QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
“I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
Grover Norquist
NPR Interview, 2001
SENSE AND NONSENSE—THE LINE BETWEEN IDEAS AND IDEOLOGY
From the editor: First there was “Proposition 13” in California. Then there was the TABOR (“Taxpayers Bill of Rights”) amendment in Colorado. Now there is the insane push for a balanced budget amendment that would require a “super majority” in Congress to raise revenue. All of these highly destructive versions of social engineering start with the same radical and extreme proposition—starve the “beast.” The “beast,” in the minds of radicals such as Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), is government.
Since The Compass was launched almost seven years ago after the disastrous 2004 presidential election, it has become clear that the country and its electorate is divided into problem solvers and problem creators. Social engineers such as Grover Norquist with ATR and Douglas Bruce with Prop 13 and the TABOR amendment are perfect handmaidens for rich plutocrats such as the Koch brothers who want to function in an environment without government regulation. Tough economic times and entrenched high unemployment provide a fertile “breeding” environment for ideological extremists who use fear, half-truths, outright lies, and rigid dogmatism to manipulate masses of people who vote with their emotions.
Grover Norquist, Douglas Bruce, Ron Paul, Rand Paul, and Ayn Rand, exemplify people who hate or hated government enough to try to destroy it or, at the very least, rob it blind.
Norquist is now receiving the national attention he should have had decades ago when he created ATR in 1985. His website says he did so at President Reagan’s request. Norquist created his now infamous pledge in 1986. It has been signed by all but 6 Republicans in the House and 7 Republicans in the Senate. Two Democrats in the House, Ben Chandler (KY) and Robert Andrews (NJ), and one Democrat in the Senate, Ben Nelson (NE), have also signed the pledge.
The pledge is made available to all elected representatives at federal and state levels on the ATR website. It says:
“I pledge to the taxpayers of the ____district of the state of _____, and to the American people that I will:
ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and
TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”
The pledge has become a litmus test for all Republican representatives. If it is not signed, Norquist and his ATR organization threaten to defeat the non-signer in the next primary election.
ATR’s website even threatens Presidents by emphasizing there are no exceptions to the Pledge. Norquist writes, “Tax-and-spend politicians often use ‘emergencies’ to justify increasing taxes. In the unfortunate event of a real crisis or natural disaster, the President should propose spending cuts in other areas to finance the emergency response.” Norquist brags that former President George W. Bush signed the pledge. It became evident after Katrina.
The tragedy of ideologues like Norquist is that they promote the idea that government is the enemy. Norquist and his bed-fellow Libertarians imagine a world without government, a world without fire and police protection, a world without protection for the environment, a world without the Interstate highway system, a world without space exploration, a world without a safety net for the most vulnerable, a world without taxes, and a world in chaos.
Personally I prefer the world vision of our founding fathers who said in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution that “Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” Each elected representative takes an oath to uphold that Constitution before being coerced and blackmailed by the Norquist pledge.
Maynard Chapman, Editor
The Compass Newsletter
REAPING WHAT IS SOWN
From the editor: President Obama is now reaping what he sowed last December when he passively agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts for two more years. The January, 2011, issue of The Compass documented the two major problems that are directly related to the current impasse on raising the debt ceiling.
PROBLEM ONE: President Obama is a weak negotiator, to say the least. For reasons known only to him, he displays weakness instead of strength. And worse, he reveals his weakness at the beginning of negotiations. In December, Obama said he was not willing to let those most vulnerable be “taken hostage” by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He then promptly allowed those most vulnerable to be taken hostage by agreeing to extend the tax cuts for two more years costing the American people $363 billion over two years. Now that the country is on the verge of default, he can and should legitimately ask himself the same question posed by The Compass back in January: Is it a “price too high?”
PROBLEM TWO: Democrats have held a majority in the Senate since 2006. But you would never know it because Senate Majority Leader Reid has allowed the power of the filibuster to rule the Senate. The January, 2011, issue of The Compass also documents how the White House and President Obama displayed extraordinary political weakness in a Dec. 8, 2010, press conference when responding to a reporter’s question on the tax cuts.
