This past year will be remembered for many things, but
let 2013 be hailed mainly for this: It was the year that the genius of George
Orwell's "Animal Farm" became clear in America.
Efforts to centralize control in the name of
"fairness" have led to a society that is ever more at the mercy of a
federal power - one that decides who does and does not succeed.
The winners are favored special interests, political
cronies and wealthy lobbyists. The losers are everyone else.
Consider: Maryland authorities last week launched an
investigation into the shootings of two bald eagles in Montgomery County. It
isn't clear if the federally protected birds were shot on purpose, or if some
poor soul mistook them for vultures. No matter. The Maryland Natural Resources
Police (there is such a thing) has gone full vice squad—publicizing a hotline
number, dangling a reward, and reminding folks that the federal penalty is a
fine of $5,000 per eagle and up to a year in prison.
AND YET...
This behavior contrasts with a very different headline,
from a month ago: "U.S. to Allow Eagle Deaths - to Aid Wind Power,"
read a Dec. 6 Associated Press story about a new federal rule that allows wind
companies favored by the Obama administration to avoid the law. These select
companies can kill bald and golden eagles, free of prosecution, for 30 years.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
Within minutes of 2013's beginning, Congress had passed
its huge new tax-cliff increase, which President Obama crowed would ensure that
"millionaires and billionaires" will "pay their fair
share." Yet included in that bill was $40 billion in exemptions for the
politically powerful — Michigan Nascar-track owners, rum distillers, renewable
energy firms, and so on.
(*SIGH*)
ObamaCare was passed in the name of equalizing health
care. Yet it was Congress and its staffers who got special dispensation to keep
a generous health subsidy when no other Americans did.
It was powerful corporate America, with its influential
lobbyists, that got an additional year to meet the insurance mandate - when
individuals did not.
It was the unions that got a reprieve from a
health-insurance tax when individuals and small businesses were left to pick up
the tab.
ALL TRUE...
In August, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a
new ethanol mandate, though it exempted one lucky refinery in Louisiana, out of
143 nationwide. That refinery happens to be under the patronage of Democratic
Sen. Mary Landrieu, up for re-election this year.
Congressional Democrats advanced measures in 2013 to pile
new taxes on fossil fuel companies. This, as the Energy Department continued to
absorb the losses of Solyndra, A123 Systems, and other taxpayer-funded
green-energy firms, some of which are owned by political donors to Mr. Obama.
The Justice Department in November settled with J.P.
Morgan for $13 billion, for the sin of dealing in "toxic"
mortgage-backed securities. Some of that payout will go to Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, sources of the housing collapse that are nonetheless wards of the
state - and thus, apparently, safe from Justice lawsuits.
Citibank, so immersed in subprime as to require a
bailout, also escaped Obama prosecutors. But Citibank is the producer of - and
landing spot for - key Obama appointees, including Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
(*SHRUG*)
In April, the IRS was outed for targeting conservative
political groups. The Obama administration in December issued new rules that
will institutionalize this silencing of conservative free speech under the
guise of regulating 501(c)(4) organizations. Unions, which file under a
different IRS nonprofit category, will continue unmolested.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
The EPA this summer conducted an armed raid of a mining
facility in Alaska, over putative violations of the Clean Water Act. The
Federal Trade Commission harassed a non-profit representing piano teachers,
over ginned up anti-trust violations. The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration began cracking down on small family farms, operations meant to
be exempt from that agency's regulation.
(By contrast, the administration has yet to announce a
single prosecution of a single individual at the IRS.)
Mr. Obama explained in December that IRS employees were
simply victims of a "difficult law to interpret." Maybe like the
Clean Water Act, or antitrust laws, or OSHA rules?
NAH...
Maybe not.
There's plenty more, but you get the picture.
In "Animal Farm" George Orwell set out to show
how power inevitably corrupts, no matter how noble the intention. A group of
animals initially centralize control over the farm to ensure that "All
animals are equal." Yet the novel ends with the barnyard commandants - high
on their righteousness - reducing the commandments to just one: "All
animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Indeed, in ObamaWorld, many millionaires, health-care
buyers, energy companies, subprime dealers, political groups, and bird killers
are more equal than others.
Our new elite is ever more defined by who has the best
pull with the administration.
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