Soap Box

Ever since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, except for very brief pauses, government entitlements have been on the increase until they are now considered by many to be just what the name implies, an entitlement, a birthright, a lifelong stipend, a cradle-to-grave monthly check that increases every time another child is born.

Roughly 50% of America is dependent on the government to one degree or another and delivers a solid voting block for the candidate who promises to deliver the most goodies.

Presidents who continually increase the public handout can do no wrong in the eyes of a majority of the recipients of their largesse. And this attitude of invincibility spills over into the public support of everything and every decision that president makes and gives him unprecedented latitude to blame everything on someone else, shirking responsibility, appointing incompetent, arrogant people to positions of great power and taking political partisanship to a historical high.

Even America's great last resort leveler of the playing field, the Supreme Court is perilously close to becoming a team player. Chief Justice Roberts has shown his true colors and a couple more appointments could move the court solidly into the liberal camp.

This blind devotion of half the nation coupled with the sycophantic drooling of big media have given Barack Obama a license to do, with impunity, just about anything he wants to and since the old adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely is true, it creates a dangerous situation for the survival of the Republic.

President Obama claims to know nothing about the IRS targeting, of only of conservative political and Tea Party groups, but religious organizations. Even the venerable Billy Graham organization was targeted, although the Muslim mosques were left conspicuously unscathed.

The truth of the matter is that if the president didn't know about it, heads should roll for not informing him but it's hard to believe that such a blatant corruption of the most powerful domestic entity in the federal government could totally escape his notice.

But be that as it may, whether the president knew or not, using the IRS to settle political scores and repressing American citizens in order to win an election sets a dangerous precedent that smacks of the midnight knock on the door and secret police and if these outrageous excesses are not curbed, every tax paying citizen who doesn't agree with the president's policies will be subject to harassment.

Freedom is given up in increments, it doesn't all go away at the same time, and the moves are sometimes subtle and when you have a sell out media who selectively reports the news they slip by in the thick folds of a congressional bill and it is the law of the land and an unsuspecting public is confronted with the ramifications.

Eric Holder's tenure at the Justice Department has been a farce. Holder is not an Attorney General, he's a political hack who practices selective prosecution, ignores the constitution and has turned the department into a quasi-spy agency.

The IRS asking questions about the personal lifestyles and religious beliefs of people applying for tax-free status is way beyond the pale and scope of their authority and Ms. Lerner's pleading the Fifth Amendment confirms there's some fire behind all that smoke and somebody is responsible and the ultimate responsibility should be addressed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

We all know about the deadly juvenile folly of "Fast and Furious" and the disgraceful refusal of help to four Americans being slaughtered at a consulate in Libya and the crushing national debt that has ballooned under Obama's watch and yet he says none of it's his fault and about half the citizens believe him, but the moral high ground he's taking is shaky.

The truth is a powerful thing and when it's being ignored has a way of getting even.

That day is coming.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels​