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Selective IRS scrutiny based on political beliefs, associations, or activities is (supposed to be) unlawful. Best I can tell is that the Cincinnati IRS people were using a certain criterion to flag new 501(c)4 applications to review. They exercised poor administrative judgment (I see that occasionally from my den in the woodwork of a government agency), and were ordered to stop by upper management. The Inspector General found no evidence of political motivation.
Still, it shouldn't happen. Clear rules for flagging potentially suspicious paperwork should be developed by IRS executives with participation from field offices. Also, the law needs to make it crystal clear that improper IRS scrutiny is unlawful not only when it affects the Tea Party, but also when it affects groups whose names contain words like occupy, environmental, progressive, peace, and so on. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out what I might be talking about.
Are Democrats using this occasion to point out (for once) that Both Sides Do It? To make sure that all Americans are protected from IRS harassment rooted in political criteria? No. They have been busy all week stepping on their own dicks, acting like Democrats invented the weaponization of the IRS. They should bring heinous examples of Republican abuse of IRS powers into the public record... not to excuse the Cincinnati field office, but to insist on a "bipartisan effort" to prevent the IRS from chilling political activity irrespective of which wing of The Property Party holds the presidency.
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"...poor administrative judgment..." N.S. Sherlock. Commission, omission, and just plain stupidity from any possible vantage point. More broadly then "just" the IRS, with EVERY conceivable communication being hoovered up (and collated for easy search - see Utah data center) privacy was or soon will be just a fairy tale, full of sound and fury, and told by an idiot. To the plus side, future socio-archeologists will study this totalitarian overreach and how the strangling vine helped deform and warp a once vibrant society.
ReplyDeleteMr. Nobody (not that it'll help)
P.S. there are various partial aids for minor aches and pains of whatever flavor. Age happeneth to all - if they're lucky. No reason not to benefit from collective experience.
I'd be interested to know the proportion of new 501(c)4 groups with names including "progressive," "peace," "justice," and "environment" popped up immediately after the Citizens United decision versus ones with conservative keywords. I say that with actual interest, not to imply that I know the answer. I'd also like to know how many of said groups, proportionally, were flagged for closer scrutiny compared with the conservative groups.
DeleteThe bigger issue is the more important one, of course: generations coming of age without a concept of privacy due to the ubiquity of databases, surveillance technology, and sensors. It's all well and good as long as you have nothing to hide and mind your manners with regard to political and religious expression.
Let's run this up the old flagpole and see if anybody salutes: The teaparty advocates treason. Scrutinize the hell out of them and lock up the traitorous instigators (ie enemy combatants) at Guantanamo.
ReplyDeleteReactionaries rarely think about what would happen if "the other side" got ahold of the infrastructure of tyranny. Today they pretend like Obama is a tyrant, but if he were, then he would already have done what you suggest.
DeleteMeanwhile, hell: I doubt that you could get a political plurality, or even one prominent commentator per news network, to state unequivocally that the Confederacy was treason and that, therefore, the names of Confederate military officers and politicians should be removed from all federal infrastructure throughout the USA.
Less gov, less gov, less gov....
ReplyDeleteBut of course now:
Investigate, investigate, investigate.
How many T.P.-ers would give up, say, the mortgage interest tax credit? If Q-pak (the "other" law school in CN) wanted yet another poll to take that might be a good one.
As to treason, the phraseology of watering the roots of democracy with blood....certainly seems to tend that way. But multi-interpretable allusions is still a few steps away from concrete advocacy and specific and actionable plans (thank goodness). I'd guess other elements of government are keeping an eye out and sorting the pot luck with kids sorts of meetings with, say, 3 person interlocking anonymous cells. A "typical" profile of a T.P.-er that might become "radicalized"...hmmmm, maybe a socially estranged youth or pair of buddies wanting acceptance in the greater Militia Collective (or similar).
Add 'um to the list...
The Rain Delayed Painter
It seems that every week I see some official (usually state level) being quoted making a remark that I believe would readily be construed as treasonous if uttered by a Muslim, an anarchist, or maybe even an Occupy soccer mom.
Delete