hot off the press a collection of articles about irs and what the american people feel about it

7/30/2019 Hot Off the Press a Collection of Articles About IRS and What the American People Feel About It

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Hot off the Press a Collection of Articles about IRS and what the American People feelabout it



Preface / Introduction

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Table of Contents

1. 'I had rather be right than president.' The life and times of Howard Jay Phillips, the man whochanged America but wouldn't change himself. Dead at 72, April 20, 2013.2. Big screw-up at the IRS, the agency we love to hate. What's going on, why it's important and whyeternal vigilance is absolutely necessary.



'I had rather be right than president.' The life and times of Howard Jay Phillips, the man who changed America butwouldn't change himself. Dead at 72, April 20, 2013.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

Author's program note. On February 7, 1839 one of the greatest of senators, Henry Clay of

Kentucky, gave one of his most important of speeches... and in the process he handed his numerousdetractors just what they needed to ridicule him for the rest of his life. (1777-1852)

His remarks that notable day were about slavery and how this key issue should be handled withminimum damage to the Great Republic. He had a mission that day. He wanted to be seen not as a politician but as a statesman who could rise above, take the long view, tell the unpalatable truths andso lead the increasingly factious and dangerously divided nation to the Promised Land.

This man who so desperately craved the presidency, and was doing everything he could to get it in1840, told the biggest lie of his life when he said the words which became notorious the minute heuttered them... because every political being in the land... and that included every single citizen of

the young nation... knew these lofty, sententious words of bloated pomposity were the whopper of whoppers. "I had rather be right than be president," he intoned... and in just 8 words of self laudatory moralizing ensured he never would be. Thus the man of the people disconnected from thecitizenry who knew him so well and who he must have to win.

"Why ol' Henry would kill his own mama if it would get him elected," and whether you were aWhig like Clay or partisan of some other party, you knew that was true... for Clay was a politicalanimal to his finger tips and knew how to play the great game not with pontification andcondescension but with hands on dexterity, flexibility, good humor, focusing on the specific and practical... for such are the realities of what it takes to rule real people and their imperfect natures.

Had he said instead that he stood up to save the Union, the greatest experiment on Earth, and that he

would use every expedient in his power to achieve the objective, why then the nation alreadyrenowned for doing whatever was necessary to move mountains and perfect the federal principlewould have revered him the more; why then he would have burnished his already great reputation...and even snagged the presidency his breathtaking mendacity ensured he would never achieve.

"I stand before you a citizen of the Great Republic ready to do a citizen's labor on behalf of our Great Idea, the greatest ever forged."

This is what Henry Clay at his best would have said... for that man knew how to achieve greatresults and knew that without such results the nation would stultify. Standing on a soap box prattlingon with windy rhetoric was pointless. Doing what was necessary to win was everything... for theGreat Republic was all about winning.

And this was something Howard Jay Phillips never seemed to grasp. He was a grandstander, a manwho made gestures, not policy. A man of hot words who thought such words sufficed... but theynever did nor can. There must be victories, sweet victories. To get them there must be compromise,there must be deals, and Howard Phillips would not stoop to make the deals victorious parties andtheir leaders required.

That is why he never became president and why the men he tilted with a la Don Quixote did. For thefirst principle of success in the Great Republic is: victory for without this there can be nothing, a point with which Phillips could not have disagreed more .

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Hot off the Press a Collection of Articles about IRS and what the American People feel about it

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Thus he became that most uncomfortable of beings: the gadfly, often right in the particulars, butclueless on the big picture which he disdained to the point of being consistently impossible to work with, disagreeable, and entirely insufferable. In short order, he got the reputation of being "difficult"and so his fate was sealed.

Some background.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, home of Harvard University and Veritas is widely regarded as thecapital of liberal ideas and progressive, ground-breaking notions, leaving the development of conservative antidotes to the lesser folk at Yale, or worse, Dartmouth of the secret societies and ananti-social kookery born of copious liquors and dark forests.

