Dayton Tea Party Calls on Congress to Thoroughly Investigate IRS Thuggery

(Credit: Boston Herald)

 On Friday May 10, the Internal Revenue Service shocked the nation by finally admitting that, yes, they have been profiling Tea Party groups and other organizations which promote limited government ideals.  By “profiling” we refer to the IRS’ relatively recent practice of attempting to extract sensitive information from patriotic citizens for reasons not germane to their tax oversight function.  Read on to discover that this situation is even worse than you already know.  The Dayton Tea Party, a passionate association of like-minded, liberty-loving Ohioans calls on Congress to thoroughly explore every angle of this growing scandal until those responsible are punished.

 Reported details of this corrupt abuse of power are increasing every hour.  Here’s what you need to know.

Shortly after forming, the Dayton Tea Party, like many similar grassroots organiztions, filed papers with the IRS to be granted a tax-exempt status.  Several months later, we received a very intrusive questionnaire, which inquired about matters far beyond the necessary scope of IRS oversight.  You can find a very similar questionnaire at this link.  Some of the questions asked us were:

• Has your organization engaged in any activities with the news media?  If so, please describe those activities in further detail and, if available, provide copies of articles printed or transcripts of items aired because of that activity.  New media activity may include the following: A) Press releases, B) Interviews with the news media, C) Letters to the editor, D) Op-ed pieces.
• Provide the following for all the events you have conducted and will conduct for 2012 and 2013:
  • A. The time, location and content schedule of each rally or exhibition
  • B. Provide copies of handouts you provided or will provide to the public.
  • C. The names of persons from your organization and the amount of time they have spent or will spend on the event….
  • D. Indicate the percentage of time and resources you have spent or will spend conducting these activities in relation to 100% of all your activities.
  • E. Expense amounts incurred for these activities for 2010 and 2011.

• Does your organization promote or publicize itself using any internet social media such as Facebook?  If so, please list the social media outlets and provide hardcopy printouts of these outlets.

Some patriotic organizations were even asked to provide their donor lists, a clear violation of the law, though this question was not asked of us.  Recognizing the intrusive nature of this inquiry, and after seeking legal advice, the Dayton Tea Party withdrew its application.  Friends, your government is utterly out of control.  But wait… there’s more.

Originally, the IRS claimed that they were “absolutely not” targeting conservative groups.  Then, last Friday, they admitted they had done so, blaming the abuse of power on “low-level” workers in the agency.  Now it’s been revealed that top officials at the IRS knew about this witch hunt at least two years ago.  The intrusive demands for inappropriate information came from IRS offices in Cincinnati, Washington, DC.  Now we’re learning that some IRS employees even went so far as to release copies of some of these confidential applications to a left-wing organization.

Do you think it can’t get any worse?  Would it interest you to know that it’s now coming to light that some Jewish groups were also singled out for extra scrutiny by Herr Obama’s IRS thugs?  Who’s next, Mr. President?  The gypsies and the Poles?  This is what happens when a win-at-all-costs, Alinsky-loving politician with no respect for the US Constitution holds the most important job in our government.  But wait-it gets even worse!

Review these words:

“He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposed not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.”

This sentence comes directly from the articles of impeachment of President Richard Nixon in 1974.  While we don’t yet know whether Barack Obama personally ordered his IRS to go after groups like the Dayton Tea Party, we do know that a Chief Executive Officer is responsible for everything that happens under his leadership.  Whether or not his fingerprints are directly on this growing scandal, our President is ultimately responsible.

 Barack ObamaNixon

To serve the nation as President is a high honor.  With this honor comes the duty to safeguard the freedoms of the People of this great land.  Sadly, not all our elected officials understand the sacredness of their trust.  Thomas Jefferson warned us in 1798 about politicians like Barack Obama when he wrote:

 [I]t would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights; that confidence is every where the parent of despotism; free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power; that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no farther, our confidence may go; [...].  In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

George Washington, a man of less eloquence, but equally clear vision also understood what was at stake in the tug-of-war over liberty between a government and its citizens.  He said:“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence – it is force!  Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”  

The entire reason we have a Constitution in America is to restrict the arrogant and power-hungry impulses of men like Barack Obama and his many cronies.  We are convinced that, apart from constitutional constraints, there is no line of propriety this administration would not cross in the quest to secure and enhance its own power.  Even as we compose this message, yet another scandal is emerging, wherein it’s been discovered that Eric Holder’s Justice Department has used a legal pretext to secure the phone records of over 100 Associated Press reporters for two months in early 2012.

The Dayton Tea Party is not the only entity concerned over this abuse of IRS power.  Left-leaning MSNBC personality Willie Geist yesterday said this: “There’s been many overblown claims of tyranny and abuse of power from the government over the last few years…This is tyranny. If this is the government, a nonpartisan agency coming after specific groups, this time it’s real.”  It’s refreshing to see thoughtful people on the other side of the political spectrum who still understand what tyranny looks like.

And, need we remind you that the IRS is the arm of the government charged with enforcing the new HealthCare law?  What’s next?  Will citizens now find their organ transplants delayed if they don’t subscribe to the approved political dogmas of corrupt politicians in power at a particular moment?  We now have a government that refuses to “profile” particular terrorist groups, but instead turns its suspicious gaze upon freedom-loving, peaceful citizens exercising their First Amendment rights?

We are gratified, but not satisfied to learn of House Speaker John Boehner’s statement on this scandal, in which he says: “The admission by the Obama administration that the Internal Revenue Service targeted political opponents echoes some of the most shameful abuses of government power in 20th-century American history.”

Dayton Congressman Mike Turner wasted no time in touting new piece of legislation he’s introduced, which strengthens penalties for government targeting ideological groups. Mr. Turner represents the majority of our membership and also sits on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.  Therefore, we call on him to aggressively pursue this issue, leaving no stone unturned.  We feel a strong message must be sent, via firings and prosecutions, to the next group of government toadies who seek to defraud American citizens of their constitutionally-protected rights.  While we appreciate Congressman Turner’s willingness to address this corruption, we also feel that yet another law on the books is not the answer.  There are already laws prohibiting such abuses.  What’s needed is a reformation of culture among government employees across this nation.  The IRS flunky who targeted the Dayton Tea Party was a Mr. Joseph R. Harr (Group 7821, ID# 0110233).  His contact information as of March 2012 was 550 Main St., Federal Building Rm. 4514, Cincinnati, OH  45202   Phone (513) 263-3425   FAX  (513) 263-4488.  We feel that Mr. Herr needs to lose his job as punishment for his role in this plot, as does his immediate supervisor.  Nothing will effectively change in our government until the Joseph Herrs of this world live in fear of violating the sacred rights of law-abiding citizens, regardless of the orders given to them by their superiors.

Finally, the Dayton Tea Party calls on all our friends and neighbors to wake up to the jeopardy in which we find ourselves with regard to the status of our precious freedoms.  These liberties are not granted to us by the Constitution, but by our Creator.  Anyone seeking to abridge the rights of American citizens is, whether he know it or not, placing himself – or herself – in a higher place than the Almighty.  Such arrogance will not end well.