A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
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Senator Lamar Alexander compares the latest Obama administration scandal to Iran-Contra . . . he says it’s “even bigger.”
One hates to continually harp on the president and his scandals, but he and his big government keep producing them. So here we go again!
Obamacare was supposed to save money. It hasn’t. And it should be no shock to learn that the plan has already overshot its budget. Its implementation budget. And Congress balked at throwing more money at the “Affordable Care Act,” perhaps on the grounds that we can’t afford it.
So Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius passed around the hat to the major players in the managed medical insurance industry — the folks previously demonized by Democrats as the greedy bloodsuckers who singlehandedly caused industry price inflation — to push the plan through on a “shoestring budget.”
Trouble is, it’s not obvious that this is legal. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch called Sebelius’s private fundraising effort “absurd,” and promised to inquire about conflicts of interest.
It’s easy to see why the Republicans in the House and Senate are suspicious. Such a move rubs up against the grain of what a republic is. But I’m sure Democrats are shrugging. It is just another business-government partnership, after all.
Well, it’s not “just another.” It might end up being the biggest ever. And you have to draw the line somewhere. Ancient Romans drew the line to protect their republic at the Rubicon — which Caesar crossed, ushering in empire.
It’s not just armies that cross important boundaries.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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The Enemies List(s)
It’s no surprise to long-time observers of the Obama administration, the Internal Revenue Service, or government in general that the IRS has targeted non-lefty groups for reasons the agency laughably contends are non-ideological.
The current brouhaha is only part of the story. Here’s another part. Frank VanderSloot is a businessman who donated to the Romney campaign. In April of last year, an Obama campaign website chastised several Romney supporters for such high crimes as being “high-dollar donors” with “less-than-reputable records,” interested in “pursuing a specific agenda.” Just the kind of persons that government agencies might like to especially investigate, perhaps?
In any case, within two weeks of the publication of this enemies list, a recent employee of Senate Democrats began rooting around in VanderSloot’s divorce records. Next, the IRS launched audits of his tax returns for 2008 and 2009. He’d never before been audited. Next, the Department of Labor decided to audit the three workers he employed on a cattle ranch under the terms of a visa program for temporary workers.
Coincidence(s)? VanderSloot himself suspects that the audits were retaliation for his political leanings. Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel noted at the time that to what extent the harassment had been centrally planned was both undiscoverable and somewhat beside the point. “If this isn’t a chilling glimpse of a society Americans reject, it is hard to know what is. It’s why presidents are held to different rules, and should not keep lists.”
At least, not lists of political enemies.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Oscar Wilde
People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely because chickens run about so absurdly that it’s impossible to count them accurately.
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Townhall: Beyond the Gloatfest
There’s a certain amount of self-righteous gloating that goes on, left vs. right, in America today. That’s inevitable. But viewing from just one perspective is surely an error. This weekend’s Common Sense column over at Townhall.com takes a cautious look at the biases below the surface.
Click on over, and then come back for more reading.
Note, though there are a number of links in the article, a few more are worth looking at:
- Breitbart.com’s headlined coverage of the recent Rasmussen Report
- Breitbart.com’s coverage of an earlier Rasmussen Report — it’s worth noting that responses on the issue of gun violence have changed rapidly in recent months
- Wikipedia’s list of cognitive biases
- Herbert Spencer’s The Study of Sociology
- Herbert Spencer’s
From Freedom to Bondage,
(introduction to A Plea for Liberty, Thomas Mackay, ed.)
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Oscar Wilde
A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
Big news from Colorado:
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Tyranny? What Tyranny?
The United States was founded in response to tyrannical actions by the government of Great Britain: its increasingly intrusive taxes, mandates and prohibitions.
As students of history, the Founders understood that tyranny — the routine use of government power to violate rather than protect individual rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — is a constant threat. They counseled eternal vigilance against this threat.
Bad advice, says President Obama.
Obama seems to think (à la certain notions of Rousseau) that tyranny ain’t really tyranny if you participate, however nominally, in the political processes that spawn the tyranny. So he instructs a 2013 graduating class to ignore those who warn that tyranny is “always lurking just around the corner.”
“You should reject these voices . . . because what they suggest is that our unique and creative and brave experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.”
Come again, Mr. President?
The American republic was built on mistrust. There have to be checks and balances for a republic to work, and skepticism is key to the whole experiment. The “self-rule” idea becomes a sham precisely when we pretend that people with power can always be trusted.
Obama wants the young people he’s addressing to ignore any evidence of present or impending tyranny. Don’t be fooled by people who point to this evidence! Reject these voices! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
That citizens inertly obey such instructions is certainly in the interest of all aspiring tyrants.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Zeno of Citium
We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.
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Zeno of Citium
All the good are friends of one another.