On paper our government appears amazing. It was said best by President Lincoln at the Gettysburg address: “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The last fifteen words codified in the annals of our history that our government was designed to be run by us, the citizens of the United States. Of course, he did not come by this belief by himself. The very premise of this nation was built upon the idea of the governed giving their consent to the government.
Thomas Jefferson told the King of England in the Declaration of Independence, “…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” From this view, our Constitution was eventually formed. The idea of self-rule was so important to the founders that they made this point in the first three words, “We the people…” They even further define the Constitution as existing for the betterment of the people, “…establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”
In fact, the entire Constitution is essentially a leash placed upon the government. From the separation of powers to the expressed freedoms in the Bill of Rights, the founding fathers were careful in stipulating the constraint upon government power. They concluded the Bill of Rights on this very idea with the Tenth Amendment, stating, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
In every word the founders placed into our Constitution, they did so with the belief that the people should be free of government intrusion except in the most necessary of circumstances.
If one accepts the facts of my opening paragraph as being correct, then I believe they must support the immediate abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This is not because the IRS takes money out of the pockets of the people through threat of force; since all but the most extreme anarchist would agree that the government must have a revenue stream. It is because the IRS has become a weapon of the political powers, to be used to go after citizens at the whim of the government. Of this, there is no doubt. The case has already been settled.
Lois Lerner. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/US House of Representatives Committee of Oversight & Government Reform)
To remind everyone, the IRS, while headed by Lois Lerner, targeted conservative groups seeking tax exempt status. For years the Democratic-led government denied that this was the case. It was not until 2017 that the government finally owned up to what they had done. Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated, “There is no excuse for this conduct. Hundreds of organizations were affected by these actions, and they deserve an apology from the IRS. We hope that today’s settlement makes clear that this abuse of power will not be tolerated.”
At the time, most assumed that this only occurred because of the Democrats’ abuse of power. I cannot blame people for this assumption. As time progresses and we watch the true contempt from the left come out into the mainstream, it is easy to believe that they are the only one capable of such heinous actions. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about the text messages from Strzok stating he would not allow Trump to become president or Maxine Waters stating, “And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
The hate from the left is clearly beginning to manifest itself into action. However, that is the least scary thing about the case we are talking about.
On June 21, 2018, Judicial Watch posted the following article, “Judicial Watch Obtains IRS Documents Revealing McCain’s Subcommittee Staff Director Urged IRS to Engage in ‘Financially Ruinous’ Targeting.” According to the article, in notes from a meeting on April 30, 2013, “McCain’s high-ranking staffer Kerner recommends harassing non-profit groups until they are unable to continue operating. Kerner tells Lerner, Steve Miller, then-chief of staff to IRS commissioner, Nikole Flax, and other IRS officials, ‘Maybe the solution is to audit so many that it is financially ruinous.’ In response, Lerner responded that ‘it is her job to oversee it all…'”
Republican Senator John McCain. (Credit: Pixabay/ DaveDavidsoncom)
The article further explains, “Judicial Watch previously reported on the 2013 meeting. Senator McCain then issued a statement decrying ‘false reports claiming that his office was somehow involved in IRS targeting of conservative groups.’ The IRS previously blacked out the notes of the meeting but Judicial Watch found the notes among subsequent documents released by the agency.” According to Judicial Watch, not only was the McCain camp part of a discussion of weaponizing the IRS, but he also tried denying the facts of the meeting.
We have a two-party system in our government which heralds back to the election of 1796 when parties ran as either the Federalists or the Democratic-Republicans. George Washington, in an almost eerie prognostication, stated in his farewell letter, “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” Does that not sound like the exact situation we find ourselves in?
The simple truth is this: we cannot trust either side of our government to safeguard our liberties. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Nothing can be more absolute than the power of government; especially when it is unbridled and unrestricted.
We, through our adherence to political party ideology, have created a system where the ruling class is willing to sink to any low in order to maintain their control. Look at the mounting evidence of all the ways that the Democrats rigged this election. I am not just speaking about the evidence of anti-Trump abuses. Bernie Sanders had the DNC actively working against him so that they, the Party, could pick the next president. Up to today, I thought that the abuses were primarily a tool of the liberals. Apparently, I was horridly mistaken.
If we cannot trust our government to abide by their oath—to support and defend the Constitution of the United States—then we only have two choices. Choice one is to actively call to overthrow the government and start all over. I would find that to be a complete waste. We have an incredible system, it has just been abused by the vices of human nature. Instead, I would call for us to remove the tools of their abuse. Since I was a child, there have been alternatives to the IRS. I believe that it is time to take those alternatives seriously.
