So, that IRS email story is pretty unbelievable, huh?
What would it take to cause the executive branch to tell such an obvious lie to Congress?
Two theories:
1) Not much, because the Justice Department is so corrupt that, even if a special prosecutor were appointed, they know the appointment will be so in the tank that there's no danger in outright lies.
2) Something huge, because the price -- even without a special prosecutor -- is convincing the American people that the civil service, and not merely the elected executive branch, is wholly corrupt and in need of replacement.
Opinions?
17 comments:
Concluding that the entire civil service is corrupt and needs replacing seems like exactly the kind of knee-jerk, simplistic conclusion the Internet seems to encourage.
So I suppose I'd have to vote for #1, coupled with faith that the media has their back.
I mention #2 because the IRS emails that were "lost" were apparently the ones about coordinating with other agencies. The little that has come to light about that is suggestive. The rest might be exculpatory, but the fact that it has all "gone missing" in spite of the kinds of backups (and information retrieval technology) that exists today casts a darkening pall on the idea that the effect of reading them would be exculpatory.
I suspect we're talking around different aspects of the question again, but I don't think there's anything here to lead a reasonable person to conclude that the entire Civil Service (which is HUGE) is "wholly corrupt" or "in need of replacement".
The burden of proof on that one ought to be pretty high. Now maybe we don't think the American public is reasonable :p
I could argue that one. But it's not a terribly plausible suggestion.
My opinions on this one are fairly unprintable on a family blog. I do agree with Cass in that to indict the entire civil service class based upon the actions of a relative few seems more like something the pols/activists/leftists would advocate wrt any dissention from their ideologolical purity. Definately not something that conservatives and those advocating for a limited Constitutional government - whom we like to refer to ourselves as the *real* adults in the room - should be either advocating or even remotely considering.
Take the hammer to those departments that are bent nails, yes, and beat them until they are straight again in such a manner as to defer any future ideas of bending to the will of any other dicktator who happens to occupy 1800 Pennsylvania Ave. But to do so with other *nails* will only serve to break the temper of the nail and weaken it unnecessarily.
Perhaps, disasterously.
Now, someone needs to get the fainting couch before Cass comes back....
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Given your terms, I agree. The Civil Service is huge, and only fraction of one percent could have been involved in this effort even if it was much larger than we now know.
However, I am talking about what might be motivating a rather obvious and clumsy cover-up. What are they afraid of?
I think the plausible answers are "nothing" and "everything." Nothing, insofar as they think they have such control over Justice (and, as you say, the willing support of the media); or "everything," because what they've done is so bad that it will have a massive effect on the American people if it comes to light.
I don't think it would take very much to convince the American people that the IRS, at least, is wholly corrupt -- they're inclined to believe it anyway. (How many Americans take advantage of the IRS' offer to do your taxes for you, if you'll just send them all your financial documents?)
If several other Federal agencies prove to have been in collusion with the IRS's leadership, to try to manipulate elections... well, the public paints with a broad brush sometimes.
Just a few Germans obeying orders made the entire country punishable by Versailles and post WWII blame. The world won't care what a few Americans do, so long as they are the ones at the top.
Why would the world matter in US Civil War II? They likely won't matter (much). A WWIII though, would be important to note their response.
As for Americans that like limited gov, this is the perfect pretext to get rid of government employees and their unions. What else would justify tanking the government honey trail?
The problem I have with #1, from the WH's perspective is that the statute of limitations (on, say, evidence tampering, lying to Congress during sworn testimony, among other crimes that would seem to be involved here) doesn't run out until well after the '16 elections. At which point, with any luck, there'll be new players in town with blood in their eye. The present coverup only delays that.
This, though, is consistent with both the cynicism of the major players in the Executive Branch at large and with their simultaneous blindness on so much that is politics. They could well be assuming this will all blow over, even if they get their...hats...handed to them in the next couple elections.
I've seen speculation (unfounded, so far) that the missing emails, when coupled with what's been released, reaches directly to Obama--which makes him impeachable, even with a Democratic Senate.
Take the hammer to those departments that are bent nails, yes, and beat them until they are straight again....
No, a nail once bent is forever fatally flawed. Saw off the nail/remove it altogether from the structure. Loudly.
Eric Hines
Not wholly corrupt, but wholly corruptible, maybe. And then, not something that can be replaced, but something not to be trusted.
http://ymarsakar.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/benghazi-leading-to-death-of-us-seal-team-in-afghanistan/
The chickens are coming home too roost. As I mentioned to Sly, the greatest enemy of the US is other Americans, not Islamic Jihadists or Mexican gang bangers.
People either believed the rumours a few years ago or they didn't. If they didn't, I had no duty to convince them of anything. They either had the necessary sources to figure this out on their own, or the world was going to expose this sooner or later after enough casualties had stacked up to satisfy the US Regime.
They all aren't corrupt? I suppose evil and incompetence are better alternatives.
I'm not going to delete your comment here, Ymar, but it does not belong on the memorial post. That is dedicated to the memory of a good man, not to political theory. It's not that I don't think political theory is important. It's just not the place for it.
"No, a nail once bent is forever fatally flawed. Saw off the nail/remove it altogether from the structure. Loudly."
While I generally agree with this, if you only have a handful of nails to work with, you have no choice but to straighten out the least damaged ones and reuse them. In reality I have done so many times without fatal failure from the re-used nail. One must be very careful in the choice of which nail to reuse, without doubt, but not all of them are useless.
DL, that's true when you're working blocks of wood; although pegs do well, too.
But here we're working wood blockheads.
Eric Hines
I'll give you that one, and they seem to be made of ironwood.
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"It's not that I don't think political theory is important. It's just not the place for it."
Should put that on the bottom of your writing.
I don't think I should have to say it more than once. A man with a love for Japanese culture should appreciate the concept of actions having an appropriate time and place. It's a strong point of that civilization.
Maybe all the civil service isn't wholly corrupt, but the mere fact that people will say "Let's get rid of it all" shows that enough of it is that something needs to be done.
Maybe, maybe not. I get the impression that when the cost is low (as on the Internet) people say things like that all the time.
After 30 years in the Marines, my husband now works for the Marines as a civil servant. He works very long hours for less pay than he'd get working for a civilian firm and deals with a LOT more crap. He ended up doing this because he thought the particular job was important, not because he wanted to become a civil servant.
During his active duty career, he saw the value of career civil servants through firsthand experience. The good ones fill a critical gap in the military's staffing structure, which tends to suffer from "amateuritis" - the sometimes delusional belief that you can take a Tanker or an Arty guy and make him a project mgr or reqts analyst on a multi-million dollar software project :p
Hint: that rarely ends well even with the smartest and most dedicated folks. With average ones, it's downright disastrous.
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