If the United States remains a free nation, it will be a testament to our robust Constitution that allows the people to speak out forcefully against those who misuse the power of government to do harm. In Cincinnati and numerous cities around the country, tea partiers and freedom loving citizens took to the streets to peaceably assemble and redress serious grievances against selective mistreatment by the Internal Revenue Service. The protests were a response to admissions by top officials at the IRS that conservative groups requesting 501C4 non-profit status were targeted for extra scrutiny and intrusive questioning over the last several years. The IRS reminds us that “the power to tax is the power to destroy.” Thank you Justice John Marshall. It is also the power to silence voices of dissent. The IRS has been used as a weapon against criticism for decades, recalling the Nixon enemies list or FDR’s IRS harassment of newspapers that opposed the New Deal. The IRS is now the embodiment of leviathan with 100,000 employees and thousands more that will join the federal ranks to collect financial data on every American for the enforcement of Obamacare.
The Congressional hearings featuring current IRS Director Steven Miller, former Director Douglas Shulman and a cast of officials, will show how political operatives deftly avoid the legal minefield. Power player, Lois Lerner, head of Tax-Exempt Organizations has already invoked her rights under the 5th Amendment to avoid incrimination for her role in targeting conservative groups while former Commissioner of Tax-Exempt Organizations Sara Hall Ingram now directs assembly of the Obamacare data collection army. Ms. Ingram’s title speaks to the complexity of the IRS: Executive Lead for the IRS Operational Planning and Implementation of the Tax Law Provisions of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. (a 21 word title). Miller, Shulman, Lerner and Ingram have navigated the ladder of politics by mastering the skills of denial and deflection as conservative groups struggle to play by the rules. Even if you have managed to avoid the wrath of the tax man, the 7 foot tall stack of regulations written for Obamacare thus far, will surely add layers of difficulty to our lives in the coming years.
471 conservative groups were flagged for extra scrutiny by the IRS as part of the 501C4 application process while each day, new revelations emerge about the auditing of individuals, conservative donors and organizations. On the heels of a rally at the DC IRS office, concerned citizens across America gathered outside of federal buildings on May 21 to speak out against growing surveillance and intimidation while officers of Homeland Security monitored their activities. Some tea party groups, with legal assistance from the American Council for Law and Justice ACLJ, are suing the IRS for targeting their group
The primary enemies of freedom are not today’s scandal plagued bureaucrats. Life and sovereignty is stripped away by tedious rules enforced by vacant bureaucrats in sterile cubicles–not the legacy of a great Republic. The founder’s would advise us to embrace the spirit of those passionate patriots hoisting their Gadsden flags. if their voices go silent, fear and desperation will fill the void.
