the new facism ? Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Douglas Shulman testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington
IRS apologizes for targeting tea party groups
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
— May. 10 6:14 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was “inappropriate” targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status.
IRS agents singled out dozens of organizations for additional reviews because they included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their exemption applications, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups. In some cases, groups were asked for lists of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said.
The agency — led at the time by a Bush administration appointee — blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware. But that wasn’t good enough for Republicans in Congress, who are conducting several investigations and asked for more.
https://bigstory.ap.org/article/irs-apologizes-targeting-conservative-groups
It is telling that the IRS thoughtlessly let the cat out of the bag that they used words like “tea party” and “patriot” in the titles of organizations as triggers for increased scrutiny (read: audit) when determining whether they merit tax-exempt status. More than likely 90-95% of IRS staffers already personally thoughtlessly assume that tea party/patriot organizations are inherently political.
Ardent progressives/liberals have been hard at work in this country politicizing everything they can get their grubby little mitts on. Once they are successful in politicizing a subject, they can begin to dominate it under the umbrella of their political perspective, because most people in polite conversation shy away from politically sensitive subjects.
Tea Party/Patriot organizations are not truly political in nature, much to the chagrin of dedicated progressives and modern liberals. They believe in preserving and strengthening the principles upon which this country was founded. Such principles should be, and thankfully still are, above mere ‘politics’.
One reason why the Ridgewood Fourth of July parade organizers do not and should not have a problem with individuals who are members of Tea Party organizations marching under their own banner in the parade is that they are true civic organizations that do not support particular candidates or parties. Another reason is that the anual Ridgewood Fourth of July Parade exists for essentially the same reason that Tea Party/Patriot organizations do: To foster greater respect for the founding principles and documents (e.g., Declaration of Independence, Constitution) of this country!
What will the Government do next ?