David vs. Goliath of government agencies ~ By Chuck Norris

By Chuck Norris Posted: June 22, 2009 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 One of the most hideous ways the IRS usurps power and control over Americans is through its oppression over nonprofits and especially religious groups. Threatening to withdraw tax exempt status or to levy penalties are just a couple ways it exercises its tyranny. For example, on April 3, 2009, Catholic Answers, one of the nation's largest lay-run apologetic (or defense) ministries for the Catholic movement, filed suit in federal court against the Internal Revenue Service for violating its rights to free speech. What spurred on the lawsuit is that the IRS imposed fines on Catholic Answers because President Karl Keating wrote in one of his e-letters that 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry shouldn't be allowed to receive the Eucharist (communion) because of his pro-abortion stand, advocacy and voting record. Whether you agree or not, Keating was voicing his conviction and opinion, which is his First Amendment right to do. At no point did Catholic Answers even tell people for whom to vote or not to vote. Does that letter-writing act sound like something that deserves IRS fines and further taxes? You can imagine the long, uphill battle that will ensue for Catholic Answers as it attempts to sue the IRS. It confesses that it's doing so "not just for ourselves, but on behalf of non-profit organizations and churches all across the country that are constantly harassed, threatened, intimidated, and persecuted by the IRS." That is the reason it is also appealing to the public for donations. Everything is wrong and ludicrous about these types of governmental actions, from the tyrannical power of the IRS to the violations against American rights and freedoms. And two major historical inconsistencies emerge from these situations as well: First, early in our country's formation, the pulpits used to be the conscience of this nation. Preachers were never restricted in their political voice in any way per the First Amendment. In fact, clergy and politicians used the pulpits to rally support, without threat of governmental intrusion or penalty. Second, the Internal Revenue Service wasn't started until nearly 100 years after the Revolutionary War in 1862 as the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Its creation coincided with the creation of the income tax, which it was designed to collect (though it would be later ruled as unconstitutional until 1913 via congressional law). Both were the initial work of President Lincoln and Congress, which saw them as necessary to pay for civil war expenses. But could Lincoln even have imagined how the IRS would have become the most bloated federal bureaucracy on the planet? [CONTINUE READING]