The IRS Scandal, Day 1017

Joe Kristan (Tax Update Blog), President’s Day. Bah. Humbug.:

Today is President’s Day. ... It seems as good a day as any to ponder a well-buried scandal of the current presidency, the Tea Party scandal. It came to light with a staged admission by Lois Lerner that Tea Party groups had been singled out for "special treatment” by the IRS. The admission was intended to get in front of an Inspector General report exposing the partisan mistreatment. ...

It was never realistic to think the scandal would bring down the administration, considering how carefully the media cheerleaders avoided the subject. But the lack of presidential involvement only leads to a more disturbing conclusion, one I discussed way back when the scandal was only in single digits:

I doubt the White House left fingerprints on IRS efforts to harass political opponents (though it didn’t lift a finger to stop it).   That leads to an even more depressing possibility: that the IRS went out its way to beat up on the President’s opponents on its own.  Nobody blew the whistle.  That means IRS management is so corrupt and political that it would go after the administration’s political opponents with only a wink and a nudge.  And anybody who doesn’t think this was politically-motivated is kidding themselves.

James Taranto puts it well:

And the IRS scandal was a subversion of democracy on a massive scale. The most fearsome and coercive arm of the administrative state embarked on a systematic effort to suppress citizen dissent against the party in power. Thomas Friedman is famous for musing that he wishes America could  be China for a day. It turns out we’ve been China for a while.

The self-weaponization of the bureaucracy against its political opponents is hugely depressing. The government workforce is overwhelmingly on the side of the political party that favors an ever-larger state. There are plenty of Lois Lerners in the IRS and throughout the Leviathan. The Tea Party scandal, and the complete lack of accountability for its perpetrators, gives no reason to hope those who don’t share that worldview can expect a fair shake. That’s especially true when the sitting president shows no interest in discouraging such behavior.

• The IRS Scandal, Day 1016 (Feb. 19, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1015 (Feb. 18, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1014 (Feb. 17, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1013 (Feb. 16, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1012 (Feb. 15, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1011 (Feb. 14, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1010 (Feb. 13, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1009 (Feb. 12, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1008 (Feb. 11, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1007 (Feb. 10, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1006 (Feb. 9, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1005 (Feb. 8, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1004 (Feb. 7, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1003 (Feb. 6, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1002 (Feb. 5, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1001 (Feb. 4, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 901-1000 (Oct. 27, 2015 - Feb. 3, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 801-900 (July 19, 2015 - Oct. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 701-800 (April 10, 2015 - July 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 2013)