Patiently whittling away at the American Dream
Michael Grunwald's interview with Grover Norquist is just ... depressing. Norquist plays a long game. And slowly but surely he's been winning, just by attrition.
MG: The fiscal cliff deal in 2013 did raise taxes on everyone making more than $450,000 a year, and you were actually OK with that.
GN: That was a phenomenal victory. All the Bush tax cuts were going to expire on January 1. All Obama had to do was twiddle his thumbs and go for a walk, and taxes were going to increase by $5 trillion over a decade. He would have gotten the largest tax increase in the history of western civilization. Not only didnt he do that, he allowed 85 percent of the Bush tax cuts to be made permanent, for 99 percent of the country.
MG: But taxes went up, and you were OK with it. A lot of people expected you to take the maximalist position, that you cant vote for anything that allows taxes to go up.
GN: The pledge has been a powerful tool because its written down, it doesnt move, its simple. Its one line: You cant vote for net tax increases. Its a binary thing: Fred either voted to raise taxes from the status quo or he didnt. Its a guardrail. When the law says a tax cut has lapsed, I cant say that the failure to renew it is a tax increase, even if I want it renewed. Yes, voters might think that, but the pledge is the pledge. If I changed the pledge to fit the circumstances, Harry Reid would be right when he says, 'Oh, Republicans just do whatever is Grovers thought of the day.'
Sigh...
Let's not forget the other side of Grover's equation which is to cut government services. That also happened in dramatic fashion in those budget deals. Sequestration is still in effect and there's almost no chance those vital services for poor people will ever be reinstated. These things are going to have to be done over from scratch --- and that's not easy.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/10/patiently-whittling-away-at-american.html