Lack of outrage for Lois Lerner's bias is frightening

The fabric of our democratic republic is woven with an underlying respect for opposing forces and for our systems of "laws not men."  Year after year, by and large, Democrats and Republicans play by the rules, and accept the outcome of elections, win or lose.  It was an underlying assumption under our Constitutional system that it hinges upon fair play so that our differences would be aired at the ballot box rather than with guns and bombs.


One of the strands of that cloth has been that federal agencies would remain apolitical, interpreting and enforcing the laws evenhandedly to assure that the muscle of the politician and party in power would be applied only through the political processes and not through the heavy jackboot of government.

This principle has been established and enforced on both sides of the aisle for time immemorial, through the Hatch Act, through careful de-politicization of the IRS, and even through impeachment articles when Richard Nixon strayed across the line and allowed the IRS and other government agencies to be used for overtly partisan political ends.

Thus, the lack of outrage in the mainstream media, among Democrats, and among powerful opinion leaders in this nation over the recent abuses by the IRS is profoundly disappointing, even if entirely predictable.

We all know of the shocking "Be on the Lookout" memo from November of 2010 wherein the IRS instructed line-level employees to treat "Tea Party" and "Liberty" group non-profit applications different than those from liberal groups, and its subsequent renewal (after objections were raised) in January of 2012.  It was breath-taking in terms of the abuse of the power by this most-powerful federal agency.

But this week's new revelations about the personal bias of Lois Lerner are simply stunning.  There is no other word for it.  Therein, she characterized conservatives as "crazies" and "assholes."

Now, don't get us wrong.  We expect our elected officials and bureaucrats to abuse their power from time to time.  They are flawed human beings, which precisely is why the inspired genius of our founding fathers shines through with the checks and balances in the Constitution.   These flaws highlight the actions of more recent patriots bolstering those systems -- such as the Special Counsel law.

But these checks and balances presume that the other organs of society (the media, elected and appointed officials from the party in power, business, union and church leaders) demand that our system of limited powers be respected.

That has all fallen apart with the IRS scandal.

The Attorney General steadfastly refuses to apply the Special Counsel law, Congress refuses to sanction Lois Lerner for her contempt of Congress, but most importantly there appear to be no honest brokers in the media, the Democrat Party, the business community or the clergy.  No one appears willing to step forward and demand accountability for the utterly biased and outrageous conduct by the IRS.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, spells the beginning of the end for our democratic republic.  The moral foundation of our just society no longer exists.  Barack Obama and a rogue IRS can engage in the most outrageous conduct against powerless citizen activists, and even with it all exposed to the light of day, those in power do not care, and refuse to act.

The lack of outrage for Lois Lerner's brazen acts of Tea Party oppression are truly frightening.