I didn’t want to do it, but I am forced to talk about
certain recent events. Notably, I feel compelled to visit the IRS scandal and
Obamacare. I know what you’re thinking: “Oh Lord, can’t we just get away from
this stuff for a while?” Sorry. No.
I’ll try to make this short.
On the issue of Obamacare, the recent announcement by the Executive
branch that they will delay enforcement of the Employee Mandate for at least a
year certainly raised a lot of eyebrows, including mine. The idea that the President can on his own authority
decide not to enforce a specific law is quite astounding. I know he has done similar
things before: selectively ignoring enforcement of immigration laws, failing to
prosecute favored groups (think Black Panther voter intimidation or John Corzine).
Yet, the Employee Mandate is an issue on a whole new level above anything else
so far.
And then it just gets juicier.
The House of Representatives very soon after introduced and
passed two bills. One would delay the Employer Mandate by one year according to
law, not Presidential whim. The other would delay the Individual Mandate for the
same time. This is entirely logical in
that the Individual Mandate requires the Employer Mandate and vice versa for
the whole Obamacare scheme to have any chance of working. It is also a matter
of fairness. Why should businesses and corporations get off the hook but individuals
do not?
So what was Obama’s immediate reaction? He said he would
veto both bills if they passed the Senate.
It boggles. Seriously, it does.
This President would veto a bill extending the time for
implementation of the Employer Mandate that would allow him to do legally what
he is willing to do illegally. After all, he is bound by the Constitution and
his oath of office to enforce all laws, and failure to do so, by definition, is
not legal. By what possible calculus does he conclude that he would rather
delay the mandate illegally than legally? From what I have seen, there are no
hidden strings, no poison pills in the two bills. They simply delay the
implementation of the two mandates for the time the President already
announced.
The only possible explanation is that this is pure politics,
nothing else. There is no care for the good of the nation; no thought to the
well being of the people; no sense of responsibility to govern according to the
rule of law and the framework of the Constitution; no weighing of what is right
and wrong. This is simply partisan and political.
If you were looking for an example of just how morally and
ethically corrupt this administration is, you need look no further.
Speaking of corruptness, how about that IRS, heh?
So a lot of people are convinced that the IRS was doing the
President’s bidding in singling out Tea Party and conservative groups and
politicians for denial of tax exempt status or for subjection to special and
improper audits. Recent Congressional hearings have made it clear that this was
not the work of a few “rogue agents” in Cincinnati. Rather, we know now that
Lois Lerner was deeply involved, as was William Wilkins, IRS Special Counsel
and one of the Presidents two political appointees to the IRS. The big question
is how high up did the decision making go, possibly all the way to the Oval
Office?
I know a lot of people are hoping that it does lead right to
the President, because that creates a scandal even bigger than Watergate and probably
with the same final result. Obama is so disliked by so many that anything that
takes him down is something to be hoped for.
I too hope it leads high up the political food chain but I
sincerely hope that it is not shown to be the result of direction by the
President or his close advisers. That may sound odd given my dislike of Obama
and the liberal/progressive crowd, and I do pretty much loathe them. I do not want
to see the President impeached or forced to resign from all this. I want this
to be political, and it would be pretty good if a bunch of Dems got their panties all twisted up, but I don't want to see the whole Monty. In short, I want it political as opposed to a Federal agency out of control, but not so high
it takes the President all the way down.
Let me explain.
If Obama goes, who are we left with? Biden. I shudder at the
thought.
Consider also that if this is not at the direction of political
operatives, and if this is just a federal agency out of control, what does that
mean? As we see one IRS official after
another stonewall, express ignorance, lie and/or plead the fifth, and none of
them so far held accountable for any of it, it means that the bureaucracy has
grown so huge and so independent and so insulated that it can no longer be
controlled by its political masters. It means that we are officially now
working for the IRS and not the other way around.
We can fix a corrupt politician. Ultimately our votes put
them out of office and out of our misery. But you can’t vote out the IRS, or
the EPA, or the NLRB. Not directly. All you can do is vote for politicians who say
they will control the bureaucrats. If the politicians have completely lost
control, then we as a constitutional republic are doomed.
We need to reign in this bureaucratic monster somehow. How?
This is my last rant from Columbus, Ohio. My next one will
come to you from Boise, Idaho, where the lovely Miss Cheryl and I are moving
the week of July 29. Perhaps the new clime will improve my outlook if not my
ranting ability.
