Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The IRS Secret Police?
National review ^ | 2-6-2014 | By L. Brent Bozell III - Commentary

Posted on 02/06/2014 3:01:48 PM PST by smoothsailing

FEBRUARY 6, 2014 3:00 PM

The IRS Secret Police?

Proposed rules seek to curb the free speech of Obama’s political opponents.

By L. Brent Bozell III

The Internal Revenue Service was already an organization rightly looked on with scorn and fear by most Americans, heightened by the recent arrival of our W-2 forms. Since the early years of our country, when Chief Justice John Marshall in the Supreme Court’s landmark case McCulloch v. Maryland wrote that “the power to tax involves the power to destroy,” countless Americans have felt the heavy hand of the IRS.

Then came Barack Obama. Today, the IRS not only has dramatically expanded its scope and power but, populated by President Obama’s army of bureaucratic thugs, has also been waging a war of suppression and censorship on law-abiding Americans who dare challenge him.

Last year, the IRS admitted it had been targeting conservative groups who applied for tax-exempt status; it had been singling out groups with “patriot,” “tea party,” or “9/12” in their names and putting them through a ridiculous screening process that left the groups in limbo for months and sometimes years.

When news of the IRS scandal broke, President Obama said it was inexcusable and declared that he was angry about the targeting. He was outraged, he said, and would do everything in his power “to make sure nothing like this ever happens again” by “holding the responsible parties accountable.”

Now Obama is singing a different tune. Now he’s dismissing this brazen abuse of power as a “non-scandal.” Despite resignations at the top of the agency and the fact that Lois Lerner, the scandal’s central figure, pled her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, the president smirks when confronted about the abuses and says there’s “not even a smidgen of corruption” at his IRS.

As if to underscore this point, the IRS official in charge of tax-exempt organizations during the tea-party targeting, Sarah Hall Ingram, was promoted to run the IRS’s new Obamacare-enforcement office.

Putting anyone at the IRS in charge of enforcing Obamacare, let alone the woman behind the targeting scandal, is a slap in the face of all Americans. The problems with Obamacare are alarming enough, but with Sarah Hall Ingram involved in its enforcement, how can we trust that individuals won’t be harassed by the IRS for speaking out against Obamacare the same way that the conservative groups were targeted when she helmed the tax-exempt-organizations office?

How can Americans have any confidence that they will not be the government’s next target when they see such blatant corruption, prejudice, and disregard for their right to political free speech?

The latest IRS attack is its proposed regulations to further silence groups that aim to share their views and educate Americans about the issues facing our country. The proposed regulations apply to social-welfare organizations, called 501(c)(4)s, and seek to limit their ability to speak freely and educate their audience. Under these regulations, any public communication that is made 60 days before a general election or 30 days before a primary election that clearly identifies a candidate for public office, or the political party represented in a general election, would be considered prohibited candidate-related political activity. How can these groups then hold elected officials and parties accountable for their actions? How can they help educate the public with candidate comparisons, or encourage informed civic participation? They cannot. Other restricted activities under these regulations include:

Nonpartisan voter-registration drives

Nonpartisan “get-out-the-vote” campaigns

Voter guides referencing specific candidates or political parties

Hosting events with candidates, including debates, too close to an election.

As with the earlier targeting scandal, these regulations are poised to silence groups that disagree with Obama and his liberal policies, although they would leave intact the ability of unions to engage in political activity — and unions give nearly all their campaign contributions to Democrats. With this set-up, it’s impossible to regain trust in the impartiality of IRS bureaucrats.

While these regulations are still in the public-comment period, and it is not clear which provisions the final regulations will include, it is certain that defining the political activities of these social-welfare organizations as non-exempt is a goal of this administration. It would drastically change the playing field for many grassroots groups and organizations from right to left across the entire political spectrum. These new regulations would severely damage their ability to engage in even nonpartisan, politically related activities that further their overarching social-welfare goals.

February 27 is the public-comment deadline for the IRS’s proposed regulations. All Americans who value their freedom of speech should visit the IRS website and let them know you will not be silenced. The more power the IRS and the federal government attain, the bigger the threat to our constitutional rights.

If the IRS’s “power to tax” was the “power to destroy” almost 200 years before President Obama’s IRS bureaucrats set their sights on individual American citizens and grassroots organizations, the agency’s power today is at an all-time high and threatens our most precious rights and liberties. By impeding Americans’ constitutionally protected right to free speech, the federal government is waging a war on the very people it is supposed to serve.

We cannot allow President Obama and his IRS to shred the Constitution in order to further this political agenda. If we don’t stop this abuse of power now, we will live to deeply regret it.

— L. Brent Bozell III is chairman of ForAmerica, the largest active online conservative network, with over 4.5 million supporters.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: constitutionshredded; corruption; govtoversteps; irs; irsoutofcontrol; irsscandals; irssecretpolice; secretpolice; stasi; transparency
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

1 posted on 02/06/2014 3:01:48 PM PST by smoothsailing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing

“We have a weapon more powerful... than any in the whole arsenal of the British Empire! That weapon... is our refusal!”
—Michael Collins

Now, you have to ask yourself: What would Michael Collins do?


