Simplifying the tax system to either a flat tax or the Fair Tax Would go a long way to making the government smaller automatically. It would certainly reduce the intrusiveness of the IRS or whatever agency Is created to replace it.
But I think we’ve got to get to the matter of the abuse of executive power first. Obama has corrupted or manipulated every single agency of the government. Those that, for one reason or another, he could not control, he has simply ignored. He has filled the government with extra-congressionally appointed czars who report only to him. He simply ignores legal decisions that attempt to restrict his power.
For our system of checks and balances to work, everyone involved must respect it. We weren’t mentally or legally prepared for a chief executive who, from the very start, did not respect it.
The only good thing is that he acted so blatantly, the bridge to the White House, as you have appropriately called it, may actually be easier to construct. I think it all depends on the will of Congress to go after this. Maybe the usurpation of their powers and the undermining of our system will make them angry enough to pursue it.
I would accept reasserting checks and balances and restoring respect for them as a reasonable argument for going after punishing abuses first. If that happened before tax reform and government shrinkage I would not be unhappy - provided the reforms come quickly after. I still favor priority to reforms.
I agree addressing abuse is important, and if criminal charges were to be brought against individuals in the IRS it would have an immediate and wonderfully chilling effect on other bureaucrats in other agencies who might be inclined to tip the scales in certain directions. It likely could have a systemic effect beyond a few individuals and beyond a single agency. This is not just abuses perpetrated by the few, but a systemic rot infecting every part of government to one degree or another.
Ultimately, we need to win over more people to small and limited government arguments. There are a lot of limited government people, but not nearly enough to bring it about. I think this may be the opening to bring about a change in some people’s thinking, and an opportunity to move toward systemic changes.
My analysis of this whole mess is that the Left went a bridge too far in a jump-off from one of their original secured strongpoints.
Basically, they've infiltrated & taken over a number of .gov institutions across the country, and then applied a litmus test on who gets hired, basically cutting off funding for their enemies wherever they can. They force the conservative/Republican enemy to get jobs in the private sector, where they're strip-mined at .gov gunpoint for the cash to reward their Progressive troops in government and elsewhere.
For example, Lerner was is making 88 bucks an hour.
The bridge too far is that they thought they could extend the money starvation with the IRS and other feral agencies, and figured that the press, which has long been absorbed and co-opted, would not spill the beans.
I imagine the POSUS is REALLY, REALLY pissed about the existence of the Interwebs just about now. Those people are still of a "certain age" where they don't really understand how information gets disseminated on the Net.