Grover Norquist & his pledge the Republicans have signed

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Forums > All Posts > Grover Norquist and his pledge the Republicans have signed

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11-05-2011, 12:06 PM

PG
Not Selected
Posts: 1

Every time I listen to Republicans (there are some Democrats that also agree) not to raise taxes on the rich nor let the tax incentives expire for wealthy oil companies, I cannot help but think about Grover Norquist and the no tax increase pledge that almost all Republican Congressmen have signed.

Every poll taken (CBS, CNN, NBC, NYT, WSJ and others) show the majority of Americans agree (69% to 81%) with raises taxes along with reduced spending for deficit reduction. I keep thinking why would any sign that pledge when you cannot foresee future changes to our economy? It leads me to believe that campaign contributions and other financial support from Grover’s "Americans for Tax Reform Group" are the reason for such a rigid hard line political stance. I also speculate that Grover’s funding comes from the infamous Koch Bros but in an interview (CNN?) with Grover, he refused to identify his funding sources. My question for the group is: if Grover does financially contribute to candidates in exchange for his pledge, isn’t that illegal? Has anyone ever truly investigated this relationship? The American people deserve to know whether Congress is bought and paid for not to do the people’s business. Any thoughts?

11-19-2011, 11:15 AM

liberalmike27
Mobile, AL
Posts: 3

Politics in the last 35 years hasn't really been about the people. After 40 years of the biggest economic expansion in history due to FDR's policies, one by one, republicans and some conservative democrats have slowly repealed one after the other. The most recent globalization efforts, the downsizing of American labor, manufacturing, thus the Lion's share of union jobs, have reduced the economic power of roughly 80 percent of us, the next ten percent haven't done too well, and republican majorities have vastly benefited the top ten percent. The graph of both wealth and income are exponential at the top, each slice, 1 percent, .1 percent, and .01 percent skyrocketing to the top. They've spent their accrued tax cuts on further enuring the political system to change, thwarting fair elections, trying to keep even democrats from voting. In truth, even democratic policians work for millionaires, republicans for centa-millionaires, and billionaires. The best we can do is democratic at this point.

The turbulence brought by the 99ers may be our only hope. Thus far, while some recognition has been given, both sides are ignoring them. I hope it works, as the next step, and our direction is taking us toward a deep dystopia, one where no one, rich or poor, is going to want to live, where violence and crime are more commonplace than they are now.

11-20-2011, 11:17 PM

Schmidt
Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 1058

Yes, I agree that the American public is turning back against the Top 1 percent. But for those Republican Congressional leaders in power, they do not answer to the American public any more or the 99 percent. They answer to Grover Norquist's "dons"...the plutocrats that have bought nearly every Republican and also some Democrats using Grover Norquist as their front man.

I watched the CBS 60 Minutes interview with Grover Norquist tonight which also included some commentary by Alan Simpson. Norquist comes across as totally arrogant and threatening as ever to those Republicans that would dare vote for any kind of revenue increase. You can read the interview and discussion at the above link, but I'll extract a few lines:

Kroft: I mean, you've got them coming and you've got them going if they're a Republican. If they sign the pledge and break it they're toast. And if they don't sign the pledge they're probably toast.

Norquist: But if they sign it and keep it, they win the primary. They win the general. They get to govern. And, I've helped make all this possible.
----------------------------

Norquist: 'Cause let's say you take that Coke bottle home, and you get home, and you're two thirds of the way through the Coke bottle. And you look down at what's left in your Coke bottle is a rat head there. You wonder whether you'd buy Coke ever again. You go on TV, and you show 'em the rat head in the Coke bottle. You call your friends, and tell them about it. And Coke's in trouble. Republicans who vote for a tax increase are rat heads in a Coke bottle. They damage the brand for everyone else.
---------------------------

Alan Simpson: He (Grover Norquist) may well be the most powerful man in America today. So if that's what he wants, he's got it. You know, he's -- megalomaniac, ego maniac, whatever you want to call him. If that's his goal, he's damn near there. He ought to run for president because that will be his platform: 'No taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell.'

Simpson: When you get this powerful, and he is, then it's, 'Where do you get your scratch, Grover?' Is it two people? Is it 10 million people? The American people demand to know where you get your money, Grover babe.
_________________

Norquist: Most of the Republicans I know are very pleased that we make it easy for them to credibly make that commitment. They're smiling when they're getting their picture taken with me and-- and the pledge. Not grumpy. Smiling.
----------------------------------

And that folks, defines the Republican Party of today and why they care more about the Grover Norquist pledge than they do about America.

12-22-2011, 10:04 AM

DadT6787
Springfield, VA
Posts: 1

Forget about Grover Norquist. Instead, call out the lawmakers who signed his Taxpayer Protection Pledge (atr.org)in violation of Rule 6 of the Code of Ethics for Government Service. Rule 6 admonishes lawmakers to "Make no private promises of any kind binding upon the duties of office..." Call on the Ethics Committees to censure all lawmakers who signed this Pledge. Read about the Code of Ethics for Government Service at Page 20 and Page 436 of the House and Senate Ethics Manuals, respectively. Here are the links:

http://ethics.house.gov/sites/ethics.house.gov/files/documents/2008_House_Ethics_Manual.pdf

http://ethics.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=f2eb14e3-1123-48eb-9334-8c4717102a6e

12-24-2011, 05:58 PM

eternal flame
Not Selected
Posts: 15

Grover Norquist does not have any special credentials to be the "LEADER" of the pack of Republicans, to tell them how they should vote or IF they should vote. He has never been "elected" to anything. He is primarily a lobbyist and advisor to the Bush Admin. So, as I recall, the Bush Admin were DEFEATED in the last election (2008). So they should not be influential right now for anything.

I appreciate the links above to check out the ETHICS rules, & will do so later. I have said that members of Congress who take ANY PLEDGE to any person, especially an "unelected" person, VIOLATES THEIR OATH OF OFFICE, which is to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States. That says anyone we elect is to represent We the People, not to run off and take orders from some corporate criminals, OR the previous defeated administration. What the GOP is doing is the OPPOSITE of Democracy, and the Founders would be rolling in their graves, clawing at the ground, trying to get out and grab a musket and GIVE HELL to the Tea Party crowd, who are all lock-step like mindless robots, taking orders from Grover Norquist.

From WHERE does Grover Norquist get his power? Not from the people, since he has never been elected. He gets his power from the big financiers of the Tea Party (such as the Koch Bros -- oil refineries), AND FROM HIS CRONIES. It just so happens that the best friends of Grover Norquist are: "W" Bush, Newt Gingrich, & Karl Rove, to name a few. ALL of those seem to have a lot of extra "jingle" in their pockets, to help pay for Norquist's "assault on democracy." REST ASSURED, that their actions are exactly the antithesis of democracy, and a violation of the trust of the American people. It is definitely unConstitutional, & violates all Ethics and Legal guidelines of the Congress. ALL "pledgees" should be immediately IMPEACHED, if not put into the stockade.

Make that your Christmas Present to the Statue of Liberty. Eliminate the "false" legislators in Congress.

12-27-2011, 02:32 PM

Cracam
Not Selected
Posts: 63

Grover Norquist is no friend of the right-wing , ask Pamela Geller...lol

12-28-2011, 06:11 PM

eternal flame
Not Selected
Posts: 15

Unfortunately, the right wing encompasses nutcases from every angle & dimension. Plus, there are many ordinary Americans who happen to be "conservative" and vote strictly Republican, for narrow specified doctrines. Grover Norquist is definitely right wing and so is Pamela Geller. She is rabidly anti-Muslim, & trying to get American Jews to vote Republican, but 80% of them vote Democratic. She publishes blatant lies and slanderous propaganda on her blog pages. Still pushing the old Tea Party line that Obama was not an American citizen. In ORDER TO BE an AMERICAN CITIZEN you have to be born in the USA (& Hawaii is definitely part of the USA being our 50th State). Also, if ONE of your parents is a United States citizen, you are automatically considered to be a US citizen, and his mother was born in KANSAS. So were his grandparents. The whole "birther" issue is just a scam made up by Tea Baggers trying to deflect attention away from Obama's incredible accomplishments & his excellent character and intellect, which is in complete contrast to the bottom-dwellers in the GOP line-up. Grover Norquist is also part of the Tea Party, but he is more moderate in his Islamic views, totally opposite to Geller. But both are extremist in their rhetoric, trying to create dissension against our elected leaders. Against Democrats. Their lies are well-financed by right wing PAC's, which often are paid for by the big OIL companies, (including the Koch Bros), & corporate leaders in corruption, greed, & pollution. (the 1%)

01-02-2012, 07:47 AM

Schmidt
Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 1058

Thank you DadT6787 and eternal flame,

Good discussion and points. I checked out the links on the ethics rules and thought them important enough to copy the summary points below for those that don't have the time to go to the links. I have added bolding to the rules that pertain to signing of the Grover Norquist Pledge. It would certainly appear to me that signers of the Grover Norquist pledge are in clear violation of their own ethics rules.

I also note Rule 1 of the Senate pertaining to loyalty to country ahead of party.

House Ethics Manual (Page 20)

Adhere to the highest moral principles;
Give a full day‘s labor for a full day's pay;
Never discriminate unfairly by dispensing special favors;

Never accept favors or benefits that might be construed as influencing the performance of governmental duties;
Make no private promises binding on the duties of office;
Engage in no business with the Government inconsistent with the performance of governmental duties;

Never use information received confidentially in the performance of governmental duties for making private profit; and
Uphold the Constitution, laws, and legal regulations of the United States and of all governments therein and never be a party to their evasion.

Senate Ethics Manual (Page 436)

1. Put loyalty to the highest moral principles and to country above loyalty to persons, party, or Government department.
2.Uphold the Constitution, laws, and legal regulations of the United States and of all governments therein and never be a party to their evasion.

3.Give a full day’s labor for a full day’s pay; giving to the performance of his duties his earnest effort and best thought.
4.Seek to find and employ more efficient and economical ways of getting tasks accomplished.

5.Never discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or privileges to anyone, whether for remuneration or not; and never accept for himself or his family, favors or benefits under circumstances which might be construed by reasonable persons as influencing the performance of his governmental duties.
6.Make no private promises of any kind binding upon the duties of office, since a Government employee has no private word which can be binding on public duty.

7.Engage in no business with the Government, either directly or indirectly which is inconsistent with the conscientious performance of his governmental duties.
8.Never use any information coming to him confidentially in the performance of governmental duties as a means for making private profit.

9.Expose corruption wherever discovered.
10. Uphold these principles, ever conscious that public office is a public trust.

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