Grokster Scott had that quote from Congressman Kevin Brady at the IRS hearings:
“Texas Republican congressman Kevin Brady had the harshest criticism for Miller.
‘Is this still America?’ he asked him.
I put up the video of Congressman Mike Kelly voicing a similar tone, albeit different words:
…I am more concerned today than I was before and the fact that you all can do just about anything you want to anybody, you know you can put anybody out of business that you want anytime you want.
You talk about that you are a horribly run organization? If you’re on the other side of the fence, you are not given that excuse. When the IRS comes in, you are not allowed to be shoddy, you aren’t allowed to be run horribly, you’re not allowed to make mistakes, you’re not allowed to do one damn thing that doesn’t come in compliance and if you do, you are held responsible right then.”
The proper thought, the proper question is leading from “Is this still America?” is that we all should be contemplating “is this the America of which we speak of in glowing terms the present, or the one of our past”? Many on the Left are dumbfounded that the question is actually being asked – their answer is “Look at all the freedoms we have left!” and in comparison to many other countries, we do many more. But that is not the proper response – the proper response is a more proper question:
“What freedoms have we lost?”
Really, how much of our lives has already been predetermined by others in government (often because “it is good for you (from our perspective)” or politicians desperate to be seen as “doing something”)? How many decisions are no longer ours to make? How many mandates have been created that tell us what is allowable and what is not? We often look solely companies and not always complain about the regulations placed upon them – without realizing that each and every one of them is really a passthrough to each of us at an individual level. What worse, have we done this to ourselves. Is it too late to undo the harm to Economic Freedom, Educational Freedom, Personal Freedom? Heck, is it too late for the masses to understand that the iron bars almost ready to be cemented in?
In the Communist world, one had to have travel papers to move from around from one place to another. Detailed information was kept on each subject citizen on all kinds of topics and areas of general life. One could hardly breathe without have government by your side, watching your every movement and moment.
So what do we have now? Fusion intelligence centers collating millions of bits per second of our lives. We have millions of CCTV cameras watching our every move in populated centers (and often, not so populated areas) and increasingly, drones overhead (but “only for the best of purposes”). We see the up armoring of our domestic police such that there is little difference between them and our military (really, what does a domestic police force need an MRAP for?). The Frank / Dodd bill, the overhaul of our country’s financial sector, has given the government the right, without a warrant, to look at every financial transaction we make. Obamacare will allow our most private information to be shared with other government agencies – or to be sold (but you still can’t ask “what did my wife’s test show?” without getting the “Because of HIPAA privacy rules, I can’t tell you”) to third party companies. To the point that the IRS asked one group “What is the content of your prayers”????
The IRS (yes, the same IRS now in scandal mode with the same woman who oversaw the agents who threatened conservative and religious groups looking for tax exempt status now heading up the IRS’s Obamacare efforts) is now building what will be the country’s most invasive database of individual information simply to see if you or your household complies with the Obamacare mandates.
To the point that if you get a raise, you must report that to the IRS. If you change jobs, you must report that to the IRS. If your healthcare insurance status’s changes, you must report that to the IRS. How is this any different than “In the Communist world, one had to have travel papers to move from around from one place to another.“? It ISN’T! It is actually more appropriate for America – we have always more identified ourselves economically and what we can each achieve financially than by our temporal physical location. What is the difference, really, of lockdown of location or lockdown of finances? Both are as heinous as the other.
As Scott wrote:
I suppose is geographically, yes (if you’re not counting the no-go zones of course), this is still America. Unfortunately, the answer to that question is only in the affirmative in an ever shrinking set of dimensions, and the important ones are dropping off quickly into the excluded set, like those of culture, morals, freedom, liberty.
With respect to Individual Freedom and Liberty, he is exactly right.
So what are YOU going to do about it? Today? Tomorrow? And the next day? Or are YOU of the mindset of “”It is better to live on your knees than die a free man”? Today, you must choose.
Choose well.
