Will big government be felled by big government overreach, arrogance and overconfidence?

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One of my favorite shows is a program called “Person of Interest’ on CBS. The story revolves around a government computer that knows when someone somewhere is in danger and passes that information along to a team of ex government types who go on to save that particular Person of Interest. The show’s device is that the machine can tap into virtually every piece of electronic data on the planet and harness the video feed from every surveillance camera in the world.

While the heroes saving the day makes for a feel good show, it’s never a cakewalk. Besides the bad guys targeting each week’s Person of Interest, the good guys have to deal with the ongoing threat from a cabal of dirty cops as well as the machinations of the government agency that used to control the machine.

It all makes for great entertainment, because the good guys always win and all the scariness is limited to sixty minutes on the small screen. In the real world such government stories are rarely that entertaining. What makes them lack entertainment value in the real world is that the good guys don’t always win and there’s that small issue of who gets to decide who are the good guys in the first place.

Although Person of Interest is fiction, the idea of a Machiavellian government that seeks to manipulate events, extinguish opposition and deceive its citizenry certainly isn’t. In real life we are seeing just such a government emerge right in front of us. Not that it hasn’t been there for years, because it has, but up until now it was largely cloaked from sight for those depending on the fourth estate to tell them what to see.

Now the onion is beginning to peel. Today Washington is overwhelmed with scandals of the Obama administration seeking to use bully pulpit and the police power of government to effect its political ends. From the constantly shifting talking points of the Benghazi story to the Justice Department seizing AP records, to the EPA head seeking to hide her correspondence to the IRS muzzling groups opposing President Obama, it seems like every day brings a new story of deceitfulness and manipulation.

As much as I’d love to see the Obama administration run out of Washington, they are largely footnotes in the bigger story here. That bigger story is actually quite simple: Big government.

Big government is a bad thing. Big government in the hands of manipulative, pernicious, vain and self righteous bureaucrats and politicians is a worse thing. That is exactly what we have today with a giant all powerful government and an administration that sees itself as all knowing, infallible and beyond scrutiny or accountability.

While part of the solution may be holding Barack Obama and his minions responsible for their despicable actions, that alone does not solve the problem. The same machine with a different operator is just as dangerous, just perhaps to different people. Indeed, the citizens of the United States should not be at the mercy of one man’s or one administration’s propensity for honesty in order to exercise their rights and pursue their happiness. And that idea should apply to everyone, whether a progressive or a libertarian and everyone in between.

The solution to solving the problem we are currently facing is not to be found in throwing the rascals out. The solution is to pare back government to its Constitutional limits, pare it back to such a degree that it does not hold in its arbitrary hands the keys to a citizen’s success or failure or their ability to live their lives or exercise their rights.

The IRS can only threaten citizens because it controls the tax code and has the police power of the government to enforce its capricious rulings. Not only does it control the tax code, it has made that code so byzantine that no one – including its own agents – knows how to interpret it. Replace the income tax with the Fair Tax and you eviscerate the IRS’s ability to intimidate and coerce citizens.

Similarly, the EPA can only dictate a citizen’s prosperity or poverty because it too has the police power of government to enforce its arbitrary judgments. What’s more, over its forty year history the EPA has morphed itself from regulating pollution to regulating virtually anything in the economy that moves, manufactures or energizes. Similar unbounded overreach can be found throughout the government from the SEC to OSHA to the Justice Department.

Across the board the federal government should be winnowed to its bare Constitutional bones. Getting the unaccountable government out of the politics and patronage businesses will once again allow citizens to pursue happiness as they define it without making them hostages to the capricious whims of bureaucrats and politicians.

Might it not be fitting that the Obama administration was brought down by the weight of its own arrogance? That the IRS was felled by its own illegal attempts to hobble groups opposed to IRS overreach? That the march to ever bigger government was reversed as a result of big unaccountable government?

Samuel Adams once said: “If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” He was no doubt talking about the Tea Party movement.

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Great post, Vince.

