The Lerner Lesson

I am glad the House Oversight Committee finally, FINALLY, did its job by finding former IRS Department Chief Lois Lerner in Contempt of Congress. It only took since last May, you know, just about 11 months ago. Sadly, the vote was divided along party lines.

I guess that's about right. It is, after all, a government operation! Why would this be any more efficient than anything else the government or its agencies run?!?

Here is how I see this.

If George Bush were President and Alberto Gonzalez were Attorney General, and Lois Lerner were a Republican, would the Republicans be as persistent as they were now? Would the Democrats be as protective as they are now? Please. Would someone from the House please stand up and tell me that my skepticism is misplaced? Anyone?

I didn't think so.

To the Democrats, led by Barry and Eric, and voiced by Elijah: you are defending a criminal who violated many individuals' and groups' civil rights while you stand up and loudly defend Ms Lerner's civil rights to plead the Fifth.

To the Republicans, led and voiced by Darrell and Trey: you allowed this to drag on for far too long until it became so unbearable, you were forced to act when you should have acted last year.

To both parties: in 1974, Richard Nixon was driven from office for abusing his power, partly by using the IRS as a tool to attack his enemies. You were horrified that a President would attempt to use what is supposed to be an unbiased, apolitical agency for his own political gain.

Congress One Job (Photo credit: BWJones)

Guess what boys and girls? It happened again and you did nothing, NOTHING, to stop it until Ms Lerner actually blew the top off when she answered a planted question. You screwed up, all of you. So your act of "righteous indignation" is sheer hypocrisy. On both sides.

The first thing that you need to do is disband this corrupt agency within the Department of Treasury. Then, in its place, create an entity which is supervised and controlled by the Congress. After all, since Article I gives the power to the Congress to create tax law, then you must be accountable for its proper administration, not the President. Since both parties would be involved in the supervision, the chances of abuse would be minimized.

The second thing you must do is to make certain this new Entity have its enforcement guidelines reviewed by you and be voted on by both houses of Congress, requiring a 2/3 assenting vote to be placed in effect.

Finally, revision of the tax code is absolutely essential. Too many loopholes exist where some can avoid, essentially evade, their total tax liability, while others are held to pay more than those who could afford more. A 10 or 15% flat tax, with no deductions except for retirement accounts with annual contribution caps, would probably be much fairer than what exists now.

Then, this all would eliminate one man or woman having absolute control over the way the government tax business is conducted.

The government is supposed to WORK for the people. Right now, that system is broken.

Fix it!