Opinion Editorial: Jim Tarbox, Owner of Tarbox Motors: I was Robbed by the U.S. Government

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I., March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- At one time, in this great country of ours, it was illegal to take a person's property and give it to someone else. I want to report a crime, a crime of great magnitude. This crime was facilitated by the U.S. Government, with the help of the U.S. Justice System against its own people.

On May 14, 2009, I received a letter stating I will no longer be a Jeep dealer. This action is a violation of my constitutional rights. For my business to arbitrarily be taken away from me, my employees and my family with no compensation or explanation and then to give it to my competitors for nothing is unthinkable. The recipients of my franchise have acknowledged this is wrong. Regardless, they willingly accepted my stolen franchise. This violates all the tenants, laws and statutes that this great country was founded upon.

The crimes I am speaking of are the outright thefts of auto dealerships across this country. I am one of the 789 Chrysler dealers who were robbed by my government. I rightfully owned and legally operated a 3rd generation business. I employed 60 tax paying Americans that played by the rules, came to work every day and contributed to society. As a reward for all our efforts, the U.S. Government decided that we were no longer needed, no longer wanted and were a worthless burden on Chrysler and our communities. I cannot disagree more with that perception of us. All of us together, working as a team, managed to earn the highest customer satisfaction in the region. We were the highest performing dealer in the state of Rhode Island, hands down, but were somehow the only dealer rejected.

Thousands of hard working U.S. taxpayers who worked diligently and played by the rules were robbed of their property, their pride, their credit and their dignity. These victims will never receive a dime in restitution. Most will never get their day in court to face the perpetrators who committed these crimes. Their own government turned its back on them. Many of the victims lost everything they had worked for their entire lives. Others lost their homes, healthcare and life's savings.

The economic impact that this dealership had on the community was enormous. Over two million dollars in tax revenue will disappear. The thousands of vehicles that Tarbox Jeep has sold for Chrysler, the near five generations of customers that will be hurt and inconvenienced by the lack of our presence. This type of arbitrary and illegal move has produced immeasurable pain to so many and tremendous damage to our community, our state and our country. We need to reinforce our Constitution for what it stands. If this doesn't happen, I fear what the future holds for all Americans.

SOURCE Tarbox Motors