Hattip to Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. Let’s see, it was only back in January that Piers Morgan, Brit and obnoxious CNN talking head, pooh-poohed the idea that America could ever have a tyrannical government. Go here to read my comment at that time. In the above video, in which he is talking to my favorite atheist, go here to see why I give Penn Jillette that title, he confesses that what was done with the IRS “borders” on tyranny.
Of course the IRS Scandal would not have surprised the Founding Fathers. They realized that govenment is necessary among men. As James Madison noted in Federalist 51: But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. However, the Founding Fathers also realized that government was no abstraction, but also an institution made up of men and not angels. That is why Madison in Federalist 51 went on to write: If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. And so the Founding Fathers framed a Constitution designed to minimize the possibility of government tyranny. They built wisely, but they did not delude themselves. The ultimate safeguard for American liberty had to rest in the American people.
That is why Benjamin Franklin, after a lady asked him as he left Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention what form of government the country was to have, told her, “A Republic madam, if you can keep it.”, placing the responsibility for the preservation of the Republic on each individual American.
Fifty years later, a young Abraham Lincoln gave a dire warning and prophecy for the country that rings true just as much in our day as in his:
One has to be concerned when one has the likes of Piers Morgan and Charlie Rangel on one’s side. Their outrage seems too manufactured, too studied to be sincere. (No one likes the IRS; it’s an easy target.) It’s as if they instinctively know the IRS scandal will lead nowhere higher than perhaps the Commissioner, but Benghazi truly has the chance to do damage to the President.
If it weren’t for TAC and facebook I wouldn’t know that this useless Saxon POS is stealing American oxygen.
“It’s as if they instinctively know the IRS scandal will lead nowhere higher than perhaps the Commissioner, but Benghazi truly has the chance to do damage to the President.”
We can pursue both J. Christian. I have absolutely no doubt that the IRS scandal is much the bigger issue with the American public. This week I have had ten people, most fairly apolitical, bring up the IRS scandal. I have never had anyone bring up Benghazi unless I have raised it first. This is an immense scandal and it will do permanent damage to the Obama administration.
In the 2012 presidential election, Obama’s IRS shut down various conservative campaign initiatives, i.e., free speech. The gutless GOP candidate, legislators, et al were either too cowardly or too stupid or too contemptuous of the TEA party to rise up on their hind legs and bray something.
This is no longer a free republic.
And, the American (outside hugely profitable Wall Street, GM, Buffett and Soros; and borrow-and-spend Washington, DC) people will not recover because Obama and his gangster regime are running them off a cliff.
These Obama administration scandals though very serious only began to get traction once a few democrats and THE MEDIA came on board. So we again have been reminded that it is the media politicians right and left fear and controls what goes and comes in Washington.
First you have tax cheat Charles Rangel going after the head of the IRS. Now you have Pers Morgan, anti gun nut extraordinaire, going into full lock and load mode over governmental tyranny. Justice tinged with irony is a sweet thing to savor, especially since this is probably the only real justice we will see. Because I thinkwhen the congressional dog and pony show is over, nothing is gonna come of this. Ditto for Benghazi.
I don’t normally like to be proven wrong, but these are instances where I hope I am.
Mr T Shaw
FYI Mr Morgan is ethnically Irish ! His real name is O Meara. He was born in the UK . Perhaps the name Morgan is more accepted as being British whereas an Irish name may have caused him more bigotry. He s Catholic as well, I don t know how faithful but I haven t heard that he s renounced the Faith.
These scandals are interesting theater, but will amount to little. Not because the issues are small; the people are. Their are interests and focus are on events of less significance.
The right does not have the ability to stoke a fire to get the attention of the general public like the left. Compare the hate for Bush the left successfully attached to him for lesser events. Imagine if these scandals happened when George W Bush was president.
This is a drama where the pundits on the established left and right know their parts without needing formal direction. Keeping up the noise, feign a desire for justice and collect your commentary or legislative paychecks.