I love the scandals currently plaguing the Obama White House. Anything that diminishes the bloated office of the presidency is a good thing for someone who believes in individual liberty. However, for those who of us who oppose this government, but are not just partisan Republicans, some thoughts:
The AP and Fox News had some of their phones tapped by the Justice (sic) Dept. Now this is bad. A decent government (if such a thing is possible) wouldn’t be so paranoid about the evil they’re committing to worry what the AP might say about them. However, the establishment press in this country is little more than a propaganda outlet for the regime in Washington so it’s hard to feel sorry when their masters abuse them a bit.
The IRS made it more difficult, and in some cases impossible, for conservative groups to get tax tempt status. Big deal. Presidential administrations have always used the IRS to harass their political opponents. This is nothing new, especially for Democrats. The real scandal should be that the government claims ownership of our income and uses this enforcement agency to extract whatever percentage they want at gunpoint.
Obama’s State Department seems to have done its best to distort and cover up what happened to the US Ambassador in Benghazi. The Republican neocons have been freaking out over this. It’s unclear exactly why this was covered up. I can’t see how there would have been any real political consequences for the president if it had been made clear this was a planned attack by Islamic militants as opposed to a protest over an internet video. But the real lesson is being completely ignored in this “scandal.” The lesson of course is that if the West overthrows a secular dictator in a country with lots of Islamic radicals, Islamic radicals are going to gain power and attack the West. Duh. The same thing happened in Iraq. Now McCain wants to repeat this mistake in Syria.
Well I hope Obama’s second term gets bogged down by these “scandals,” and he isn’t able to do anymore damage by compromising with the Republicans to pass more bad legislation. But let’s hope Libertarians do not lose sight of the real problem in Washington.
PS: There is some concern Obama might just decide to bomb Syria to distract the public from these news stories. It wouldn’t be the first time a President killed a bunch of Muslims to distract the public from a scandal. Let’s hope the regime doesn’t go down that road.