18 May 2013 –
No Surprise In What He
Said—Or In How He Said It.
Steven Miller’s
testimony yesterday to the House Ways and Means Committee about IRS abuse of
power was best described as that of a disrespectful, self-important teenager
saying “You’re not the boss of me.” He
even had the audacity to refer to his agency’s performance as “customer service.”
How could he act this way in front of such
a powerful committee?
The answer hit me when I
realized that Mr. Miller was a career IRS agent. Tellingly, he once headed the very office that decided
which political groups would receive “increased scrutiny.” I quickly saw his performance as an example
of the IRS’s bureaucratic culture capturing and then corrupting the agency’s employees
and their mission.
I spent thirty years in
one of the most bureaucratic organizations on earth: The United States Air Force. I have an advanced degree in Public
Administration, aka, bureaucratic crap. I
have worked extensively with the State Department and with foreign governments and
militaries. My experience confirms what
I saw in Mr. Miller’s performance: All organizations
create bureaucracies, which, in turn, engender and protect organizational
cultures; and, they often do this at the expense of the organizations’ original
missions. The self-serving interests of ensconced
bureaucratic cultures help us understand not only Mr. Miller’s performance, but
the IRS’s vested interest in assaulting conservative organizations, and
President Obama’s guiding role in this scandal.
Every government organization,
no matter its official mission, quickly coalesces around a culture. This culture often coopts and guides organizational
action. For example, the Air Force’s
mission is to be an integral part of a larger organization—Department of
Defense—that fights our nation’s wars.
But, if you ask an Air Force fighter pilot what her mission is, she will
say that it is to “fly, fight, and win.”
The technology of powered flight gave the Air Force its original “raison
d’être” among the military services at the same time that it engendered a
powerfully self-serving flying culture.
The scarf-in-the-wind culture naturally inspires and motivates
Airmen. It also helps sell complex
arguments in the interagency budget and mission allocation battles. But, in one case, drone technology languished
for decades before the Air Force begrudgingly gave up pilot seats in aircraft for
console seats in distant bunkers. Such
cultural power stultifies innovation and risks government success. A flying culture also promotes pilots who,
when leading the organization, have personal reasons to perpetuate the limited culture. That is a tough system to deconstruct.
The IRS as well has powerful
cultural and organizational motivation to perpetuate its involvement in the
present liberal, wastrel government. The IRS’s powerful role as the arbiter of a
complex tax code has long been abetted by the growth of a regulatory and
intrusive government. The thousands of
agents that will swell IRS ranks to implement Obamacare, for example, will give
the agency even more organizational, cultural, and personal power. On the other hand, the IRS stands to lose
tremendous organizational power if TEA Party and other conservative movements
convince politicians of the necessity for limited government. Limited government, lower taxes, and a
simplified tax code—all conservative goals—could even eliminate the IRS as a
major agency. It is no wonder that Mr.
Miller doesn’t admit to deliberate abuse of conservative movements. He probably justifies his actions as necessary
to perpetuate a powerful culture and organization that he bought into years
ago. It makes perfect sense to do what
Mr. Miller did—in a corrupt, selfish sense, that is.
What about President
Obama’s role in this scandal? I predict
that there will be no tapes or e-mails implicating the President in these crimes. The IRS did not need explicit presidential direction. Mr. Miller and his fellow career IRS
employees implemented common cultural and organizational survival practices when
they blatantly abused conservative 501 (c) 4 applicants. I repeat: The IRS did not need outside prodding. Abusing
conservative organizations helps the IRS thrive. Therefore, Mr. Miller’s testimony that such
abuse by his agency was not partisan is correct in a corrupt sort of way. The IRS naturally satisfied the President’s partisan
political and economic agenda because that is where the money is for the IRS. It is no wonder that Mr. Miller, the career IRS
agent, was so defiant and arrogant in front of the conservative House Ways and
Means Committee; his culture has always rewarded him for doing so. The President will survive this scandal
because the IRS did his partisan work for him.
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