Having been caught violating the civil rights of thousands of Americans trying to assemble, contribute, and advocate a cause, the IRS

scandal has been shut down. That, after all, was just symptomatic of the way liberals play politics. They don’t compete in the arena of ideas, they use the government to intimidate the political opposition. And in this case, to help Obama get re-elected by harassing conservative contributors and PACs that would contribute to the Romney campaign. This is what the IRS inquiries into conservative non-profit applications was all about. And it worked. But don’t hold your breath for any lawsuits about their civil rights or First Amendment rights being denied.

But the political intimidation is not over. Liberals also use regulators like the SEC or EPA to do the job that the IRS can not. All of which was triggered by the Citizens United Supreme Court case that guaranteed corporations the same rights to exercise political speech as a person has.

The back door to what the IRS was doing, which was finding out the names and businesses that contributed to conservative organizations for conservative causes, and preventing as much as possible contributions to organizations that would advocate against a liberal agenda, a clear violation of civil rights, is now called the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Reacting to, ostensibly, a coalition of Democratic elected officials, activists and labor unions, the SEC is considering making up a new disclosure rule for publicly traded companies. The SEC is considering a regulation mandating that publicly traded corporations disclose all their political donations to their shareholders. Still a violation of civil rights of the shareholders and the corporation. It is Big Brother using the power of intimidation to shut down any and all political opposition. It is instructive too that the assumption is that corporations would not also give to liberals.

A petition to the S.E.C. asking it to issue the rule has already garnered close to half a million comments, far more than any petition or rule in the agency’s history, with the vast majority in favor of it. While relatively few petitions result in action by the S.E.C., the commission staff filed a notice late last year indicating that it was considering recommending a rule.

In response to the growing pressure, House Republicans introduced legislation last Thursday that would make it illegal for the commission to issue any political disclosure regulations applying to companies under its jurisdiction. Earlier this month, the leaders of three of Washington’s most powerful trade associations — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Roundtable — issued a rare joint letter to the chief executives of Fortune 200 companies, encouraging them to stand against proxy resolutions and other proposals from shareholder activists demanding more disclosure of political spending.

What we continue to see is the political warfare conducted by liberals. It is liberalism on display. It is what they do. They restrict rights, restrict liberties, ignore the constitution, depress economies, increase debt, spread misery all in the name of social justice. Social justice isn’t justice. It’s harassment.

Link: SEC nears decision on requiring businesses to disclose donations