How many branches was that again?

I was thinking yesterday about an interesting effect. Despite the new administration in the white House for over 100 days, the State Dept lawyers are still protecting HRC in court battles involving FOIA, the IRS is still not processing conservative groups for their 501c status, the FBI was still slow-walking responding to requests from the legislature. So, do we really still have a government of three branches, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial? Or are there now actually four branches? I think the Executive has been split into two distinct branches: The White House which is nominally in charge, and the out-of-control executive bureaucracy itself.

When this split actually occurred is hard for me to say. I remember hearing “Presidents and their Department Secretary’s come and go, but the Departments stay”, back when the transition was between Carter and Reagan. Of course, I was very young and thought it was sort of a joke at the time. Not so funny to me now as I come to this realization that government is more out of control than I ever imagined. The actuality of freedom and liberty and limited government for “we the people” and our children may be past the point of no return. Forever unreachable. I fear the tree of liberty will split under the weight of four branches.

And don’t even get me started about activist judges that try to legislate from the bench.

intimidation and abuse, Illegal Ruffian Squad style

English: Anti-United States Internal Revenue Service symbol. Commonly used by tax protesters and tax reform advocates in the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Okay, so the IRS gives extra scrutiny to some Tea Party organizations wanting to apply for a special status according to the rules of the tax code. A lot of extra scrutiny, like years and years of it. Further, that scrutiny includes asking all sorts of questions that are unrelated and some questions, like give us lists of your donors, are totally inappropriate. Add to that conservative organizations and donors getting audited and receiving special unwelcome visits from multiple government organizations, not just the IRS. So, now we are hearing about the FBI, EPA, and other unrelated departments of government that all just come knocking on the doors of conservatives and Tea Party groups in an election year.

The administration wants us to believe that is  all just a “phony” scandal or a minor mistake cooked up by a couple of lowly rogue agents working outside the chain of command sitting in some cubicle in Cincinnati. Excuse me? We are talking bureaucracy here. Nobody in a bureaucracy puts his or her tail feathers out on a chopping block by going rogue. People like that are chopped out and discarded fast and furious style. No. Rogue agents all over the country, in various departments of government, didn’t suddenly take it upon themselves to harass and intimidate Tea Party groups and conservatives. That is simply not feasible or believable.

Sadly, despite Tea Party groups begging for help from their congressmen and despite public congressional hearings and denials from IRS officials in official testimony, not one IRS employee came forward and exposed the awful abuse. Not one individual came out and said this is wrong and an arrogant abuse of power? How is that even possible? Someone please explain this to me? I am so disappointed by this fact alone.

Ultimately, there is only one solution. It is time to switch to a new tax code and system that is 1) simple and easy to understand, and 2) can not easily be subverted by politicians to promote their political agenda, to buy votes, or to intimidate and harass their opposition. It is time for a simple and fair tax. It is time for either the Fair Tax for the Flat Tax.