A firestorm of harsh criticism and accusations erupted last week when it was revealed that Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved in targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exemption status.
A report from the inspector general responsible for the IRS confirmed that groups with Tea Party, 9/12 Project, or Patriot in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny.
Groups like the Tea Party and 9/12 Project (a group created by professional yeller, Glenn Beck) are associated with the right side of the political spectrum.
The report also mentioned that the IRS applied extra scrutiny to applicants with statements that “criticize how the country is run” or wanted to educate people on how to (not a joke) “make America a better place to live,” which are descriptions that would have included Tea Party and conservative political groups looking to apply for 501(c)(4) status.
As the investigation into the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups continues, House Speaker John Boehner asks: “Now, my question isn’t about who’s going to resign. My question is who’s going to jail over this scandal?”
I say that if you really want to punish the guilty party, the worst punishment would be to make them continue to work for the IRS.
The most interesting part of this whole scandal is that Republicans are completely right; this is an outrage. After years of accusing the Obama administration of conspiracy theories and cover-ups, they finally have a legitimate one to yell about. The sad part is that people don’t seem to care as much as they should. 54% of those polled in a Gallup survey said they are closely following the story, while 22 percent were following “not too closely” and 24 weren’t following at all.
“The level of attention being paid to each is below the average 60 percent of Americans who have closely followed more than 200 news stories Gallup has measured over the past several decades,” Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport wrote in an analysis of the poll.
But why do people not care? I think it can best be equated to the beloved childhood story “The Boy Who Cried: ‘Stop That Man Who is Trying to Take our Guns, Civil Liberties, etc…!’” It seems as if people have been so desensitized by all of the Republican fear-mongering, that when something outrageous actually happens, people don’t care as much.