On April 23rd, an arm of the Democrat Party took a chilling step over a line that people of all political views and parties had honored for more than 30 years. It deliberately attempted to drag the IRS into the rough and tumble of political discourse.
Just six days later – as if to prove conclusively that the tide of debate had turned decidedly sour – the Democrat musclemen struck again, making sure no one mistook their shockingly low blow for an unintended foul.
In neither case did Democrats merely ask for a preliminary ruling, a precautionary censure, or even a fine. They demanded that the IRS immediately revoke the tax-exempt statuses of the two not-for-profit organizations they had caught in their crosshairs.
And for the first time since Richard Nixon propagated his infamous Enemies List, a major political entity had attempted to politicize the most feared regulatory agency in the nation’s capital.
The first IRS salvo from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) was aimed at a not-for-profit organization the far left has long deplored, U.S. Term Limits (USTL). USTL’s crime? One of its vendors had accidentally, unknowingly mislabeled a YouTube video.
The second hit came when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) demanded that the IRS to revoke Freedom’s Watch tax-exempt status as well. The Democrat hitmen charged that the group was not meeting what they had decided were the standards set by the Supreme Court for political issue ads. Freedom’s Watch’s advertisement did not even include any direct advocacy.
But, really, the content of the commercials is beside the point. The point is that for the first time in more than 30 years, a political entity has chosen to bypass the Federal Election Commission – the very organization charged with monitoring political campaigns and punishing wrongdoing – and instead turn to the IRS. In short, it has spurned the watchdog in favor of what it hopes will be the attack dog.
Fortunately, the commissioners of the IRS have thus far not risen to the bait.
Lest anyone doubt the thoroughly destructive nature of the assault, the Democrats are in essence asking the IRS to put issue groups out of business. Nixon’s disregard for civil liberties and rule of law pale in comparison to the thuggish antics of the DSCC and the DCCC.
The IRS should be praised for not allowing itself to be pulled into political warfare in the past. And it should stay out of these politically-motivated tong wars now. They’re America’s tax agency, not the campaign or speech police.
There needs to be a firewall of separation between political entities and police powers – else America will become a nation where politics is criminalized. And only those with conniving, criminal minds will dare enter the political fray. The Democrat campaign committees have made it clear they want the IRS to become an agency used to silence political opponents.
If they succeed, civil discourse could quickly become a criminal offense.
ALG Prediction: The IRS will continue to walk a wide circle around these types of political excesses. And the Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for even risking such a transparently dangerous and duplicitous stunt. This type of action shows why Americans can’t warm up to the idea of Democrat control of government – even after the less than inspiring record the Republicans have built the last seven years. At their core, the Democrat Party is showing its hard Left base and authoritarian, dictatorial essence. It’s not very appealing.
