Justice Alito: Hey, that's bullsh*t! And contemptuous of the three separate branches of our government.
The big problem here is that I doubt the people involved were attempting to set up harassment of conservative groups relative to liberal groups. The problem here is much bigger than that.
These people were set up to investigate political/partisan groups to see if they qualify for tax breaks.
In these people’s minds liberals and progressives and their groups are not “political” or “partisan.” They’re just normal, the way most people think, the middle of the road.
Conservatives and their groups, OTOH, are “extremist” and “radical” and “dangerous.” These attitudes are so taken for granted they are probably not even conscious most of the time. They assume conservative groups are inherently political and partisan in a way that liberal/leftist/progressive groups are not.
That unconscious assumption is the problem, not so much which individual authorized the harassment.
Justice Alito: Hey, that's bullsh*t! And contemptuous of the three separate branches of our government.
The unconscious assumption of which I spoke goes well beyond government officials and regulators, media, etc.
I work in people’s homes here in Florida. Given their choice of books, magazine, etc. laying around it usually isn’t hard to deduce political opinions.
Liberals frequently assume I am also liberal. They “know” that conservatives are stupid and/or inarticulate and/or evil. I am quite obviously intelligent and articulate and I don’t appear to be evil, therefore I must be a liberal.
So they go off on political rants, assuming I will agree. I respond noncommittally, since I’m not there to engage in political discussion.
But it is interesting that liberals make the assumption I will agreed at least 10:1 more than conservatives.
IMO this is due to their assumption that liberalism is “normal,” and conservatism is abnormal if not pathological.