Tea Party and the like deserve IRS targeting

[Savannahmann]

23. Are we sure that's the position we wish to take?

Liberals were hunted before, for our political beliefs. The bad old days of Joe McCarthy were supposed to be dead and buried. Look at history, read some books, read about how we had to go and prove we were not communists, and the only way we could was by naming people we suspected might be Communists.

That is what it looks like when people are targeted for their political beliefs. One of the reasons we weren't rounding up Muslims after 9-11 was because we had seen what that looked like too with the internment of Americans of Japanese descent. That was the low point of racism in our nation. What we did to the blacks was bad, very bad, and I am proud that Liberals pushed civil rights.

Liberals started to fight back against McCarthy, and the abuses of the Federal Government. Fred Cook exposed the FBI and their abuses. Reporters started to question the accepted ideals. The Government fought to keep us in line, we pushed hard and protested to end the targeting of people by the Government for political beliefs.

Was that only because we were targeted? Or was the higher principle of freedom of speech, freedom of association, and free thought the goal? I am not a Tea Party guy. I do think there are serious inequities in the tax system. Rich people are able to afford accountants and the like to make sure they don't miss a trick, no deduction is lost. Remember when we complained about Exxon paying no taxes? They did that by taking advantage of every deduction available, and in some cases deductions that they lobbied congress for.

Now, we don't agree with the prescription of those on the right, but I think we can agree that there is a problem that should be addressed. However, I like to look into the future. The future, the RW may once again get the White House. If we support targeting of people based upon political beliefs now because we disagree with those beliefs, how will we feel when they do the same thing to us? Make no mistake, they would do it to us if we stand and declare they deserved it.

In the end, I guess it is the way your Mother taught you. Treat others as you wish to be treated. Beyond that, we can get more public support, more votes, and thus more seats in congress if we stand for principle than if we stand for nothing but political power.