Faith or Consequences -- "You should reject these voices," Obama said. He might have added: Or else..

[Ubiquitous]

"One of the central goals" of President Obama's administration,
Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson helpfully informs us, "is to rebuild faith
in the federal government." A good example is this passage from the
president's May 5 commencement speech at Ohio State University:

Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly
warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister
entity that's at the root of all our problems; some of these
same voices also doing their best to gum up the works. They'll
warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You
should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that
our brave and creative and unique experiment in self-rule is
somehow just a sham with which we can't be trusted.

Where have we heard that before? Oh yes, it was on another college
campus: "Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to
sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America.
Gentlemen!" (Good thing Nicholas Kristof is on sabbatical, or he might
write a column accusing us of trying to Otterize Obama.)

But seriously, Obama has a point here. If you hear those voices that try
to gum up the works by warning of tyranny, whatever you do, block them
out. You _must_ have faith in the federal government. Not only is the
federal government omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent, but it has a
way of going all Old Testament on those who disbelieve, as Politico
reports:

The Internal Revenue Service asked tea party groups to see donor
rolls.

It asked for printouts of Facebook posts.

And it asked what books people were reading. . . .

Some of the letters [from the IRS] asked for copies of the
groups' Web pages, blog posts and social media postings--making
some tea party members worry they'd be punished for their tweets
or Facebook comments by their followers.

And each letter had a stern warning about "penalties of
perjury"--which became intimidating for groups that were being
asked about future activities, like future donations or
endorsements.

In one instance, the American Patriots Against Government Excess
was asked to provide summaries or copies of all material passed
out at meetings. . . .

The Albuquerque Tea Party was asked about connections to other
groups--Conspiracy Brews, Marianne Chiffelle's Breakfasts,
Concerned Citizens for Limited Government, Concerned Citizens
for Common Sense. . . .

Some were asked about any connection to Americans for Prosperity,
a nonprofit group backed by the Koch brothers that ironically
never underwent the same level of IRS scrutiny.

And then they asked whether one group knew Justin Binik-Thomas.

Never heard of him? He's a former leader of the Cincinnati Tea
Party, and clearly someone in the Cincinnati IRS office knew
who he was.

Anne Hendershott, a professor at The King's College in New York, listened
to the voices. She even repeated what some of them were telling her in a
2009 Wall Street Journal op-ed criticizing self-described Catholic
organizations that were campaigning for ObamaCare. And the voices sure
gummed things up for her.

TheBlaze.com reports that the IRS selected her for an audit in 2010. The
agency was specifically interested in her "business" activity, which is
to say self-employment income from freelance writing. Her husband wasn't
included in the audit although the couple filed jointly and he brought in
the preponderance of household income:

The process was a grueling one, including many questions that
Hendershott felt were political in nature. Numerous records
were requested before the in-person meeting, as well as during
and after.

"Every question had to do with bank deposits we made. Every
single question," she said. "What is this money? And I didn't
know a lot of it. We had to go to our bank and get deposits
back. We had to get records showing where the money came from."


While asking about the deposits, the agent wanted to know if
the monies came from groups and, if so, what the organizations'
politics were.

She suspects she was targeted for articles she wrote about ObamaCare:

"I started writing articles like crazy saying these are fake
Catholic groups," she said of the aforementioned organizations,
noting that Korzen would often target her work and rail against
her assertions.

Hendershott noted that the progressive leader once called into
a radio show she appeared on to challenge her contention that
he had accepted Soros money.

"I had the tax return in front of me and read off the amounts
that Chris Korzen was getting paid from Catholics in Alliance
for the Common Good--a Soros supported fake Catholic group,"
she told TheBlaze, noting that, through Catholics in Alliance,
he had received $85,000.

While Korzen denied this on the air, Hendershott read from the
990 form in an effort to prove he wasn't telling the truth.
This, she believes, may have sparked--or played a role--in
spawning the IRS audit.

"He was getting paid by one organization and working for
another," the professor said of Korzen. "The IRS should have
gone after them."

Instead the IRS went after her. That's what happens when you listen to
those voices. "Her writings for the Catholic Advocate soon ceased
because, Hendershott admits, the IRS audit silenced her."

If that's not enough to convince those Ohio State grads to ignore the
voices, London's Daily Mail reports that "when a Tennessee lawyer asked
the IRS for tax-exempt status for a mentoring group that trained high
school and college students about conservative political philosophy, the
agency responded with a list of 95 questions in 31 parts, including an
ultimatum for a list of everyone the group had trained, or planned to
train."

Are you a student? You wouldn't want to end up on one of those lists,
would you? It could gum up your whole future! By contrast, look what
happens if you reject the voices. From USA Today:

As applications from conservative groups sat in limbo, groups
with liberal-sounding names had their applications approved in
as little as nine months. With names including words like
"Progress" or "Progressive," the liberal groups applied for the
same tax status and were engaged in the same kinds of activities
as the conservative groups. They included:

� Bus for Progress, a New Jersey non-profit that uses a red,
white and blue bus to "drive the progressive change." According
to its website, its mission includes "support (for) progressive
politicians with the courage to serve the people's interests and
make tough choices." It got an IRS approval as a social welfare
group in April 2011.

� Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment says it
fights against corporate welfare and for increasing the minimum
wage. "It would be fair to say we're on the progressive end of
the spectrum," said executive director Jeff Ordower. He said
the group got tax-exempt status in September 2011 in just nine
months after "a pretty simple, straightforward process."

� Progress Florida, granted tax-exempt status in January 2011,
is lobbying the Florida Legislature to expand Medicaid under a
provision of the Affordable Care Act, one of President Obama's
signature accomplishments. The group did not return phone calls.
"We're busy fighting to build a more progressive Florida and
cannot take your call right now," the group's voice mail said.


See how it works? If you reject the voices that warn of tyranny--if you
put your faith in the federal government--you will be guaranteed a life
of riches and ease. If you listen to the voices, your life will be hell
on earth.

There is absolutely no reason--not one--to listen to those voices warning
of tyranny. Well, except that their warnings are true.