Emotions are running high on the right side of the political spectrum since the terrifying discovery that the Internal Revenue Service has for years been harassing dozens – maybe hundreds – of Tea Party and conservative grassroots groups.
Within those victimized (and now vindicated) Tea Party groups is rage but also a sense of satisfaction that they have been proven correct. The Obama government - indeed the entire Establishment - was out to get them, and now the world knows it.
It’s not often that an individual or group gets to be a hero and a victim all at the same time. The fact that this has come with such a tidal wave confirms what conservatives have feared about liberals and big government. Of course, it can happen again.
Meanwhile, the Republican establishment - from American Crossroads to the Republican National Committee – might be embarrassed that the IRS did not think them worthy of harassing. In other words, the IRS might have seen the GOP as too feckless to worry about. Either explanation is not good for the national Republicans.
Let’s face it: the Tea Party movement is comprised of breakaway elements of populist conservatives disgusted with Big Government Republicans. They remain separate and apart even today because they perceive that the national GOP is still a part of the corruption in Washington.
The crimes committed by the IRS have yet to be completely cataloged but unless millions are paid out in damages and people go to jail, justice will not be served. What they did was not rinky-dink. There was a longstanding conspiracy inside the IRS to deny the Tea Party their basic civil rights to political speech and action and association while rubber-stamping any liberal group’s application.
Thousands of questions need to be asked. Did outside liberal groups conspire with the IRS against the Tea Party? As far as the Tea Party and its sympathizers are concerned, nearly everybody in Washington is a suspect. The Tea Party has found the enemy and it is within the Washington Establishment.