Federal Government - Too Big?

When is the Federal Government too Big?

I keep waiting to see when the vast majority of the population will cry out in one large voice saying enough is enough. Sorry to say I may be deaf as I have not heard it as of yet. I would argue that most of the issues we are seeing today are due to the government being allowed to grow well beyond its original scope and abusing the vast power it has given itself.

Exhibit #1: Internal Revenue Service Discrimination and Abuses

Why do we need the IRS? Is it because the government does not trust its citizens to pay what taxes they owe? Is it because the tax code has become so convoluted and complicated that you need a government agency to audit and penalize companies and individuals that do not comply with the insane amount of tax rules? Who made these rules and why did they make them so complicated? (see other post in Taxes section of this blog)

The 16th amendment: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

This gives the government the power to tax its citizens. It could have easily been a flat tax. So again I ask why is it so complicated? It is due to the bureaucracy that self-perpetuates this ever growing and expanding behemoth. Non-elected officials holding you in the palm of their hand. They insure themselves a job by making rules and exceptions so complicated it takes hundred of thousands of sheets of paper to write it all down.

So what has this agency done with its power? Yearly it harasses companies and individuals for their mistakes or missing deadlines. But most egregious of all is its blatant discrimination of applying tax exempt criteria when approving or disapproving organizations applying for this status (Tea Party Groups Targeted by Lerner's IRS Receive Settlement Checks (dailysignal.com)). So I ask where is the outcry? How can we let our federal government impose their will illegally to infringe upon our 1st amendment rights? As of yet there has not been one IRS official fired for their actions or anyone arrested. If this was a private company caught in discrimination there would be all kinds of federal agencies examining every aspect of the company and charging them with hate crimes as well as countless federal equal right law infractions.

So I say to you is this what the founders had in mind? Don't you believe there is just an easier way? I say abolish the current tax code and go with a 18% flat tax with no exemptions for private citizens and 22% corporate flat tax for on-shore capital and 27% for off-shore capital. With this method you can abolish the IRS or reduces it by 90%. There are many advantages:

• It is the fairest form of taxation in that we all contribute and the more money we make the more we pay in taxes. The days of feeding from the federal trough is over.

• It adds certainty to all citizens and companies. They know exactly what they owe each year and will reduce the costs of hiring a tax consultant. You realize how much money companies can save by reducing their accounting and legal budget dealing with taxation?

• It incentivizes companies to keep jobs in the US as the tax burden is lower which produces more jobs in the US.

• It allows you to abolish or drastically reduce the IRS which will reduce the overall cost burden of implementation, but more importantly prevent the corruption and oppression from the federal government as we see today.

Sadly, previous attempts have failed for a variety of reasons. I hope that the abuses you see today will wake everyone up to demand this. I don't know about you but what I have seen from the abuses today makes me tremble to know what they will do with health data. Remember they will be overseeing Obamacare. They will have access to your most private data. They have proved they cannot be trusted so why would you want them to have access to your IHI data?

Exhibit #2 - Justice Department Going after the Press

If I was in a coma and woke up and someone told me a story of a federal government agency making up charges and judge shopping all to get access to private citizen e-mails and phone information without informing that citizen or having a hearing, I would have thought you were talking about some communist country or banana republic (Justice Department secretly obtained AP phone records | Fox News, Fox News reporter secretly monitored by Obama administration: court documents - CBS News). In addition, the head of said agency lied about it and is trying to investigate himself. This agency above all agencies has to be not only within the laws but uphold the highest moral and ethical code. That is not the case today.

Again I ask is this what the founders envisioned? The corruption that you are seeing is directly proportional to the size of the agency and powers bestowed upon it. Abuse, abuse, abuse, and lies are all you get. Fast and Furious, Suing States for upholding immigration laws that they refuse to uphold, selective memory, ... I believe Mr. Holder might have the start of Alzheimer's disease with how many times he doesn't recall key information.

This is a direct violation of the 1st amendment to the right of affiliation, freedom of the press, ... Why hasn't anybody been fired or arrested for these abuses of power? Wake up America or you will continue to allow tyranny to prevail.

I have many exhibits that I can throw out there to show you that the government is too big and has lost its focus on what it was created to do. That was to protect the citizens of this country. It was not to worry about some little lizard in some remote part of the country. It was to provide an environment for individual liberty and freedom to be promoted and expressed, not forcing a religious institution to break one of their main tenants of their religion. I could go on forever, but you get the point.

The time is now to implement change and demand a smaller government that is less intrusive in your lives. Those that have tried to protect this insanity must go. It is time to speak at the ballot box and vote for those that truly support a smaller, more efficient government. Vote for those that supports the constitution and do not try to change it or ignore it. The time is now!

Make Each Day Count

Beach Bum Philosopher