Ordinary for a Republic

U.S. President Barack Obama is currently serving his second term and, as most observers of American politics can attest, that is when the scandals usually come out. Of course, it is a little more difficult with the current occupant of the White House because the media industry (news and entertainment alike) so heavily favored him in his initial run and reelection that commenting on any missteps must be extremely uncomfortable for them. Like Bush and the lead-up to the Iraq War, they might admit their mistaken lack of scrutiny -but only after the fact when it is too late to actually do anything about it. There is the continuing fallout over the terrorist attack in Libya, the “Justice” Department violating the privacy of the Associated Press and the revelation that the Internal Revenue Service was targeting conservative groups opposed to the policies of the current President for extra scrutiny. No matter how one cuts it, things are not looking good for the big B.O. who has either been flagrantly dishonest or (if we are to believe he only ever learned about any of these things when they were finally reported on by the news media) grossly incompetent. Of course, these sorts of things happen in countries all over the world and scandal and politicians go together hand-in-hand. Again, especially in second terms, American presidents have a habit of getting into trouble. Ronald Reagan had the Iran-Contra affair, Bill Clinton had the Monica Lewinsky scandal and George W. Bush had the case of the incredible disappearing weapons of mass destruction. It is nothing new.

The one I would like to draw special focus on for our purposes today is the IRS going after conservative groups. This too is not entirely original. President Richard Nixon was also accused of using the IRS to punish his political enemies (for those unaware, the IRS is the agency which collects federal income taxes and most Americans fear them about as much as your average German probably feared the Gestapo). This is no minor issue as the IRS has vast and far-reaching powers, hence being known by many as “the most powerful collection agency in the world”. They can violate your privacy, take your property and even clap you in chains and haul you off to prison if they think you have not paid your feudal federal overlord his required tribute. They can completely ruin your life and they have (not a few times) done so to people only to find out later it had all been a case of mistaken paperwork. The IRS is nothing to fool around with. Presidents being accused of using this most fearsome weapon to punish their political enemies is also nothing new though it can be extremely difficult to prove. This time, as usual, President Obama is claiming he had nothing to do with it and, again, only learned about what was going on in his own government from watching television. That last part is a little hard to believe but, even though the political nature of this scandal is undeniable, it is possible that the President had nothing to do with it. If it is proven that he did; that would be an impeachable offense -but I doubt it will come to that and, even if it did, no U.S. President has ever actually been removed from office following an impeachment.

It is perfectly understandable that many on the right in America would, in the absence of any concrete evidence, believe that the President had something to do with this. Many of these same sort of conservative groups have, in the past, been lumped together with violent radicals and terrorists by the Obama administration. It is perfectly clear he doesn’t like these people and the feeling is mutual. I make it a rule to have nothing to do with organizations or political parties but even on my own, I have no doubt that, were I known to him, the American president would have as low an opinion of me as I do of him. It doesn’t bother me, but it does strike me as rather disconcerting for those “conservative” republicans with fairly mainstream views who would fall into the same camp. More than those people though, I wonder what, if at all, the people in the monarchies of the world think about this state of affairs. Do they realize what this means? And do the republicans on those monarchies arguing against a hereditary head of state realize what it is they are arguing for?

In the great Commonwealth of Australia, for example, I wonder if they look at what is happening in the United States and appreciate their own good fortune? In the United States, if you are on (or anywhere near) the political “right” there can be little doubt in your mind that the President of your country, the head of state and government and the commander-in-chief does not like you at all and possibly even despises you. Moreover, he or at least many of his underlings are not averse to using the power of the state against you -and you pay the salary, benefits and pensions for these people (all of which are quite generous). How would that make you feel? Yet, this is the system that Australian republicans and their comrades in other monarchies wish to foist on their people. People living in constitutional monarchies should look at what is going on in the United States, which is nothing new, and cling all the more tightly to their system in which they have a non-partisan and non-political head of state who can (literally) do them no harm whatsoever as opposed to the republican system where absolutely everything is political, everything is partisan and there is no government department, agency or service that is not constantly locked in a struggle to advance their own agenda and suppress those who think differently than they do. Every elected government in the world has partisans, that goes without saying, but it must be nice for those living in monarchies to know that their head of state and commander-in-chief doesn’t actively hate them.

But even if we are to take President Obama at his word, that he knew absolutely nothing about the Benghazi talking points tampering, the IRS targeting his political enemies (how convenient) and the Justice Department spying on the Associated Press it certainly doesn’t speak well for the accountability of the U.S. government. After all, the advocates of a republic always tout accountability as one of their greatest arguments, yet, here we have an elected president who claims to know next to nothing about all of these major events going on in his own administration. Furthermore, even in this American republic which has a better record than most, is full of departments and agencies like the IRS which have extensive, sweeping powers, which can put you in jail, seize your property and totally ruin your life and they are all being run by people no one ever voted for, who cannot be voted out of office and who often keep their jobs regardless of who the occupant of the White House is. It seems to me that anyone living in a monarchy need only to look at the United States right now and thank God for their reigning sovereign.