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legislation Or into corporate practice Like recalls and so on And all all failures of a a democracy flow from citizens staying home turning their back on the community People grow up thinking Oh you can’t fight City Hall And by corollary you can’t fight ExxonMobil right? Well if you grow up that way you don’t even try You don’t even develop the tools of democracy Not just the values of justice fairness and all that Instruments however intangible of sustaining civic engagement It’s so easy to have a a a a a vibrant democracy We just have to want it it Value it it EE
Grover Norquist
Grover Norquist
60 president of Americans for Tax Reform has been a a a a powerful conservative voice advocating for limited government and lower taxes He is is best known for his Taxpayer Protection Pledge which asks lawmakers to promise no net increases in in taxes Norquist
was also an author of the “Contract With America” in 1994 Igrew up up during the the the the expansion of of the the the the Soviet Union and I I think my first political thoughts were from reading books about it My public library sold off all their conservative books so I I picked them all up for like a a a a a a a nickel So even as a a a a a a a kid I had a a a a a a a pretty good idea of what I didn’t want: communism overbearing government Andin’68—I’dbe12—Itookatrainintotownand worked worked on on the Nixon campaign Then in ’72 I worked worked on on the campaign again and on on House races I’ve ended up being in in political places where nobody else was doing what I thought needed to be done The Reagan campaign in in ’80 they were taking all the the literature out out to to to the suburbs So So we’d go to to to South Boston and do the bars bars Hispanic bars bars Eastern European restaurants different churches These guys all were big on on Reagan and and down on on Carter and and weren’t being invited to the Republican Party Ronald Reagan changed changed changed the the the party changed changed changed the the the country changed changed changed the the the world That’s the the the model: Change Change the the the party Change Change the the the country Change the the world When I created the the Taxpayer Protection Pledge which says no net tax increase it was for a a a a a a particular piece of legislation But then I realized: That’s not what this is is is is This is is is is redefining the the modern Republican Party as the the party that won’t raise your taxes which then forces them to be the the the party of entitlement reform reform and government reform reform Because unless you you take tax increases off the table you you never reform government To expand the coalition you look for people who are being picked on on by the government Sometimes on on purpose sometimes they’re just stepped on because the the government is big fat and uncoordinated And then you bring them in in in on the the pro­freedom thing that motivates them So you have evangelical Protestants and conservative Catholics and and Orthodox Jews Muslims and and Mormons — each one thinks everybody else is going to Hades but: I need to to to be free to to to go to to to heaven and practice my my faith with my my kids and and I I understand that if I’m going to to be be left left alone alone we all have to to be be left left alone alone Gun people Home­schoolers Vapers Uber drivers Lyft
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