I find it amusing, and disconcerting at the same time, that the political left, who claim to be “for the little guy” and are so adamant about protecting “freedoms”, are the first ones to jettison any pretense of that once their kind ascend to power. To be fair, though, we on the conservative side are just as apt to throw away certain principles, depending upon who is holding the reins of government.

Gerald Ford, the harmless buffoon that followed Nixon, said, “If the government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have.”

I believe that what he was talking about was the power that changed hands (political ideology) every so often, and that a power gained by the federal government during one presidency could be turned against those who supported it when someone of the opposing political party came into power.

I also believe that he meant that a power gained for such vague notions as “the common good” could be turned back on the people, relieving them of freedoms and liberties they didn’t know were in jeopardy.

Consider Obamacare, for example. If we were to assume a GOP presidency in 2016, do we really think that all of those “waivers” granted by the Obama admin will hold up? And who, at that time, will begin to get those “waivers” from Obamacare? The unions will be screaming bloody murder at having been instantly subjected to Obamacare, while possibly church’s and religious organizations might suddenly find themselves free of that concern.

In one turn the government handeth out, while at the next it taketh away.

When you allow the government to seize power over your lives, whether it be your healthcare, through the tax code, or excessive regulation, you allow yourself to be subject to the whims of those in power in the government. And the more areas your life is subject to some government code, reg., or law, the more areas you might find yourself dissatisfied with the current power brokers. Of course, then We, the People, make the mistake of thinking the next guy will be better, and they never are.

In short, beware the power you demand government have today, for tomorrow it might just come back to bite you in the a**.

We probably will not see this ”either this or that” solution, Vince.
But it is nice to think about solving a major problem completely rather than in piecemeal.
More likely we could see a government allowing older workers to leave and NOT be replaced.
A government that pares back itself gradually.
IF we could pare back the need for so much government responsibility, then we could see government pare back to fit its new needs.
But not without a fight.
And not cheaply.
In CA (and a few other Leftist-run states) pensions for government retirees almost cost the same as full time government workers’ pay!
We have to keep that pension cost from taking us down as a country.
If we let ”younger” (than retirement age) workers go they must not be allowed to bleed our system dry for decades.
Let them (require them to) get other jobs.

Person of Interest sounds good.
I’ve just got TV shows ”on demand,” so I can check it out.
Thanks.

I prefer the flat tax, with NO deductions for any individual or corporation. That would make us a true free market country. Besides, doing away with all deductions takes the power of the purse out of the governments hands. It is wrong to let them choose winners and losers via the tax code.
Additionally, we could drastically cut the IRS, reduce or eliminate the need for tax lawyers and CPA’s.
We could augment this system with a change to the welfare system by substituting a workfare system. You don’t work, you don’t eat. Of course there would need to be a safety net for the truly needy, but that is the role of religion.

Vince
as always you gave us the best of you, we don’t need to probe your BRAIN WAVES,
they have a life of their own and come by themselves, no matter if you like it or not,
this is a super POST
thank you.
I think the head should fall to be replace by another head who can use
HIS POWER WITH THE WISDOM OF GOD WHO GAVE IT TO SALOMON the GREAT KING,
there was other who came later, but too fews, for all the human who where lead since the birth of humanity, there was many GREAT LEADERS IN THE INDIANS TRIBES OF AMERICA,
as we find in HISTORY, they had respect and where lead by the GREAT SPIRIT which they found WISDOM, their ages where full of many years most of the time, their voices where not loud but heard,
their decision on life and death of one criminal was assertive and sure, because they care about their
DOCILE PEOPLE who trusted him, on all things,
today the great CONFUSION exist, the many people who take POWER, steal it because they are not leaders, they cannot lead wisely, they where bred in another COUNTRY with another MINDSET,
they are told they posess magic power so many times they believe it and pursue the quest for POWER,
the youth was following an elder who took them in CABALISTIC BLACK MAGIC incantation,
and the young learned some tools of the occult where evil roam and come when called,
and the PEOPLE
allow the BEAST TO RULE

I suppose we can dump big government, over which we exercise some control at the ballot boxes, and rely instead upon the benevolent intentions of corporate and special interests, which will immediately rush in to fill the power vacuum and divide up the spoils.

