by Bruce Ash
Conservatives
have been harassed and harmed by a hyper politicized Internal Revenue Service
over the past 4 1/2 years. This is a fact.
Democrat
Jim McDermott offered a bizarre defense of the IRS's behavior at a Congressional
Hearing the other day--accusing Conservative organizations of being potential
money launderers seeking a tax break from the government and thereby
criminalizing them for exercising their constitutionally protected
rights.
Earlier
in the same hearing, Dr. John Eastman rightly corrected Charlie Rangel for
his attack on 501(c)4 groups and the anonymity of their donors-- noting that
the NAACP had relied on that same anonymity as it was targeted by state
governments in the Jim Crow South of the 1950s. Tax returns of donor's to
Eastman's organization were leaked illegally by an IRS official to a so called
human rights group and widely distributed over the internet.
When
the government is seen to favor some groups and not others-- they effectively
discourage certain kinds of speech and assembly.
The
real issue at stake remains constitutional liberty-- not just tax
exemption.
In
view these chilling developments why have we not heard loud protests from Ron
Barber and Raul Grijalva about the abuses going on at the IRS? Protecting the
people's rights are what both pledged when they took their oath to preserve ,
defend & protect The Constitution.
What
right do they have to silence in the face of government's
oppression?
