No, that’s not the Gross National Product. It stands for the Grover Norquist Party, what the Grand Old Party has become. Almost every member of Congress and all of the Republican Presidential candidates except John Huntsman have taken lobbyist Grover Norquist’s pledge:
“I will: ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”
Lest you think this is merely political posturing, or campaign rhetoric, in fact no Republican in Congress has voted for an income tax increase since 1990. It was this rigid partisan stance that ultimately doomed the Supercommittee’s effort to reach a compromise. As one of the Democratic members, Senator John Kerry, commented: “unfortunately, this thing about the Bush tax cuts and the pledge to Grover Norquist keeps coming up. Grover Norquist has been the 13th member of this committee without being there. I can’t tell you how many times we hear about ‘the pledge, the pledge.’ Well all of us took a pledge to uphold the Constitution and to full and faithfully and well-execute our duties and I think that requires us to try and reach an agreement.”
The Center for American Progress concluded: What It Means: An Oath Of, By, and For the One Percent.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Perhaps the application of something like Kleiber's Law could show how this kind of metabolism is unsustainable.
ReplyDeleteKeith Briggs
Langhorne, PA