It looks as though members of the Tea Party will be out in force all across the fruited plains at noon on Tuesday (May 21) to protest in the front of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) offices.
One e-mail I received said, “Tea Party Patriots, 912s and several other groups are having a Nationwide protest against the IRS abuses at IRS offices across the country.” This protest is a little too far for me to make, as it’s being held in Nashville (TN) at the Federal Building.
One protest is a little closer to my home; it’s planned for Great Falls (MT) at the local IRS office.
The Tea Party Patriots posted a notice on their website telling folks, “On behalf of Tea Party, Patriot groups, 9/12, liberty activists, and the American people, we are calling for anyone and everyone to protest the IRS’ complete abuse of power on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at noon local time.”
They also have an “IRS Protest Toolkit” to download, and there’s a link you can click on to find a protest location near you.
Is this a great country or what?
Our First Amendment is pretty cool:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
While several members of the Tea Party have done or said things I abhor, I support these protests because our government messed up big time. Many folks distrust the government and the actions by people working in the IRS have made that gap even wider.
Let’s be safe out there…
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The Western Word 
Is this another one of their “social welfare” activities? Or is this just more political speech from the Tea Party? They have a constitutional right to engage in any type of political speech they wish. However, the Constitution doesn’t say that they are entitled to obtain a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status while engaging in this speech. The tax code has provisions for political organizations to obtain a tax-exempt under section 527. The ridiculous part of this entire argument is that these groups can get a tax-exempt status but they want to use a section of the I.R.C. that allows them to hide their contributors. If we do not have disclosure on who is contributing to a group engaging in political speech, then how do we know or even find out if a foreign entity is involved in our election process. Or do the Tea Party groups just not care and want to defend the ability for the Chinese government to funnel money into our elections? It is time to eliminate all political activities from 501(c)(4) organizations, or require full disclosure.
Thanks for the comments. I think full disclosure of every penny donated to candidates and all the groups that support the candidates or parties would be great – it should be reported within 24 hours of the donation being accepted. -Jack
Agreed, so why are these groups trying to use the 501(c)(4) provisions? I think the IRS should put their foot down and change their regulations to match the language in the statute which says that 501(c)(4)’s shall be “exclusively” social welfare organization. Make any group that wants to engage in political activity qualify under a 527 tax-exempt status. So this is why I don’t understand the purpose of the planned protest.
Seems these groups, right and left leaning, have found a way around it. They need to have strict regulations regarding political groups.