Howell-at-the-Moon
!Libertarian Rants! John Wingspread Howell
How's this for a "Rescue?"
Congress Slips IRS-Trojan Horse into the "Housing Rescue Bill"
It's 1984 in the People's Republic Through the Looking Glass
August 17, 2008
I
don't know when it started but for years now our Congress has been
taking lessons from Lewis Carroll, George Orwell and various current
and former Communist regimes in the titles they choose for various
legislation. You know the drill. If you're paying farmers not to plant
crops, you call it the Defense of Farming Bill. And so on and so on and
scooby doobie do!
So
buried in the current legislation to "bail out" people who face
foreclosure on their home loans is a provision to require that credit
card companies provide their customers and the IRS with a complete
printout of every charge made on plastic.
One
might not realize the importance of semantics to democracy but it is
crucial. Governments are not immune to "truth in advertising"
requirments. Most of us, regardless of religous affiliation or the lack
of which are famialiar with one scriptural quotation, "You will know
the truth and the truth will set you free." The opposite is also true.
Falsehood is the stuff of totalitarianism. Why do you think the
expression "a chain of lies" was coined? Lies become chains
constraining individual freedom.
The
first thing any citizen should expect from a democratic (small d)
government is the truth, and not just the truth in spin but the same
standard required for testimony under oath in democratic court rooms:
"the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
Iti
s ironic that in a society in which we have all become obsessed with
reading the labels on the food we eat, but not the laws we pass.
But
we need to start checking up on our elected representatives. We need to
be skeptical of any bill or program that proclaims itself virtuous.
Most likely it's jmeaning and purpose is just the opposite of the label
stamped on it.
I have some suggestions for ways to fight back also. I could send my happy tax payment in an empty envelope.
"Howoooo!"
John Howell-at-the-Moon
Links to related articles:
Fox News on Housing Rescue Bill
Howell-at-the-Moon Archive Your Letter from the IRS