EDITORIAL
Scandal: And They Shall Eat Their Own …
By Anthony Wile - May 18, 2013

And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness … – King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)

Commentator Peggy Noonan has written a Wall Street Journal editorial entitled, "This Is No Ordinary Scandal: Political abuse of the IRS threatens the basic integrity of our government."

Noonan is often, or at least occasionally, insightful, and in this case, I was pleased to see her sentiment conforms to an editorial I wrote last Saturday:

This is a big deal. Unlike other IRS problems throughout the years, this one features not just individual "enemies" but also a broad cross section of US citizens that are concerned about the growing unconstitutional actions of their government.

But Noonan neglects to make an important point that I will mention toward the end of this article.

Let's look at the broader picture first. The US is supposedly engaged in something like 75 wars and skirmishes abroad and the invasions of privacy taking place on the home front are equally startling.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security orders hundreds of millions of dum-dum rounds but its officials seem to feel it is not incumbent on them to explain why. This same vast institution is building an extraordinary headquarters in Washington, DC and an equally extraordinary spy-facility in the Midwest that will supposedly scoop up every bit of communication that takes place throughout the US.

Why are these scandals afflicting the administration now? I can't help but wonder if this sudden upsurge in indignation against the invasive use of government force is indicative of sudden shift in the arrogant invasiveness that permeates the US capitol.

There are three possibilities, so far as I am concerned. The first is that these three scandals are simply a legitimate outgrowth of the legislative process.

The second is that the larger powers supporting the Democratic administration and Obama in particular have grown tired of him for some reason.

The third reason is that these three scandals in particular represent the power of what we often call the Internet Reformation. While scandals have always beset Washington, the breathtaking rapidity with which these blossomed and expanded may be indicative of how modern communication undermines damage control and resists minimization.

And, yes, I would tend to believe the third reason – the power of the Internet itself – is driving the rapidity and evolution of these scandals. It is not enough anymore to claim executive privilege while attempting to conceal abuses of political privilege.

The same transparency that afflicts the private citizen is now beginning to affect Washington – and other Western regimes – as well. Just look how relentlessly the globalist agenda has been exposed.

The current DC scenario is quite a spectacle. Here's more from Noonan.

We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate. The reputation of the Obama White House

has, among conservatives, gone from sketchy to sinister, and, among liberals, from unsatisfying to dangerous. No one likes what they're seeing. The Justice Department assault on the Associated Press and the ugly politicization of the Internal Revenue Service have left the administration's credibility deeply, probably irretrievably damaged. They don't look jerky now, they look dirty. The patina of high-mindedness the president enjoyed is gone.

Something big has shifted. The standing of the administration has changed.

As always it comes down to trust. Do you trust the president's answers when he's pressed on an uncomfortable story? Do you trust his people to be sober and fair-minded as they go about their work? Do you trust the IRS and the Justice Department? You do not.

… It is not even remotely possible that all this was an accident, a mistake. Again, only conservative groups were targeted, not liberal. It is not even remotely possible that only one IRS office was involved … What happened at the IRS is the government's essential business. The IRS case deserves and calls out for an independent counsel, fully armed with all that position's powers. Only then will stables that badly need to be cleaned, be cleaned.

… This is about the integrity of our system of government and our ability to trust, which is to say our ability to function.

Sure enough, it IS about the integrity of the system. But Noonan misses the opportunity to explain the "why" as well as the "what." In my view, there was never any chance that the technology wielded enthusiastically against the body politic and so-called enemies abroad would not eventually also attack the politicians doing the wielding.

What has been created throughout the West especially has now, in my view, begun to "eat its own children." Before all this is over, we may see a new political era – for better or worse.

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