When I was in high school and college, I had a number of teachers and professors who loved Voltaire’s* famous quote, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!” (Always stated in grand tones, sweeping gestures.)
That’s been replaced with the pithier: “Faster pussycat, kill, kill!”
On reports that the IRS has been targeting the President’s enemies, the reaction has been well, mixed.
Obviously, conservatives — -the targeted and allies of the targeted — are pretty dang pissed.
Some Democrats and liberal pundits are also rightly incensed.
And some reactions are, well, inappropriate for citizens of a Constitutional Republic.
- A conservative pundit got Boulder college students to sign a thank you card to the IRS for targeting Tea Party groups.
- A variety of celebrities and pundits applaud the IRS’s actions.
- The one that interests me the most is former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond supporting the IRS targeting political groups with whom he disagrees. The NAACP is not unfamiliar with the government using its power to stamp out voices it doesn’t approve.
Listen up Conservatives and Progressives both**: the pendulum swings both ways. Politicians in power have used the IRS as a weapon almost from the very beginning.
To use the example of another Frenchman, what comes around goes around.
Let’s stop the pendulum swinging, folks.
*Not really Voltaire’s quote, but written by a friend of his about his attitude.
**Libertarians not included because they already know this.
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