When Abuse of Power is Considered a Virtue

How far does liberal/progressive brainwashing go? We conservatives know how frustrating arguing or debating a liberal can be. We argue facts and they make up facts and when that doesn’t win the argument for them, they resort to ridicule and name calling as a last resort. Most of the time we know that they know they are being dishonest. They just don’t care. For them, the ends always justify the means. For some However, perhaps many. the brainwashing has been complete. In these cases the liberal see progressivism as a religion. By that I mean that they take it as an article of faith that everything they do is virtuous. They see all conservatives as evil for daring to be against Big Government. Therefore, anything they do to fight that evil must be virtuous. Look at this quote of Kirsten Powers at USA Today, which I found at Questions and Observations:

“These scandals can’t possibly be blamed on liberalism because liberals are good, virtuous people. Therefore the Republicans who are claiming these scandals indicate flaws in big government are unfairly twisting the truth for political advantage. Big government is clearly wonderful when run by virtuous liberals.”

Do you see what I mean? Powers is not being devious. Powers is a devotee of the godless religion of Big Government run by virtuous liberals. No amount  of logic or facts is going to break her faith in liberalism and Big Government.

This religous-like belief in the virtue of liberalism goes a long way toward explaining the behavior and actions of President Obama and his administration. Let’s take the case of senior IRS official Lois Lerner. Yesterday at a congressional hearing on the issue of the IRS targeting conservative groups applying for tax free status, she smugly said she refused to answer any questions; stipulating her 5th Amendment rights. However, before claiming her 5th Amendment rights, Ms. Lerner made an opening statement, in which she claimed she had broken no laws or IRS rules or procedures and et., etc. I suspect that Lois Lerner, like Kirsten Powers, believes to her very core than neither she or her colleagues did anything wrong. They are, after all, virtuous liberals who are fighting evil (conservatives). Unfortunately for Ms. Lerner, she would have been better off keeping her holier-than-thou opening comments to her self. Because of her opening statement, she may be ordered to testify about the content of that statement and failing to do so would land her in jail. As Doug Ross reported:

She began with a self-righteous opening statement claiming she did nothing wrong. Only after defending herself did she invoke her Fifth Amendment rights.

Republicans on the committee thought they had been defeated, but [former prosecutor Rep. Trey] Gowdy knew better.Once a person issues a statement, Fifth Amendment privilege is waived on the substance of the statement. By issuing an opening statement, Ms. Lerner was testifying. Her right to stay silent on that testimony was gone forever.

Will committee chairman Issa go to the mat over this? Here is what Doug Ross had to say:

Since Lerner waived Fifth Amendment privileges, Issa must compel her testimony. If she refuses, then she must be arrested and held in contempt of Congress. She can sit in a cell until she agrees to testify.

This might not end the matter. Susan McDougal spent eighteen months in jail to protect the Clintons. Maybe Lerner is willing to remain in jail to protect President Obama… Maybe she is not.

…This woman is no victim. There is a criminal element in our government. Using the IRS to target political opponents is a crime. Lerner is suppressing information on who may have been in charge of ordering those crimes. She blundered on the stand, which is her fault.

Like many Obama employees, she has used the legal system to keep the truth at bay. Unlike her colleagues, she was less clever about it. She turned out to be the weak link.

I would go much further. I will shamefully admit that I am not above going after a pound of flesh when I believe it is due me. But, my feelings on this go way beyond wanting a pound of flesh. The abuse of power by the IRS, the DOJ, and the State Department in these current scandals are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Our government is infested with liberal zealots from top to bottom in each and every one of the alphabet soup of agencies. The is kind of criminal behavior may be the accepted norm in Chicago; but it should not be allowed to become the norm for our federal government.

Will Congressman Darrell Issa and his Republican colleagues take this opportunity to do some serious housecleaning? Will they take advantage of an MSM that is finally beginning to react to the abuse of the current administration?

I’m too much of a cynic to believe that much will happen. My guess is that the GOP will let Obama off the hook if he throws a few small fries under the bus. If the roles were reversed, you know that the Democrats would not let the crisis go to waste.

Well, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?