HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE FOR DIOGENES TO FIND AN HONEST MAN IN WASHINGTON D.C.?
By Steve Hayes
Diogenes was a Greek philosopher who died in Corinth in 323 B.C. He made a virtue of poverty and was famous for carrying a lantern as he went through each town he was visiting “looking for an honest man.” This is what the painting above is showing.
If Diogenes were somehow able to visit today’s Washington DC, how long do you think it would take him to find an honest man or woman within the Ruling Class, their minions in Congress and the bureaucracy?
What do we mean by “honest man or woman”? We mean someone who is truthful about why they continue to prop up an obviously failed income/payroll tax system when there is a vastly superior alternative available to them.
Are they really so blind that they honestly don’t recognize all of the problems with the present income/payroll tax system? Not likely.
Are they really so oblivious that they don’t recognize the tremendous benefits that the FAIRtax would bestow on individual taxpayers and the country as a whole? Highly unlikely.
If these people were really honest about why they refuse to replace the income/payroll tax system with the FAIRtax, they’d have to say:
- The income tax lets us punish any group that opposes us politically, or that we just don’t like---like the tea party groups who were illegally denied tax exemptions by Lois Lerner’s group at the IRS.
- We can raise a lot of campaign cash by selling favorable tax treatment to special interests.
- Because of its complexity, the income tax system requires a lot of manpower to administer and enforce it. That means there are lots of jobs in the bureaucracy that we can fill with our friends and allies.
- The new army of IRS agents that we just authorized will give us even more control over people than we already have. With more IRS auditors at our disposal, we can make life miserable for more and more people who oppose our policies or who would dare to stand up against us.
A SURPRISING INDICTMENT
History has shown us that the power brokers in D.C. protect their own and the minions that carry out their orders. If we break the law, we get prosecuted. But we’ve seen way too many elites break the law and escape prosecution entirely. Instead, if anything happens to them at all, they just get suspended for a while with full pay. If the crime attracts too much public attention, then the wrongdoer is allowed to retire with full pension. That’s what happened when Lois Lerner was caught illegally denying tax exempt status to groups she disagreed with.
This why it was surprising to see this Department of Justice press release. The release is entitled, Five Current or Former IRS Employees Charged with Defrauding Federal COVID-19 Relief Programs. The released stated:
- “The IRS employees charged in these cases allegedly abused the trust placed in them by the public,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Criminal Division is committed to safeguarding that public trust and protecting pandemic relief programs for the American people.”
- According to court documents, the defendants allegedly obtained funds under the PPP and EIDL Program by submitting false and fraudulent loan applications that collectively sought over $1 million. They then used the loan funds for purposes not authorized by the PPP or EIDL Program, but instead, the money went for cars, luxury goods, and personal travel, including trips to Las Vegas.
- “These individuals – acting out of pure greed – abused their positions by taking government funds meant for citizens and businesses who desperately needed it,” said U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee. “I thank our law enforcement partners for rooting out this fraud. Our office will not hesitate to pursue and charge individuals who steal from our nation’s taxpayers.”
- The five individuals charged are:
- Brian Saulsberry, 46, of Memphis, Tennessee, is charged with two counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering. According to the indictment, Saulsberry submitted four fraudulent EIDL Program applications, seeking at least $501,400 in EIDL Program loans and obtaining $171,400 in loan funds. Saulsberry allegedly spent a portion of the funds on a Mercedes-Benz and deposited additional funds into a personal investment account.
- Courtney Quinshe Westmoreland, 38, of Cordova, Tennessee, is charged with three counts of wire fraud. According to the indictment, Westmoreland submitted multiple fraudulent PPP and EIDL Program applications on behalf of a purported apparel business, for which she sought at least $32,500 in loans and obtained $11,500 in loan funds. Westmoreland allegedly used these funds for personal services, including manicures and massages, and to purchase luxury clothing. In addition, while employed full-time by the IRS, Westmoreland allegedly submitted fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits to the Tennessee Department of Labor, in which she falsely claimed that she was not employed by the federal government. According to court documents, Westmoreland fraudulently obtained $16,050 in unemployment insurance benefits.
