Half of the Country

I haven't written about the IRS scandal yet, in part because every time I try to get my hands around it, the whole thing looks even bigger.  There is a basic point that needs to be said and said loudly though and I'm going to lean on Peggy Noonan to say it for me.

Which gets us to the part about imagination. What does it mean when half the country—literally half the country—understands that the revenue-gathering arm of its federal government is politically corrupt, sees them as targets, and will shoot at them if they try to raise their heads? That is the kind of thing that can kill a country, letting half its citizens believe that they no longer have full political rights. 

The whole thing is worth reading.
In the past few weeks I've found myself absolutely pissed off at people on the left that want to treat this as a normal scandal.  At people who are only concerned with how this is going to effect Obama and the White House.  As if things will be ok if we find out that this was some misguided mistake made by some low level accountants. 
If our laws are such that small groups have trouble organizing unless they have the right politics, we are in huge trouble.  The rise of various Tea Party groups has been mirrored by an attempt to marginalize those groups.  That can be tolerated from opposing political groups, but not from the federal government. 

I keep thinking of the phrase 'consent of the governed'.  It gets harder and harder to say that our government has that consent.  If large sectors of the machinery become politicized, it will be impossible.