"Inappropriate Behavior"

I remember when I was in school and if the teacher caught you with gum in your mouth, she would sometimes have you place that gum on the end of your nose as an object lesson. There were times when poor behavior meant a trip to the principal’s office for a “talking to”. If one had a severe infraction, it was possible to have your parents called in for the dreaded “conference”. If more inappropriate behavior continued, you could suffer a suspension from school.

These actions were all meant to help us to understand that we live in a society of laws and rules which must be followed to maintain a civilized world. We have a Constitution which gives us a blueprint of our rights under the laws of the land. Our Founding Fathers gave us those first ten amendments as the most important rights we have as American citizens; those rights that are sacrosanct and should never be abridged. Tampering with those rights is much more than “inappropriate behavior” when a person or organization purposely uses their position to manipulate or punish any American citizen for any reason.

We have a government that was constructed to be a servant to all citizens, regardless of race, creed or political philosophy. We have rules and regulations that have been installed for our benefit and protection, not for punishment or intimidation. We should be able to trust any government agency or person holding a position of public trust, and we should not have to fear any action from those agencies or persons of power.

This week, we have seen two situations where our government seems to have failed American citizens in the exercise of some offices of power.

It appears that the Justice Department has been monitoring confidential communications of the Associated Press trying to find information that was held as protected speech under the first amendment. This type of “Big Brother” action certainly seems like “inappropriate behavior” and should call for a trip to the “principal’s office” or perhaps a Congressional Hearing, don’t you think? Once again, the Holder Justice Department is involved in a scandal of great magnitude!

We have found out this week that the Internal Revenue Service is under scrutiny for using its power to audit conservative groups with “added vigor”, while not giving quite so much examination to those similar groups on the left. If there is any organization that strikes fear into the average citizen, it is the IRS. No government can get more invasive to anyone in America than the IRS. This agency can make every person examined as uncomfortable as a colonoscopy with a steel glove, and anyone who has been audited will attest to the truth of that analogy.

As this IRS onion is being peeled back, it seems it is going to lead out of the agency and, perhaps, to the floor of the Senate and the names of several prominent Senate Democrats. President Obama said this is going to be thoroughly investigated and this is very “inappropriate behavior”.

I wonder if this investigation will be as thorough as the one we have seen over Benghazi, which Mr. Obama feels is a political attack from the Republicans. I wonder if any person involved will claim “executive privilege” as was done over documents in the “Fast and Furious” scandal.

What will all of us regular citizens expect from the government now? I may be a little jaded, but I’m pretty sure we will only see more “inappropriate behavior” from an “Inappropriate Administration”!!