Didn't mean to jump in Herb but this really bothers me. If the IRS is used against political enemies we are finished.

Can't say as I was aware of that. Do you have proof or is it conjecture?

You answered mcd for me. Thanks.

Scandal Free ?? How about a President of the United States on national TV telling the world that if Congress does't like what he decides to do, "Sue me."

R, idea people are not synonous with cronies. You 've not spent much time in here. Disagreeing with Cheney and Bush politics doesn't make you racist -so why when I disagree with Obama policies, am I de -facto a racist? You 're usually more reasonable with your comments in here. Get away from the group think and get that people are highly frustrated and scared about the future of the country in terms of their vision of limited govt and freedom

It would be a helluva lot better than where we are right now.

Moreover, I started this thread as a joke to improve morale within the Gulch Online. Thanks for being a killjoy.

Some of the points that you make are correct, but as the person who started this post, I will tell you right out front that

1) Bush didn't take us to war on a lie. A former student of mine who became a CIA operative after graduation helped defuse some of Saddam's weapons. Nonetheless, I didn't support that war.

2) Most wars are pushed by companies that are Orren Boyles to Republicans, but the cronyism from the current president is an order of magnitude higher than anything I can remember.

3) Yes, the Gulch is utopian. Fine.
What we have now in this society is completely dysfunctional. Most of us are just sick and tired of being called names for doing what we were born to do and following the rules as they were properly taught as children.

The Gulch would not be an oligarchy because no here wants to rule or be ruled.

Reagan wasn't perfect. He did have Iran-Contra and the 1986 amnesty, but he was respectful of people like us.

I didn't vote for either Nixon, Ford, Bush, McLame, or Romney, so it's not a Republican thing in my mind. Truman and JFK had some problems, but I could have tolerated them. As much as I didn't like many of Clinton's aims, he wasn't a bad president.

Obama, Jimmy Carter, FDR, Woodrow Wilson, and Teddy Roosevelt all were/are progressives. While they progress, the country regresses, especially producers like those in the Gulch.

Most of the running up of the debt was due to the Democrat House members. I don't like most of the Republican House members, and I don't like any of the Democrats.

Obama could be my brother, and I would still detest him. He stands for everything that I and most people in the Gulch do not.

Shut up about the racism. I haven't encountered any racists in this forum yet, and when I do, I will call them out on it.

The IRS targeting was actually Phase 2. Phase 1 was the selective closing of GM and Chrysler dealerships. Those belonging to Republicans closed. Those belonging to Democrats didn't.

Rmcd, you're an idiot. Obama is a lousy president because he's a lousy president. Shut up about racism already. I'm so sick of you people crying "racism" for no reason. "Oh, look there's a white kid in front of a black kid in line for the bathroom!!!!RACISM!!!!"

Your interpretation of my views and those of most on this website are off-base, my friend. Most of us are not pushing a naïve utopian vision. Most of us are not excusing bad behavior and policies of current politicians by pointing to past bad behavior and policies of other politicians (of all parties).

The founding fathers of our country looked to the lessons of history and economics to guide their choices in structuring our constitutional republic, based on principles of federalism and democracy. They were worried about a government that was too powerful and abused the natural, individual freedoms of its citizens.

They wanted to avoid the "tyranny of the majority" which results from standard democracies. They wanted to avoid the "tyranny of the minority" which results from oligarchies and plutocracies.

So, they aimed for the middle, broadly distributing power among several levels of government (federalism = local, state, national). They distributed power among various branches of government at each level (legislative, judicial, executive).

Their view (and mine) was that power corrupts people over time. By broadly distributing power, corrupt politicians would compete with each other for power and hopefully limit any one politician from gaining too much power and more significantly endangering our individual freedoms.

You are free to believe whatever nonsense you wish. For the moment, America is still a free country (nominally speaking). I am not a racist, sexist, animalist, foodist, or any other "ist" you want to claim. I cherish my natural, individual freedoms.

I am worried that our government over decades has concentrated too much power in Washington D.C. and the resulting corruption, loss of freedom, and loss of prosperity is obvious.

As I see it, most on the Left naively believe that standard European Democracy (majority rules = tyranny of the majority) is incorruptible, no matter how much power is concentrated into the central government.

The Left also believe that economic freedoms in the form of property rights are not terribly important and should be minimized so that the government can accomplish the "greater good". The Left believes that giant Bureaucracies that micromanage our lives and economy are the answer to all of life's problems.

I, along with most on this website, disagree with the Left's view that socialism and bureaucratic domination is the proper actions of government. You don't have to agree with me, if that is your wish...

Not so much scandals, but let's not forget leaving God out of the Gettysburg Address.

Still to be determined. Doubt that the e-mails will show much. Still think it is possible a whistle blower will come forward and we will find the White House used the IRS to target political enemies.

Yep, that probably where I plagiarized the idea from.

The FCC shutdown of FNC and talk radio has been discussed for a number of years. I am surprised that there is "little progress" on that front.

And by the way, the takeover of the entire student loan business didn't even get into the tournament bracket!

IRS, no question. Not because it's any worse than Benghazi or the many others, but because it affects even those who are pro Obama and then tries to sell us the Brooklyn Bridge. Lost e-mails, indeed! My Granny's fanny!

You must have really like my comment on the other thread, NealS.

Is there an "app" for that?

They already have sort of the college loan forgiveness for government employees. Moreover, they kicked out the private lenders. Now even private universities like mine are more dependent on the government ... indirectly through student loans.