In my humble opinion, government is presently screwed up precisely because those same corporate and special interests have too damn much control over it already. Government is only the problem to the extent that it becomes their tool. It is useful to the extent that it is the tool of the common man.

47% of American households pay NO federal Income Taxes.
To them the IRS is their iron fist to obtain whatever they get FROM taxpayers.
No wonder Dems don’t want this IRS investigation.
No wonder the “most transparent administration EVEH!” is allowing their IRS tax-exempt division head, Lois Lerner, to take the fifth!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2328696/Top-IRS-official-invoke-Fifth-Amendment-congressional-hearing-tea-party-targeting-program.html
Thank goodness the Dems have not succeeded in doing away with THAT part of the US Constitution!

@Greg:

Well, Greggie, thanks to Democrats, government has turned into a nanny state doing the things for people in need that used to be done by individuals, churches and philathropists. FDR made damn sure that he put an end to that. Can’t have people helping other people. Must have people depending on their “government” to provide for them cradle to grave.

Not to mention that according to progressives like yourself, anyone who has more money than you do is evil. Guess The Won is evil.

@Nan G:

Lois Lerner, aka Sgt. Schultz.

Well, now we know why the “BIG” government has been ordering the huge amounts of ammunition and the MRAPs. They were just making sure that when the fraud was discovered, they could defend themselves!

@Greg: Greg, what you are describing has already happened under this administration. Look at the “big” corporations who are benifiting from Obama Care. Look at the buddies of Obama who reaped the spoils of the bankrupt “clean energy” companies. The government is screwed up because people like you vote for the liberal candidate no matter what their qualifications or history. Obama had a history of doing this and you would not even take a peek at it! YOu and your low information voter buddies have done this.

Big government is SO big it is paralyzed.

An example:
The USA has ID’ed 5 suspects in the Benghazi massacre of 4 Americans including our Ambassado.
BUT Obama does NOT have enough evidence to try them in a CIVILIAN court!
And sending the FBI in to gather any more evidence is problematic.
Obama could have them tried in a military court, but then he’d have to send them to GITMO.
And Obama wants to close, not fill, Gitmo.
So…..nothing is being done.

Maybe a drone attack is more likely.

See this:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/05/21/benghazi-suspects-idd-but-administration-wont-nab-them-because-it-doesnt-want-to-send-them-to-gitmo/

Vince,

“Replace the income tax with the Fair Tax and you eviscerate the IRS’s ability to intimidate and coerce citizens.”

Simple, clear, understandable, inexpensively dealt with by individuals and businesses alike, and easily implemented.
BUT
It grates on every nerve of every lawyer, every tax lawyer, judge, bureaucrat, Washington politician, and ‘non-taxpayer’ enjoying other people’s money in the Nation. It can never see daylight.

Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who has been forced to resign, reiterated today his belief that officials in the Cincinnati suffered from a lack of guidance and oversight

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/21/senators-hit-irs-failure-disclose-tea-party-target/?page=2#ixzz2Tygu9vkD

Well, let’s say that’s true….
What possible multiplication of this problem will obtain should the IRS get control of ObamaCare oversight?

@Nan G, #6:

47% of American households pay NO federal Income Taxes.

While 47 percent may pay no federal income taxes, only 14 percent pay neither federal income taxes nor payroll taxes. The vast majority of that 14 percent are low-income elderly persons.

What that means is that most of your 47 percent are people who work, but aren’t paid enough to be liable for federal income taxes. They still pay 7.65 percent of every dollar they earn in Social Security and Medicare tax, plus any applicable state sales tax–which in Indiana would bring a working poor person’s effective tax rate up to 14.65 cents on every dollar. Add in all applicable gasoline taxes, excise taxes, etc. They’re already at a rate that exceeded Mitt Romeny’s federal tax rate on an income of $23 million.

