By Tom Kando
As I said in my previous post, among the explosion of (alleged) Obama administration scandals, the IRS scandal is probably the most damaging. As everyone knows by now, the IRS discriminated against conservatives by raising the bar higher for groups such as the Tea Party when it comes to granting them tax exempt status. This action by some rogue elements of the huge IRS bureaucracy was incredibly stupid. I assume that the White House had nothing to do with it. Furthermore, it’s being blown vastly out of proportion. Rush Limbaugh compared it to the Holocaust!
What is most unfortunate about this scandal is that it feeds the already widespread anti-government frenzy of the past several years. Over the past couple of decades, the American plutocracy has succeeded - with its enormous unfairly acquired wealth - in brainwashing a majority of (white) Americans into a deep-seated conservatism bordering on anarchism.
From Franklin Roosevelt through Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson, this country functioned optimally as a responsible social democracy. It recognized the benevolent role of government, the importance of caring of the needy, the imperative of social justice. Then, selfishness gradually took over. Reagan was selfishness’ most eloquent spokesman, defining the government as the “problem rather than the solution,” as “the beast which needs to be starved.” Today, it’s become de rigueur to agree with this. Jay Leno receives ovations whenever he rags on “the government.”
I am not a knee-jerk apologist for the government. We do have a problem. But the problem is the OPPOSITE of what the Republican Party is telling us. It is the corrupt collusion between the government and the corporate elite. The collusion between Congress and the plutocracy. The “too big to fail” preferential treatment of mega-corporations. The way Wall Street was bailed out during the great recession. As they say, “socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor.” The tax system reflects this: labor is taxed maximally, while inherited wealth, profits from investments and corporate profits are taxed minimally. On the Right, they want to make things even worse by replacing progressive taxation with the abomination of a flat tax.
But folks, let me tell you something: the increasing amputation of the government is the road to perdition. America is on the road to failure as a society, if it persists on mutilating its public sector. And unfortunately, the IRS is THE cornerstone of the public sector. The alternative to a fair taxation system is regression to feudalism and anarchy.
The multiple scandals which have erupted recently are used by the Right as an attack (1) on the hated Obama administration and (2) on “government” in general. The name of the game is to DESTABILIZE and to EMASCULATE the executive branch, preferably through scandal mongering.
Perhaps America is becoming ungovernable. The eternal political question is how to balance freedom and individualism with justice and the collective well-being. America’s emphasis on freedom has been commendable. But freedom carried to excess becomes anarchy. Freedom must be tempered with stability and a reasonable level of equality. America scores low on the latter two things.
Stability is correlated with prosperity. Throughout history, when a state has enjoyed stable leadership, its people have enjoyed peace and prosperity. At no time did the Romans thrive more than during Augustus’ 45-year long reign. Same with the French during Louis XIV’s 72-year long kingship (a despot, to be sure) and the English under Elizabeth’s 45-year long rule and Victoria’s nearly 64-year long reign.
Out of fear of despotism, the freedom-loving people of America have preferred to go the other way - limiting their leaders’ terms, especially at the executive level. Only President Roosevelt lasted more than eight years, and the 22nd amendment now makes this impossible.
Furthermore, nearly every president since Lyndon Johnson has been destroyed or neutralized before completing his full term: Johnson’s undoing was Vietnam. That war caused him to abdicate a second term. Nixon: Watergate, of course. Carter was destroyed by the Iranian hostage crisis. Reagan had his Contragate and Clinton was impeached over Monica Lewinsky. Obama ‘s fate during his second term is deja vu all over again.
This is an unruly country, especially at the level of competing elites. We often have the tyranny of the minority. Throughout most of our history, the South has exerted a power disproportionate to its size, as do the rural vote and the Republican Party today.
The Founding Fathers followed Montesquieu’s Trias Politica and established the three-way separation of power as a bulwark against despotism. Clearly, term limits and the separation of power ensure that America cannot be ruled by despots such as Vladimir Putin. But is there a point where such devices may begin to backfire? Would the Founding Fathers not be amazed how successfully paralyzed the federal government has become?
I hope that most of the (pseudo)scandals (Benghazi, for one) plaguing president Obama will blow over. After all, one no longer hears much about Solyndra and Fast-and-Furious, so maybe some of the current “crises” will also fade, despite Fox News.
