There was a post on Powerline yesterday by Scott Johnson (On Section 1203) which is very pertinent to when and how IRS employees may be terminated in such situations.

Me, I'm still waiting for the Pres to "talk to these folks, because they, potentially, have the best answers, so [he knows] whose @ss to kick." 

Get right in there, sir!  It's clobberin' time! 

I'll stop there.  I have collected quotes since I was a pre-teen, so I have a few.  <grin> 

A couple of my favorite non-political quotes: 

Brevity is the soul of wit. -- Shakespeare
Brevity is the soul of lingerie.  -- Dorothy Parker

Politicians never accuse you of  'greed' for wanting other people's money -- only for wanting to keep your own money. -- Joseph Sobran

If you can cut the people off from their history, then they can be easily persuaded.  -- Karl Marx

Never concede to a friend any more power over the lives of others than you would to your worst enemy.  -- Leonard Read

The makers of the Constitution conferred, as against the government, the right to be left alone; the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men. -- Louis Brandeis

If one rejects [the free economy] on account of mans fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action. -- Ludwig von Mises

The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.  -- Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer

Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government. -- James Madison

Be not intimidated, therefore, by any terrors, from publishing with the utmost freedom, whatever can be warranted by the laws of your country; nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretenses of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice. -- John Adams

I think you should pay for your own mortgage, birth control, and college loans. It's not because I'm conservative, it's because I'm an adult. -- John Hawkins

The problem is not a shortage of new ideas, but a lack of understanding that the old ideas still work.  -- John Miller

Socialism never took root in America because the poor there see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. -- John Steinbeck

If you perceive yourself as a “victim,” you can never be happy— even if you are a victim. -- Dennis Prager

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.  -- Dwight Eisenhower

[The Tea Party] has to be the first “Totalitarian” movement in the history of mankind that, if it gets everything it wants…will leave you the hell alone. -- Ed Driscoll

We should treat [our congressmen] just like known mafia members; we don't have the evidence to send them to prison just yet, but we'll keep the FBI constantly on their tail. -- Frank J. Fleming

It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellowmen. -- George MacDonald

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. -- George Washington

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.  -- Groucho Marx

This government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. -- Henry David Thoreau

The citizen of the United States is taught from infancy to rely upon his own exertions in order to resist the evils and the difficulties of life; he looks upon the social authority with an eye of mistrust and anxiety, and he claims its assistance only when he is unable to do without it. ... If a stoppage occurs in a thoroughfare and the circulation of vehicles is hindered, the neighbors immediately form themselves into a deliberative body; and this extemporaneous assembly gives rise to an executive power which remedies the inconvenience before anybody has thought of recurring to a pre-existing authority superior to that of the persons immediately concerned. -- Alexis de Tocqueville

It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own. -- Ben Franklin

Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grand-children are once more slaves. -- D.H. Lawrence

The greatest obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the ocean was not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge. -- Daniel Boorstin

At the very least we're going to see regulations requiring docs to participate in Medicare/Medicaid programs if they wish to practice. 

Chris, most of my family still lives in Indiana, so I've heard plenty about Mitch and his accomplishments. 

  Heck, I'm glad to hear there even is a time when legislators are bored.  Speaks well for Hoosiers. 

  I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure how broad the range of programs are that would even fall in this category (feds give grants w/mandates attached) and what the magnitude of funding lost would be.  Is that something you could address off the top of your head (in very broad terms) for a state like Indiana?  Just wondering how thick a layer of barnacles it's even possible to dream about scraping off the hull. 

  Would you care to comment on the biggest couple obstacles you and your fellow staffers saw?  Guessing loss of funds is top of the list (and operating until promised economic boom kicks in), in company with the complications of actually getting any such wild & crazy legislation passed. 

  Kyle, I'm not familiar enough with the ins and outs of minimum wage--was it part of one those kinds of deals (we give you money, you do our bidding)? 

Sea-steading and Australia are interesting possibilities, but I'm hoping it's still possible to create a sphere where American citizens could see what this country is supposed to be--to provide direct and distinct contrast to what we've allowed it to become.  How better to do that than to create a magnet that draws people who love her as she was founded and provide an example of real freedom to the rest?  Demonstrate how truly free people treat each other and solve problems? 

