David Axelrod asks how President Obama can know what mischief his underlings are creating when the government is just so darn big:
The perverse twist is that he’s using that logic to exculpate Obama. Try to get your mind around that. A guy who helped O win two presidential elections by arguing that government needs to do more, especially for health insurance (which will soon be partly under the jurisdiction of the IRS, natch), is now trying to absolve Obama of responsibility for his underlings’ malfeasance by suggesting that … no one can really control a government this big. Obama’s off the hook, thanks to his dogged efforts to make the country even more ungovernable than it already is. Say what you will about Ax but let no man question the elephantine size of his balls.
The's a reason the IRS targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups in particular. And it's not that they're "enemies of the administration." Most of us believe, or at least strongly suspect, that the IRS has always gone out of the way to stick it to those unfriendly to the president, whether he be Democrat or Republican. It's because these groups are the enemies of Big Government in general, whoever happens to be at the helm at any given moment. The IRS is the engine that keeps Big Government going, so going after the anti-Big Government types is simple self-preservation.
The real scandal is that all these complicated tax rules exist. If we would just eliminate the corporate income tax, then people could organize groups, or not, just as they please. And the IRS would not be in the position of deciding what counts as excessive political activity.
Yes, exactly. That's a point some of us have been trying to make for years about the government in general. The best way to deal with out-of-control lobbyists and influence peddlers is to make the government small and modest enough that it isn't worth the trouble to try to game it.