But maybe this is the beginning of the end for Obama. Maybe his second term will be as frustrating as that of many of his predecessors. Maybe we are becoming ungovernable. The Roman Republic reached that point. It should be possible to strengthen the executive branch without lapsing into despotism. leave comment here
12 comments:
Bengasi is not a pseudo scandal. every president makes mistakes, covering them up hurts your credibility. Like when you hide the fact that it was an Al Qaeda attack, blaming some unknown film maker. Yes I know Bush started the invasion of privacy that Snowden revealed, but Obama continued it & apparently thinks it's ok to continue indefinitely. Using the IRS to attack your political enemies. It remains to be seen if the later was true but given the first two it doesn't sound implausible. The support for both parties have declined in dramatic fashion the last decade. The future if this is to remain on course is that voters will no longer be bullied into supporting the lesser of the ideologues. Adams & Washington loathed a two part system & rightfully so. The government does need to be cut dramatically in some areas and grown dramatically in others, neither party can accomplish this. It needs a surgeon to do the cutting but republicans carry chainsaws. The government has become unmanageable, in an era of cutting school programs there are still conferences in Vegas. As technology advances hopefully we the people can nix such things with a swipe of our app.
Thanks for your comments, Roy:
Benghazi: I do not believe that there was a cover up. The question was not whether to blame an unknown film maker or Al Qaeda, but a spontaneous anti-American riot or Al Qaeda. There WERE numerous spontaneous anti-American riots in the Middle East at that very moment, so that inference was understandable. (There was also a brief and passing discussion of the possible inflammatory role played by that anti-Muslim movie). Big deal.
Your other points: of course there is continuity between administrations, and I too, am disappointed by the Obama administration in some respects. I too, have long argued that our two major parties are in some ways Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum.
I agree with you that our problems are innumerable. The IRS malfunctioning, government waste, you name it.
But it’s important to keep our eyes on the ball: the essence of the Republican Party is this: $$$, the preservation of privilege for the few, retrograde policies (guns, sexual preference, birth control, foreign policy, etc).
I suppose the people can, out of sheer frustration, return power to the opposition party at the next election. Just as discontent with Lyndon Johnson due to the Vietnam War led to Richard Nixon’s election. This is called jumping from the frying pan into fire.
So our choice is either support the wealthy class unconditionally or support the welfare class unconditionally. I reject both and reject both parties. As does now I think most Americans judging by the rash of people leaving both parties to the independent group.
I am not sure where to start. The American perception of government is not that it is benevolent (organized for the purpose of doing good). Indeed if you read Federalist #51 the assumption is quite the opposite. What ties Fast and Furious, Solyndra, the IRS and Benghazi and all of the other problems with administration together is a haughty perception that those in Washington know better; they do not.
The Administration has established a common pattern for all of these events - they start out with the President claiming I know nothing about this and promising to get to the bottom of it so it wont happen again and vowing a full and transparent investigation. But of course when that does not happen the presidential mouthpiece then claims the story of old news.
Lois Lerner did not act alone - except in her lies before the House Committee. This is not the first time the IRS has been used for political purposes but aren't you the least bit concerned that the IG report was delayed for almost a year? Fast and Furious was not organized by a rogue group in Arizona. Solyndra is a perfect example of crony capitalism. Benghazi is the realization of the question that Secretary Clinton raised in the 2008 campaign - it was three o'clock in the morning and nobody answered. What ties all these together is an administration that thinks they no better - but of course they do not (see the Knowledge Problem first explained by FA Hayek)
One other comment about your understanding of the Founders thinking. Madison, in several essays of the Federalist reacted very negatively to Montesquieu. Madison and many of the Anti-Federalists recognized the inherent possibilities for a government that was too large to ignore the priorities of the people that are being governed. From my perspective the words of Federalist #51 are on target (about all of these scandals - and indeed they involve scandalous behavior). "But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."
I'm tired of the media insisting on a magical thinking curse of the second term. If everyone starts thinking and talking about the curse it is a self-fulfilling prophesy. Bad things happen in business and government. Obama is not perfect, but he has done many good things. I hope he continues doing more good things. Our country needs his success.
