Posted on 06/03/2013 11:02:56 PM PDT by neverdem
Sometimes when youre writing part of a column you keep getting close to the meaning of what you want to say but you dont quite get there, the full formulation of the idea eludes you. Then two days later, relaxing in conversation with friends, the thought comes to you whole, and you think: Thats what I meant to say. Thats what I was trying to get.
This week I had one of those moments. I kept trying, the paragraph kept not quite working, the deadline came.
I got an email last night that had the effect of a clarifying conversation. It was from a smart friend who works in government. He understood the point I was trying to make about how the current IRS scandal is different from previous ones and more threatening to the American...
--snip--
But my friend got to the essence. He wrote, The left likes to say, Watergate was worse! Watergate was baddont get me wrong. But it was elites using the machinery of government to spy on elites. . . . Its something quite different when elites use the machinery of government against ordinary people. Its a whole different ball game.
It is.
Thats exactly what I meant.
In previous IRS scandals it was the powerful abusing the powerfula White House moving against prominent financial or journalistic figures who, because of their own particular status or the machineries at their disposal, could pretty much take care of themselves. A scandal erupts, there are headlines, and then people go on their way. The dreadful thing about this scandal, what makes it ominous, is that this is the elites versus regular citizens. Its the mighty versus normal people. Its the all-powerful directors of the administrative state training their eyes and moving on uppity and relatively undefended Americans...
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
I’ll stand by my position as posted on this thread. No one is buying your snake oil this week.
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