Smith: Washington IRS scandal exposes lies and corruption

photo Robin Smith

Most of us have experienced some form of panic tied to a loss of data. Ranging from misfiling documents to a complete shutdown of an operating system, legitimate electronic "bugs" and glitches exist.

The topic of computer crashes has been hot lately.

The Internal Revenue Service has been under a microscope for its admitted targeting of groups that are pro-Israel, pro-Constitution and pro-Christian. Last week it was revealed a Republican U.S. senator was suggested for an "exam" based solely on an intercepted invitation to an event, under the hypothetical premise that he would attend and "inappropriately" bring his spouse.

Ultimately, Sen. Charles Grassley never attended the event with or without his wife, and the suggestion of an IRS audit over the issue was blocked by the actual IRS code.

IRS conduct has escalated from simple overreach to entrapment of an elected official in the legislative branch of government to, now, the absurd.

As we now know, emails of key players in the IRS scandal were not just lost but apparently destroyed.

Seeing that this tactic worked for the bureaucratic thugs at the IRS, the Environmental Protection Agency becomes the second Obama administration department that's envoking the "hardware failure" excuse.

An investigation has been in progress for over a year, with unsuccessful attempts to obtain documentation from the EPA and its representatives regarding allegations of "employee misconduct." An agency employee, along with his team, has been engaged in obstruction and attempts to "kill" a private energy exploration project in Alaska.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said last week that the agency will be "unable to provide lawmakers all the documents they have requested ... because of a computer crash."

Really?

History is not kind to absolute and despicable corruption.

Whether the issue is the expansion of the Patriot Act by this administration's Department of Justice, the politicization of the Treasury Department's enforcement agency of the tax code, the unenforced immigration laws or just the casual practice of lying under oath in congressional hearings, the public is witnessing the literal destruction of our rule of law.

The Roman senator Publius Cornelius Tacitus, who also served as historian of the Roman Empire, made an astute observation: "In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous."

That statement, however, implies the reach of corruption can be held at bay by laws that increase in number. The assumption is that government will enforce and obey those laws.

What the United States is experiencing is a government, led by Barack Obama, deliberately refusing to uphold the laws as written; enforcing laws on a selective basis, and, in the case of its own behavior and conduct, breaking the laws to cover its corruption.

It's time for Americans -- Democrats, Republicans and independents -- to demand that our government enforce, observe and obey the laws. It's also time that those who are corrupt be criminally charged and removed.

Robin Smith served as chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party, 2007 to 2009. She is a partner at the SmithWaterhouse Strategies business development and strategic planning firm and serves on Tennessee's Economic Council on Women.

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