The 47 percent are freeloaders argument is about as misleading as arguments get. I still find it very odd that Romney would have advanced it in a setting where like-thinking republicans were being waited on by some of the very 47 percent he was bashing.

@retire05, #7:

Well, Greggie, thanks to Democrats, government has turned into a nanny state doing the things for people in need that used to be done by individuals, churches and philathropists. FDR made damn sure that he put an end to that.

Thanks to Roosevelt, the Great Depression didn’t lead to totalitarianism like it in much of Europe. Had “individuals, churches, and philanthropists” been up to dealing with the problem, Roosevelt never would have been elected in the first place.

@Greg:
The issue is Big Government out of control.
That 47% pay no INCOME TAX to the Federal Government means that the IRS acts as their strong man, collecting from the rest.
If those 47% collect their unearned income tax credit they directly and immediately see the effect of their strong man (the IRS) twisting arms of others in their behalf.
Many of that 47% collect far more than that from federal coffers.
Welfare, food stamps, housing, EBT, etc., come primarily from federal tax collection.

Welfare, food stamps, housing, EBT, etc., come primarily from federal tax collection.

Indeed they do, and I’d be happier if a bit more of those taxes were coming from people like Mr. Romney.

The wealthiest are paying some of the lowest effective tax rates in modern history, yet to hear them talk you’d think they were being subjected to the most inequitable shake-down the world has ever seen. They really need to get some perspective. Maybe they should all spend a month living in public housing, on nothing but welfare and food stamps. It might be an educational experience.

He was no doubt talking about the Tea Party movement.

The same Tea Party that is attempting to cheat the US tax payer by obtaining tax except status so as to funnel millions of dollars of anonymous dollar cash into political action and thereby illegally influence US elections? Did anyone save any outrage for this little related finding of the IRS scandal?

From the Inspector General’s Report on IRS Audits.

To determine if cases without indications of significant political campaign intervention were
sent to the team of specialists, we reviewed all of the applications identified as potential
political cases as of May 31, 2012

Applications That the IRS Determined Should Be Processed by the Team of
Specialists – We reviewed all 298 applications that had been identified as potential
political cases as of May 31, 2012. In the majority of cases, we agreed that the
applications submitted included indications of significant political campaign intervention.

However, we did not identify any indications of significant political campaign
intervention for 91 (31 percent) of the 296 applications27 that had complete
documentation.28

@Tom:

The same Tea Party that is attempting to cheat the US tax payer by obtaining tax except status so as to funnel millions of dollars of anonymous dollar cash into political action and thereby illegally influence US elections? Did anyone save any outrage for this little related finding of the IRS scandal?

You mean like MediaMatters, DailyKos, Huffington Post and all the George Soros organizations, that also enjoy tax exempt status?

Nan G
yes THE IRS had a ball targeting the GOOD FAMILY OF THE TEA PARTY
by simply BREACHING THE CONSTITUTION,
BUT NOW she is refering to THE FIFTH AMENDMENT to save HERSELF
from answering the questions,
is in it ironic and arrogant to the max.
after all those years of making life miserable to PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN THE CONSTITUTION

Greg
you should give to CESAR what belong to CESAR,
the GOVERNMENT is screwed up not because of any other
they are screwed up because of their own actions their own failure they own the screws, they must be the one accountable,
you always find a scapegoat to protect the failure of your guy,
not this time, it ain’t working.

Tom
you can believe anything the IRS will come as a defense mechanism,
it does not hold,

@Greg:

I suppose we can dump big government, over which we exercise some control at the ballot boxes, and rely instead upon the benevolent intentions of corporate and special interests, which will immediately rush in to fill the power vacuum and divide up the spoils.

Without BIG government, Big business has no influence in DC, Greg.

Consider, everytime a major piece of legislation comes up, especially that legislation which expands the scope and role of the federal government, who comes knocking on the doors of the pols? That’s right. Big business.

