Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Suspicion Cast on the Law


It is the specific task of politics to apply the criterion of law to power, thereby structuring the use of power in a meaningful manner. It is not the law of the stronger, but the strength of the law that must hold sway.  Power as structured by law, and at the service of the law, is the antithesis of violence, which is a lawless power that opposes the law.

This is why it is important for every society to overcome any suspicion that is cast on the law and its regulations, for it is only in this way that arbitrariness can be excluded and freedom can be experienced as a freedom shared in common with others.

Freedom without law is anarchy, and hence, the destruction of freedom. Suspicion of the law, revolt against the law, will always arise when law itself appears to be no longer the expression of a justice that is at the service of all, but rather the product of arbitrariness and legislative arrogance on the part of those who have the power for it.

Joseph Ratzinger, “That Which Holds the World Together: The Pre-political Moral Foundations of a Free State,” in The Dialectics of Secularism: On Reason and Religion, 58

Reflection – I have been hesitant to write anything about the welter of political scandals on both sides of the Canada-US border these past weeks. I have my reasons for this hesitance: this is really ‘not that kind of blog,’ and I don’t really like the social media peer pressure thing where everyone has to jump on the latest story and blather away about it; the scandals in America have been far more serious than those in Canada, and I am not American, although I love and respect America very much; I didn’t have anything noteworthy to say, and I’m not simply going to clutch my pearls in horror to no good end.

So the other day when I happened to read the above essay by Joseph Ratzinger, which essentially begins with this passage, I said, ‘well, now I have something to say.’ In fact, Ratzinger says it all here. Power as structured by law, and at the service of law, is the antithesis of violence.

Of all the many, many scandals that have filled the news in recent weeks, I think the one that horrifies me the most is the American one of the IRS targeting conservative and pro-life groups for harassment in what appears to have been a pretty blatant (and successful) effort to silence them in the lead-up to the last presidential election.

Because the IRS (and Revenue Canada, its north-of-the-border equivalent) has such power in our current model of governance, the subversion of that power to the agendae of partisan and electoral politics is no small thing. In fact, it calls into question the very legitimacy of the Obama administration, and will continue to do so until there is a full disclosure of evidence, which can only be achieved by the appointment of an independent special prosecutor.

Right now, it appears that the whole power of the state’s taxation apparatus was put to the task of silencing the opponents of the executive branch of the US federal government. And the very appearance of this is effectively the destruction of the American claim to be a free, democratic society. That it has occurred under a party called ‘Democrat’ is a sad irony. Law does indeed seem to have degraded to be ‘the product of arbitrariness and legislative arrogance’ instead of being at the service of justice for all. The only path open back to a coherent society ‘of laws, not men’ is a full and free investigation into the matter (and the other half dozen or so scandals), and criminal charges for anyone who has in fact violated the law, up to and including the president, if need be.

Well, that’s all I have to say. I think Joseph Ratzinger’s words are worth disseminating and reflecting on, and I hope this blog post will play a small part in that process. Talk to you tomorrow.

7 comments:

  1. "American one of the IRS targeting conservative and pro-life groups for harassment in what appears to have been a pretty blatant (and successful) "

    Well, not exactly Father.

    Martin Sullivan in Tax Notes a June 3 piece published by a tax analysts group- notes that a a substantial minority- almost one third of the subset- did not fit that description.

    Honestly, I do not know if this was an administrative move or one by the IRS. Both could be equally culpable for different reasons.

    But generally, I think you have a weak argument here for persecution...and not a very Christian one. Can't see this sort of thing can help us very much.

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    1. Did I use the word persecution? And how is it unchristian to be alarmed at what (from all reports I have read) is a blatant abuse of government power? I don't think Christians are supposed to roll over supinely in abject obesiance to Caesar, are they? I will check out the Sullivan piece, though.
      I would point out that one pro-life group was told they could not protest at, specifically, Planned Parenthood, another was told they couldn't 'force' their beliefs on others, and a third group was asked 'what is the content of your prayers.' And let's not forget the blatantly illegal leaking of an anti-same sex marriage groups list of donors to the group who was their principal opponent, who then targeted said donors for harassment.
      The question is not 'were no other groups ever flagged', but was there a concerted effort to flag groups based on ideological markers that displease the current administration. I think there is quite a bit of evidence to that end, and much of it has been acknowledged as true and admitted as wrong by the IRS and the admin.

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  2. The IRS' own IG reconfirms that conservative groups were indeed targeted. As Father notes, this is a serious issue but once again it is becoming a non-issue because the MSM in the US has become nothing but a propaganda tool for the Administration.
    http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/27/irs-auditor-reaffirms-conservatives-not-liberals-w/

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  3. Father, may I offer these to the discussion?

    http://crooksandliars.com/dave-johnson/so-irs-didnt-target-conservative-grou

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/298619_IRS_targeting_included_liberal

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/298715_Republicans_Targeted_Tea_Party

    http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2013/06/26/the-irs-scandal-was-a-scam/194614

    http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2013/06/26/improper-irs-spending-was-statistically-insigni/194634

    http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2013/06/25/like-benghazi-fox-news-irs-scandal-winding-down/194585

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  4. The IRS 'scandal' is another lie from Darrell Issa:

    http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/national-interest/item/56672-by-the-way-the-irs-qscandalq-died-this-week

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  5. Thanks, those who have posted links to such trustworthy sites as Little Green Footballs and Media Matters! Always good to have such clear unbiased sources weigh in on this stuff... I stand by the facts as I have understood them to be, and my post and its argument stands, as far as I am concerned. God bless you.

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  6. I knew I'd have to follow up my previous post sometime after having extra time for reflection. The reason why I linked to liberal sites is that I wanted to offer a glimpse at the other side of this story. Surely looking at all the facts available is a means of finding truth. I have tried to do so at other websites, but for the most part I have given up. Since I never posted here before, I thought I would try to contribute to the discussion.

    Maybe there's more to the story then what I've seen from you or Media Matters. I try to hunt and peck to find truth. I intend to continue to do so.

    In the meantime, I'd like to offer up two more pages.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/irs-progressive-groups_n_3492679.html

    http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/what-irs-scandal

    Thank you.

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