The coronavirus pandemic has exposed what the GOP's anti-tax rhetoric is really all about

[turbinetree]

Published 4 hours ago on July 10, 2020
By John Stoehr, The Editorial Board- Commentary




Newt Gingrich is usually, and rightly, blamed for destroying American politics, even more than Donald Trump. The former House Speaker didn’t go to Washington in the 1970s to strike deals. He went there to wage soft civil war against the United States.

But if there’s a close second to the title of America’s Worst Person, it probably goes to someone you never heard of. He’s not a politician. He’s not a pundit or bureaucrat. When it comes to influencing the GOP’s attitude toward taxing, spending and budgets, however, it would be hard to find someone more influential than Grover Norquist.

Norquist is the head of Americans for Tax Reform. The name is a misnomer. It doesn’t want to “reform” taxes so much as get rid of taxes on the very, very rich. Norquist is probably most famous for saying, in 2001, that he doesn’t want to abolish government per se. “I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can … drown it in the bathtub.”

While Gingrich was on the front lines of the soft civil war, armed with lies, slander and disinformation as his weapons of choice, Norquist was in the backrooms, pulling strings, pressing Republicans to pledge to never ever—never ever ever—raise taxes or be punished. The last Republican to raise taxes for the purpose of balancing responsibly the federal budget was George H.W. Bush, the last one-term president.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-exposed-what-the-gops-anti-tax-rhetoric-is-really-all-about/

[ProfessorGAC]

1. "Probably Someone You've Never Heard Of"?!?!?!?

For liberals & Keynesian folks, he's been public enemy #1 since the Rs ran Gingrich out of DC.
He's not a "probably never heard of" guy.
Author must think everybody, except him, is ignorant.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. A random sampling of Americans

would likely reveal far more ignorance of Grover Norquist than familiarity. We live in a rarefied atmosphere of knowledge and curiosity, outnumbered by millions, small enclaves among people who don’t know and don’t care. I seldom go wrong by assuming ignorance as opposed to awareness.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. RawStory Has An Audience Resembling Random Awareness?

I find that hard to believe.

[Cirque du So-What]

5. I was speaking generally

I’m sure RawStory readers are more politically aware than the mean. In retrospect the author’s tone is condescending.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Same Page

Thanks for the reasoned response!

[Wednesdays]

8. Poor choice of words

The author wrote, "Someone you never heard of.". That does indeed reek of elitism and arrogance. Much better if it were, "Someone a lot of people may not have heard of," and would have been unassailable in its accuracy.

[Silver Swan]

3. As a career Federal employee forr 35 years before I retired

Norquist was a known enemy.

[Blue_true]

7. We are experiencing the end result of what Norquist was pushing for.

Government needs to be properly funded and responsive to the needs of citizens, the best governments have that.