The power vacuum, as you term it, wouldn’t be filled by big business, as you claim, if the scope and role of the federal government were reduced. It can’t.

Why?

Because there wouldn’t be any logical reason for Big business to attempt to influence the pols in DC. It wouldn’t serve them any purpose.

So, who would fill that power vacuum, then?

Why, State government, of course. Along with local governments and ultimately, We, the People, ourselves, taking more control over our lives.

Your conclusions about what would happen make no logical sense. Then again, very little of what you speculate on does.

@Tom:

The same Tea Party that is attempting to cheat the US tax payer by obtaining tax except status so as to funnel millions of dollars of anonymous dollar cash into political action and thereby illegally influence US elections? Did anyone save any outrage for this little related finding of the IRS scandal?

One, that isn’t the issue at hand and you know it.

You can be a cynical person at times, Tom, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but your cynicism only runs one way, which is.

The issue isn’t what the TEA party and conservative groups were trying to do.

The issue is that the IRS unfairly targeted those groups with extra scrutiny while giving liberal and progressive groups what amounted to, essentially, a pass on that extra scrutiny. How many of those liberal and progressive groups were given tax-exempt status that shouldn’t have, thereby “funnelling millions of dollars of anonymous dollar cash into political action and thereby illegally influence US elections?”

The role of the executive branch of the federal government, in executing the laws, is to apply them equitably and fairly across the board. To be referees, so to speak, on the laws in the books.

If that isn’t being done, then they are basically rigging the game unfairly, giving one side advantages over the other.

If you cannot see that point, then you aren’t being objective enough, and merely being partisan to a fault.

I find it helpful to learn what we spend on welfare recipients per day.
It is $168 each.
Per day.
$61,330 per year.
EACH.

IF all of that went to the poor people (INSTEAD OF TO GOV’T EMPLOYEES) no American would even BE below the poverty level as it is today.
Obama’s costs to administer the programs and hire all the welfare workers is the biggest piece of the pie.
Thus, the poor stay poor.
NOT due to lack of taxes collected.

@johngalt:

You can be a cynical person at times, Tom, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but your cynicism only runs one way, which is.

Guilty as charged. Of course I find it interesting that you detect cynicism in me and overlook an entire blog that detects a world-wide Obama Muslim conspiracy as the root of anything positive or negative that’s taken place in this country for four plus years.

But the obvious aside, no one has in substance responded to what I posted. While I’m glad we all agree that profiling of any kind is wrong and should be punished (as the Cincinnati IRS office found out), I’m curious to hear why this means we should brush the bad behavior, however illicitly discovered, under the carpet? Is your argument that any crime discovered by profiling is, what, voided? Or is it that Tea Party members are so gosh darn pure and unsophisticated in city folk ways that they didn’t realize while they were rushing en masse to fill out 501c3 paperwork that the 501c3 status is reserved for “social welfare organizations”? Silence speaks volumes, John. Is it possible I’m not the only one who isn’t “being objective enough”? Who is “merely being partisan to a fault”?

@Tom:

Of course I find it interesting that you detect cynicism in me and overlook an entire blog that detects a world-wide Obama Muslim conspiracy as the root of anything positive or negative that’s taken place in this country for four plus years.

Not everyone believes that way, and that includes some of those writing the articles you respond to. Way to paint the entire right side of this site’s visitors with such a broad brush, Tom.

But the obvious aside, no one has in substance responded to what I posted.

Because that was never the point, Tom. Regardless of some posters here, and writers on other conservative sites, blasting the government for the actual scrutiny, the point is, and always has been, that the same level of scrutiny on applications was not given to anyone seeking tax-exempt status except those with the requisite names and phrases within their application. That is what has been wrong about the entire thing, Tom. Maybe if you were as incensed about the liberal and progressive groups who received their exempt status that shouldn’t have, like you are about the conservative groups, many of whom still haven’t received final word on their application yet, then I could accept that you were being genuinely objective about the entire scandal.

