Those of you mildly amused by Raleigh’s Moral Monday machinations might appreciate Steve Forbes‘ recent observations in Forbes magazine on “immoral government.”

One scandal that epitomizes the Obama Administration’s “everything is politics” mind-set occurred in the Department of Health & Human Services. Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “asked” health care companies for “voluntary” donations to help implement ObamaCare. There isn’t enough money to get the program going, so these “gifts” would be used to hire so-called navigators to help people fill out ObamaCare’s hideously complex and daunting income-tax-return-like application forms for government health insurance. (Naturally, the initial version of these applications provided a website where one could complete a voter registration form.)

This is Chicago-style politics, pure and simple. The word “navigator” is a euphemism for community or political organizer. The federal government, through various programs, subsidizes countless organizations whose real task is political agitation for more Big Government programs and spending. Sebelius’ solicitations bring to mind the phrase from the book/movie The Godfather: “an offer he can’t refuse.”

What happened here is typical of this Administration: If Congress won’t provide what the Administration wants, the executive branch will make it happen through Third World-like presidential decrees, abusive regulatory rulemaking, illegal “recess” appointments and end-run machinations like these “donations.”