2014 had no shortage of Washington politicians and bureaucrats pursuing policies that clipped our freedom and robbed our wallets. Inspired by their unrighteous indignation, they purported to know better that we do how we should live our lives. And a few just felt they were above questioning by the public, above the law, and above reproach. These politicos traipsed through the halls of Congress, pontificated in academia, had their faces plastered on (social) media, and fanned out across the country to drum up support for their causes – never mind the harmful (un)intended consequences.

At their core is the philosophy that government governs best when it governs most. From yucky school lunches to government-run healthcare, Americans couldn’t get a break.

This list captures the most egregious political fails from DC insiders who were on the hunt to eliminate our freedom. They made spectacles of themselves and stirred up a media circus on a monthly, weekly and even daily basis. Who suffered most from their antics? The freedoms and liberties of us all.

With no further ado…

5. Hillary Clinton: ‘Hard Choices’

2014 was going to be the year of Hillary – until it wasn’t. The rumor mill has been abuzz about Clinton’s possible 2016 presidential run. Her book Hard Choices was going to be her re-emergence on the national stage as it provided views on her career accomplishments and served as an early campaign groundbreaking. It dropped the same time that her daughter Chelsea’s was ready to deliver for Clinton her first grandchild but not book sales. The biggest competitor for her book though was the emergence of Islamic terror group ISIS, which began its reign of terror by beheading Americans. And let’s not forget that an old Clinton Family friend, Monica Lewinsky, re-emerged to tell the world she was a victim too. So, are Americans ready for a President Hillary Rodham Clinton? As AEI polling found, while she ranked high with the public throughout her career, she scored low for a lack of honesty and authentic. She has a willingness to say whatever people want to hear –except maybe the truth behind Benghazi.

4. FLOTUS: “Turnip for What?”

First Lady Michelle Obama had a very public and very awkward mom-trying-to-be-cool moment with a Vine video of her dancing with a turnip to the tune of Lil’ Jon’s popular rap song “Turn Down For What?” The clip was a response to a planted question during a Twitter conversation. It was clever and well-timed but still fell flat. Not only was it silly to see her dancing with a vegetable to promote her obesity-fighting pet-project, but she’s started a real food fight. Her Let’s Move campaign and the tidal wave of school lunch regulations that came with it touched off a firestorm of anger and angst from the kids it’s meant to help. The First Lady is responsible for too many growling, empty bellies because of under-sized portions and too many wasted tax dollars on meals that kids refuse to eat – prompting backlash on Twitter to Capitol Hill. Perhaps it’s time for FLOTUS to take a hint and “turn down” the rhetoric.

3. Lois Lerner: “I plead the Fifth!”

The face of the IRS is no longer a nerdy accountant pulling regular Americans into unwanted audit meetings to scrutinize every chewing gum purchase, but that of Lois Lerner. At the start, center, and end of the agency’s discriminatory campaign to target conservative political organizations for additional scrutiny and conservative donors for harassment, we’ve endured a twisted, sordid investigation of lies, cover-ups, and clandestine projects. Pulled before Congress, IRS officials might have been expected to give us some truth, but Lerner thumbed her nose at us and pleaded the 5th Amendment. Whether email evidence is recoverable from computers that were allegedly destroyed is a mystery that we exhausted taxpayers doubt will ever be solved. One thing is for sure, we didn’t like the IRS before, but now we downright distrust the agency. And they don’t like us either. As Lerner’s emails revealed, conservatives are ***holes.

2. POTUS: “I have a pen and I intend to use it!”

Not famous last words, but infamous words from a President in his last term. President Obama did not mix words during his 2014 State of the Union Address when he made a very clear and very compelling threat to Congress –specifically House Republicans- that he would use executive action to enact his (liberal) policies. Congress could get on board or get out of the way but he would get it done. And he’s made good on that promise. Minimum wage hikes for federal workers, immigration, environmental regulations, and changes to ObamaCare are all examples of his unilateral governing approach that is more like King George III than George Washington. With almost two years left in office, we can expect an emboldened POTUS to quicken his pace and be more sweeping in his actions. His eyes are on his legacy and as we’ve seen, nothing will stand in his way, including a raggedy, old document like the U.S. Constitution.

1.Jonathan Gruber: “Americans voters are too stupid to understand…”

The architect of ObamaCare had been sitting pretty in academia after pulling down millions in taxpayer dollars for crafting a blueprint to takeover private healthcare (a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act). But In the biggest ObamaCare flub of 2014, videos surfaced of Gruber explaining that they used the lacks of political transparency to ram the bill through Congress because the stupidity of the American voter would’ve killed ObamaCare. No one has plummeted from golden boy to pariah faster than Gruber who faced congressional grillings and probably can’t get a job anywhere else anymore. He may think we’re stupid, but who’s looking stupid now?