The IRS Scandal: A Case Study in Government Tyranny
Responding to the lawsuit, Thomas Kane, Deputy Assistant Chief Counsel for the IRS, wrote in a sworn declaration that Lerner's Blackberry was "removed or wiped clean of any sensitive or proprietary information and removed as scrap for disposal in June 2012." In a USA Today opinion column, James S. Robbins wrote, "For a scandal that is frequently derided as 'fake,' it is amazing how often real evidence disappears. The disappearing act is so frequent, it is reasonable to wonder whether it is really a systematic attempt to destroy evidence of abuse of power."
(24) The current US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has been asked by Congressional Republicans to re-evaluate the evidence against the IRS and against Lois Lerner and re-open the investigation. At present, Sessions seems noncommittal on the matter. Taxpayers deserve to know that the DOJ's previous evaluation was not tainted by politics.
TARGETING POLICIAL OPPOSITION IS TYRANNY -
The IRS scandal was egregious and conservatives should be enraged. I would say all Americans should be enraged but judging from the conduct of Democrats, they seem to be fine with anything that shuts up a conservative - even if it means denying their basic constitutional rights. But an assault on the rights of one group in the end will be an assault on everyone's rights down the road. Looking the other way while the government violates the rights of certain citizens is a dangerous thing. Allowing the government to get away with it is worse. Allowing the government to silence political opposition is to put our free society at risk.
As President Harry Truman once warned: "Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." [In a Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August 8, 1950]
References:
Audit Report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, "Inappropriate Criteria Were Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review." Referenced at: https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2013reports/201310053fr.html
Diane Rufino, "How Quickly Trump's Tax Return Story Has Disappeared," Forloveofgodandcountry blog, April 23, 2017. Referenced at: https://forloveofgodandcountry.com/2017/04/23/how-quickly-the-trump-tax-return-story-has-disappeared/
IRS Targeting Controversy, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy
"The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals: Another Court Ruling Confirms IRS Illegally Targeted Tea Party and Conservative Groups," CEI.org, November 21, 2016. Referenced at: https://cei.org/blog/another-court-ruling-confirms-irs-illegally-targeted-tea-party-and-conservative-groups
Andy Kroll, "The IRS Tea Party Scandal Explained," Mother Jones, November 21, 2013. Referenced: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/05/irs-tea-party-scandal-congress-nonprofit-obama
Stephen Dinan and Seth McLaughlin, "House Republicans Derail Impeachment Effort Against IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, IRS Commissioner," The Washington Times, December 6, 2016. Referenced at: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/6/john-koskinen-irs-commissioner-spared-impeachment-/
David Barstow, Russ Bruettner, Susanne Craig, and Megan Twohey, "Donald Trump Tax Records Show He Could Have Avoided Taxes for Nearly Two Decades," The New York Times, November 2, 2016. Referenced at: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html
Adam Liptak, "Is It Illegal to Publish a President's Tax Returns," The New York Times, March 15, 2017. Referenced at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/us/politics/trump-tax-returns-legal-precedent.html
Daniel John Sobieski, "Rogue IRS Felons Vindicate Trump," American Thinker, March 16, 2917. Referenced at: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/03/rogue_irs_felons_vindicate_trump.html
Go Back
