My two cents on the IRS scandal
Now, I know what some have said where people did admit to targeted people based on keywords like "tea Party." As Obama put it, that cannot be tolerated. Some IRS people have resigned. However, I do think that there were factors that do not make up for this, but that cannot be ignored, as they have far greater consequences, and can do far more damage than any scandal.
The fact is, Citizens United wrecked many of the safeguards that used to separate "tax exempt charity" from "political group where Billionaires dump money so they can get policies that make them more money." Of course, many groups applied for this tax exempt status, most of the right wing, because they were saving money and planning towards this for years. Want an example:
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/true_the_vote_says_it_was_targeted_by_irs_--_appropriate.html
Now, True the Vote was a political organization whose purpose was to restrict the ability to vote. They helped get rid of early voting in my state, Florida, and they tried to get the infamous "voter id" laws passed in my state. Now, the Tax Exemptions were for those organizations that were" NOT Primarily political in nature." How an organization called True the vote, which is not dedicated to anything BUT Voting, can get that exemption is foolish, and an example that these new rules were ABUSED. There were a rush of these organizations after Citizens United, with no support for the IRS as they were taking in this added load.
If people were being fair, they would change the IRS, and give them more of a budget, as this new frontier means they will be locking horns not just with domestic billionaires, but companies that, for all we know, may be just a war chest for China and Saudi Arabia. Let's face it, we have watered down the rules so bad there is nothing stopping the Peoples Republic of China or Al Qaida from just shoveling money into Pacs, or even admitting who they are. Of course, with Wall Street funded groups advocating Charter schools, and the Koch brothers, we need not look overseas for trouble. To water down the standards enough that any group can call themselves a "charity", even though they are pursuing policies that will PROFIT their masters, and NOT expect something to break down is folly.
Of course, the media will make it seem like we need to get the IRS, which means that a president Paul or Christie can kill or cripple it, which means the oligarchy can and will run ramshod. If the IRS is broken, they will not stop until they finish wrecking the federal government, and turn this nation into a corporate plantation/whorehouse! Let us not forget, the reason we are in sop much debt is that, ever since Ron Ray Gun, we have been cutting taxes for the rich every damned year, with the weak, brief exception of the Clinton years. Even his "high taxes" were far short of the 1950's, or most modern industrial states for that matter.
I am not sayign ignore or deny the IRS screw ups, I am saying do not be fooled into doing the GOP dirty work, by moving past the point that there were way, way too many abuses that were going unchecked. Let's not even get into the fact that ACORN got killed and they turned out to be innocent.
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If anybody at the IRS, the White House, or anywhere else was truly "going after" the Tea Party or any other type of group, it would not end with what I believe is a 100% approval rate. I haven't heard of any denials of the conservative groups, only some delays in receiving the requested tax status.
