But since it’s just us here on the lunatic fringe, it likely won’t be very controversial at all. Or even unhelpful. Or True Believerish.
Though definitely still Visigothy.
Advanced: the GOP establishment knew prior to the 2012 election season that TEA Party groups were in fact being harassed, deterred, and molested by the IRS, effectively hamstringing the efforts of those groups to form and organize and educate and influence. They determined to keep their investigations into the matter cursory and didn’t press the matter. This we know to be fact.
Advanced: high-ranking Obama political appointees within the Treasury Department, along with the IG in charge of tax matters inside Treasury, knew prior to the 2012 election season that TEA Party groups were in fact being harassed, deterred, and molested by the IRS, effectively hamstringing the efforts of those groups to form and organize and educate and influence. They determined to keep this information from the public. This we know to be fact.
Advanced: Democrats in Congress and the Senate knew prior to the 2012 election season that TEA Party groups were in fact being harassed, deterred, and molested by the IRS, effectively hamstringing the efforts of those groups to form and organize and educate and influence. Several Senators, among them Manchin, Levin, and Franken, contacted the IRS and asked that the agency look into and audit these TEA Party groups — even though there existed no evidence against them of any wrongdoing and no proximate cause for the harassment that followed save these Senators’ dislike of their political challengers, particularly challengers that opposed the status quo in DC. This we know to be fact — just as we know to be fact that Levin chairs the committee that in the course of any real investigation into the IRS’s practices will investigate, presumably, the Congress that is responsible for them. That is, Levin, Franken, Manchin, and others not yet flushed out.
Advanced: GOP establishment groups largely were spared the treatment given to TEA Party groups, who we now knew were in fact being harassed, deterred, and molested by the IRS, effectively hamstringing the efforts of those groups to form and organize and educate and influence. Craig Shirley offers some detail here.
Advanced: the House is to this point resisting the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to look into what is a systemic problem within the IRS, as evidenced by prior scandals of just this sort under different Administrations.
Advanced: it is reasonable to conclude that, in the absence of appointing a Special Prosecutor, the establishment GOP leadership in the House, like the Democrats in the House and Senate, are reluctant to do any real digging into the systemic problems within the IRS that point to a history of politicians from both parties using the agency to molest their personal and political opponents. Instead, they will be content to jail a few functionaries and force others of higher internal stature to resign. These will be the scapegoats — and we will be told that the GOP House, with largely bi-partisan support, has excised the cancer from within the IRS, though they will concede that new safeguards need to put into effect to prevent future abuses.
THEREFORE: I propose that the GOP establishment, the Democrat establishment, and at least two higher ranking political officials in Treasury and one official from the IG’s office (and I suspect well beyond those so far identified, to include Obama’s advisors and campaign managers and the President himself) had no real desire, prior to the elections in 2012, to correct the systemic treatment by the IRS of TEA Party groups, who were in fact being harassed, deterred, and molested by the IRS, effectively hamstringing the efforts of those groups to form and organize and educate and influence.
THEREFORE: I conclude, not without reason, that the GOP establishment, by omission (if not commission — I suspected early on, and noted in passing, that we shouldn’t be too quick to pin the organized effort to curtail the effectiveness of the TEA Party on Democrats alone; the GOP establishment has evinced a clear disdain for TEA Party groups, and on many public occasions have sought to marginalize them, undermine them, and delegitimate them) — knowing before the election that TEA Party groups who were in fact being harassed, deterred, and molested by the IRS, effectively hamstringing the efforts of those groups to form and organize and educate and influence — affirmatively aided in the attacks on the TEA Party and conservatives.
The ruling class knew. And they circled the wagons with winks and nods and the occasion bit of theater. The establishment Republicans, the majority of whom are either overt statists or latent ones, have far more in common with the Democrat DC establishment than they do with the Hobbits who have tormented them by insisting that they represent their constituencies in ways those constituencies desire. They are co-conspirators in an attempt to turn us from a representative, constitutional republic, into a ruling class-led despotism, a soft tyranny, a class system based on rulers, cronies, subjects, and clients. Liberal fascism.
