Joe Blow down the street doesn’t pay his taxes and he gets fined. Tim Geithner (or pick from an array of politicians or bureaucrats)
doesn’t pay his taxes and he becomes the U.S. Treasury Secretary.
Get it? If you’re an Ivy Leaguer (preferably Harvard or Yale), and if you have the right connections, as Obama’s mother had with Geithner’s father, and if you are a politician or high-ranking bureaucrat on the federal level, you can often operate above the law, with little or no fear of being prosecuted, much less fined, even if you get caught.
You can skirt not only the little laws that everyone else has to obey, but also the big laws, as spelled out in the Constitution..
But for lowly Joe Blow, ignorance is no excuse.
Mush Mouths
Over the decades, the politician/educator class has succeeded in turning the Constitution into a pile of mush and has fed this mush to dumbed-down aides and students who eat this mush and regurgitate it down the line to their unsuspecting minions. It is much easier to be lazy and pass yourself off as being charitable (at others’ expense, of course) than it is to be disciplined with your own mind, other’s money, and the big laws.
Where Is Law Enforcement of the Big Laws?
It is amazing that the FBI, U.S. Marshalls, and Secret Service go after those who sell drugs and counterfeit our currency, but somehow, when politicians pass “laws” that ignore or circumvent the enumerated powers allotted to the federal government under the Constitution, nothing happens. So, when politicians violate the big laws, they don’t even get a call from the FBI, U.S. Marshalls, or the Secret Service.
And why not? Do we have to wait for someone to bring suit, as is the case with some attorneys general and hope our beloved Supremes rule in favor of upholding the Constitution? What should really happen is that Congress would police itself and, failing that, the federal police would swoop in and arrest anyone on the House floor who dared pass unconstitutional legislation.
Sound far fetched? Naïve? Impossible? Sure, based on past experience, but the little laws are pretty clear and ignorance of them is no excuse. The big laws are also pretty clear and ignorance of them can be no excuse for violating them as well. Break out the handcuffs. Then break out the champagne.
Bad laws are the worst form of tyranny.
– Edmund Burke
cross-posted from the Iowa Tenth Amendment Center
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