The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Silly Ex-SECDEF Thinks He Has The Right To A Coherent Tax System

Posted on | April 16, 2014 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

Mr. Rumsfeld, sir:

The dry sarcasm of your recent open letter to the IRS, while exquisite, reveals naïveté about what has happened to our country the last century. This is somewhat ironic, given you spent a good chunk of the last ~50 years shaping those events.

We no longer begin with the individual as the unit of analysis, bubble up economic activity through 50 states, and have a federal government to manage interstate and international concerns. Oh no. Progress has meant that we have a permanent political class an a right monstrous federal bureaucracy (perhaps you still recall the DoD) currently eating out our substance (or, if you will, “borrowing it forward”) and burying us in regulations. In the continuous tradeoff between security and liberty, security for the bureaucrats currently has the upper hand.

Thus, there is irony in your dismay at the IRS. As Instapundit noted, Richard Fernandez wrote:

America was founded on the notion that most politicians can only be expected to be ornery, low-down, crooks. Nobody in those days was fool enough to believe they could be Light-workers, Messiahs and create a world without guns. Thus in the Founder’s view the only way to guard against rogues was to ensure that government remained as small as possible relative to its essential jobs; to change those in office frequently and often, like we change underwear.

Please help fight the good fight, sir, by calling attention to efforts such as the Convention of States, to give this federal leviathan a desperately needed trim.

Related: 8 Infuriating Facts To Remember On Tax Day

Category: Culture

Comments

3 Responses to “Silly Ex-SECDEF Thinks He Has The Right To A Coherent Tax System”

  1. NeoWayland
    April 16th, 2014 @ 8:17 am

    Short of a currency collapse or a Constitutional convention, there aren’t many things that can be done that won’t benefit the politicos and technocrats.

    I do have a suggestion. An amendment giving each state legislature the power to select each year any single Federal law for a national public referendum. The referendums would be held every Congressional election.

    Think about it. An election where a hundred laws can be repealed at the whim of the public, right next to names of those politicos who helped inflict them on the rest of us.

  2. PatDissent
    April 16th, 2014 @ 12:50 pm

    No matter my age or desires, today I am forced to be a productive taxpayer; millions on welfare are counting on me.

  3. Let’s Not Forget Hillary’s Role | Regular Right Guy
    April 16th, 2014 @ 5:15 pm

    […] Silly Ex-SECDEF Thinks He Has The Right To A Coherent Tax System […]