Highly doubt this sort of action was wide spread, or even more than a single isolated incident in the 1980's but feel free to point me to the numerous examples, and prove me wrong if you can.
Pad, while I am as concerned as anyone about the IRS abusing their authority and making all of our lives a fucking nightmare (it was actually worse in the past, believe it or not) my main point would be that we have given this agency an impossible task. We've got to do something about that. Our main dissatisfaction, though, should be with Congress and not with the IRS. The rules are a nightmare for us, but let's not forget that they are also a nightmare for the IRS. I don't want to get into the administration of Obamney care in this thread--that's going to be another fucking nightmare. Why can't we get these morons in Congress to fix things? And in the present case why won't they ask the pertinent question. Why was the Tea party targeted, and what other political organizations were similarly targeted? And then, for God sake, let the witness complete the answer before interrupting them. We need to know whether there was something political going on here or was it just screw-ups typical of the IRS. My guess is that the reason we are not hearing those simple straight forward questions is that the answers are already known, and there is no smoking gun, nothing overtly political, just rather absurd and typical IRS nonsense. So there is nothing political to be gained, in this instance, by going directly to the heart of the matter. The occasion, nevertheless, presents a marvelous opportunity for grandstanding. Lets prolong these unproductive hearings and use them to make "we hate the IRS too" speeches.
You arent going to get an argument from me over the dipshits in congress, i already pointed it out this morning, the thing i find most humorous about these congressional hearings is when a congressman acts outraged because someone lies or misleads them. Ill never forget all the hearings over steroids, where congress wanted to put people in jail for lying to them, when politicians make a career out of lying and misleading people, its complete bullshit. This is my problem with government, always has been, and always will be, they put the screws to us, while somehow we dont even require them to operate by the most basic rules, they dont even operate by a common sense of decency let alone the same rules. I have a tough time believing anyone besides a government officer or specifically an IRS agent would have fucked me the way i got fucked when they froze my account back in the day, there is no way if someone in the private sector had excercised that poor of judegement when trying to collect money from someone, that they would still have a job. Seems to me like all too often in this day and age beaurecrats(sp) are getting themselves in these types of positions in order to abuse their authority, and have power over someone, if you ask me we should hold these guys to a much higher standard but instead, we give them authority, and then hold them to lower standards then every day citizens.... Does that even make sense?
Yes, your points make some sense to me. In the main, I think most government employees at the Federal level are quite competent, so I want to avoid confusing my strong disagreement with some government policies with matters of competence. I'm probably not quite as negative on our federal government as you sometimes seem to be, and I think we would likely have some very strong disagreement on some economic issues. Have you read Moynihans book entitled "Secrecy"? It is even more applicable today then when he wrote it. I can highly recommend it to anyone that is concerned about the intrusion of government into their life. Moynihan was a strong advocate for personal freedom and a sharp critic of excessive government secrecy. This book is particularly germane in regard to the current revelations of Justice Department spying on members of the Associated Press.
What makes you say that? Wishful thinking or actual personal experience? I watched a Washington insider once on national TV accuse the FAA of being the most incompetent agency in the federal bureaucracy. With 30 + years of experience dealing with them, I cannot argue with the man. I have a couple of true stories if you like. Although you'd probably never get on an airline again. Do I really need to review the documented gross incompetence of TSA? Both the shoe and underwear bombers walked right trough "security" and were only stopped by private "untrained" civilians. They frequently fail tests. Years ago I was depreciating the cost of a computer for the first time. Wanting to avoid errors I took the form the local IRS office and asked for instructions. NO ONE knew how to fill out the form. Ultimately three of them put their heads together and guessed. The following year while reading the form instructions it dawned on me they had told me wrong.