Obama said, “Well let me say that on the Republican side, this is their holy grail, these tax cuts for the wealthy. This seems to be their central economic doctrine. And so, unless we had 60 votes in the Senate at any given time (emphasis added), it would be very hard for us to move this forward.” Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Tom Udall of New Mexico co-sponsored an amendment that would have made changes to Senate rules possible. Obama’s remarks effectively killed any possibility of success for such an amendment.
In essence, President Obama and Majority Leader Reid have allowed Republicans to gain leverage with their “holy grail” without allowing Democrats to counter with our own “holy grail.” Democrats had a peak at how powerful our “holy grail” is after Rep. Paul Ryan introduced his budget plan to privatize Medicare. Every Republican elected politician in the House and Senate voted for it.
While Republicans claim to represent “the people,” poll after poll shows that 60 to 80 percent of Americans are against such a proposal and that they are for raising taxes on the rich. When Democrat Kathy Hochul won a House seat in New York District #26 -- a heavily Republican district -- the power of the people was on display. When Democrat Janice Hahn easily defeated tea party candidate Craig Huey (55-45 percent) in CA-District 36 after Rep. Jane Harman resigned, the power of the people was again on display. It continues to be on display in Wisconsin re-call elections. Inexplicably, President Obama seems to underestimate such events.
During the evening of Friday, July 22, President Obama held an impromptu press conference in the White House briefing room after Speaker Boehner walked out on talks to reduce the debt and increase the debt ceiling. Unfortunately, his incompetent negotiating skills were on display again when a reporter ask him why he would give the Republicans so much of what they were asking for. His answer was revealing. He said he was willing to bend that far because Speaker Boehner told him he simply didn’t have the votes in his Republican caucus. So Obama was willing to cave. Obama was admitting to the reporter that he was counting Republican votes in a Republican tea party led caucus. Even while claiming to “take the heat” from Democrats and providing “leadership, his negotiating style actually empowers Republican ideologues.
President Obama needs to stop counting votes in the House Republican caucus and among Republicans in the Senate. He needs to use the leverage of the Office of the President that comes with the power of the people who voted for him in the first place, the power of his constitutionally allowed veto, and the power of the bully pulpit. He has performed admirably as commander in chief. He has performed miserably as a President who was elected by Democrats and Independents who are struggling to make ends meet.
READER FEEDBACK: A BELATED DEFINITION OF “DUMB”
From the editor: There were some welcome and helpful responses to the May, 2011, issue of The Compass. Some readers who complimented the issue as a whole apparently felt the article that listed examples of “dumb as a stump” was elitist in tone and could be interpreted as making fun of those with low intelligence quotients (IQ). Such a misunderstanding of the article is entirely the result of sloppy writing on my part.
One reader was complimentary and critical at the same time. The reader said, “Once again and as always, I found the latest issue (the July issue) of the Compass to be good reading. It was much better than the ‘dumb as a stump’ effort (in the May issue).”
Feeling professionally chagrined, I provided the following definition of “dumb:” “In my mind, ‘dumb’ is a measurement of how one uses his or her intelligence. It does not refer to I.Q. For example, Karl Rove is a man of obvious high I.Q., but because of the ways in which he uses that God-given talent, I would label him ‘dumb as a stump.’ Anthony Weiner, Gary Hart, Eliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Ensign, David Vitter, Newt Gingrich, Larry Craig, and Mark Sanford would also fit into the ‘dumb as a stump’ category at various points in their political lives.”
Also commenting on the May issue and the article on the “Line between community and rugged individualism,” another reader said:
“Excellent publication! Maybe now that ‘Obama got Osama,’ we can be relieved of the DISTRACTION of the war on terror and deal with real issues! Bush Cheney defined the wrong problem and we have lost 10 years of precious time, thousands of lives and a trillion dollars. Obama understands the real problems (climate change, health care access and affordability, degradation of the middle class) facing the entire country and is making judicious incremental steps to turn us in the right direction.”
Copyright © 2011, The Compass Society
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