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Is the IRS scandal worse than Watergate?

Is the IRS scandal worse than Watergate?

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SgtRock

SgtRock

Cancel Cancel Culture and Woke Supremacy
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Why the IRS scandal is worse than Watergate. Watergate was a political scandal in which the DNC offices in DC were broken into and President Nixon and his administration attempted to cover it up. The IRS scandal involves the government in the form of the IRS going after American Citizens including groups, organizations, and individual citizens based on their political or religious ideology. If a smoking gun is found that directly ties the president to this he must be impeached. If however he was kept in the dark those who kept it from the president must be fired. There is evidence that officials in the white house knew about this in June 2012, during the campaign. Those who were directly involved must go to prison. This is huge and every American regardless of their political persuasion should demand that heads roll. This scandal could be the catalyst that lights a fire under our politicians asses to rewrite the tax code and abolish the IRS. Just think what a flat tax or national sales tax would do for our economy. And another thing, most people are afraid to talk about the IRS because their worried that they too will be targeted. We should not have to be afraid of our government on the other hand the government should fear us. WE ARE THE PEOPLE!

So this is a simple question. Is the IRS scandal worse than Watergate?
 
SgtRock said:
Why the IRS scandal is worse than Watergate. Watergate was a political scandal in which the DNC offices in DC were broken into and President Nixon and his administration attempted to cover it up. The IRS scandal involves the government in the form of the IRS going after American Citizens including groups, organizations, and individual citizens based on their political or religious ideology. If a smoking gun is found that directly ties the president to this he must be impeached. If however he was kept in the dark those who kept it from the president must be fired. There is evidence that officials in the white house knew about this in June 2012, during the campaign. Those who were directly involved must go to prison. This is huge and every American regardless of their political persuasion should demand that heads roll. This scandal could be the catalyst that lights a fire under our politicians asses to rewrite the tax code and abolish the IRS. Just think what a flat tax or national sales tax would do for our economy. And another thing, most people are afraid to talk about the IRS because their worried that they too will be targeted. We should not have to be afraid of our government on the other hand the government should fear us. WE ARE THE PEOPLE!

So this is a simple question. Is the IRS scandal worse than Watergate?
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The simple answer is "yes."
 
SgtRock said:
Why the IRS scandal is worse than Watergate. Watergate was a political scandal in which the DNC offices in DC were broken into and President Nixon and his administration attempted to cover it up. The IRS scandal involves the government in the form of the IRS going after American Citizens including groups, organizations, and individual citizens based on their political or religious ideology. If a smoking gun is found that directly ties the president to this he must be impeached. If however he was kept in the dark those who kept it from the president must be fired. There is evidence that officials in the white house knew about this in June 2012, during the campaign. Those who were directly involved must go to prison. This is huge and every American regardless of their political persuasion should demand that heads roll. This scandal could be the catalyst that lights a fire under our politicians asses to rewrite the tax code and abolish the IRS. Just think what a flat tax or national sales tax would do for our economy. And another thing, most people are afraid to talk about the IRS because their worried that they too will be targeted. We should not have to be afraid of our government on the other hand the government should fear us. WE ARE THE PEOPLE!

So this is a simple question. Is the IRS scandal worse than Watergate?
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Not even remotely.
 
sbrettt said:
Not even remotely.
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let me get this right. The government going after it's own citizens based on political or religious ideology is not worse than politicians spying on each other and attempting to cover it up?
 
Its far worse in that what the IRS did was done to average Americans seeking to engage in political activities. When the single most powerful and feared agency of the federal government engages in this level of misbehavior, it makes watergate seem insignificant.
 
MaggieD said:
The simple answer is "yes."
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I don't get how. Technically what the IRS did isn't illegal (it's immoral as all hell, it's tacky, and it's incredibly partisan, however). Watergate was very much illegal.

If anything, it just goes to show how so many Washington agencies go essentially unchecked...and the Department of the Treasury is the worst. If you work for the IRS or the Secret Service, you're about as close to being "above the law" as you can get.
 
Similar in offense.

But the Benghazi screw up is much worse because people died as a result of a poor policy decision leaving them unprotected.
 
SgtRock said:
let me get this right. The government going after it's own citizens based on political or religious ideology is not worse than politicians spying on each other and attempting to cover it up?
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That's one way to look it. I see it as government doing it's job unevenly.
 