Thanks for the several good comments.
Anonymous’ feelings are understandable. Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember very similar frustrations with our two-party system when I was in college in the 60s. I’m afraid that not much has changed since then. The “GOP” and the Democratic Party are still the only games in town...Maybe some day there’ll be some real change...
Carol Anita: I totally agree. Let’s hope that this is not the end of Obama’s effectiveness...
Jonathan’s is erudite but only half correct. His long comment deserves a long response:
I’m familiar with the Federalist Papers, as they were required reading in my major at the University of Amsterdam (which shows, by the way, the caliber of Dutch education). No question, Madison and Hamilton were brilliant.
However, American conservatives such as Jonathan rely EXCLUSIVELY on the political philosophy of the American Founding Fathers, as if the rest of the world did not exist. They are utterly lacking in international awareness or perspective.
As I wrote in my post, “the eternal political question is how to balance freedom and individualism with justice and the collective well-being.” The American Founding Fathers’ answer to this question is a good one, but it is only ONE of many answers given by many political philosophers in many different countries. The Anglo-Saxon Social Contract Theorists (Locke, Hobbes) are one tradition. The continental tradition in Europe is another. I refer not just to Montesquieu, but to many others, for example Rousseau (his “volonté generale” for example).
To simplify: the Anglo-Saxon tradition is more individualistic, the continental tradition more collectivistic.
The French Revolution was guided by the words “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.” The American Revolution by “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” While the Declaration of Independence postulates that all men are created equal, there is no mention of an unalienable right to “Egalité.” Clearly, the French and the US emphases differ.
I don’t wish to debate who is right and who is wrong. Merely to point out that a more international and less parochial
perspective would serve American conservatives well. America does not exist in a vacuum. Even though this country and its guiding political principles have provided leadership to the world in its struggle for freedom, America does not have a CORNER on political enlightenment. There ARE other worthy contributions, made by people outside our borders. If you hate or are not familiar with French and other foreign languages, there are many excellent translations of the works of people like Rousseau and Montesquieu.
I think you can quit worrying about the future of the USA and the Wolrd because most of the countries in the world are not reproducing fast enough to maintain their cultures. With a relacement rate of only 1.6 to 1.8 per couple, the Muslims at 8 children per couple will dominate the culture of the world.
As the French sociologist Auguste Comte said, "demography is destiny..."
Blaming conservatives &/or republicans for bad governmental affairs is pretty hard when Democrats control the White house and Senate. For two years they controlled all three branches and the results were not that great. Quit ignoring the fact that the Obama administration is just not good. Remember the book about him being "The amateur in the White house."
I thank anonymous for his comment.
There is no doubt that President Obama is struggling at this time, but the verdict on his record and his accomplishments is still out.
Interesting post and a good discussion here. My take is that government is too big for its own good. There are too many fingers in all the pots and we end up with these types of scandals and controversies.
There needs to be a way to make taxation fair to all, without enriching one group or impoverishing another. What that way is? I don't know fully, as I am not an economist or financial wizard.
I am not aware of the current state of other countries financial status in regards to budgets or debt, but for sure we are digging our own grave here in the United States with the way we are going. Something needs to change and change soon.
Thank you for your comment, Amendment Guy. It allows me to jot down some important thoughts:
The two most obvious problems for the US: (1) the unsustainable deficit and (2) the unprecedented and growing inequality.
As an aside: in America, race is the proxy variable we use when we talk about inequality. That’s not the best, but so be it: Everyone knows that the average black-white income difference refuses to budge. Decade after decade, whites keep making about twice what blacks make. And that’s using MEAN as a measure. When you use MEDIAN, the difference is worse.
But the most obscene statistic is the one about NET WORTH: average white net worth is TEN TIMES that of blacks. This is rarely mentioned.
To get back to the “two most obvious problems,” above: Sooner or later, there has GOT to be more revenue into the government coffers - temporarily or otherwise. California knew this when it increased its taxes half a year ago. The country as a whole will have to bite the same bullet. Nothing can be solved without that - not the deficit, not rebuilding our rotting infrastructure, not educating the population for the future, not reducing our staggering poverty, not keeping up with foreign competitors.
Post a Comment
Please limit your comment to 300 words at the most!