This is a rigged game. And these investigations are being orchestrated in such a way that they will produce fall guys and gals, create some political capital for the Republicans in their friendly game of political musical chairs, the winner enjoying temporary titular control over government and the ability to proffer largess to its favored constituencies (oftentimes, of course, they compromise, as we’re seeing with Comprehensive Immigration Reform, where we’re told the labor unions and the Chamber of Commerce have come to terms — that is, the cronies of each party have compromised in order to get something done), with the will of the people marginalized or ignored, dismissed as racist or xenophobic or some other such nonsense.
Our government is at war with us. All of our government at the national level, save for the few upstarts — TEA Partiers, ironically! — who are attacked consistently from both the left and by ruling class Republicans, many of whom have been entrenched in DC for years.
CONCLUSION: It’s time for radical reform to the government and an insistence by the people that the media be cleaned out of ideologues (or else compelled to present their biases forthrightly), that Congress begin dismantling the regulatory branch of government, and that we return to our Constitution as the basis for legitimate governance — with all that entails: a fundamental reassertion of the Declaration and the Bill of Rights and the plenary powers the states reserved for themselves as a condition of creating a United States; and a reduction to the size and scope of the federal government in keeping with the 9th and 10th Amendments and the enumerated powers described in the Constitution.
To secure this, we must reform the court system and provide foundational, coherent linguistic safeguards on how laws are legitimately interpreted and applied.
This is to be a government by, of, and for the people. Today it is the opposite: it exists to further entrench a ruling class at the expense of the will of the people, many of whom are reduced to voting for pre-selected candidates who don’t represent their interests — the pitch being that these pre-selected candidates are the lesser of two evils. And what this scandal should be telling us is that the ruling class sees in the TEA Party a real existential threat to their attempts to establish and institutionalize the liberal fascist paradigm that by its very nature rewards those inside the government, inside the bureaucratic state, and those in the private sector with the capital to sell themselves as clients to the state in exchange for protections from competition.
We live in soft tyranny. And every day that we refuse to acknowledge this is one more day for the roots of despotism and cronyism to grow deeper, until they eventually strangle the lifeblood from the American Experiment.
As serr8d reminded me today on Twitter, I’ve written of this before — and laid out just who and what it is the ruling class is working together, with no concern for party, to destroy: it is the foundational idea of America itself, and in specific, those who have rediscovered that idea and have bravely used it to confront the usurpers who now run our government.
The time for asserting the people’s will is now. The time for insisting that the people’s will be obliged is drawing nearer.
Teh Maverick agrees. About the Visigothy.
“The time for asserting the people’s will is now. The time for insisting that the people’s will be obliged is drawing nearer.”
It’s at this point when Omar pushes back in his chair, smiles at McNulty, and says “Indeed”.
The People’s Will seems to be dependency for me, servitiude for thee Jeff.
every last one of these whorish cocksuckers who voted for boehnerfag need to be primaried i think
and meghan’s coward daddy needs to go back to sucking dick for cigarette butts and apple cores
c’mon johnny it’s not too late to recapture a little bit of the ole glory days
By reform, we should mean “change ourselves to re-conform to what the Founders meant”, not “put rules in place to make what we want OK”. Unfortunately, too many people mean the latter (viz, the “reform the Church to allow ordination of wimminz and ghey marriages” crowd. That’s not reform, that’s something new.)
I’m right there with you but I fear there are not enough if us to fix this before it crashes.
People must understand, finally, that the single most dangerous thing for classical American liberalism is the single State, which is the philosophy, method, and planned outcome that motivates the single Party.
People must grasp that that entity runs on theft.
And people must finally acknowledge that money is what’s ultimately being stolen. This kind of money.
Money is power and power is money.
This is the crux. It is the only explanation for phenomena like these.
