IRS Scandal and the Future of America's Least Favorite Institution

After the recent breaking news that the Internal Revenue Service was giving additional scrutiny to the tax exempt status of Tea Party Groups based on having words such as "Patriot" or "Tea Party" in their name, there was massive political outcry on both sides of the aisle, most of which was well warranted.  Groups should not be targeted purely based on the name of their group.  But to make the assumption that the IRS was completely uncalled for in it's extra scrutiny and purely based on targeting conservative groups is not.

According to a recent NPR report, many liberal groups with had missions or names having to do with "progressive" tendencies  were also targeted to a significant extent by this IRS oversight.  This means that the IRS blanket of these groups is not a mechanism of the party in the White House trying to delegitimize groups that should have non profit status.

IRS Building in Washington (Washington Post)

But the larger issue that this scandal raises is the fallout and effect on the IRS's future policy.  The political posturing that is taking place in Washington takes away from the fact that investigation and scrutiny is what the IRS was set up to provide.  Rhetoric like that of John Boehner, who insisted that he was concerned with "who was going to jail" rather than who would resign in the wake of the scandal makes the situation even worse.

The result of this controversy will unfortunately make the IRS less likely to provide scrutiny where there should be, instead making them gun shy of political backlash. This spells bad news for rooting out organizations that really should have a little extra scrutiny in order to get non-profit status.  The IRS clearly states that in order for organizations to receive a 501(c)4 charitable tax exemption, they need to have their activities be focused "exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes." (irs.gov) This means that in order for a group to get such an exemption, they cannot be focused primarily on political actions. Instead of giving these groups a rubber stamp, the IRS should be providing extra scrutiny to groups that have dubious charitable actions.

Defeat of Toomey-Manchin Illustrates Problems With Political System and Power of NRA

The defeat of the Toomey-Manchin sponsored gun control bill, which would expand background checks on gun transactions is an unfortunate product of our divided political system and the extreme power of the National Rifle Association and supporters of firearms rights.

As widespread public polling suggests, a majority of Americans support some form of increased gun control.  A substantial minority would like to see it stay the same, rather than decrease.  Therefore, there is strong support for some sort of gun control.  While it is unfortunate that it is only after a tragedy such as the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that strong gun-control supporters come out, it is good nonetheless that efforts are being made so that gun related tragedies will never happen again.

UConn/Hartford Courant Poll

from CNN

The need for action seems lost upon multiple members of congress. Along with the defeat of the bill providing for background checks, there is a signature lack of urgency on the part on congressmen to do something about America's gun problem.  Some members obviously believe that no problem exists.  They believe strongly in the Second Amendments and contend that guns make us safer instead of harming us. 

Their arguments, though don't really hold up.  Few detailed and widespread studies have been completed on the effect of guns on crime.  Most of what goes on in the gun control arena is mostly rhetoric, and poor rhetoric at that.  The argument that the solution to criminals having guns is to arm everyone, and hope that the shootout turns out A-ok is a recipe for disaster.  

There is legitimate concern of the part of gun rights activists that gun laws will not be effective at taking away guns from criminals while hurting those that want (or possibly need?) guns and a perfectly sane. However, this is the purpose of the gun control debate and the bills and their amendments going through congress.  Some action needs to be taken, and it's high time to figure out if effective gun control can work on a national scale.  Voting against the bills and filibustering them too only delays a productive process.

There are a lot of guns in America, and collectively, they do a lot of damage.  Rather sane people can die or kill someone in accidental shootings.  Many more people die in accidental gun related deaths than mass shootings or murders.  With effective gun control, we can limit these from happening.  Again, stopping these latest gun control bills from going through the senate stops the debate on how to save lives.

A significant problem in the gun debate in congress is the political clout of the NRA.  All too often, we see that the best interests and the will of the people take second chair to the powers of special interests.  In this case, the main special interest on guns is the National Rifle Association.

The NRA has huge power in congress, mostly because of the way it funds candidates for elections.  These candidates rely on the NRA for financial support.  The NRA is also quite powerful because of its vocality and presence in many Americans' lives.  The NRA is adept politically, one of the reasons that it has been so successful at resisting further gun control.  They have a rather straightforward plan and execute well, made easier by large coffers and candidates eager for their monetary and vocal support. 

Sunlight Foundation

More detailed information on which candidates received money from the NRA can be found here.  This is a link to which candidates for the House of Representatives received money.  There is a tab for the Senate as well, as well as a map of the NRA's electoral impact.  It is quite substantial.  In the 2010 midterm elections, the NRA gave money to or endorsed candidates from every state excluding Hawaii.

