jimrigby.org

The IRS singling out the Tea Party for special scrutiny is wrong. It is also the kind of treatment that group has long advocated for Muslims and immigrants. If the principle is sound that frisking Muslims because they are more likely to be terrorists, and pulling Latino and Latina drivers over because they are more likely to be undocumented, then it make perfect sense to audit anti-tax groups assuming they are more likely to be tax cheats. If profiling is wrong for one group, it is wrong for all.

There was precious little conservative hue and cry when peace groups and Occupy Wall Street protesters were singled out for government investigations and spying during the Reagan and Bush years. That silence helped lay the legal foundation for oppressing conservatives today. And it is liberal silence about these very abuses against conservatives during the Clinton and Obama years that will build their own future pit of misery.

Don’t get me wrong, I will defend the rights of Tea Party members against this kind of injustice, I would just have more enthusiasm if they offered the same rights to others.  In a democracy, it is our willingness to withhold justice from our enemies that prepares the path to our own future oppression.