Hurt Feelings at the IRS

 

Among the very bad things coming from American leftists in the last few years is the notion that rude speech is violence – that harsh or nasty criticism is equivalent to physical assault. As with many other things from the leftists, it is false, phony, and dangerous. The falseness is obvious. The damage from sticks and stones is of a different category from hurt feelings from harsh words. The phoniness is obvious as well. Leftists clearly do not really mean it, at least not as a general principle. They apply their maxim to “hateful” criticism of people and things they like, but almost never to the things they and those they approve of say about people and causes they dislike. The danger is that leftists in power will use the idea to violate their opponents rights to speech and opinion.

Something like this is coming from the Internal Revenue Service. Several IRS employees and friends of the agency in the media have attempted to  conflates political criticism of the  agency from Republicans  and others with threats to attack  agents or offices. It may not fully be an attempt to equate dissent with criminal activity, but it comes  close enough. Someone needs to tell them  that this is in the United States of America and not central Europe in the 1930s, and that criticizing, disliking, or even despising the IRS or the people in power in Washington at any particular time is the right of every American citizen. It’s in the Constitution. And as a pragmatic matter, officials might want to consider whether having people speaking for the  IRS attack one political party might lead even the more gullible members of the public to question the claim that the IRS is an apolitical organization which enforces tax laws fairly and consistently with no political favoritism or prejudice.