I know I post a lot of funny stuff, and I also share a lot of political posts but dont generally comment much on them. However, I really feel the need to make a point about something going on right now. When the Civil War was fought, the PRINCIPLE it was fought over was states rights; the ISSUE was slavery. Now, we are seeing a huge controversy over the likely involvement of the IRS in targeting certain groups for political reasons. However, that is the ISSUE, not the PRINCIPLE. As heinous as those actions were - and I do think that the allegations are largely true - I feel we are letting them get in the way of the actual PRINCIPLE at stake. The real question, which the IRS scandal is just a part of, is this: Do bureaucrats run this country, or do we, the people, through our duly elected representatives? Basically, we have a vast number of people in unelected positions who are able, through the use of regulations which carry the force of law, to deprive us of our property and even our liberty. Additionally, many of those regulations have never even been seen by our legislators; the agencies just make them up as they choose and enforce them with a vengeance, under force of law. We dont usually even know who most of these people are unless they behave so badly that their conduct becomes newsworthy. Even that knowledge depends on the political leanings of the various news outlets, and if they feel reporting the abuses will be consistent with or contrary to their positions. When Lois Lerner refuses to testify, after stating that she has done nothing wrong, she is essentially telling all of us that she feels she has the absolute right to conduct official United States business in any way she sees fit, whether anyone likes it or not, and that no one has the right to question her actions. So the crux of the problem, and one that we must decide as a nation - the PRINCIPLE - is whether or not the bureaucrats have to account to anyone. This does not just mean the IRS; does anyone who holds a government position have a legal obligation to truthfully and completely account to the appropriate governing body about how they are conducting the governments business? If the answer to that question is no - or even, maybe - then we can all stop worrying about voter ID laws, because our votes will no longer be worth anything to begin with. It will mean that all we do in an election is put people (who are often pretty well paid) in positions that have no real power to control the actions of the government. It will mean that we have lost the most basic freedom of all - to be a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The very idea that we have to debate whether we have the right to demand that a person charged with great power in our government, fully account to us about how they have used that power is unsettling, although, perhaps not as unsettling as the answer. It is a sad day, indeed.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 00:51:17 +0000
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