IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray
# 147
May 21, 2013
“Baron Down”
It hasn’t been that many years ago that there was no way for anyone to convince me that the age of robber barons was history. The difference is that the identity has changed from one of private persons to that of government officials.
If there is one entity that strikes fear in any American, despite income level, it is the IRS. There is no better time to demand a fair tax and the dissolution of the IRS than now when we find that the agency systematically targeted groups opposed to the agenda of a first-term president seeking reelection.
It cannot be a coincidence that a 27-month push to deny tax-exempt status and 501C4 status for people moving against a growing and overreaching government preceded the 2012 presidential election.
If, as it seems, records attest to the fact that people involved in the targeted groups were also audited during that time, the die is cast that this was no ordinary work of “rogue agents” in Cincinnati.
If you know anything about government service, you realize that no underling can do anything without an order. My question — and that of all of you – is just who gave the order to weed out groups with “patriot”, “tea party”, “freedom”, or similar words in their titles in the application process.
Add to this the regularity of “I don’t know” as a standard answer from those testifying before Congress and you are left agape at the incredulity of the whole situation. If, in fact, the high officials brought to testify before key committees in Washington do know “nothing,” then we are brought to only one conclusion — and it’s not pretty.
Nobody knows anything about “Fast and Furious”. Nobody knows anything about Benghazi. Nobody knows anything about IRS targeting conservative groups over more than two years. The Attorney General doesn’t know anything about the DOJ going after a reporter and naming him “criminal co-conspirator”. Nobody can produce any letter of recusal or statement of it by the AG.
The robber barons have new identities. They rob us of more than money. They wield power over our very lives — our national security, our privacy, our finances, — and if Lois Lerner doesn’t lose her job and we don’t abolish the IRS –– our most private medical information and “yea or nay” to what care we can access from our doctors.
We cannot stand back and allow this to happen without complaint and outrage. Push your representatives in Washington to demand change and pass a fair tax. One less agency equates to one less threat. It’s time we removed the IRS. It’s time for us to put down the tyrannical robber baron.
Our cry? “Baron Down!”
The label of “do nothing” affixed to our Congress by the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is akin to the kettle calling the pot black. Why?
He leads a “know nothing” administration. The combination of head of state that gets his information from the newspapers flies in the face of common sense. If this is true, he can save us money and fire his entire staff. They sure aren’t doing their jobs! If parents refuse to take “I don’t know” from children, how can we accept that answer from those who lead us?
One other seminal question begs an answer. How can powerful government agencies run well if those heading those agencies know nothing? Well, the answer affirms what we see today. They run, but they run amok.
Think about it.