Warning: The IRS May Be Hazardous To Your Health

The dialogue that follows is from a poignant moment during the 1981 comedy classic, "Arthur" where Linda (played by Liza Minelli) converses with Arthur's butler, Hobson (played by Sir John Gielgud).

Linda Marolla:  That sounds bad, have you seen a doctor?

Hobson:  Yes, and he has seen me.

Prior to this conversation, their relationship had been adversarial, but this brief interchange is a subtle personal moment where Hobson acknowledges that he is terminally ill.  How on Earth does this tie in with the IRS scandal?  Let's explore!

Looking at the current scandal, the worst case is that we have an administration reminiscent of Richard Nixon’s - trying to punish “enemies” via the power of the Federal government.  Some might make the argument that Barack Obama is the smartest man to ever assume the Presidency, yet he is unaware of the operations under the Executive Branch.  I'm not going to make that argument.  At a minimum, we have rogue bureaucrats singling out citizens for coercive treatment simply because they do not agree with the citizen’s political beliefs OR because the citizen’s political beliefs conflict with the bureaucrat’s and/or the Administration's beliefs.  For argument sake, we will accept that this scandal was carried out by rogue bureaucrats.

Regardless of party affiliation, using the IRS in this manner is an abuse of government power.  If  we know anything about the Founders, their desire was to limit the power of the government and they feared a government that oppressed the citizens.  After all, they had just fought a war against a King who treated them as subjects, not citizens.

Let’s move ahead into the future where bureaucrats will be deciding who gets medical care.  For example, say you are in need of a kidney transplant and a Conservative is in charge of the transplant list.  This specific Conservative checks into the political affiliation of everyone on the transplant list and moves all Republicans to the top of the list and all Democrats to the bottom of the list OR off the list completely.  We all can accept that this is WRONG.  It could happen vice versa where the bureaucrat is a Liberal and the potential kidney recipient is a Republican.  My point is not about who is the perpetrator and who is the victim of this dynamic, but about the existence of the dynamic.  Is this how we want our healthcare to work?  A sane person would want a doctor involved in this decision.  Well, the dynamic I just described is not a hypothetical.  A bureaucrat will be in charge courtesy of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and that is just ONE of many reasons why it was opposed so vigorously.

For those who have not paid attention, the IRS is the enforcement mechanism for Obamacare.  I know, I know, we had to pass it so that we could see what was in it.  We now have overwhelming evidence of why IRS bureaucrats should not be in charge of medical decisions.  Keep in mind – the ACA was deliberately written this way, not by accident.  Makes one wonder why?

So, if Linda Marollo were to ask Hobson this question in 2014 and a bureaucrat sympathetic to the Occupy movement was responsible for his case, Hobson might respond,

"No, an IRS agent saw that I am a butler for a 1%'er and denied my request to see a specialist".

This scenario could play out differently where someone who may be highly religious could be reviewing the case of someone who lives a more hedonistic lifestyle and denies that person access to needed treatment.  I don't believe we want a system set up where this arrangement can be played out as it is bad for all US citizens.

Independent of political stripe, I believe we want Hobson to respond:

"Yes, and he (the doctor) has seen me".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uTO30ONRbg