Our Trust in Government

For John, BLUF:  The IRS appears to be out of control and that is as bad as being out of control, from a political point of view.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

When the Obama Administration kicked off I had some hope that the promise of transparency and openness in government would be fulfilled.  What was I thinking?

From long time Washington Post reporter Dan Balz, we have an opinion piece on President Obama's current situation.  It is titled "Obama’s trust-in-government deficit".  That the IRS is involved is doubly problematic for the President, in that success for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act hinges on acceptance of the IRS as a trustworthy agent of implementation.  If we can't trust the IRS to give some local Tea Party organization a tax exempt status and find it is asking about what people "pray about", it is going to be rough sledding.  While the question about "prayer meetings" may actually be legitimate, it is well beyond the giggle limit♠ for many Americans.  Trust depends upon predictability.  Americans are not seeing the kind of predictability they think they should have from the IRS.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  It would appear that acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller realized the problem, given that he ducked and weaved around this issue while testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee this last Friday.