But such deduction would be wrong, for Fair Harvard and its neighborhood, with its unendingsupply of the very bright and terminally ambitious has always proven fertile ground for their insistent, often unsettling, even revolutionary (albeit right wing) point of view. So it was for Phillips, born in Cambridge, Harvard Class of '62, the white lightning of his class, college, and community.He was smart, good looking, indefatigable and persistent. Such traits got him elected president of Harvard's student council and then re-elected for a second term.

Thus his electability was tested and confirmed... and that made him a potential player in

Massachusetts politics, but not as you might suppose as a Democrat in this, JFK's native state. Oh,no, Phillips was a Republican. And as chairman of the Boston Republican Committee he lookedlikely for better things. President Nixon gave him a big boost by appointing him director of theOffice of Economic Opportunity.

But he didn't last in this stepping stone to greater things. Instead he burned a bridge by taking Nixonto task for failing to live up to his promise to dismantle social programs created by PresidentJohnson's War on Poverty. Thus did Phillips indicate that he was not going to be moving up asexpected; presidents rightly expect loyalty, and Phillips, for whatever reason, was unable to give it.It was an unmistakable portent of things to come... Phillips had to have his way... or he quit.

This wasn't politics... it was petulance, and it was certain to offend the maximum number of people.

Phillips didn't care... he was on the right side, doing God's business God's way (for of course Godwas on his side). His vehicle was the Conservative Caucus he founded in 1974 and would lead until2011.

It caught fire with conservative leaders like Paul Weyrich, Richard Viguerie and others who metweekly at Viguerie's home in McLean, Virginia to rally what became known as the New Right.They were ideologues, adamant, determined to regain an America they thought gone seriously awry.They wanted change! They wanted it now! And bit by bit they became power players not least because they developed and controlled the all important mailing lists of sympathetic conservatives...Howard Phillips was their recognized leader every step of the way.

In the process they changed the debate from what the Old Right advocated, with insufficient vigor,namely economic conservatism, free market economics, and a vigorous national defense to a red-hotsocial agenda that ignited people... and divided the Great Republic from stem to stern, anti abortion,no gun control, the need for prayer in schools but no forced busing, the defense of marriage... eachone calculated to energize the faithful, get them to work and, always, maximize their financialsupport.

Compromise was banned... it was war a la outrance... the only kind of action they knew, and it leadthem not merely to attack Democrafts and other noxious advocates of One World and other pernicious isms... but the real enemy, those who were insufficiently conservative... like Sandra DayO'Connor whose historic nomination to the Supreme Court they vigorously opposed... and even the







most important conservative voice of the 20th century, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

It was all such fun, convulsing America, masters of the well timed stink bomb, but in truth they were pining for the presidency, no more so than Howard Phillips and so he did that which showed howlittle he understood the Great Republic and how he lost his bearings. He set up a rinky-dink third party, the Constitution Party, and became the Harold Stassen of the right, running in 1992, 1996 and2000. "If God wants us to win, we'll win," he told an interviewer in 1996. God didn't. Phillips for allhis many gifts had become an embarrassing irrelevance, a player no longer.

No doubt somewhere along in this abashing declension Phillips remembered Henry Clay's 8highfalutin words, "I had rather be right than president." No doubt he took what comfort he couldfrom them. Perhaps he didn't know what some smart aleck at the time had said in response: "rather be right that president? In fact Senator Clay was neither", and neither was Howard Phillips.Moreover, he couldn't claim the consolation prize of having introduced the Mint Julep toWashington, D.C. That high honor unquestionably belongs to Henry Clay, three times a candidatefor president, three times a loser..

Envoi.

For the music to accompany this article, I have selected "In the Sweet By-and- By", published in

1868, music by Joseph P. Webster; lyrics by S. Fillmore Bennett. It reminds that there is a place for all of us, that "beautiful shore" beyond partisanship, beyond rancor, beyond scheming and the thrillof outsmarting and crushing the competition. It is the "sweet by and by". If so, I hope HowardPhillips has found it and doesn't irritate the proprietor, least he get kicked out. Go to any searchengine and play it now. You'll feel better when you do. "And our spirits shall sorrow no more/ Not asigh for the blessing of rest."







