ALEXANDER: IRS Targeting Should Concern All Of Us

Regardless of ethnicity, race or political beliefs, we should all truly be concerned about what we have learned as a result of IRS targeting and abuse of conservative groups who sought tax exempt status.

It may be conservative groups this time, but it can be any other group at any other time the government chooses. (See the NSA spying on virtually all Americans without benefit of due process of law.)

In the IRS scandal, common, average Americans have had the most feared and intimidating agency in the federal government, the IRS, unleashed on them.

There are several facts that are simply not in dispute regarding the IRS targeting of these groups:

  1. The applications of these groups for tax-exempt status were held up and denied for weeks or years;
  2. Lois Lerner, who is integrally involved in this matter, has now stated that she and the IRS have “lost her hard drive” with emails relevant to the audits of the various conservative groups. If not incredible enough, the IRS is also said to have “lost” similarly relevant emails from six other IRS employees. (Wonder how that excuse would work for us taxpayers.) What is particularly difficult to believe is that, according to IT experts, almost any sort of crash or damage to a hard drive can be repaired and information retrieved;
  3. Numerous attempts by the Congress, using subpoenas, to gain information regarding the targeting have been ignored by the various federal agencies. This is scary stuff.

In their illegal search for information concerning these groups, the IRS agents sought — without probable cause of any kind — information about the groups’ donors, political affiliation and what they talked about in their meetings. This is all unconstitutional and therefore, illegal.

Can it really be believed that Mrs. Lerner and the IRS “lost” the relevant emails? Not likely.

Nothing in her or the IRS handling of this matter encourages us to give the benefit of the doubt to her explanation. Please remember that we are not discussing the totalitarian acts of Vladimir Putin or the Chinese government; neither are we talking about other rogue regimes such as Iran, Iraq or North Korea.

We are talking about the United States of America, a country with more than 200 years of constitutional governance and adherence to the rule of law. We resolve our legitimate differences at the ballot box or in a court of law but we do not attack our fellow Americans using the overwhelmingly coercive power of the federal government.

We have not seen this type of illegitimate government action before and it is greatly concerning.

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