Well, turns out, the voices were right. Only now, the tyranny is no longer lurking around the corner--it's officially arrived. In an unfolding government corruption scandal that may very well eclipse Watergate, the IRS is finally admitting what some congressmen suspected all along: that the administration was using the agency as a hired thug to punish and silence conservatives.
The conspiracy, which started as early as 2010 and may have affected as many as 500 conservative and Christian groups, used the IRS to antagonize organizations seeking non-profit status. Unlike liberal organizations, which, in USA Today's words "got a pass," the IRS demanded reams of sensitive--and often irrelevant--information from tea party, religious, and conservative groups to intimidate or otherwise frustrate the President's opponents. According to Politico, agents asked shockingly private questions, ranging from donors lists (which were later leaked), Facebook posts, and media interviews to minutes from board meetings, résumés of officers, tweets, political blog posts, and even a list of student trainees.
At the Waco Texas Tea Party, Toby Walker says the IRS even ordered her to provide "transcripts of radio shows where her group had mentioned political candidates by name"--a project that would have cost the organization $25,000 to complete. In Tennessee, an attorney sent chills down readers' spines when he told reporters that the IRS had asked him for a list of any students he had mentored or planned to mentor. "Can you imagine my responsibility to parents," asked the founder of Linchpins of Liberty, "if I disclosed the names of their children to the IRS?"
In the Christian community, several established organizations were also targeted, including Franklin Graham, whose two North Carolina charities came under sudden scrutiny after he and his father, Rev. Billy Graham, published pro-marriage and pro-family election ads. In a letter to President Obama, the Grahams explain that an IRS agent visited both groups in October to conduct a surprise tax "review." National Organization for Marriage was another target, as their confidential documents were released to the Human Rights Campaign--whose then-president was a chairman for Obama's re-election campaign.
The abuse is so widespread that some of the White House's cheerleaders in the media are piling on about the deep roots of the administration's crookedness. For once, the cumulative effects of Fast and Furious, Solyndra, and Benghazi are starting to pull back the curtain on the lack of integrity and honesty in this White House. Now, thanks to this latest IRS outrage, Americans everywhere will have to wonder if they're being targeted for their political views and activities--in a constitutional government that depends on their participation! If we want to eliminate the IRS as a tool for political corruption, then it's time to revisit the debate about an alternative form of taxation. Concentrating power in the IRS hasn't grown the American economy. In fact, the only thing it seems to have accomplished is breeding a mobster mentality that threatens U.S.freedom.
"The fact is," President Obama told the crowd at OSU, "all too often the institutions that give structure to our society have, at times, betrayed your trust." No one knew how profound that betrayal was. Now that we do, it's our duty to ensure it stops.
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