Big screw-up at the IRS, the agency we love to hate. What'sgoing on, why it's important and why eternal vigilance isabsolutely necessary.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

Author's program note. Let's be clear about something right from the start: the current scandal at the

Internal Revenue Service is by no means the worst the agency has endured... yet at any rate. The IRShas a scrapbook full of more abashing moments and grim memories of things they shouldn't havedone... and got caught red-handed doing.

Item: In the1930s President Franklin Roosevelt used the IRS against a grab bag of politicalopponents, including mega-publisher William Randolph Hearst (think "Citizen Kane"), LouisianaGovernor Huey Long, and controversial radio priest Charles Coughlin.

Item: In the 1940s and 1950s corruption and bribery were rife. Hundreds of (not so) shame-facedemployees were dismissed, while President Harry Truman ordered a major reorganization.Employees were put under civil service guidelines to curb political influence.

Item: During the administration of President John Kennedy, the IRS created an "IdeologicalOrganizations Audit Project" that investigated conservative groups and challenged their tax-exemptstatus. The (apple-polishing) IRS started the project after Kennedy complained during a newsconference about right-wing groups getting tax-exempt status. Targets included the AmericanEnterprise Institute and Christian Anti-Communist Crusade.

Item: In the 1960s and 70s the Nixon administration created an IRS unit called the Special ServicesStaff, or SSS to target activists and political dissidents. The White House drafted the notorious"enemies list" of political opponents to be targeted for IRS audits. Here, however, common sense(the most limited of commodities in the capital) intervened in the person of Treasury SecretaryDonald Alexander who said he wouldn't audit Nixon's political enemies and ordered the SSS

dissolved.

Then there's the current scandal which apparently started in the IRS' Cincinnati regional office.There someone had the bright idea of making it difficult, if not impossible, for conservative groupsto get tax-exempt status. It could easily be done with computerized key-word searches, includingovertly ideological searches for applicants seeking to "make America a better place to live" or "criticize how the country is being run". Other key search words and phrases included "Tea Party"and "Patriots" .

Once started the culprits (who of course regarded themselves as the real patriots, the true-blueAmericans) focused on groups "involved in limiting/expanding Government" and "educating on theConstitution and Bill of Rights."

So, let's review what was going on...

Some hot shot (as yet unidentified, although in due course that'll come out in the wash) decidedconservative Americans were anathema and needed to be reined in. That person recruited his bestIRS buddies (the ones believing conservatives to be menaces needing curtailment and chastisementfor their wrong-headed views). And they merrily started using their access to sensitive informationto thwart the entirely legal activities of people who were entirely within their constitutional rights, asobering fact which seems to have had no influence upon the nimble perpetrators who used their jobs to sabotage.







Cui bono?

To whose benefit were these shenanigans? The report by the Treasury inspector general for taxadministration (released May 14, 2013) offered new, highly suggestive details.

Of the 296 applications for tax-exempt status reviewed by the inspector general, 108 were approved,28 were withdrawn by the applicants (some perhaps because of excessive IRS requests for sensitiveorganizational details), and 160 were still open, some pending for up to 1,138 days. Thisnecessitates a look at the dates and a worrying scenario.

A "sensitive case report" on Tea Party targeting was sent from Cincinnati to Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS' division for tax-exempt organizations, and to another Washington official (as yet unnamed)on April 19, 2010. This suggests the illegal activities began far earlier than otherwise known, perhaps as early as mid-2009.

Now, add 1,138 days to, say, July 4, 2009 and you might easily draw the conclusion that certain person or persons involved meant to hurt the conservatives (while helping their competitors) untilwell past the 2012 presidential election, thereby materially assisting in the re-election of the prime beneficiary, The Honorable Barrack Obama.

What would, of course, strengthen this case would be knowing which organizations were sothwarted... and whether theirs was a conservative slant. That, too, should come out in the wash. It'ssure to be a busy laundramat. Representative Dave Camp will see to that.

Criminal or merely inept, incompetent and "obnoxious"?