I’m curious to hear why this means we should brush the bad behavior, however illicitly discovered, under the carpet?

Name me one person here who has stated that it should be.

Silence speaks volumes, John.

And your silence on the liberal and progressive groups who did get their exempt status, while at the same time crying about conservative groups who may or may not have received it yet, shouts louder than anyone’s post on this topic thus far. You are biased on this, so much so that you are ignoring the most egregious problem with this whole scandal. Namely, that a government office tasked with applying the law fairly and equitably has instead applied the law in the most politically charged manner possible.

Remember what we’ve talked about, regarding a power taken by one administration carrying over to the next, and what kind of precedent the IRS scandal would be allowed to set if the whole thing were to be forgotten like the liberals and progressives would like it to be.

Is it possible I’m not the only one who isn’t “being objective enough”? Who is “merely being partisan to a fault”?

Yes, it’s entirely possible. But don’t look at me when you state that, Tom. I see what the higher offense is here, and it ain’t coming from the people you are trying to convict here.

@johngalt:

Not everyone believes that way, and that includes some of those writing the articles you respond to. Way to paint the entire right side of this site’s visitors with such a broad brush, Tom.

I will give you that, John. A very fair point. While I don’t see you making a habit of calling the more egregious posters on their bad behavior, I can’t say you partake either.

As to the rest of your post, unfortunately, I think we’re at a standstill. To summarize my position: 1) I have conceded that the IRS profiling was procedurally wrong. 2) Per the Inspector Generals report, it was a localized incident, which dismisses about 75% of the posts here claiming Obama was directly involved as egregious overreaches. 3) The IRS agents who who profiled Tea Party groups, while being in the wrong, were absolutely correct in their suspicions, and would have been better off just pulling all suspected “political” applications. 4) Now the Tea Party groups who previously attempted to cheat the system have a free road to do so and any American who knows better and doesn’t raise an alarm is to my mind complicit.

That about sums it up.

@Tom:

Yes, we probably are at a standstill. I will state, however, that you haven’t yet, on the topic of the IRS scandal, blasted those liberal and progressive groups that did receive their exempt status with the same vigor that you are criticizing the conservative groups who, again, may or may not, as of this point, received any word on their application, let alone be approved for it.

@johngalt:

I will state, however, that you haven’t yet, on the topic of the IRS scandal, blasted those liberal and progressive groups that did receive their exempt status

You have evidence of this?

Tom
you’re the cheat, every time you come here,
HOW DARE YOU CALL THE TEA PARTY CHEAT,
they are what is left of decent and honest with the CONSERVATIVES true to the CONSTITUTION,
you and your group of followers would do anything to cover OBAMA, as oppose to
THE CONSERVATIVES AND TEA PARTY WILL DO THE BEST THEY CAN FOR KEEPING AMERICA SAFE AND CLEAN AND PRESERVE THE LAWS OF THE LAND,
you are alike, the IRS did to cover OBAMA, cheat all the people who where demanding what they rightfully deserve
and instead where taken hostages and caught in a probe a la HITLER style, as if they where criminals because they came from another party with a cleaner mindset, than what they where treated from.,
the ELECTION of OBAMA made his minions attack the one decent people, while they overlook their own side
cheating on the ELECTION, was it to keep the CONSERVATIVES occupied while the crimes where committed on almost all the ELECTION boots, in all kind of gimmicks and well cover by the OBAMA minions,
and even a suppose IRS independent agency has sold herself, and lower her standing and lost her credibility, and cheated so to follow the corruption trend all over the USA shamefully UN AMERICAN, so to win the election for OBAMA,
at any price, they sold their soul to the DEVIL

@Tom:

From my recollection of reading your responses over the past week or two, I don’t remember any post of yours that has done so. Now, I could be mistaken. I could have missed a post of yours doing just that. Can you provide the relevant post or posts showing that you have?

@johngalt:

John, I mean do you have evidence that the IRS granted liberal political groups engaged in “significant political campaign intervention” 5013c tax except status? I was not aware of that.