SgtRock said:
let me get this right. The government going after it's own citizens based on political or religious ideology is not worse than politicians spying on each other and attempting to cover it up?
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If that was 200 years ago, Nixon would be dead. America once had very rigid views on espionage.
 
sbrettt said:
That's one way to look it. I see it as government doing it's job unevenly.
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Except that is a massive scandal and a gross injustice. Look at it this way: Imagine if the police only arrest blacks for activities committed by whites at the same rate. Here, too, you would have the "government doing its job unevenly." But no one would be running to its defense.
 
Gipper said:
I don't get how. Technically what the IRS did isn't illegal (it's immoral as all hell, it's tacky, and it's incredibly partisan, however). Watergate was very much illegal.

If anything, it just goes to show how so many Washington agencies go essentially unchecked...and the Department of the Treasury is the worst. If you work for the IRS or the Secret Service, you're about as close to being "above the law" as you can get.
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If it can be shown or proven that the IRS policy was to purposely target political opponents of the administration ordered, coerced or collaborated with by WH personnel, then it's an illegal abuse of power. I doubt this will ever get that far or at least to the inner circle.
 
SgtRock said:
let me get this right. The government going after it's own citizens based on political or religious ideology is not worse than politicians spying on each other and attempting to cover it up?
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Ohh, who do you love better, baby, Daddy Nixon or Mommy Obama? [pinch the cheek]

How about we try a full recall? Quote:

'Article 2, section 1 of the Articles of Impeachment against Richard M. Nixon, adopted by the House Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1974

“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.”

At this point, as I understand, there's no evidence that Obama personally is responsible for any of the "mistakes that had been made". But on the level of "administrations", it is pretty much the same kind of abuse of power.
 
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One of the organizations was asked by the IRS what the contents of it's members prayers was. It's none of their business. That's between the individual and his god.
 
grip said:
If it can be shown or proven that the IRS policy was to purposely target political opponents of the administration ordered, coerced or collaborated with by WH personnel, then it's an illegal abuse of power. I doubt this will ever get that far or at least to the inner circle.
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Its an abuse of power even if the WH was completely in the dark about it.
 
Fletch said:
Its an abuse of power even if the WH was completely in the dark about it.
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Only if it can be proven they were consciously targeting one group unfairly. It might be concluded that during that time conservative groups cheated more on their taxes....lol
 
Hardly. As of yet we've yet to establish a concrete connection between the White House and the actual activities that were taking place at the IRS, let alone the legal nature of the actions themselves.
 
grip said:
If it can be shown or proven that the IRS policy was to purposely target political opponents of the administration ordered, coerced or collaborated with by WH personnel, then it's an illegal abuse of power. I doubt this will ever get that far or at least to the inner circle.
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I can agree with that. Of course, they can always act as if it falls under the guise of "due diligence". Remember - we're talking about claims of tax exemption.

Tax evasion is the granddaddy of all crimes. Hell, look at all those old-time gangsters. Murder, extortion, racketeering - all over the place. Know what got many of them? Tax evasion. This is most prevalent with Capone.

You don't screw with the Tax Man. That's why I said that the biggest crime here is the unchecked power of the IRS and the Treasury.
 
Of course. Making people fill out forms is vastly worse than robbery. Everyone knows that. It's much more important that political organizations be allowed to not pay taxes based on a law protecting non-political organizations than it is that competing political campaigns not directly sabotage each other.

Seriously, this IRS thing is barely a scandal and it's little more than the pro Citizens United crowd reaping some of what they've sown. This kind of nonsense is what you get with all this anonymous money tossed around. The law states very clearly that political organizations are not entitled to this tax exempt status. These Tea Party groups tried to pass themselves off as non-political organizations. And they got caught. And now they're crying foul because they were examined more thoroughly than others. They wouldn't have been examined at all if they weren't trying to illegally get out of paying taxes.

grip said:
Only if it can be proven they were consciously targeting one group unfairly. It might be concluded that during that time conservative groups cheated more on their taxes....lol
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The key word is "unfairly". It wasn't unfair. Holding people who are trying to tax dodge accountable is not unfair.
 
grip said:
Only if it can be proven they were consciously targeting one group unfairly.
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As opposed to some deep Freudian subconscious impulses making them to write official memos mandating scrutiny and delays in approval for conservative and libertarian non-profits, specifically?
 
If it was done with intent to intimidate political groups, definitely yes. If Obama was involved, then he should be impeached. Freedom and fairness in political activity is a primary quality of democracy that must be maintained. Of course, I realize that the vast majority of conservatives wouldn't be doing it to preserve the integrity of our democratic republic, so I am not sure if we really deserve self governance. However, in the hope that we one day will rise to the level of responsible citizens, we must maintain the trappings of a democratic system.

That said, I seriously believe that this was rogue behavior on the part of IRS employees. If anything.
 
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