Right now, the best hope for gun control legislation is if a group of citizens and private donors organize to create a powerful political organization to combat the power of the NRA.  The people need to speak at the ballot box if gun control is going to become a reality.  At the moment, hopes are dim that congress by itself will take any meaningful action.

The Obscure and Interesting Politics of Food

Since today is Thanksgiving, and it is a time to be thankful and eat considerable amounts of food, we felt it was appropriate to address food as an issue in today's politics.  Food is actually a huge political debate and has significant implications associated with it, most of the time without us realizing it.

The first issue is the way we view and produce food in the first place. For the better part of the last half century, governmental policy has dramatically encouraged the production of a finite breadth of food types, doling out subsidies to corn, meat and dairy farmers, as seen by the graphic below.

.
The subsidies encourage farmers to have limited diversity in the breakdown of the crops they grow and produce.  Instead of producing more broccoli, farmers can make a larger profit by producing the meat and corn that is so dominant in our economy.

The imbalance in production mirrors an imbalance in price.  A Big Mac is a far more economical option than broccoli in the short term for a family whose income is only minimum wage.  You may think that this is not a big concern, but it has huge lasting repercussions in many areas, from health to national security.

First of all, because of the high amounts and low prices of high calorie foods, this contributes to a food environment that favors the consumption of these high calorie options.  Consequently,  over one third of adults are currently classified as obese and kids are quickly catching up.

This epidemic of obesity has serious problems for our health system.  With an increased number of people being obese, this also means an increased number of people with weight related health problems, such as heart disease.  This means higher health care costs for everyone, as health care providers scramble to balance the books with such a large segment of the population representing such a high risk. Now, with the Obama health care plan representing a large role for government in the management of health care, this means government may have a new role in managing the food supply to promote health.

But health problems are only one part of the food picture.  One is food's relationship to energy.  The production and transportation of food takes over 19% of the fossil fuels used in American industries.  In addition, more carbon is introduced into the atmosphere due to all sorts of farm factors: through chemical fertilizers, machinery,  processing, etc.  This guzzling of a scarce resource, oil, only adds to the dependence on foreign oil, another politicized issue that politicians love to have their talking points about.  Regardless, the energy politics are a lot more complicated than just a question of energy for cities and cars, it also includes how we gain the calories we need.

The final point we must consider is food security. Michael Pollen addresses the importance of the issue in his article An Open Letter to the President by saying that "when a nation loses the ability to substantially feed itself, it is not only at the mercy of global commodity markets but of other governments as well." Now, what is the US's position in terms of food security?

First of all, relating back to energy, much of our food has been re-purposed for fuel. Up to 37% of our total corn crop has been directed away from the food market and into ethanol production. This decreases the food supply, but as of yet it has yet to impact us in a significantly negative way. We discuss the negative consequences of using food for fuel here.

But that may change in the coming decades, as a combination of factors could pose serious threats to our food supply. For one, the energy that the food supply so dearly depends on could become much less dependable and much more expensive, especially as the politics of the Middle East become more and more unpredictable. Moreover, the US just this last summer was hit with a historic drought, and Russia has had severe decreases in wheat production as they deal with similar environmental factors. If these severe weather instances develop into recurring trends, then it will be even more difficult to maintain a steady food supply. Finally, as examples such as the 2008 Chinese milk scandal helped reinforce, the US cannot rely on international sources of food without serious misgivings about the detriments to health.

All isn't lost though. There are actions we can take to ensure our own health, energy efficiency, and national security with how we decide to manage the politics of food in the coming years. So given that, after you eat and give thanks today, write to your representative to send the message that food is a very important political issue right now and needs to be addressed in a pragmatic manner.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Politics That Change

Our political system is set up so that the people do not have much of a choice.  When buying products at a store, there is often much more than just 2 choices.  It should be the same for politics, where we should not have such limited choices in who we elect.  Nationally, Republican and Democratic platforms stay relatively constant, dictated by powerful national leaders.  We need politics that is not rigid but politics that can be tinkered and changed to suit the times.

Party Platform

We are in the midst of revising our party platform for the rapidly changing political situation in the world.  On our minds our foreign policy, the economy and job creation, energy, and education.  If you feel strongly about these issues, let us know what you think.  The people deserve to be heard; let your voice take flight.

Follow us on twitter!

You can find our less wordy news, announcements, and ideas on twitter @auxiliaparty.  Follow us!  Please let us know how you think we can make the world a better place.  Ideas mean everything.  Everyone has something to say.

Go Auxilia

Combat partisanship! Be wary of the promises of politicians!