Even Republicans Tired of Grover Norquist's BS

I never thought I'd live to see the day when 40 House Republicans would tell Grover Norquist to kiss their collective rear ends.

Yet that is exactly what happened this week, as 40 House Republicans signed on to a letter urging the Super Committee to consider raising taxes as part of their overall strategy to reduce the US national debt. I cannot overstate how astounding that development is. For years, Grover Norquist has been the most powerful man in America. Forget the president, or the Speaker of the House, or Bill Gates. Norquist is the man behind the curtain for everything related to the Republican Party. Norquist has one overarching platform: no tax increases, ever. Since he controls so much of the fundraising apparatus of the GOP, he is able to extract that one concession from every serious Republican candidate for high office. He makes them all sign a pledge not to raise taxes on anyone. Violating that pledge is akin to handing over your seat to someone else, especially in "safe" Republican districts, where the party can easily find a primary challenger who won't lose in the general election. In a sign that perhaps the momentum is shifting away from "no taxes" and toward "a sane fiscal policy", these 40 Republicans joined 60 Democrats to encourage the Super Committee to find a broad-based plan to cut America's $14 trillion debt. Even the tone of the letter suggests that a bipartisan consensus is forming around the idea that America has to do BOTH things: cut spending AND increase taxes, in order to balance the budget. "To succeed, all options for mandatory and discretionary spending and revenues must be on the table," the letter said. "In addition, we know from other bipartisan frameworks that a target of some $4 trillion in deficit reduction is necessary to stabilize our debt as a share of the economy and assure America's fiscal well-being." Folks, this is huge in two regards. First, it appears that some Democrats are willing to make concessions on Social Security and Medicare. This is important. While I'm obviously not a big fan of cutting off old people from the help they need, these cuts can be tailored so that they don't hurt the poor and the truly needy. Maybe they can put in some sort of means-testing, to stop people like Bill Gates from collecting Social Security, for example. Second, a willingness to raise some taxes by the Republicans, even by a minority of their caucus, is a huge step forward for the country. Every nonpartisan look at the debt shows that you have to raise taxes, particularly on the wealthy, in order to get the debt under control. Considering that the wealthy used to pay 90 percent (the record high is 94 percent on top earners in 1944 and 1945) and considering the top rate is currently 35 percent, there is clearly some wiggle room for a compromise. Perhaps this letter is an acknowledgement that the public uprising, in the form of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has taken the country by storm, is finally getting through to lawmakers. While they may want Grover Norquist's money and influence, they are ultimately responsible to the people who elect them. This is a very good day for American politics.