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Public’s skepticism justified
By Seth Morgan
President Obama delivering the commencement speech at Ohio State University said, “Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems … They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices ...”
Those comments were delivered May 5, 2013. Just six days later on May 11, Lois Lerner of the Internal Revenue Service admitted that the IRS had unfairly targeted tea party groups when considering whether or not to grant tax exempt status. Over the last couple weeks, we learned that the scandal at the IRS was far more targeted than just at tea party groups and far broader reaching than several IRS employees in Cincinnati.
With a profound inconvenience in timing, the administration now finds itself answering questions about illegal seizure of personal records from reporters of the Associated Press and the mishandling of the attacks on Americans the night of September 11, 2012, in Libya.
While the administration continues its strategies of playing ignorant, feigned outrage, and arrogant disregard, the American people have a right to wonder about the implications of this all. After all, the president warned us not to think that “tyranny is always lurking just around the corner.” The president thinks we should “reject these voices” — considering the American public’s skepticism as apparently “sinister.”
Ironically, it was not the tea party or conservatives who started such “sinister” skepticism, but rather our founders. James Madison, writing in Federalist Paper 51 said, “What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections of human nature?” Recognizing that government, which was to be run by humans, could be a destructive force, our very own Constitution specifically laid out restraints on government. The federal government and its administrators were not granted the “benefit of the doubt”; instead it was given specific duties and restricted from doing all others.
The scandal at the IRS does not come as a result of poor government leadership alone. Simply replacing this administration with another does not automatically secure the integrity of our government. As our founders knew and we are learning anew, the only way to truly keep government’s power checked is to strictly limit such power.
Abuse of power
It is impossible to give the federal government the level of information, money, or power we do today, without seeing an abuse of such power, extending now even to our personal health care. This is why our debates on public policy should not just include whether the policy is a good idea, but whether or not it extends beyond the original purpose and power of government.
Mr. President, unfortunately, your administration has proven what your words failed to — our founders were right. The American people should embrace healthy skepticism of government and not accept that merely replacing an administration is enough to keep government’s power in check.
Our founders understood it, our president abused it, and now we, the American people must take it back — that is, the power of the American government.
Seth Morgan, a Dayton area business consultant, is a former 36th District Ohio state representative and regular speaker and writer for the Ohio Tea Party movement.