An important aspect of the IRS targeting that
is beginning to get some attention, from Rush and IBD among others, is how it
tilted the political playing field in 2012.
While lefty organizations were getting easy
passes from the IRS, any number (Over 500 is one estimate now.) of tea party
organizations and other organizations unfavored by the Obama regime, were being
delayed, surveilled, threatened, and harassed by the IRS.
This served to make it more difficult for tea
partiers to be involved in the 2012 elections in an organized manner. Time and effort was wasted dealing with
the IRS. Some contributions were
more difficult to get and even lost without the requested 501(c)(4) designations. (I’m not expert on current advertising
regs and policies, but perhaps it also made it more difficult to get ads out
there?) Some tea party organizers
were so stressed and intimidated by the harassment that they gave up and
lowered their profile. One example:
Jennifer
Stefano of Philadelphia was so intimidated by the IRS that she closed her Tea
Party down:
"In
the documents that were sent to me, if you did not tell the whole truth by not
putting all your personal information out there by Facebook, by Twitter, of
your personal relationship with candidates and parties ... it could be
considered perjury and perjury carried jail time," Stefano, 39, told ABC
News.
"That
was frightening and that's why I shut it down. I shut my group down."
These effects were compounded by the fact that
many tea party groups were and are led by those getting more politically
involved in 2009 or later. These
are concerned citizens, not political veterans. And they don’t have a phalanx of lawyers on call like more
established political organizations.
They hardly have the resources and experience to do battle with
predatory Feds.
And that makes the predations that much more despicable. I’ve tweeted that I want people in
prison, high-up people. And I
meant it.
The way the IRS and the Obama regime has acted
in this is not unlike how tyrants such as Hugo Chavez (R.I.H.) act. They use government, through
bureaucracy, threats, intimidation, and more, as a weapon to make it difficult
for opposition to act in the political sphere. They tilt the political playing field (and then use election
fraud if needed, but don’t get me started on that).
Our Founders put the First Amendment in the
Constitution in part to prevent such government abuses. And what the IRS and the Obama regime
has done in targeting tea party groups among others is an egregious violation
of the First Amendment. And, by
the way, it did no doubt affect the 2012 elections . . . as intended.
2 comments:
Our Lord told us to pray for our enemies, and love them. Tall order, but the Almighty sets a high bar for us all.
Yes, Hugo Chavez bad leader, but the R.I.H. lacks the love. I understand the sentiment but it harms your soul and salvation in the process.
Mari, we have a bunch of totalitarians running this country, and you nit-pick that? Before you pick the speck out of your brother's eye . . .
wannabe
P.S. And yes, there is a Hell, Chavez is surely there, and with numerous psalms I rejoice in the justice of God.
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