IRS Corruption

Apologists for the IRS targeting certain groups for audits and application delays (the ones having "tea party" or "patriot" in their descriptions) will tell you that the IRS was overwhelmed by a multitude of applications from groups like these in the days prior to the 2012 election. These were the groups who wanted to make sure Barack Obama did not win re-election. As the argument goes, so many applications were received, that the agency had to filter out fraudulent claims of non-partisanship and non-profit status. You have been profiled! I guess what's not OK to do in airports is just fine to do at the IRS. It depends on whose ox is being gored.

I have heard people say that everyone should be outraged by this corruption, because although this transgression targeted the right, a future regime could target the left, and no-one is immune as long as government agencies are allowed to run unconstrained. It's a good argument, and maybe some people will believe it. I don't, and here's why:

1. The IRS is populated by career bureaucrats whose future earnings depend on a growing government.
2. The IRS is populated by unionized bureaucrats who are opposed to the founding principles. 
3. Many 'progressives' are of the Chicago/Alinsky thugocracy model (cf., the current regime), which teaches that the end justifies the means. While they are in power, they will use and abuse that power to accomplish what they believe is necessary and right. Not all 'progressives' work this way, but enough do to keep things ratcheting in the wrong direction.
4. Classical Liberals (LibClassics) believe in the founding principles (including Judeo-Christian values), which teaches that it is wrong to take advantage of political power, even to accomplish what they believe is necessary and right. This is by definition in the principles they hold. (By this definition, Richard Nixon was not a LibClassic.) Classical Liberals aren't holier than thou, but those principles are what makes them LibClassics.

Lib Classics are a rare breed in government. I am afraid the deck is stacked for more tyrannical, illiberal, corrupt government. 

My Income Redistributes Itself

Last month, my income was redistributed to Verizon Wireless, Puget Sound Energy, Frontier Communications, HostGator, Fred Meyer, Target, Amazon, Wal-Mart, New Egg, Haggens, my local Cruisin Coffee, my local Woods Coffee, Home Depot, my local Ace Hardware store, Best Buy, my local Dairy Queen... My voluntary endowment contributed to jobs for countless people, locally, nationally and worldwide (yes, including China¹), in exchange for goods and services rendered. Win - win!

Last month, my income was also involuntarily redistributed to taxes. Originally, taxation was intended to cover the cost of doing the business of government. Presumably, people received services in return: Protection of our life, liberty and property though the military, police and the court system. The operation of the executive and legislative branches. The bare essentials.

Other things, such as fire protection, road and highway systems, water, sewer, trash pickup, could be done by private enterprise, but government has assumed these roles. This is partly due to the fact that they might be considered "natural monopolies". Lacking competition, a certain amount of regulation and oversight might be necessary (although I would argue that economic forces and public opinion might provide sufficient control). I will grudgingly accept government doing this, since I need these services anyway. However, funded by mandatory taxation, it does invite abuse and runaway costs.

For some reason, public schools, welfare entitlements, health care (including contraceptives and abortions, we now discover²) has been, or is being picked up by government. I would argue that these can and should be done by private citizens, charities or local communities (maybe local government in the case of school boards). I do not want my income being redistributed in this way. I want control over these functions -- they are individual responsibilities. I want to be able to redistribute my earnings to the ones that promote the kind of society I believe in, not the kind of society some president, or some bureaucrat, or some union dependent believes in.

Fisking The President's Graduation Address

A Real Clear Politics headline reads, Obama To Grads: Reject Voices That Warn About Government Tyranny. Here, I respond to part of his address, line by line (fisking):

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems.

ME: Not as long as you follow The Constitution, sir.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They'll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.

ME: Tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The founders deliberately tried to limit the power of the branches of government. Inefficiency was built-in. Gumming up the works is a GoodThing^TM! We should never reject those voices. We must be vigilant of our government. Trust but verify. The Constitution can't uphold and defend itself. We the People have to demand it!

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Because what they suggest is that our brave, and creative, and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can't be trusted.

ME: As long as it remains self-rule, that is. But we are now ruled by massive bureaucracies and usurpers who have assumed far more authority than The Constitution allows.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We have never been a people who place all our faith in government to solve our problems. We shouldn't want to. But we don't think the government is the source of all our problems, either.

ME: It's rapidly getting that way. You don't seem at all constrained by The Constitution. You seem to operate on the premise that it's easier to get forgiveness than permission.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Because we understand that this democracy is ours.

ME: This is not a democracy. This is a representative republic. You work for us. You represent us.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: And as citizens, we understand that it's not about what America can do for us, it's about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government. And class of 2013, you have to be involved in that process.

ME: Finally something I can agree with, Mr. President.

Happy Cinco de Quatro!

Happy fifth of fourth! Or fourth of May. May 5th? Or, um, ah... Oh, Google it!

(Damn! Stay on the TelePrompTer... Stay on the TelePrompTer... I sure hope nobody ever puts The Constitution on this thing -- even for a joke!)

Don't You Know Who I Am?

Reese Witherspoon
Gorgeous, but arrogant.

Reese Witherspoon and her husband were arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct and DUI last week. She asked the arresting officer, "Do you know my name?" The officer said he didn't need it. "Well you're about to find out", she said. Art Garfunkel asked a similar question when police apprehended him for possession of marijuana several years ago.

They're not the only ones. What is the matter with these people? If they ask me, "Don't you know who I am?" I'll say, "Who do you think you are?"

Here's the deal: When it comes to the law, I don't give a crap who you are. I expect the poorest schlub to get the same treatment from my government as Elvis or The Beatles. Or Charlie Sheen.

Hey Reese! Go soak your head!

Carney: 'Benghazi Happened a Long Time Ago'

That's the headline at the Weekly Standard: Carney: 'Benghazi Happened a Long Time Ago'.

And yet, the families' loved ones are still dead. What is the statute of limitations for things like this?

The Regime might want to consider those things before being so quick to write this off.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

News Item: Boston bombers and family received over $100K of welfare entitlements.

Your tax dollars at work: Not your father's highway project.

Why, oh why do they hate us? We give them political asylum; we give them free stuff. We let them participate in our culture and economy. We say their religion is the religion of peace and they try to blow us up. Tolerance has its limits. No culture should have to put up with crap like this. I think it's time to pull the plug.

How Many Rounds Do You Need To Protect Your Family?

Here's a hint: The number cannot be decided a priori by politicians. Enjoy the drama:

(Thanks to Elliott for the heads-up on this vidjoe.)