I'm guessing that Camp is going around his office whistling a happy tune. If so, it's no wonder. Inmatters such as this, there are always (sometimes hidden) winners and losers. The president and awhole lot of senior IRS officials are taking it on the chin right now as they posture at their "grin-and- bear it" best. They are clear losers. Dave Camp, by contrast, must be in hog heaven.

Camp, you see, is chairman of one of the oldest and most powerful committees of the House of Representative, Ways and Means. An 11-term veteran, a handsome, toothy Michigander fromMidland, his sprawling district meanders across fifteen counties of mid- and northern Michigan, thevery heart of the Great Republic. Camp is a popular figure back home, customarily winning inexcess of 60 percent of the vote.

For good behavior and exemplary party loyalty, Camp was able to move up, join the GOP Houseleadership team and as Ways and Means chair deal with the crucial bread-and-butter issues that areso important to average Americans, tax policy, tariff and trade laws, Medicare, Social Security,welfare and unemployment programs.

Camp is the guy who'll be presiding over House hearings on this matter... His task is plain: to grillevery senior IRS official, then even more senior people in the Treasury Department.

Heads have, of course, already begun to fall on this matter, Camp will ensure there are others.President Obama moved fast to get rid of Steven Miller, acting IRS commissioner and a lesser administrator.

It is only the beginning.

The President's objective is to get through this mess as quickly as possible. He wants us to believethe action was of short duration involving minimum people and that he can clear it all up, includingapologizing to irate conservatives who are wailing here, there and everywhere, "See, we told youso."







Chairman Camp hopes he won't have to buy ex-commissioner Miller's proposition that it allhappened because the IRS was overwhelmed by new applications after the Supreme Court ruled inthe 2010 Citizens United case which greatly expanded the ability of corporations, unions and other organizations to participate in election spending. Miller wants America to believe the IRS is a goodguy, dim, muddled but well meaning, and that "Dude, it won't happen again.

Of course Camp wants the opposite of all this; every subpoena he authorizes, every criminal chargemade is a thrill for this man who probably went home May 17, 2013 (the first day of hearings) to

find his wife and three kids holding crudely made "Camp for President" posters.

There is, however, one more secret loser in the proceedings... and that's Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Mitt Romney's 2012 vice presidential selection. He, too, is on Ways and Means. He's gotthe presidential bug and cannot afford to let Camp outmaneuver him. He'll be working hard toensure he doesn't. Camp should check for trip wires and banana peels artfully positioned for maximum effect...

Meanwhile, GOP stalwarts of every kind are sending out unbelievable numbers of email, direct mail,and automated phone messages, every one alerting the good people of America, the conservative,God-fearing people to send in a few bucks... and so the stupid idea of a cell of left-leaningknuckleheads in Cincinnati is turned into the mother's milk of politics, cash. Thus is one man's

scandal turned into another man's success and this rapt commentator kept happily at his work.

Envoi.

Of all our recent presidents probably the first president George Bush '41 understood nonprofitorganizations best... for he genuinely believes in their necessary mission of improving the GreatRepublic. Thus it was no surprise to hear his encomium on these absolutely essential organizations of every kind.

It was written by crack speech writer Peggy Noonan and delivered in his acceptance speech for the1988 Republican presidential nomination. It came to be called the "Thousand points of light" speech:

"I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread likestars throughout the Nation, doing good."

For Bush this wasn't just rhetoric. It was a core of his belief and he showed as much in 1990 when hespearheaded the creation of the Points of Light Foundation, the goal of which was to promote private, non-governmental, tax-exempt solutions to social issues.

Thus, for the music to accompany this article I have selected "Point of Light,"a tune written by DonSchlitz and Thom Schuyler. It was recorded by Randy Travis and is available in any search engine.

It isn't a very good song; it doesn't tug at your heart, though it should. Even so, it's worth listening to:

"All it takes is a point of light/A ray of hope in the darkest night/If you see what's wrong and you tryto make it right/You will be a point of light." But, remember, if your application goes to the IRS inCincinnati, you might have to wait a while...







Resource

About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is a 15 time published author as well as 3e-books and over one thousand articles on a variety of current events.

Republished with author's permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com.


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hot off the press a collection of articles about irs and what the american people feel about it

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