The liberal government bureaucracies
One of the many many reasons that conservatives should want to curb government power is that bureaucracies are manned and womanned by liberal Democrats, so any biases that are not already built into the structure and charges of the agencies themselves will almost certainly lean in the pro-left direction.
We see that quite clearly in the IRS scandal, whoever may have ordered it. How high the rot goes is an exceedingly important question to answer, but one can assume the rot goes up and down and all around:
Eliana Johnson points out that the director of the Office of Rulings and Agreements, which oversees the determination of tax-exempt organizations, is a donor to Barack Obama. Holly Paz donated $2,000 to Obama’s 2008 campaign, according to Open Secrets, which maintains a database of individual political donations.
Liberal Democrats comprise the vast majority of federal bureaucrats. For example, in the past two presidential races, roughly 85 percent of the money contributed to a candidate by IRS employees went to Barack Obama.
This is consistent with what I observe here in the Washington, D.C. area. I estimate the percentage of bureaucrats to be at least 85. And most federal bureaucrats I know hate conservatives as a class…
What’s the remedy? I can’t think of one, other than the aforementioned trying to limit the power of the federal government bureaucracies. The bias towards liberals is baked in the cake, as it were, because liberals rather than conservatives tend to be more attracted to those sorts of jobs as a career path.
[ADDENDUM: Much much more here.]
How about this: if you voluntarily go to work for the city, county, state, or federal government you voluntarily surrender your right to vote, as an inherent conflict of interest.
One solution, repeatedly proffered by Glenn Reynolds is a flat tax; it removes some of the IRS’s power by giving it nothing to adjudicate.
G Joubert’s idea of municipal workers not voting also has some merit. It parallels the criticism of public service unions electing favorable legislators to, in effect, have friendly seats on both sides of the bargaining table. By not voting, they don’t get to elect the legislators or executive officers that directly affect their employment.
Especially worrisome is the professional and experienced Islamic Jihad penetrating government bureaucracy led by our POS POTUS.
The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.–The President of the United States.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6uZFSj_ueM
OBAMA IRS REFUSED TAX EXEMPT STATUS TO CHRISTIAN AND PRO-ISRAEL GROUPS BUT GRANTED NONPROFIT STATUS TO MUSLIM ORGS
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/05/obama-irs-refused-tax-exempt-status-to-christian-and-pro-israel-groups-but-granted-nonprofit-status-to-muslim-orgs.html
The government started with four cabinet posts. It is presently at fourteen cabinet level departments (I think), some without any enumerated power to legitimize them. About one percent of all bills proposed in Congress are enacted but some 98% of proposed bureaucratic regulations are enacted (though not enforced to that degree). There’s no historical evidence, that I’m aware of, of bureaucracies being significantly pared, never mind gotten rid of. Even in the midst of regime changes and political revolutions they survive — the Soviet bureaucracies did not disappear when the Soviet did. When they expire they expire with the country/population — there are no Mayan bureaucracies. So what to do? Never give up — start small.
Cut all salaries and operational budgets of all departments by ten percent — cull the workforce by ten percent — cull the bureaucracy’s very own bureaucracy, ridding it of assistants to the deputy assistant and freeze everything at that point. Then enact a pay as you go system based on taxpayer assessments of the department. Taxpayers would be free to check off their desire that a dollar, or two, or ten, go to the Department of Education (or whichever), or nothing. The department in question would have to operate within the increase allowed by annual taxpayer funding. Furthermore, all employees of any government agency would be forbidden making candidate/party/election contributions of any kind — financial or personal time.
Of course none of this would ever take place — Statists will blubber, and foam, and hissy fit; and ‘Republican’ ‘conservatives’ will hem and hee-haw, but at least one will better know whose side the candidate is on and the extant of the predicament they/we are in – and prepare accordingly.
Obama. MMMM. MMMM. MMMMMMM!
http://reason.com/archives/2013/05/16/federal-court-slams-obamas-recess-appoin
Check out the current top post at Ace’s:
Here’s a remedy that didn’t get any implementation from the get go:
5. Transparency in Government. Restore the presumption of disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, limit the ability of agencies to avoid the transparency provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and introduce greater transparency into the regulatory review process conducted by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Open government was a victim of the Bush Administration, all too often compromising the integrity of the regulatory process and denying citizens the right to scrutinize what was being done in their name.
http://www.progressivereform.org/penstroke.cfm
It’s ironic, isn’t it? The distinction between Left and Right can be attributed to a philosophical (i.e. religious) difference. The latter recognize an emergent, distributed intelligence (i.e. individual dignity), while the former demand a central, designed intelligence (i.e. “god”). It’s notable that while most people on the Right place their faith in God (i.e. central, designed, divine), that they do not demonstrate the same deference to mortal gods. Catholics notwithstanding, who have learned that it is dangerous to treat mortal representatives of God as gods, and that a separation of powers (or roles) ensures accountability and thereby quality.
Get rid of the IRS entirely by repealing the 16th Amendment. It kills the IRS completely so there are no shenanigans by either the bureaucrats or the Congress handing out goodies to their buddies. Create a national sales tax instead, say 10%. The beauty of this is that everyone pays, even the people who currently think government is free, and the cost of government is in your face every time you buy anything. It makes it much harder to grow government.
One of the excuses offered by Obama’s apologists is that the government is just too big for him to know what is going on.
I agree. I hope that Conservatives will take up that theme.
Laura Ingrham did pick up on it this evening, pointing out that this is exactly why we need to starve the beast. It is too big, too powerful, too intrusive.
Then I listened to part of the problem. Bill O’Reilly wringing his hands and wailing, “what can we do?”. Well O’Reilly, says I, you have a powerful megaphone. You can quit whining and start calling people to action. I can project O’ Reilly respoonding, “But, that wouldn’t be fair and balanced. And this wouldn’t be a no-spin zone.”