Reactionary restoration is what we need, not radical reform. And for that we’re going to need a political party devoted to Constitutional Government, not more efficient less intrusive better able to afford Big Government.
To get to the Democrats we have to overrun the Republicans first.
Why can’t you be dead wrong sometimes?
Why?
I’m right there with you but I fear there are not enough if us to fix this before it crashes.
Can’t put old wine into new skins; can’t sew new cloth onto old rags.
The serpent sheds its skin in a simulacrum of rebirth; the phoenix dies in flames and is reborn from the ashes.
I don’t see how we can avoid a crash, merely contain the damage. Hopefully to the Left Coast and the Eastern Left Coast (sorry California dwellers).
The third coast (or whatever the hell they’re calling what used to be called the Rust Belt is going to burn too—and probably first.
Can’t put old wine into new skins;
There’s a dozen J.T. McPickleshitters in New Jersey who’d beg to differ.
Marco Rubio craps out:
The only appropriate reply is only hinted at:
Dear Constituent,
We have laws. Individuals responsible for this inexcusable misconduct shall face prosecution and I and others shall work tirelessly to see that they do.
Yours,
Your constitutionally-faithful and lawful Senator
Dear Senator Rubio,
We already have laws against what the IRS did. Just like we already have laws against unprovoked violence, and relating to immigration.
What we need is for those who break these existing laws, to be punished. Jail the murderers and abusers of power; deport the illegal immigrants.
Also, tar and feather lawmakers who add to the Federal Register with new laws that WON’T BE ENFORCED.
s/ Scribe of Slog for President
I think though, you should think through the long game on this, Jeff.
The GOP’s position at the moment is pretty strong, maybe strong enough to do some serious damage to Liberalism itself. This is not something your or I would want to stop. Let them think it’s their battle to win; let them defend the TEA Party here and now.
The GOP is now in a position where they must pursue this, since the opposition ‘planted’ some questions about it. It was a kind of ‘your move, suckers.’ The GOP was wanting, probably, to wait until their chosen time to pursue this (maybe never, as you have suggested) but now the Zero has pre-empted them.
This of course is all bearing in mind that the GOP must be destroyed from within. It is not to be used for good; it is to be utilized to destroy, then destroyed itself.
The GOP isn’t interested in doing damage to Liberalism. What the GOP wants is the same perquisites of power that the Liberals enjoy.
RiverC —
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I want them to pursue this, even though they are doing so solely because they see some political usefulness to doing so. But it’s my job here to note that they are doing so only because they feel that the political winds are blowing that way.
And the fact is, because they were complicit in allowing this go on in the run-up to elections, they helped suppress conservative voting, as Mark Levin argued last evening.
That can’t be forgiven and should be exposed.
It doesn’t matter what the GOP really wants. This is not entirely under their control anymore, is it?
It’s not that easy to see the GOP’s position as strong to the extent it’s based on a lie, as such positions can’t by definition have a firm grip on their future. Expose the lie and undermine the pretense of strength. And who would be more interested in exposing the lie undergirding the GOP than the Progressive left? How about us?
Also, losing more slowly IS the GOP’s long game.
Jeff,
my argument would be, wait until they do maximum damage, then expose them. In the strategy, ‘let the fires burn across the river’, you don’t come and clean up until one side has finished off the other and is weakened.
In this case, don’t cut the momentum they have. But I agree – we must remember that this needs to end not with GOP victories, but rather, with eventual GOP defeat at the hands of a third.
Thanks for the reminder.
Enough With the Bipartisanship
If the GOP were really in a strong position they’d be pushing to abolish the IRS, to replace the current tax system with either the Fair Tax or a flat tax, and an end to pernicious public employee unions.
That none of those things are happening indicates either that the GOP is not in a strong position, or that the interests of the GOP differ from ours.
My guess is nothing is going to come of this other than a bunch of fund raising letters of the we need your money to end the liberal obstruction and uncover the truth/we need your money to stop those mean Tea-Party Republicans from persecuting dedicated public servants variety.