2 posted on 02/06/2014 3:04:14 PM PST by Noumenon (Resistance. Restoration. Retribution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing

3 posted on 02/06/2014 3:07:07 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing

Obama practices Taqiyya every time he talks to the American People and assures us that he is doing nothing wrong.


4 posted on 02/06/2014 3:07:39 PM PST by Mr. K (If you like your constitution, you can keep it...Period.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing

5 posted on 02/06/2014 3:08:19 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. K

The word “Taqiyya” literally means: “Concealing, precaution, guarding.” It is employed in disguising one’s beliefs, intentions, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions or strategies. In practical terms it is manifested as dissimulation, lying, deceiving, vexing and confounding with the intention of deflecting attention, foiling or pre-emptive blocking. It is currently employed in fending off and neutralising any criticism of Islam or Muslims.

Falsehoods told to prevent the denigration of Islam, to protect oneself, or to promote the cause of Islam are sanctioned in the Qur’an and Sunna, including lying under oath in testimony before a court, deceiving by making distorted statements to the media such as the claim that Islam is a “religion of peace”. A Muslim is even permitted to deny or denounce his faith if, in so doing, he protects or furthers the interests of Islam, so long as he remains faithful to Islam in his heart. (See endnotes


6 posted on 02/06/2014 3:09:01 PM PST by Mr. K (If you like your constitution, you can keep it...Period.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Mr. K

mark.


7 posted on 02/06/2014 3:14:04 PM PST by cyn (Benghazi.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing

8 posted on 02/06/2014 3:16:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Jealousy is when you count someone else's blessings instead of your own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing

almost a year later an organization I work with is still waiting to be assigned to a worker for Non Profit reinstatement. They cashed the $800 check last June, but it’s still sitting on a desk somewhere.

Our education focus goes against Medicare approved treatments, I imagine we’ll just keep sitting there.


9 posted on 02/06/2014 3:19:12 PM PST by porter_knorr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing

So uh....where’s Johnny?

Drowning his sorrows at that bar his Dad used to own?

Or cashing some options that a K street lobbyist sent him to sit on his hands?


10 posted on 02/06/2014 3:22:43 PM PST by Regulator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing; COUNTrecount; Nowhere Man; FightThePower!; C. Edmund Wright; jacob allen; ...

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...

11 posted on 02/06/2014 3:24:21 PM PST by null and void (<--- unwilling cattle-car passenger on the bullet train to serfdom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Regulator

Johnny, well like who’s Johnny? Answer me Debbie who’s Johnny.
Is anybody here named Johnny?
Are you Johnny? There was one guy named Johnny.
But he was a total geek. He always had food in his braces.
Answer me Debbie who’s Johnny.
Oh God this is like that movie Citizen Kane
You know where you later find out Rosebud was a sled
But we’ll never know who Johnny is because like she’s dead


12 posted on 02/06/2014 3:28:09 PM PST by null and void (<--- unwilling cattle-car passenger on the bullet train to serfdom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: FReepers; Patriots; FRiends
Happy with "his change?"The transformation of America..





Free Republic is Your Voice and Your Forum!
We Really Need and Appreciate Your Loyal Support!
PLEASE Make Your Donation Today, Monthly, if You POSSIBLY can!


13 posted on 02/06/2014 3:29:02 PM PST by onyx (Please Support Free Republic - Donate Monthly! If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, Let Me know!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Mr. K

I am saddened by the fact that I already knew what taqiyya means. I regret that attacks perpetrated on our country by followers of islam have caused me to learn more than I ever wanted to know about that so-called religion. It’s still beyond my comprehension that our country elected - twice - a muslim to the presidency especially after the events of 911.


14 posted on 02/06/2014 3:32:31 PM PST by lakecumberlandvet (Appeasement never works.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: onyx

That really makes the point, sometimes I could cry.


15 posted on 02/06/2014 3:36:20 PM PST by tiki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: tiki

Yep, me too, but I’m too mad and disgusted to cry.
We must retake the US Senate and make TEA Party Patriot gains in the House!


16 posted on 02/06/2014 3:38:17 PM PST by onyx (Please Support Free Republic - Donate Monthly! If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, Let Me know!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Regulator
So uh....where’s Johnny?

Here's Johnny!

 photo HeresJohnny_zps5cf19106.gif

17 posted on 02/06/2014 4:06:29 PM PST by smoothsailing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing

One and the same


18 posted on 02/06/2014 4:21:19 PM PST by Regulator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: smoothsailing

What’s next- IEDs in IRS offices?


19 posted on 02/06/2014 4:21:47 PM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lakecumberlandvet
I am saddened by the fact that I already knew what taqiyya means. I regret that attacks perpetrated on our country by followers of islam have caused me to learn more than I ever wanted to know about that so-called religion. It’s still beyond my comprehension that our country elected - twice - a muslim to the presidency especially after the events of 911.

They aren't low information voters for nothing.
20 posted on 02/06/2014 4:25:51 PM PST by Old Yeller
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson