If there is one single thing that makes me angry in Obama America it is that the laws don't apply to liberals.
Let me be more specific. When liberals themselves break the law they get special kid-glove treatment. Think Timmy Geithner and his unpaid taxes back in 2009. It's always nothing to see here, move along.
I remember the first liberal non-scandal that really annoyed me. It was the Clinton Travel Office scandal in 1993. The Clintons fired the head of the White House Travel Office, Billy Dale, on a trumped up charge, and nobody in the mainstream media blinked an eye. Billy Dale was an institution, but the Clintons wanted the job for a crony.
But there is another side to this. It is the passing of laws that don't get enforced on liberal clients. Think welfare. Think Earned Income Tax Credit. Think voter ID. Think illegal immigration. Here's Edwin Meese, President Reagan's aide and Attorney General talking about the last time we had a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
But there's another side to this. It's the over-enforcement of the laws where conservatives are concerned.
Now we learn that little Lois Lerner at the IRS was all over conservative groups applying for 501(c)4 status, making them jump through hoops that went way beyond the spirit of the law. Now we read that the NSA is all over our cellphone "metadata." Now we are told that government terrorist training videos feature right-wing white militias, and that the FBI has been kept out of radical mosques, including the one attended by the Boston bombers.
Guess what's coming up next. Under Obamacare there will be tax subsidies for people below a certain income, and it will be administered by the IRS on a claim now, check later basis.
There seems to be three systems of law in the United States.
There's the one that applies to the liberal elite. For liberals, there's a pass. Violate the law, and we'll go easy on you. Don't worry about not paying taxes, about the head of the EPA hiding her operations with phony email IDs. Don't worry about raising money from insurance companies to fund Obamacare roll-out if you are the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Don't worry about paying for documents in a FOIA application, if you are a liberal group.
There's the system that applies to liberal clients. This system of law seems designed to encourage liberal clients to find a scam and feed off it. Whether it's EBT, SS disability, EITC, voter registration. There seems to be an established nod-nod-wink-wink culture that tolerates 20-30 percent of benefits going to ineligible beneficiaries. Then there is the vast off-the-books economy that is partly driven by the enormous payroll taxes and partly driven by the huge illegal population.
Then there's the system that applies to the broad middle class and conservatives in particular. Don't you dare cross the line, buddy! Tarring and feathering as a racist, sexist, homophobe will be the least of your problems.
There is, of course, a word for this three-level system. Injustice. You'd think that somehow, some way, some conservative politician would have found a way to turn this injustice into electoral gold. But it hasn't happened, not yet.
And I don't understand why not.
Let me be more specific. When liberals themselves break the law they get special kid-glove treatment. Think Timmy Geithner and his unpaid taxes back in 2009. It's always nothing to see here, move along.
I remember the first liberal non-scandal that really annoyed me. It was the Clinton Travel Office scandal in 1993. The Clintons fired the head of the White House Travel Office, Billy Dale, on a trumped up charge, and nobody in the mainstream media blinked an eye. Billy Dale was an institution, but the Clintons wanted the job for a crony.
But there is another side to this. It is the passing of laws that don't get enforced on liberal clients. Think welfare. Think Earned Income Tax Credit. Think voter ID. Think illegal immigration. Here's Edwin Meese, President Reagan's aide and Attorney General talking about the last time we had a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
The '86 reform bill also had supposedly "rigorous" border security and immigration law enforcement provisions. So how did that pan out? On the day Reagan signed "comprehensive" reform into law, only one thing changed: Millions of unlawful immigrants gained "legal" status. The promised crackdowns on security and enforcement never happened. Only amnesty prevailed.Look. I'm not naive. I understand that illegal immigrants that want to stay are in a horrible situation. And I understand that for Democrats the immigration issue is electoral gold, as it shows they care about Hispanics, and it provides a supply of future Democratic voters. But there is the other side to this. That high levels of immigration, legal and illegal, generate huge competition for low-wage jobs. Does nobody care about the low-paid Americans and their needs unless it's giving them benefits and handouts.
But there's another side to this. It's the over-enforcement of the laws where conservatives are concerned.
Now we learn that little Lois Lerner at the IRS was all over conservative groups applying for 501(c)4 status, making them jump through hoops that went way beyond the spirit of the law. Now we read that the NSA is all over our cellphone "metadata." Now we are told that government terrorist training videos feature right-wing white militias, and that the FBI has been kept out of radical mosques, including the one attended by the Boston bombers.
Guess what's coming up next. Under Obamacare there will be tax subsidies for people below a certain income, and it will be administered by the IRS on a claim now, check later basis.
There seems to be three systems of law in the United States.
There's the one that applies to the liberal elite. For liberals, there's a pass. Violate the law, and we'll go easy on you. Don't worry about not paying taxes, about the head of the EPA hiding her operations with phony email IDs. Don't worry about raising money from insurance companies to fund Obamacare roll-out if you are the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Don't worry about paying for documents in a FOIA application, if you are a liberal group.
There's the system that applies to liberal clients. This system of law seems designed to encourage liberal clients to find a scam and feed off it. Whether it's EBT, SS disability, EITC, voter registration. There seems to be an established nod-nod-wink-wink culture that tolerates 20-30 percent of benefits going to ineligible beneficiaries. Then there is the vast off-the-books economy that is partly driven by the enormous payroll taxes and partly driven by the huge illegal population.
Then there's the system that applies to the broad middle class and conservatives in particular. Don't you dare cross the line, buddy! Tarring and feathering as a racist, sexist, homophobe will be the least of your problems.
There is, of course, a word for this three-level system. Injustice. You'd think that somehow, some way, some conservative politician would have found a way to turn this injustice into electoral gold. But it hasn't happened, not yet.
And I don't understand why not.
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