Errand boys and grocer’s clerks, the lot of ’em.
Is it worth noting that the “fool ’em” games of the likes of Marco Rubio don’t seem to be working (in significant part, not to say in the whole polity) any more Ernst? The Hannitys and Levins may play along with him for a short time here, but I don’t think he’s going to survive his own undoing in the minds of us nominal rubes, and the speed of this change, this strict-ish skepticism appears . . . meaningful, respecting the longer term.
If the GOP were really in a strong position they’d be pushing to abolish the IRS, to replace the current tax system with either the Fair Tax or a corporate tax, to abolish the Fed and the fiat dollar, to abolish the DHHS, the Dept of Education, Social Security and the entire welfare State, to boot the UN, and an end to pernicious public employee unions.
FTFY
I certainly hope not, sdferr.
For sure, knocking off Rubio and Toomey are near the top of my political to-do list for 2016.
Heretics before Infidels
The Hannitys and Levins may play along with him for a short time here, but I don’t think he’s going to survive his own undoing in the minds of us nominal rubes
Sean Hannity will chum around with anyone for any amount of time. He’s worthless. He’s also #2 on the most popular radio show list, which is something to always keep in mind.
Setting the question of Hannity’s relative usefulness or lack of same aside, what I’ve in mind is the overt admission by Hannity that he sees Rubio’s devious legislative ploy clearly enough, yet wants to grant Rubio some murky “good intentions” worthy of forgiveness for the game he plays. Is what I mean there, rather than to regard who or what Hannity will chum with, since in the main I pay little attention to him otherwise.
Hannity says you’re a great American, sdferr.
Well, he says false then, as being evidently not capable of sorting the great from the ordinary.
He says everyone is a great American, but I wanted you to feel special for a minute.
I’m telling you, the Democrats want to get the GOP in trouble (and save themselves from all of the crimes they had to commit to win the election) by pinning neglect on the GOP. Then it would make sense why they were the ones who brought it out. Let some flacks take the hit, but let the GOP look neglectful. You still control the bureaucracy by merit of simple political majority; you still hold a card you can play under the table any time you want to. You prove that you can cover it up for a sum of years, and it only comes out WHEN YOU WANT IT TO.
Does anyone find it in the slightest bit ODD that Holder brazenly perjured himself? He’s a crook, sure, but he had to have known it would come out. It’s like Lerner – it was such an obvious misstep that it had to have been intentional. She intends to testify but in such a way that it will appear to be against her will to do so.
It’s slightly convoluted just enough to glaze over the eyes of the sound byte crowd. Occam’s razor, they say. Certainly there was a cover-up, but anyone who knows Shakespeare’s Hamlet knows that all onions have more than one layer.
My only hope is this – that they have underestimated the feeding frenzy they have created. There’s more than a slight stink of hubris to the whole thing.
Of course he knew. But with Weepy in charge he doesn’t think he needs to care.
Harry Reid and the Senate Dems are the hole card against impeachment, Holder is the firewall against any criminal charges and Obama is Holder’s own firewall and backup for all else.
If you can’t impeach and convict, can’t get criminal charges filed, and even later can’t charge criminally because of blanket pardons then what can you do?
Sue?
Hmmm. These lampposts look a trifle … plain, don’t you think?
The whole Hill needs a good old fashioned cleansing. Lock all exits, apply fire, stand back.
RiverC, the GOP’s position is strong? Gotta laff at that one.
The GOP is all but useless when you define it’s purpose as a valid counter to this new, far-Left Democrat party that’s become a juggernaut of late. The GOP’s lost it’s ability to persuade a majority of voters; we just can’t seem to persuade people who’ve tiny minds that are attracted to proffered honeypots over necessary austerity.
Until SHTF, unavoidably, we can but watch the GOP continue to self-destruct. That’s all they’ve proven capable of doing as of late.