  Had lunch with a friend who manages several doctors' practices.  Politically, she's mostly on the other side.  When I asked about work, she sighed.  Her docs were averaging ~25 patients a day and are now down to ~10.  They've been forced to switch to computerized records and the program is not well-suited to their work.  Things that once took moments are now cumbersome.  They've been forced to hire new employees to handle the new requirements.  The administration is screaming (lower revenue and higher costs) and patients are screaming too (harder to get appointments. This is just the first wave of bureaucracy. 

  I read an article years ago by Theodore Dalrymple.  He pointed out that in a socialized system, the focus is not on the patient, it's on compliance with the rules.  Having spent a couple years working in a financial aid office, I can attest to the truth of that.  We were unfailingly friendly and courteous, but when students or parents got upset about some nonsensical thing they had to do to comply with federal regs, we were largely unconcerned--we were following the rules and there was nothing we could do about that. 

  Beautiful essay! 
  I mostly agree with you, but still think it worth the effort to argue and do so passionately, clearly, concisely, and kindly.  For one thing it's good for us--for our souls, as it were.
  You're likely right that there are many who will respond to nothing less than a 2x4 upside the head, but there is still benefit from seeing, up close and personal, that we are not the people we are painted by the media--evil, ignorant, racist, bigoted, hobbits, cockroaches, etc. (you know the list). 
  I have several liberal friends who post the most thoughtlessly insulting things on Facebook, cribbing from professional sneerers like Stewart, Maher and Colbert.  With them, I take every opportunity to gently point out where the actual ignorance lies.  I have not transformed anyone into a conservative, but who knows--maybe they'll even begin to realize what a huge blind spot lies in their immense certainty of moral superiority.  And when reality knocks, they'll know that other possible ways of thinking and being decent human beings exist. It's more than they have now. 

Not a particularly big or strategic point, but as a Buckeye who was pounded with this, I say KILL the robocall machines.  I regard them as roughly equivalent to telemarketing calls and treat them accordingly (even if the caller speaks my language).  Complete waste of money, in my experience. 

I am so thankful for this group.  For my tribe, in Whittle's parlance.  I am intensely proud to stand with you all.  Proud of the fact that our tribe doesn't riot and destroy when things don't go our way, doesn't wait for someone else to fix things.   We lick our wounds for a time, then get back up and figure out where we went wrong and how to do better next time. 

Things look bleak right now, but I will not give up on this country.   Too many have died defending the ideas on which she was built.  We must take the long view and engage at all levels--in our families, with our friends & co-workers, in our schools, in the media, in local politics--create new strategies, build new paths.  In the words of John Adams: 

What do we Mean by the Revolution? The War? That was no part of the Revolution. It was only an Effect and Consequence of it. The Revolution was in the Minds of the People, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen Years before a drop of blood was drawn at Lexington.

This article made me laugh out loud.  My response was, "Oh honey, we're just getting warmed up." 

I agree with Knell that joy is required, although I think of it as being a happy warrior--Chris Christie comes to mind.  He clearly enjoys the battle.  We have a long fight ahead. 

Your Principled Strategic Vision is also key.  Your example leads me to think you intend this mainly for foreign policy, but it's just a critical on the domestic front.  I heard a story about Mitch Daniels refusing to push a piece of tea-party-favored legislation even though he supported it because he knew that Hoosiers had not yet been properly educated as to why it was necessary. 

Also, the ability to communicate with clarity and grace is a pretty fundamental leadership trait at this point.  In a country that is supposed to be united by our founding ideas, we are in desperate need of someone (in a position high enough to talk past the media) who can give them voice in ways that are both educational and inspiring.  Reagan was a master at this. 

     Eastwood was clearly channeling Bob Newhart.  His part gave cover to those hiding in Hollywood's woodwork, spoke directly to the Walt Kowalskis of our country, and, last, but definitely not least, hoisted our president by his own Alinskyite petard (see Rule #7, Tactics #5 & 6).  I thought he achieved those things neatly. 
     The convention did a beautiful job of appealing to the country as a whole, starting with many clear statements of foundational principles and featuring several who are governing in accordance with them and SUCCEEDING.  The convention then proceeded to put an astounding array of people on the stage--I saw young and old people, representatives from every race, gender, faith and an array of creeds, including a woman who served in Mitt's governor's cabinet in Massachusetts--Jane Edmonds (if Google serves me aright)--who proclaimed herself a liberal Democrat. 
     To me, the most interesting comment Ms. Edmonds made was how, in the very first meeting of that cabinet, Mitt came in with a list of the campaign promises he had made and informed them that by the time the term was over, they would fulfill every one.  Her reaction: "You're different."