This is not a new story, but it is one well worth
reflection. I’ll defer to Jillian
Kay Melchior and her well written piece for the
details and color, but Catherine Engelbrecht was targeted by the Obama Regime
for her tea party activity and for working for clean elections through founding
True the Vote.
And please do not dismiss my pointing the finger at the
Obama Regime as paranoia. There is
no denying that she was targeted, and one has to be naïve indeed to think the
targeting was not systematic and intentional. She, her Tea Party organization (King Street Patriots), True
the Vote, and her family business was targeted, not by one or two rogue bureaucrats,
but by the IRS, the ATF, OSHA, and even the FBI.
And, no, she and her organizations were not under
investigation for anything criminal.
On
behalf of the True the Vote and King Street Patriots, Representative Ted Poe
(R., Texas) sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI, OSHA, and the
ATF, inquiring whether the organizations were under criminal investigation. A
statement on Poe’s website states that “the reply from these agencies was that
none of these individuals were under criminal investigation. Well, if they’re
not, why are they being treated like criminals? Just because they question
government.”
What is perhaps most despicable is that the targeting of
her organizations was cheerleaded by key Democrats in Congress.
A few
months later, True the Vote became the subject of congressional scrutiny. In
September, Senator Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) wrote to Thomas Perez, then the
assistant attorney general of the civil rights division at the Department of
Justice (who has now been nominated for labor secretary). “As you know, an
organization called ‘True the Vote,’ which is an offshoot of the Tea Party, is
leading a voter suppression campaign in many states,” Boxer wrote, adding that
“this type of intimidation must stop. I don’t believe this is ‘True the Vote.’
I believe it’s ‘Stop the Vote.’”
And in
October, Representative Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), the ranking minority member
of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, attacked True the
Vote in a letter. He wrote that “some have suggested that your true goal is not
voter integrity, but voter suppression against thousands of legitimate voters
who traditionally vote for Democratic candidates.” He added that: “If these
efforts are intentional, politically motivated, and widespread across multiple
states, they could amount to a criminal conspiracy to deny legitimate voters
their constitutional rights.” He also decried True the Vote on MSNBC and CNN.
Catherine
now says that she “absolutely” thinks that because she worked against voter
fraud, the Left was irked and decided to target her.
Again, I urge thoughtful reading of Melchior’s telling
of Catherine Engelbrecht’s experience.
Now I will add my conclusions.
From her and other’s experiences, there no question that
the Obama Regime has systematically targeted conservatives. And it’s not just the IRS, but every
arm of the Federal government Obama’s thugs can wield. It is no coincidence that tea party
conservatives who have had little trouble before with the law other than normal
bureaucratic hassles were suddenly targeted and harassed by any number of
federal agencies after they became more political active. The targeting of
conservative/constitutionalist groups by the IRS is only part of the story.
Instead of protecting constitutional political freedom,
the Obama Regime has punished it and sought to suppress it when it opposes the
policies of the Dear Leader.
This is a big reason I have stated that I want people in
prison. The thuggish attacks on
our political freedoms are more worthy of Venezuela than America and must not
be allowed to stand or go unpunished.
Future administrations and bureaucrats must be made to think twice
before they repeat such outrages.
I also think it is important that Obama and his allies
be made to pay a heavy political price.
Really, Obama should be impeached.
He is the one most responsible for the systematic predations of his
regime. But I doubt impeachment is
wise political course . . . yet.
Further, some federal agencies are so beyond reform that
they should be abolished. The IRS
is one. The ATF is another. From their outrages under Bill Clinton
and Janet Reno, Waco among them, to Fast and Furious, to involvement in Obama
Regime targeting, the ATF has again and again acted as Democrat
Brownshirts. Any good purpose that
they serve, if any, could easy be taken over by other agencies.
Another lesson from Catherine Engelbrecht’s is a
reminder of how much Democrats want to continue to steal elections with
impunity. Ms. Engelbrecht is a
conscientious citizen who wants clean elections. But the power of the Federal government and the wrath of
Sen. Barbara Boxer came down when she acted on that.
As for the future of freedom in this country should
Democrats retain power, legitimately or not, . . . . Well, I think the behavior of Obama, his regime, and his
allies speaks for itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment