November 27, 2012
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The Fiscal Pledge
Ever hear of Grover Norquist? Well for years he has been one of the most influential people in the country all because of his love of money and hatred of taxes. So, pretty much, greed. See back in the 1980s he worked with the Reagan Administration and sometime in the early 90s I believe he created a pledge that he got many members of Congress (pretty much all of them Republicans) to sign stating that they would never raise taxes. He in effect, almost became a puppet master to our elected officials, controlling them when it came to matters of taxes. His pledge was so powerful that Republicans lived in fear of what would happen if they went against it. If one of them would vote to raise taxes he would do everything in his power to get them to lose their re-election bids and in many cases it worked.
Well now that we are backed against the wall, many Republicans have finally started to grow a set of balls and fight back against him. It is not often when I find reasons to commend Republicans but this would be one of them. There is no reason why this guy needs to have the power he has. And more importantly, there is no reason why taxes should never go up for anybody or tax loopholes closed for anybody. Look everybody knows spending is an issue; I get that. But, there is no reason why somebody who makes 100 times what I make should pay less in taxes than me. Nobody is saying that the rich need to be taxed at 90% but all they are asking for is for the tax rate for the rich to go up a measly 3%. If the 3% breaks them, then maybe they need to look at their own spending habits.
Republicans have taken a lot of deserved heat not only for upholding this stupid fucking pledge, but also for not standing up to others in their own party who are clearly wrong. When the rare time comes that they actually go against a powerful allie, then they deserve to be commended.
Comments (3)
Very true – everyone deserves credit where credit is due.
It is very hard to justify any taxes but I will attempt to do the impossible. Military spending is so costly, in a nutshell should we keep spending money on a costly expense?
Military expenses is partially offset by the National guard being used for national emergencies like the Storm Sandy. Military transport of repair crews and supplies maybe a justification of military expense but the delivery system via private industry has improved also post Katrina.
I am a baby boomer and can’t really justify propping up the social security system (being biased) However the children of baby boomers will have to step up and support some of their parents and thankfully a lot of Baby Boomers have given up bad habits like smoking and drinking to reduce the medical costs of taking care of themselves. In a way it is a bit heartless but some of the baby boomers who have abused their health will reap what they sow.
Raising the taxes (just doing nothing) probably will happen but still there will always be someone unhappy over the outcome. Let them cry and figure out what next to do, I myself have reaped what I sowed and feel let the chips falls where they may and maybe join in strong voices that I approve of.
@PPhilip - See I have a different viewpoint. I think taxes are very justifiable, but spending the insane amounts of money we do on our massive military, much of which is not needed is not can not possibly be justified. I know a lot of people view social security as an entittlement program but I don’t think it is as people do pay into it their entire lives with the intent of having it when they retire. Having said that though, there needs to be some sort of reform to it to keep it reasonably viable.