"Your invitation asks that we appear before a congressional committee in a public session and open the whole range of our political programs and strategies to committee scrutiny. A congressional committee may not simply call political organizations to answer under oath to whatever questions, however politically sensitive, members may have an interest in asking."

So was the wording of a letter sent to House Administration Chairman Robert Ney (R-OH) by representatives of America Coming Together, America Votes, Partnership for America's Families, Democratic Senate Majority Fund and New House PAC, all 527 organizations styled after the radical MoveOn.org political action group. The letter was in response to an “invitation” to appear before Ney’s panel in an effort to ascertain whether or not they are complying with the 2002 campaign finance law. It would appear they are not.

The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law banned “soft money”, or large unregulated contributions, to national political parties and federal campaign committees. But 527 organizations, named for the section of the tax code the organizations fall under, are not required to adhere to McCain-Feingold. However, there is a stipulation for their exclusion from the McCain-Feingold legislation. The groups may accept unlimited donations from anonymous donors for political purposes, so long as they do not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate, and do not act in concert with any lawmaker or party committee.

As we travel down the road to the November 2004 elections it has become quite apparent that many of these 527 organizations, including ACT and MoveOn.org, are ignoring the prohibited activities as outlined by McCain-Feingold and are refusing to be called to task for it. ACT’s website explicitly states that one of its objectives is to mobilize “voters to defeat George W. Bush and elect progressive candidates all across America," and MoveOn.org just finished promoting a campaign in search of the best commercial promoting the defeat of President Bush. Outrage was evident when a commercial entry depicted similarities between George W. Bush and Adolph Hitler. MoveOn.org removed the spot and denounced it but not until the effectiveness of the spot was felt.

Without question, these 527 organizations and their actions are in clear violation of McCain-Feingold yet those who run them have no qualms about breaking the law. While liberal Democrats around the country, and especially in political circles, were more prone to cry-out for campaign finance reform legislation it is the liberally orientated political groups who are not only pushing the limits of the law but also crossing the legal lines the law has drawn. And while the House Administration Committee is well within its rights to compel any organization that has applied for 527 status to testify before their panel in a effort to confirm that the law is being adhered to, the leaders of these organizations refuse to appear in a clear attempt to continue their practices, practices that arguably are in violation of McCain-Feingold.

Thus, their own actions testify to their hypocrisy.

The liberal activist’s refusal to adhere to McCain-Feingold is only one example of how the liberal left likes to establish laws for you and I but rebukes any effort to have the laws apply to them. While they pouted, whined and had the proverbial temper-tantrum until campaign finance reforms were enacted, today’s political campaigning finds them insisting that conservative campaign groups adhere to the new legislation while they refuse to abide by the same set of rules. In essence, they are saying, “we know what is best for you but we also know that the same standards don’t apply to us – do as I say, not as I do.” It could be considered the mantra of the liberal left, the standard-bearer, if you will.

It is not uncommon for the liberal left to impose its will onto the rest of the nation. There are examples of their over-reaching in almost every walk of life. If it isn’t Michael Newdow protesting the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, the saying of which is not only a tradition in school classrooms throughout the country and whose recitation instills a needed sense of patriotism and civic pride in our youth, it is some ideological over-achiever on one end of the country complaining about the fact that there is a copy of the Ten Commandments in a teacher’s desk drawer on the other end of the country. To say that the liberal left’s ideology is being forced down the throats of Americans who don’t like the taste would be an understatement. If you don’t believe me just take a trip down to Alabama and ask the majority of the people there what they think about the ACLU championing the removal of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court building. Or go into any classroom where the teacher understands the importance of civic education and civic responsibility and ask if he or she agrees with Mr. Newdow’s idea of the separation of church and state (you would be well advised to not interrupt the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance lest you receive a detention from the teacher).

The fact that the liberal left is arrogant should come as no surprise. They stand armed with the insistence their ideology is the only correct way to look at things and frighteningly enough they really believe it. Although they profess to be the political faction of our society that champions tolerance, in their ideology there is no room for any other to exist. Here again their hypocrisy is exposed.

Rep. Ney has threatened to use his panel’s subpoena power to compel the 527 organizations in question to testify before his committee. I hope he does subpoena them. The trick will be getting them to actually say something when they finally appear. Something tells me there will be quite a bit of breath holding, many blue faces and a plethora of fingers in the ears rather than testimony. I can hear it now, “I know you are but what am I?”

Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He is a contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch, GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials, Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications.