IRS Targeted Conservative Groups

I strongly disagree. A bureaucracy exists precisely because it has to be fair. The tradeoff is efficiency. When your goal is to be efficient, you can develop heuristics to identify items that require further examination. A bureaucracy--especially one that is entrusted with the kind of sensitive information the IRS handles--must treat everyone as equally as possible. That didn't happen here. Worse yet, the IRS administrator is unapologetic.

I said it before, but it deserves repeating. If you're going to advocate for Big Government, you're asking the citizenry to give up some liberties. And if you're going to shrink the role of the individual, then you had better be 100% trustworthy. You need to ensure that big government is beyond reproach. Instead, we seen even greater corruption.

It doesn't matter who knew what when or who gave orders. In management, you are responsible for EVERYTHING that happens within your unit. Government uses a command and control structure. A reports to B, B reports to C, etc., etc. To claim ignorance of what happens beneath you doesn't absolve you of culpability, it actually is an admission that you were negligent.

 

That is what the Tea Party groups tried to do in 2012, when they tried to maintain the momentum of their 2010 success in throwing some of the bums out.

Unfortunately, they were derailed in 2012.

How can they "fire" Obama, when they were blocked from exercising their rights to organize, educate and advocate?

This scandal is of the highest order and goes to the very heart of a democracy.

Which is why there are even Democrats and Left Wingers who are upset about this.

Your positions, claims and opinions on this issue, are, frankly, bizarre.

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100747566

After the 2012 election when the votes were able to be carefully analyzed, it turns out that the primary gap in votes, was not Hispanic votes or women voters, but was because he failed to get out the Vote of those who would vote for him. The momentum of the Tea Party explosion in 2010 was wiped out.

 

How much did Obama and Left wing groups spend?

And, I question your number regardless. A lot of establishment Republicans tried to take over or block Tea Party groups, and are not real Tea Party grass roots. You are probably counting that money.

 

Dem Senator: "Fire EVERYONE involved"


Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, issued a video statement Friday in response to reports that the Internal Revenue Service unfairly targeted conservative nonprofit groups.
“I’m mad. It is un-American, it is wrong, and we have to make sure that this gets fixed,” Missouri’s senior senator said. “There’s a reason Lady Justice wears a blindfold in America. That is because in America, we don’t apply the law based on who you are, who you know, or what you believe. We apply the law equally.”
McCaskill went on to say that the targeting of one group based on political beliefs “infuriates” her.
“We should not only fire the head of the IRS, which has occurred, but we’ve got to go down the line and find every single person who had anything to do with this and make sure that they are removed from the IRS and the word goes out that this is unacceptable,” she said. “It is un-American, it is wrong, and it cannot occur again.”
McCaskill concluded by saying many groups claim to be charities while doing political work and that it is a problem which needs to be fixed “but not in a way that highlights one belief over another.”

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/05...ing-of-all-involved-in-irs-targeting-scandal/​

 

That is a Media theory that turned out not to be backed up by the numbers.

NJ and NY were never in play. Sandy hitting there was meaningless.

 

You can give into what you think are natural impulses. I have a different tactic: draconian penalties. When they fear the penalty for cheating more than they fear the penalty for not cheating, self-interest will take over. It's all about aligning incentives.

People that discriminated in our government need to do time. If they were ordered by their managers, it's no excuse. "I was just following orders" didn't work in Nuremburg and shouldn't work now.

By the way, Congress would do well to bring up Steven Miller on perjury charges as a first step.

 

Smart people regardless of political persuasion are concerned about this issue. Why? Because they understand one day it could be done to them.

 

Great editorial: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2...ike-a-river-at-the-irs-scandal-robert-miller/

 

Much more at the link:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/348428/nine-lies-lois-lerner-kevin-williamson

 

Could you please give a link to you "$1 billion" number for "Tea Party" groups?

I simply don't believe it. I can't find any proof that "Tea Party" PACs raised $1 billion. Even if they did, what does it matter if their approval process was deliberately held up by the IRS?

What a bizarre stance you have on this. I'm guessing it's just to keep discussion going, but it's making you look a bit foolish.

 

It's more than money, it's time and energy. Time trying to comply with the IRS is time they're not organizing. As long as they're not approved as a tax-exempt organization, there is an appearance of shadiness. Furthermore, it does hamper fundraising, as there's no writeoff for these donors. Also, if you hear that your name may end up on a list submitted to the IRS, you're less likely to contribute or even get involved.

Playing Devil's Advocate is one thing, but I find your logic saying this isn't a big deal bizarre.

 

Your link says nothing about the "Tea Party" groups. It says "outside groups" at $970b, with no other details. I'm wondering how you arrived at that number, outside of some random Huffington Post links and posts. Are you assuming that all of that $970b are from the "Tea Party"? If so, that's a stupid post.

Seems like you're fudging the facts here...