- Fatina Hewitt, 35, of Olive Branch, Mississippi, is charged with one count of wire fraud. Hewitt was employed by the IRS as a Management and Program Assistant in Information Technology. According to the information, Hewitt submitted multiple fraudulent EIDL Program applications on behalf of a purported fashion business, seeking $338,900 in EIDL Program loans and obtaining $28,900 in loan funds. Court documents allege that Hewitt spent the loan funds on Gucci clothing and a trip to Las Vegas. On October 4, 2022, Hewitt pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
- Roderick DeMarco White II, 27, of Memphis, is charged with one count of wire fraud. White was employed by the IRS as a Contact Representative in the Wage and Investment Service Centers Department. According to the information, White submitted four fraudulent PPP and EIDL Program applications on behalf of a purported apparel business, seeking $113,311 in PPP and EIDL Program loans and obtaining $66,666 in loan funds. White allegedly spent the loan funds on personal items, including a Gucci satchel. On August 25, 2022, White pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
- Tina Humes, 56, of Memphis, is charged with one count of wire fraud. Humes was employed by the IRS as a Lead Management and Program Assistant in the Human Capital Office. According to the information, Humes submitted four fraudulent PPP and EIDL Program applications, seeking $133,812 in loans and obtaining $123,612 in loan funds. Humes allegedly spent the funds on jewelry and trips to Las Vegas. On July 27, 2022, Humes pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
- Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and each count of money laundering carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
CONCLUSION
While, the five IRS employees have not been found guilty, the fact that they were indicted must have shocked most of the Ruling Class and their minions in D.C.
However, it is likely that most bureaucrats in D.C. will still not be too worried. After all, these indicted IRS agents were caught stealing money. They didn’t violate any other laws where no money changed hands.
These bureaucrats know that to this day, no one has been charged in the leak of the confidential income tax returns. Why? Because like those of Lois Lerner, this was an action that the D.C. powers approved of and agreed with. Yes, leaking confidential tax information was illegal and unethical, but no money was actually stolen. That is different, isn’t it?
We will do well to remember this admonition from Thomas Sowell, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute, It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.
The answer is simple. Eliminate the IRS and the income/payroll tax system and enact the FAIRtax!
The income/payroll tax system is broken and no longer working—we can’t repair it but we can replace it with the FAIRTAX!
The FAIRtax will allow Americans to TAKE BACK CONTROL over their government and their lives.
Join us and TAKE BACK CONTROL OF OUR COUNTRY AND OUR LIVES—NOT WITH BULLETS BUT WITH THE ELIMINATION OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST THREATS TO OUR LIBERTY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY—THE INCOME/PAYROLL TAX.
We all should remember Edmund Burke’s warning that applies to our efforts to TAKE BACK CONTROL,
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
We should also remember this quote from George Orwell's 1984, which, if we do nothing, may foretell your and your children's future:
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
WHAT CAN EACH OF US DO?
We can write letters and make calls to our elected representatives and attend Zoom town hall meetings demanding that if they really want to allow Americans to “TAKE BACK CONTROL”, the first step is to eliminate the income/payroll tax system and enact the FAIRTAX!
TAKE BACK CONTROL! Help us PASS THE FAIRTAX!
The IRS will be gone and we will pay our taxes when we make purchases.
WE and not the Ruling Class and their minions in D.C. will decide how much federal tax we pay!
WE will know how much tax we and everyone else are really paying because taxes will no longer be hidden from us. It will be clearly shown on every retail receipt.
If you have friends who don’t know about the FAIRtax, send them to FAIRtax.org. Have them watch the white boards under “How It Works” and, if they agree, ask them to please join us.
Then contact your Members of Congress and the President and demand that Congress pass -the FAIRtax—the only fair tax.
Is it hopeless? When confronted with a seemingly impossible problem, remember the statement attributed to the author George Bernard Shaw who wrote, You see things; and you say “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?”
Isn’t it time for us to ask, “Why not?”
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