Keller @ Large: Rely On Common Sense In IRS Fiasco

BOSTON (CBS) -- There's yet another congressional committee hearing into the I-R-S fiasco going on today in Washington, the third in the past four workdays.

And maybe, some day off in the distant future, we'll have a full accounting of exactly what happened, why it happened, who knew or didn't know about it, when they knew, and so on.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

In the meantime, we are left to rely on our common sense.

It seems that's a lot easier for the protagonists in this case.

I went down to Government Center yesterday to report on an anti-IRS protest by local Tea Party activists, and talked with a grandmother from Brookline who said she was there to help preserve the America she knew "as an immigrant…[a place] for freedom of speech. Now we have to be afraid to talk, afraid of what people think of us."

Moments later, an IRS employee pulled me aside and told me the protestors were crazy, that the real villain was the new campaign finance laws that opened the door to tax-exempt status for political groups that didn't deserve to have it.

Both of these people were going with their gut, and rallying around their own flags. And I suspect there may be some truth in what both of them are saying.

Most government workers that I've ever met are not raging ideologues, or even harsh partisans. They mostly leave the attack politics to the politicians.

But the Tea Party woman is not delusional. There is very little the pols in power won't do to cement their hold, and so far the administration's explanations of what happened are as permanent as a Cape Cod sand dune.

Final judgment should probably be reserved until all the facts are in, but common sense should tell you this is not headed for a happy ending.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.