A new right-wing strategy - sue the government and its employees

The view from the left, as expressed in an op-ed piece in Salon:

"...within that narrow anti-government focus of low taxes is their extreme hostility to government regulations.

So now we see the conservative movement... considering the idea of flooding the courts with frivolous suits.

Scientology besieged the IRS with 200 lawsuits from the church and more than 2,300 lawsuits on behalf of individual parishioners in every jurisdiction in the country, “overwhelming government lawyers, running up fantastic expenses, and causing an immense amount of havoc inside the IRS.” ... That is what Murray wants to do to agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

If conservatives follow the Scientology strategy to the letter, they will file lawsuits against individual federal employees as well, making their lives miserable and putting them into personal financial jeopardy...

There are a lot of anti-government billions out there just waiting to be put to such good purpose.

Murray’s book is being met with rapturous anticipation among the right wingers.  This may be the big “new idea” they’ve been waiting for. Fighting regulations is the new organizing concept that’s really animating the conservative intelligentsia in this age of GOP congressional dominance. The idea of a tyrannical president issuing orders to executive agencies, as if that constitutes a coup, is a powerful motivating narrative for the red-meat crowd...

Of course, if a Republican becomes president, the whole idea becomes moot. The billionaires would withdraw to their counting rooms to add up their profits while the GOP executive makes their job unnecessary. The fact that they are contemplating this assault through the legal system is an admission that they don’t really believe they’ll have the political power to do this any time soon.

More at the link.