Just a short time ago alternative media outlets were covering the scandal of Fast and Furious, where our government delivered two thousand guns across the border to Mexico into the hands of drug king pins who then commenced with the killing of more than 400 Mexicans and U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. President Obama successfully derailed the investigation and protected Department of Justice Head Eric Holder who was held in contempt of Congress.

Other major scandals involving the Obama Administration were covered by alternative media such as the spying on AP telephone conversations, the explosive Benghazi scandal where four Americans including a United States Ambassador Chris Stevens were murdered and the Obamacare website disaster where American tax payers paid, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, $319 million for a healthcare enrollment website that failed on every level. By themselves, these scandals would have taken down a Presidency but these investigations and the independent media coverage had to be placed on hold to make room for the updated IRS scandal.
 
It was March of 2010, more than two years before the 2012 Presidential elections when IRS agents begin scrutinizing tax-exempt applications from groups associated with the Tea Party or with a political sounding agenda in their names, such as “Patriots,” ‘’Take Back the Country” or “We the People. All of the groups singled out were conservative groups who had political views that were different from that of the Obama administration. Treasury Department Inspector General J. Russell George issued a report, which stated that the IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions.
 
Evidence of the complete disregard and lack of respect for congress investigating the IRS scandal occurred when before stepping down, IRS Director Douglass Shulman, testified before Congress that, “There’s absolutely no targeting.” And after giving an opening statement before congress, Lois Lerner, IRS Director of Exempt Operations pleaded the 5th and refused to answer questions.
 
Although on May 17th 2013, The New York Times reported that the White House learned of the IRS targeting five months prior to the 2012 election, and White House logs listed IRS Director Douglass Shulman visiting the White House 157 times, President Obama stated that he first heard of the scandal in May of 2013 “from news reports”.
 
With this in mind, at the heart of the Watergate scandal, which forced President Richard Nixon to resign, was, according to John Dean, “Using the machinery of the Federal Government to screw our political enemies.” Hence, the IRS scandal is not just the ordinary corrupt activity we have routinely seen from the Obama Administration but rather the most dangerous assault on American freedom since Watergate.
 
In short, Democrat elites used the full power of the IRS to stop Conservative groups from organizing and challenging for the 2012 Presidential election.  Not only were Conservative groups halted from obtaining tax-exempt status but also the IRS intentionally leaked their confidential list of donors and other private information so that liberal groups would be able to harass contributors to Conservative causes. 

Practicing attorney Cleta Mitchell, who works to help people obtain tax-exempt status, recently went before Congress to testify and said that the IRS scandal is “real and continuing.” “The IRS scandal is not just a bunch of bone-headed bureaucrats in some remote office contrary to what the President of the United States told the American People.” Mitchell said. She mentioned that powerful political people in Washington with the goal of delaying tax-exempt status reviews of conservative and Tea Party groups were the ones that directed the IRS.
 
Mitchell added that reviews, which normally would take 3 to 4 weeks, now had the targeted victims waiting 3 to 4 years and in some cases the wait would be indefinite.  Mitchell said that The Department of Justice Investigation into the IRS scandal was a sham. “It is a nonexistent investigation.”
 
Experts agree with Mitchell that DOJ Head Eric Holder, who was himself held in contempt by Congress will not prosecute IRS Department Head Lois Learner who was in charge of overseeing tax exempt applications and was herself held in contempt by Congress for not answering House committee questions.
 
The overall fallout from the multitude of Administration scandals and outright ignoring the rule of law is that with the staunch support of officials such as Senator Charles Schumer and other Democrats, President Obama has become untouchable with regard to impeachable activity.  It means that President Obama can act with impunity and create or abolish laws at will without the need for Congress.  It means the end of a balance of power and the accumulation of ultimate power into the Office of the Presidency.
 
It is up to each American to come to the realization that the time has come for direct and immediate involvement by writing and calling local elected officials and demand answers and actions to bring those responsible to justice and to restore the rule of law, The United States Constitution and the Republic.

**The views expressed in this column represent only those of the author and not the board or membership of the Juniper Park Civic Association.