Yet the best way to shut down state-sponsored terrorism would be to cut off its funding at the source. In the United States, this would require a massive campaign of tax resistance, a tactic that no one in the anti-war movement seems willing to take seriously yet. When I point out the hypocrisy of marching against the war while continuing to finance it, I’m usually met with an uncomfortable silence, followed by the confession that the personal risks are too high.

This cowardice — for I can think of no more accurate word to describe our fear of taking action — corrodes the good intentions of the peace movement. At worst, this contradiction between words and action creates the same psychological tension that drove Tony Soprano to seek therapy: We want all the privileges of American imperialism, while demanding moral absolution for the crimes that are committed with our tax dollars. It should be obvious that we can’t have it both ways.

Technically speaking, it’s very easy to opt out of the tax game. Simply fill out a new W-4 and check the box on Line 7, declaring yourself “exempt” (morally). Your payroll department will be obliged to stop deducting income tax immediately. What happens after that is up to you. Some, like myself, will broadcast their strategy in the hopes that others join in. Others will choose to be more discrete.

The IRS will eventually contact you. I got a call last year from a tax agent who began asking me about my income and expenses. At first I was reluctant to divulge any information, but eventually I realized where he was headed. He crunched the numbers and declared that I was “uncollectible” — probably the first time I was ever happy to be poor! Needless to say, the more money you earn, the greater the risks.

The actual number of people sent to jail for this “crime” is minuscule. Somewhere down the road, you might have your wages garnished. To learn more about the consequences of tax resistance, you can contact the War Resisters League at www.warresisters.org.

In my mind, however, the overriding question was never: what happens if I do this? The most important question was always: What happens if I don’t do this? What happens to the Iraqi people if I continue to finance our occupation? What happens to my soul if I continue to fund something I abhor?

Jess Grant is a Seattle-based songwriter, non-profit administrator, and leader of the world’s only musical tribute to Joan Jett, Jett City.