The Problem Isn't That Lois Lerner Doesn't Like Conservatives, It's That the IRS Gave Her a Weapon Against Them

It’s no surprise that Lois Lerner,
the former Internal Revenue Service official whose name is now
eternally connected to politically motivated abuse of the tax
agency’s powers, doesn’t like conservatives. She’s a
registered Democrat who explicitly
targeted tea party groups during her tenure at the IRS. So the

release by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp
(R-Mich.) of emails
from 2012 in which she referred to conservatives as “rabid,”
“crazies,” and “assholes” (the “ass” is inexplicably redacted, but
I think we can assume) isn’t a shocker.

It is interesting, though, that she reacted to
overhearing Britons discussing America’s financial straits by
pointing out that “they don’t seem to see that they can’t afford to
keep up their welfare state either.”

But many people have strong political opinions, whether or not
they stupidly express those thoughts in emails sent through
government accounts. She would have still held those beliefs if
she’d confined herself to GMail—or kept her trap shut entirely.

And many of her critics have expressed similar feelings about
liberals. Or about both liberals and conservatives
(*cough* *cough*).

Strong political preferences are almost certain to be held by
people holding government office. That isn’t a reason to go looking
for rare candidates who have managed to develop the competence to
perform a responsible job without, somehow, acquiring political
preferences.

Because there’s almost certainly something seriously wrong with
such people.

The proper response to the “revelation” that people have
political biases is to make sure that they can’t wield government
power against those they don’t like. If the people who are going to
hold position in government are going to be biased, which is to
say, actual human beings, then those positions shouldn’t inherently
represent weapons to be used against the opposition.

Lois Lerner isn’t the problem. The power of the IRS—and so many
other government agencies—is a
bludgeon that will inevitably be used by almost anybody who gets
their hands on it.