It’s Time for a Reset!

In the past I have used this page to be pretty fair but generally on a right side of the matter. To be fair, I am a right-of-center kind of guy, but I am also a concerned citizen and an American first and foremost. I will not go back and purge this blog nor will I surgically remove blogs that are overly partisan, they are the record of the past and will remain for posterity; however, in the future I will be presenting an approach that will be a lot less partisan and a lot more American.

Be warned, this may offend some and confuse others.  But if you move your tuner around the radio or TV dial you will get all the overly partisan rhetoric you need. It is time to make statements that speak to our future and not recall the tit-for-tat missteps of the past. It’s time to work together on the issues of the day while still holding our values and beliefs dear. We must be truthful to our beliefs but lay down the raw nerves and use our common sense to govern.  

With that said let’s look at the past few weeks. We have been inundated with a series of hearings on the IRS’s targeting of Conservative groups during the application process for tax exempt status. These are important hearings and there is an important investigations going on and we cannot allow these hearings and the investigation become a partisan assault by members of each party.

During today’s congressional hearing Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash) claimed these hearings are a Republican witch-hunt for the purpose of embarrassing the White House and he went on to claim that the groups being targeted shouldn’t have applied for tax-exempt status and this wouldn’t have happened to them. The old me would have wondered if Rep McDermott made the same claim to Progressive organizations applying for tax-exempt status during this time; however, what I really find upsetting is that he would accuse people applying for a perfectly legal status to be the problem instead of trying to come to the crux of the actual problem. That’s sort of like those folks who blame a scantily-clad woman for being the cause of a sexual assault against her – RIDICULOUS.

Truth is the IRS has been used to varying degrees in targeting certain groups at the whim of politicos of both parties; regardless of whether these politicos were members of congress or sitting in the White House (including Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Clinton and Bush-43 to name a few). This must end and we must reform our tax system. At 70,000 plus pages, the tax code is quite possibly the easiest way for a politician to go after organizations and individuals via the government hammer – FEEL SAFE YET?

There isn’t a single member of congress who would state that the tax code and IRS is good-to-go and does not need any reformation. Yet while this is an issue that everyone says needs to be addressed and taken care of, all anyone in Washington will ever do is spout talking points and discuss what needs to happen in the “future.”

I have news for us all; regardless of whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Greenie, Libertarian, Whig, or whatever; if we don’t get the tax system reformed in this country, address the solvency of Social Security and Medicare, reduce the national debt, eliminate yearly budget deficits, and control immigration then there very well not be much of a future to concern ourselves with.

Partisan issues will always be with us. It would be impossible to be a people of varying beliefs and values and not have some partisan issues. But regardless of party affiliation, until those in Washington and Austin become more interested in governing  and less concerned with “scoreboard” or winning elections; NOTHING WILL CHANGE!

More to Come!

Bill