This Is Still America

A little while ago, a good friend who worked for the IRS for many years told me an anecdote about Tip O’Neill, the legendary ex-speaker of the House of Representatives, of Irish decent, who served as a Democrat on Capitol Hill for 34 years (and who has been the only legislator thus far at the front of the House for five consecutive sessions).

O’Neill, a legislator from Massachusetts, would always remember the laments of George Steinbrenner, the controversial owner of the New York Yankees, and the time he called Steinbrenner to ask for support during the 1972 Democratic presidential campaign. Steinbrenner, who passed away a couple of years ago, was an enthusiastic collaborator with the Democrats, but on that occasion, he did not want to appear nor even acknowledge them. O’Neill picked up the phone and dialed his number. Steinbrenner’s answer was laconic: “Damn, Tip, I don’t know what to tell you. Nine IRS types fell on me last week, so I would like to be away from everything for a while.”*

Last week in the Wall Street Journal, James Bovard wrote “A Brief History of IRS Political Targeting.” He included examples of misuse of the IRS during administrations as different as those of Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

Democracies are like this; they are full of imperfections. Democracies have not been able to eradicate political corruption (including corruption by presidents) because no one has invented a miracle remedy to do so (maybe in a couple of centuries, by investing a lot in education). For now, the only thing we can do is to tirelessly fight those harmful practices in a never-ending, merciless war. We know that a democracy can keep itself healthy, precisely because we get wins in this war as we make limits on those who are corrupt, so that their disease does not spread.

That is what is happening now. Someone wanted to use the IRS as a political weapon, but the ploy did not work. The IRS commissioner lost his position, not necessarily because he had personal responsibility for the matter but rather because of his political responsibility. He failed to make sure that his office was not utilized in an inappropriate way.

The great protagonists of this victory are neither the government nor the opposition as a whole. We should thank them, more than anything, for freedom of speech, which is the mechanism used by democracies to fight corruption. We should also thank the healthy sectors of the government that exist, in addition to the serious sectors of the opposition that contributed with their demands. However, most of all, we should thank the ordinary citizens, who, due to the weight of their opinion, effected a quick and sudden change regarding the issue.

In Ecuador, my country, the chief of the [Ecuadorian] Internal Revenue Service is Carlos Marx Carrasco, a personal friend of President Rafael Correa. Anyone who dares to deviate from the official line receives a visit from Carrasco’s people. The country knows it, the press has said it and examples abound. However, nothing happens because average citizens do not react — they let it happen.

The other day, Congressman Kevin Brady, after finding out how he wanted to use the IRS to go after the Republican opposition, asked, offended: “Is this still America?”

My answer, after mulling the subject over: “Yes, this is still America; just as well.”

The author is an Ecuadorian journalist.

*Editor’s Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.