OPINION:
Hillary Clinton and Lois Lerner must have attended the same school of political etiquette and situational ethics (“IRS still targeting tea party,” Page I, May 1). Deleted e-mails, the modern equivalent of dragging a branch to erase footprints in the dust, has ill-served both women because modern technology can follow their nefarious tracks.
While Mrs. Clinton’s ambition (and that of her co-conspirator, “Bubba”) has led her by the nose through years of illicit activities, Ms. Lerner’s motivation seems to have been base contempt for even the whiff of conservatism. Using their positions in government to enrich and evade (in Mrs. Clinton’s case) and to impede and punish (in Ms. Lerner’s case), they epitomize the worst of “public servants” — those who serve only themselves at the expense of their employer, the American taxpayer.
How federal agencies have evolved into dens of liberal arrogance is no mystery. How they continue to operate as they do subject to the authority of the Constitution is still a mystery, however.
The Times article about the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservatives quotes Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote, characterizing the IRS as being “weaponized against American citizens” and saying the agency “demand[ed] to see contents of Twitter messages” of 501(c)(3) organization applicants. Who are these people? Why isn’t the IRS facing intense scrutiny for activities that must be illegal under the Constitution? Why is the word service even part of the IRS title? Most importantly, why are heads not rolling at the IRS?
Of the many lessons from which Mrs. Clinton and Ms. Lerner should have lately learned, the one l think they’ll likely take away is not to stake their future on the delete key. Any other conclusion would require a different moral perspective. Apology? Don’t bank on it. Words like contrition, confession, and recompense are alien to the liberal lexicon.
JOHN M. DANIEL
Leonardtown, Md.
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