That IRS thing... [View all]

[madamesilverspurs]

I posted this on facebook this morning. No slams so far, amazing. Hmmm.

When it comes to matters of dissent (or anything else), is it appropriate or legal for the government to use the IRS as an instrument of punishment? Hell, no! And we stood up and said so. Loudly. Our outrage was met with accusations of treason, we were branded as “unpatriotic” and condemned for “helping the terrorists”. My oh my, what a difference a few years can make!

There’s a church in Pasadena that was targeted with a full IRS audit following a sermon that didn’t meet the approval of the presidential Administration. It caught my attention because this was a church that my family had attended. For whatever reason, it also caught the attention of the national media, even though it was but one of many churches to receive similar IRS action at that time. And, yes, those media outlets who raised questions over the practice were answered with vituperation.

Fast forward a few years to the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United. Following that unfortunate validation of political quicksand the IRS received a swarm of applications for non-profit designation. It is the task of the IRS to evaluate those applications to determine the appropriate designation, because there really IS a difference between a political operation and an organization that exists to extend charity. So when individuals not known for charity but well-known for political action (e.g. Dick Armey, Glenn Beck, Karl Rove) apply for charitable designation for their organizations, yes, eyebrows go up and a closer look is taken.

There was not one utterance of outrage from Republicans regarding the Bush administration’s deliberate abuse of IRS power, save for their umbrage toward those who dared to question. Now they are demanding a measure of judicial examination that they deemed unthinkable during the Bush years. The irony that utterly escapes them is that we WILL investigate and we WILL endeavor to correct any problems that come to light; it is their refusal to have done likewise that has brought us to the present circumstance.

Republicans, you are hereby invited to put your hypocrisy where the sun don’t shine. No RSVP is required.