The Arrogance of Power

 

 

"The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, pride and arrogance"

Samuel Butler

 

If you missed the House IRS hearings on Friday, I encourage you to watch it. There is very little I can say to add to the spectacle of this hearing. It was the arrogance of power on steroids.

On Thursday, May 16th, ABC news reported the following:

"With a three-headed monster of controversy and scandal chasing the president this week — Benghazi, the IRS, DOJ’s monitoring AP —  House Speaker John Boehner said today that an “arrogance of power” within the Obama administration threatens to unravel the American people’s dithering confidence in government. “Nothing dissolves the bonds between the people and their government like the arrogance of power here in Washington, and that’s what the American people are seeing today from the Obama administration — remarkable arrogance,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said."

Things are bad when ABC news gets on your case. However, not as bad as when NBC jumps on the pile. On May 13th, during the seldom watched Morning Joe show, the following was said by Willie Geist during the roundtable discussion on the IRS scandal:

“There’s been many overblown claims of tyranny and abuse of power from the government over the last few years,” Geist jumped in, pointing to the “we’re coming for your guns”-type narrative. “This is tyranny. If this is the government, a nonpartisan agency coming after specific groups, this time it’s real.”

For NBC to say this on ANY show, especially a MSNBC show, this was huge. Could it be the bloom is finally off the rose? Could the main stream media finally be waking up? This exchange took place days before the Steven Miller grilling by the House Ways and Means Committee. If Miller had been smart, which he is not, he would have hidden his arrogance and tried to be contrite. However, this leopard could not help but show his spots. I am sure he will be back for round two, only this time the panel will have more teeth in its questions.

An old expression is "Oh, how the mighty have fallen". I really don't see how the Administration can escape the damage this multitude of scandals will do to them. It is my hope the IRS will get kicked off the ObamaCare program. They have shown a lack of honesty and competence to handle such a task. If that is the only outcome of the IRS scandal, that would be a good thing. However, I see much more coming out of this.

For the Republicans, now is the time to be brave. For the Democrats, now is the time to be fair. ALL should be outraged at what has happened. The shareholders are watching. We are citizens, not subjects. We demand better from our government. We demand liberty, not tyranny - and certainly not arrogance.