SOME REPUBLICANS HAVE FINALLY REALIZED THEY ARE ABOUT TO LOSE ELECTIONS AND THEIR COUNTRY

Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist has sought a pledge from Republicans which essentially said he would direct all their votes on taxes.  It has apparently worked long enough for some of them to realize that following him will lose their elections.  He epitomizes someone not elected to office who was able to become more powerful than those duly elected to public service.  He founded a taxpayer advocacy group, Americans for Tax Reform (1985).  He has lobbied and ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle".

Tom Coburn

Tom Coburn finally decided he had enough (he was on thin ice over the Sen. Ensign fiasco as it is).   Despite Norquist whining that he broke the pledge, Sen Coburn has pursued his attempt to rid subsidies for ethanol.

 Ezra Klein writes:  " Norquist runs Americans for Tax Reform, the sponsor of a no-tax pledge signed by virtually all Republicans. Norquist's pledge has held absolute sway over the party for two decades -- Republicans at the national level have opposed on principle any tax hike whatsoever. Any agreement to reduce the deficit is going to require Democratic support, which in turn will require some increase in revenue. Some Republicans negotiating this deal want to get this revenue by closing tax loopholes or credits, which they (accurately) see as a form of spending through the tax code. Norquist opposes any deal as a violation of the party's anti-tax theology." 

Alexander Bolton and Josiah Ryan write about Coburn's bill to due away with ethanol subsidies.
Manu Ragu  "Something odd happened in the Senate in the past few months: Democrats grew enamored with arch-conservative Sen. Tom Coburn because he was willing to consider increasing tax revenues as part of a deficit-reduction deal.".

Finally, the GOP has begun to rebuke Norquist and we might save our country's economy, after all. 

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