The Justice Department announced today that it will not prosecute Lois Lerner and other IRS officials for targeting Tea Party and other conservative groups.
The Hill reports:
“We found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution,” Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik said in a letter to Congress on Friday.
“Based on the evidence developed in this investigation and the recommendation of experienced career prosecutors and supervising attorneys at the Department, we are closing our investigation and will not seek any criminal charges,” he continued.
Kadzik said the investigation found “substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment, and institutional inertia, leading to the belief by many tax-exempt applicants that the IRS targeted them based on their political viewpoints,” but added that “poor management is not a crime.”
All this, despite the fact that the IRS has admitted to singling out applications for tax-exempt status from groups affiliated with the Tea Party for extra scrutiny.
It is now, apparently, legal in this country for government agencies to target specific groups based on their political affiliations. If that isn't tyranny, we're not sure what is.
This debacle is a perfect example of how the various branches of the federal government work together to expand their own power. Congress cedes power to the executive branch by creating and funding government agencies, the Supreme Court gives Congress the power to spend money on anything it wants, and the executive branch enforces the unconstitutional decisions of the Supreme Court.
It's a vicious cycle that can never be corrected by anyone within the system. We need a structural restoration of a the kind of limited federal government the Founders envisioned -- we need a Convention of States.
An Article V Convention of States can propose constitutional amendments that limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and restore power to the states and the people.
