Uh oh. Somebody’s about to get audited! TRS:
NBC News has an article out this morning that is mostly a rehash of information we already know. But there was something else in the article that caught my eye:
Cleta Mitchell, another attorney representing conservative groups that allege they were targeted, said an IRS agent in Cincinnati told her a “task force” IRS office in Washington, D.C., was making the decisions about the processing of applications, and that she subsequently dealt with IRS representatives there.
“(The IRS agent in Cincinnati) told me that in fact the case would be transferred to a special task force out of Washington, and that he was told – he was the originally assigned agent – that he wasn’t allowed to make decisions, the decisions were all going to be made in Washington,” Mitchell said. “I know that this process was going on in Washington because I’ve dealt with those people.”
I’m betting this Cincinnati agent also knows names since he dealt directly with these people.
Indeed. This dude should be located by investigators and locked away in a safe house somewhere. With guarantees made for his family’s safety. Because it’s becoming quite clear that dealing with the Democrats of the New Left is very much like dealing with an organized crime syndicate.
And honestly, there’s virtually nothing I would put past them anymore, as they rationalize to themselves that their efforts — however individually suspect those efforts may appear — because they are in the service of some (to them) Greater Good, cannot as a rule be malignant or nefarious or self-interested. They are good people, they convince themselves, with good intentions, so anything they do to circumvent or defang the obstructionist bitterclingers in order to bring about the fruits of those good intentions is by its very nature goodly, done as it is in the service of good for the purposes of bringing about Utopian goodness.
To which I’d like to offer this oft-repeated thought by way of CS Lewis:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
I realize that my using that “tyranny” word makes many “pragmatic” or “realist” GOP fluffers very uncomfortable — at least insofar as it’s seen as representative of views held by a considerable swath of constitutionalists who make up the GOP base, the kinds of people whom a curious alliance of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, Bob Dole and John McCain and Karl Rove and Jeb Bush and John Boehner, all wish to see banished from government.
What this tells me — and what it should tell the timid pragmatists who spend so much time and energy bashing the “Purists” and “True Believers,” the “Hobbits” and the “Visigoths” and the “wacko birds” — is that when your party’s most visible representatives (and it’s difficult to get more visible than the Bushes, and two of your last five Presidential candidates) have more in common ideologically with the opposing party than with their own base, it matters little that they continue to present themselves as an opposition party.
We have a de facto one party ruling class. And we must either take over the GOP entirely or else break from it cleanly.
And even then, it may be too late.
Can we get vests to wear? Shouldn’t go into battle with the vested interests without at least as natty a uniform as they have.
Machiavelli, Prince, Ch V.:
*** CONCERNING THE WAY TO GOVERN CITIES OR PRINCIPALITIES WHICH LIVED UNDER THEIR OWN LAWS BEFORE THEY WERE ANNEXED
Whenever those states which have been acquired as stated have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom, there are three courses for those who wish to hold them: the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in person, the third is to permit them to live under their own laws, drawing a tribute, and establishing within it an oligarchy which will keep it friendly to you. Because such a government, being created by the prince, knows that it cannot stand without his friendship and interest, and does it utmost to support him; and therefore he who would keep a city accustomed to freedom will hold it more easily by the means of its own citizens than in any other way.
There are, for example, the Spartans and the Romans. The Spartans held Athens and Thebes, establishing there an oligarchy, nevertheless they lost them. The Romans, in order to hold Capua, Carthage, and Numantia, dismantled them, and did not lose them. They wished to hold Greece as the Spartans held it, making it free and permitting its laws, and did not succeed. So to hold it they were compelled to dismantle many cities in the country, for in truth there is no safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them. And he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget. And whatever you may do or provide against, they never forget that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or dispersed, but at every chance they immediately rally to them, as Pisa after the hundred years she had been held in bondage by the Florentines.
But when cities or countries are accustomed to live under a prince, and his family is exterminated, they, being on the one hand accustomed to obey and on the other hand not having the old prince, cannot agree in making one from amongst themselves, and they do not know how to govern themselves. For this reason they are very slow to take up arms, and a prince can gain them to himself and secure them much more easily. But in republics there is more vitality, greater hatred, and more desire for vengeance, which will never permit them to allow the memory of their former liberty to rest; so that the safest way is to destroy them or to reside there. ***
Where does the term ‘Visigoth’ come from in this context? I’ve heard it before in the context of quote-un-quote far right/constitutionalist positions, but what’s the origin?
Uh, oh, looks like those “rogues” aren’t going to go under the bus so easily. Hope they have gotten good lawyers.
These “rogues” had to run everything by the DC office, and even were even provided questions by them. This NRO article from last week provides some detail on the Cincinnati – DC office interaction/oversight: http://tinyurl.com/nzdmwz2
Where does the term ‘Visigoth’ come from in this context?
In this context I believe it comes from an accusation by a writer named Rick Moran who leveled it against Tea Party supporting types the likes of Goldstein here. Moran fancies himself the subtler fellow.
It’s too late. May as well accept it.
Why, you may ask, why would I say that?
We are no longer governed by the constitution and the three branches of constitutional authority. We are now ruled by a vast bureaucracy of union protected, un-elected, civil servant lifers.
The only chance we have now is the one floated some time back, that of several states openly rebelling against a fed usurping state authority…which will never happen because too many citizens of every state are bought and paid for cattle wearing the fed brand.
We can, and should, keep fighting and hope/pray providence will arrange events in our favor. Still, personally I’m planning for something else.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer: The Only Thing I Care About Is Implementing ObamaCare
Something else…
IRS is still going after conservative groups.
Meanwhile that 501(c)(4) OFA has Obama doing fundraising letters for them. For the nonpartisan “social welfare” of course.
A couple other headlines from Drudge:
Record 10,978,040 Now on Disability; ‘Disability’ Would Be 8th Most Populous State’
Furloughed federal workers can collect unemployment; The local union affiliate of International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers has signed an agreement with the Navy which would allow their civilian federal workers to group furlough days in one-week blocks. It’s a strategy with one key goal: enable those employees to recoup some of their lost wages through unemployment checks.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the only way back to constitutional governance is through outlawing public unions and taking a meat ax to the whole host of alphabet bureaucracy.
Did you know there are more people working for the Dept. of Ag than there are farmers in the US? Our problem in a nutshell.
. . . outlawing public unions and taking a meat ax to the whole host of alphabet bureaucracy.
Can he get an AMEN?
He can from me: amen. And amenamenamen again.
Damn, a couple more interesting ones:
[…] Jeff Goldstein: […]