Mathew Staver, Chairman
Liberty Counsel Action
I
am hesitant to bring such a serious development to your attention
shortly before Christmas, but because you are a patriot who actively
resists the Obama administration’s tyrannical power grabs, I know you
want to be aware of what our adversaries are doing to further subvert
our constitutional republic.
President
Barack Obama’s IRS has proposed regulations designed to silence and
greatly restrict the activities of Liberty Counsel Action and other 501
(c)(4) non-profit organizations during the upcoming election year (the
numbers refer to the IRS code section under which non-profit lobbying
and social welfare organizations are regulated).
The
proposed new guidelines were quietly announced in the Federal Register
just before the Thanksgiving holiday period and include a “public
commentary” period until February 27, 2014. This news has been
overshadowed by Harry Reid’s “nuclear” Senate ramrodding through radical
judicial and administrative appointments and the shocking persecution
of Duck Dynasty’s patriarch, Phil Robertson.
After
being caught intentionally targeting conservative groups in the prior
two elections, now the President wants his IRS to totally silence the
voices of his political adversaries!
Please see my very important update below – Mat.
Conservatives,
Barack
Obama is at it again. The Internal Revenue Service, the most feared of
all federal agencies, will once again seek to silence the voices of tens
of millions of conservative Americans during an election year through
new regulations that directly impact the work of Liberty Counsel Action
and other conservative public interest groups.
Under
the proposed guidelines, IRS approved 501(c)(4) organizations like
Liberty Counsel Action would suffer serious curtailment of our free
speech rights to “call out” politicians and their policies. We would be
restricted in promoting conservative values, such as protecting our
constitutional rights against the Executive Branch’s infringements.
We
would even be prohibited from criticizing the federal bureaucracy! Here
is what the new set of proposed regulations do to 501(c)(4)
organizations like Liberty Counsel Action…
- Prohibits using words like “oppose,” “vote,” “support,” “defeat,” and “reject.”
- Prohibits voter registration drives or conducting a non-partisan “get-out-the-vote drive.”
- Prohibits creating or distributing voter guides outlining how incumbents voted on particular bills.
Thus,
if this new set of regulations goes into effect, Liberty Counsel Action
will be forbidden to “oppose” or “support” anything in the political
arena and we’ll be prohibited to conduct our “get-out-the vote”
campaigns or issue our popular voter guides!
This set of new rules…
- Restricts the ability of officers and leaders of such organizations to publicly speak about incumbents, legislation, and/or voting records.
- Restricts the ability of officers and leaders of such organizations to make public statements regarding the nomination of judges and other presidential nominees.
Further,
any member of the Liberty Counsel Action team will be banned from
speaking or messaging on incumbents, legislation, and/or voting records –
or to speak on the nominations of judges or political nominees being
considered by the Senate. This also includes state and local
politicians.
What’s more, the new set of regulations exempts prominent liberal lobbying groups like labor unions!
This
is just the beginning of “selective enforcement.” Most of the exempted
organizations are liberal and in the back pocket of the Democrat party –
and vice-versa. Most key players in the liberal “progressive” bloc
will not be silenced or restricted by these new regulations!
These outrageous new directives are overreaching, yet are subject to interpretation by the IRS. That means IRS officials will pick and choose who and what are in violation of their guidelines.
This
overt oppression is all too reminiscent of the targeting of
conservative groups during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles, to which
the IRS admitted, but later denied by saying that they held the same
standards for both conservative and liberal groups. That assertion was
proven to be an out-and-out misrepresentation.
This
new set of IRS regulations is clear evidence that President Obama
intends to silence the voices of his political adversaries using
elements of the federal government!
++Sign our powerful Stop the IRS War on Conservatives petition!
We
are petitioning the Senate Committee on Finance: Taxation and IRS
Oversight to ensure that all 501(c)(4) organizations formed to promote
conservative values will be treated fairly by the IRS. We are also
registering our disapproval (without including any of our supporters’
names or addresses) with the IRS “open commentary” mechanism.
Your
petitions will be delivered to the four ranking members of the Senate
Committee on Finance: Taxation and IRS Oversight. As an organization, we
are also demanding that the IRS withdraw these proposed regulations.
We
need at least 50,000 signers before we hand-deliver the petitions to
Capitol Hill during the open comment period, which ends February 27.
Frankly, I believe we should gather well into the hundreds of thousands
of signers on this very important matter. That’s why I am bringing it
to your attention before the end of 2013.
Click here to add your name to this extremely important petition:
++Barack Obama continues to use Chicago-style thuggery to squash free speech and gag his political adversaries.
My
friends and associates Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski recently wrote
an excellent op-ed piece in which where they explained the significance
of the forthcoming IRS mandates…
“In
our 2010 book The Blueprint, we discussed how free speech is the
essential lifeblood of public debate, empowering voters to make a
thoughtful and well-considered choice at the ballot box. We also warned
that Obama might create laws to silence his political opponents, using
the same Chicago-style political tactics he knew from his days as an
Illinois politician, like a couple rough-looking thugs built like brick
walls who muscle their way around your store front to send you a message
that you'd better quiet down if you know what's good for you and your
business.
The Supreme Court restored free speech for average citizens in Citizens United.
Shortly thereafter, President Obama demeaned his high office by
denouncing the Supreme Court to the Justices' faces during the 2010
State of the Union Address on national television before a joint session
of Congress. Obama later promised to find ways to get around the Citizens United decision.
That
is what the IRS is doing here, limiting how much groups can speak about
Obama's policies or promote alternative policies about healthcare, free
markets, traditional values, or national defense. Obama and his
supporters can use the enormous platform of their public offices to
promote whatever they want without limit. If the President gives a
speech, the media will cover it.
But
if a group of citizens wants to pool their resources to express an
opposing viewpoint before an election, that group can lose its
tax-exempt status.
The
solution to political speech you don't like is to offer opposing
speech; the cure for bad speech or wrong speech is more speech, not
less. That free exchange of ideas is the blood flowing through the veins
of a free society, so that voters can fully hear both sides. When you
stop that flow, you stop the beating heart of democracy.”
++These outrageous IRS regulations must be confronted and STOPPED!
The bottom line is that your voice, unified with tens of
thousands of other Liberty Counsel Action team members, will be silenced
in mass if these regulations go into effect!
These
Orwellian tactics crafted by the Obama administration are extremely
dangerous to the free speech of every American while being interpreted
and enforced by the brute power of the Internal Revenue Service.
I
urge you today to add your name to our petition, which we will deliver
to Congress when they return after their Christmas break and register
with the IRS (without releasing any of our supporters’ names or
addresses) during their open comment period – hopefully multiple times
as the number of signers swells.
The very function of Liberty Counsel Action and other pro-liberty 501 (c)(4) organizations are being threatened!
Thank you for standing with us against the overt politicization of the IRS!
God bless you,
Mathew Staver, Chairman
Liberty Counsel Action
P.S.
I have mentioned just a few of the draconian new regulations the Obama
administration is proposing. We will be further addressing this
dangerous new development in future messages. Free speech is being
severely threatened by Barack Obama’s IRS, and the political use of this
dreaded agency goes far beyond the misuse of its power to enforce ObamaCare!
The
IRS is being misused to exert Barack Obama’s political will and it
continues to amass the power to silence and eliminate Obama’s political
adversaries.
Please be sure to take a minute and sign our petition to Stop the IRS War on Liberty Counsel Action
today, and please forgive us for bringing this urgent mater to your
attention so close to the Christmas holiday. If it were any less
serious a matter, we would not have done so. Again, God bless you!
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