Posted on 05/18/2013 1:07:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In the wake of one of the worst abuses of government power in recent history, many are rushing to frame the Internal Revenue Service scandal as simply an attack on conservative activists. That view risks creating a partisan political football and misses a fundamentally scarier abuse that exceeds the scandals of Watergate or any other prior government abuse.
The IRS has admitted that since May 2010 it targeted grassroots-conservative organizations that had applied for tax-exempt status, unfairly subjecting them to rigorous scrutiny due to their political leanings.
Such groups were told they were required to comply with IRS requests, no matter how absurd, in order to obtain non-profit status. Some were ask to provide book reports, names of family members, family members’ political affiliations, lists of donors and more. A report issued by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration this week begins to highlight the extent of misbehavior.
Following the admission, many have accused the IRS of misusing and misrepresenting its power for political advantage, and it’s true that silencing – or at least handcuffing – conservatives in the run-up to the 2012 election could very well have made an impact.
But this abuse extends far beyond the last or next election and strikes at the very core of the people’s relationship with their government.
The Washington Post’s editorial board wrote that, “A bedrock principle of U.S. democracy is that the coercive powers of government are never used for partisan purposes.”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The Ministry for state security.
what does it matter! He has to spend his time out campaigning raising millions of dollars to fight us
All this information the IRS was collecting was given to who and for what purpose? I would bet that the answers to these specific questions were given to progressive groups and the Obama re-election campaign.
In other words, the IRS was actively interviewing private citizens and organizations to provide intel to left wing activists.
OBAMA: IRS 'mind invasion' of every registered Republican
Should have said ‘intimidation’.. INTIMOGATE!
All that information, and more, is probably in the giant database in Utah.
Senator Ted Cruz:
“What’s just as concerning is the expansive role this agency is charged to take in enforcing ObamaCare. An agency that has admitted to engaging in such corrupt, political activities has no place assessing or monitoring Americans’ personal health information.”
KILL OBAMACARE!
Who issued the Prime Directive!
The IRS abuses are bad, but so is Benghazi. In the latter, repeated requests for additional security were denied. When the attack came, no attempt whatsoever was made to rescue Americans under siege. Some true heroes died as a result. They fought on hour after hour, w skill & what might even be described as super-human courage, fully expecting help to come.
Turns out the decision to deny them aid was made up front, & so those responsible for their lives sat back in safety & comfort & watched the American heroes die.
How is that not at least as bad as the IRS abuses?
They are called Utopians for a reason.
Also, Thursday night I heard a liberal talk show host playing the NAACP and agreeing with them, saying that the conservative groups had it coming, and the IRS was correct in harassing conservatives!
If this cannot be addressed politically, then what can we do? I will never trust the IRS to fairly manage anything. They have a 40 year history of political harassment, going back to the Nixon Administration.
Selling guns to the mafia is right up there. Especially since the purpose was to give Mexico cause to sue American gun companies.
Running guns to Al Qaeda is right up there. Knocking over governments and installing Muslim Brotherhood into power is right up there.
Putting an ambassador into a snake pit without security and then ordering everyone to stand aside while he dies, thats right up there. Watching him die on live video and doing nothing, thats right up there.
Imposing laws that congress didn’t write and didn’t read is right up there I’d say.
I could go on. Using IRS to go after your enemies is pretty bad, but if that was all he’d done you could almost give him a pass.
The irony is that Nixon was never able to move the machinery of the IRS to do any political bidding against his enemies list.
The articles of impeachment that were drawn up against him says he ‘endeavored’ to use the IRS—but apparently there is no evidence that the effort ever went anywhere. It was the subject of discussion as revealed on the tapes—but it is likely that his staff merely let him blow off steam and never made a serious effort to implement any of the audits.
Anyone who has ever done case work to decide who qualifies and who does not qualify for a government benefit, or an exemption from a government penalty, KNOWS that what IRS analysts were doing is not exactly unreasonable.
However, their top managers engaged in criminal behavior ~ and then when they got caught blamed the IRS analysts doing case work!
That's a really serious management failure ~ top to bottom, from the Secretary of Treasury down to the SES puke on the bottom rung of policy development and management.
Best bet is to REMOVE ALL OF THEM, and where they attempted to blame staff people for irregularities in policy, prosecute them. Those who accepted bonuses should, of course, be tried for theft. They knew they were undeserving!
The IRS Management team failures as well as those at General Services Administration are demonstrations that the SES Executive system is not working and should be abolished! That's a totally separate question but one to keep in mind.
The idea of abusing IRS power for partisan advantage has occurred to people since the IRS was created. A fundamental responsibility of managing the IRS is to prevent the injection of politics — just like they must have strong checks and balances to stop thievery, taking kickbacks, selling exceptions, etc.
Is it conceivable that the IRS has no clear policies to prevent its operations being used for blatant political purposes? That no procedures exist or layers of personnel to systematically assure the policies are followed? No, it is not conceivable. Subverting these policies and procedures would constitute gross dereliction of duty.
“Rogue” bureaucrats do not risk their careers or act on their own initiative. This did not happen without direction from on high.
This is what Congress needs to investigate:
1) Historically, what were the policies and procedures that stopped partisan abuse from creeping in?;
2) Who eliminated or subverted those rules and when? (or got a lawyer to tell them violating them was ok?);
3) Who told them to do so?
Get out the waterboard.
“All this information the IRS was collecting was given to who and for what purpose?”
I would start with Harry Reid. Also Levin, Franken and Schumer. All 4 wanted the IRS to report o Republicans. Since they did, the question for these crooks should be, who did they ask to get that information.
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