grover is small enough to drown in a bathtub
Crusading anti-federal-government conservative movement ideologue Grover Norquist has had his holier-than-thou image tainted by his long, close and personally lucrative association with Jack Abramoff, and the Post reports his influence is slipping. As one GOP person said, Grover is just "not that likeable" and now the knives are out even within conservative circles.
It's a sad commentary that he has had any influence in the first place. He's famous for saying he wants to make the Federal government small enough to drown in a bathtub. That's a great ideology if you are rich enough to imagine being able to pay for all of your own needs yourself, but it's pure and simple dumb even for the wealthy to imagine they can do without some of the benefits of the Federal government. You know, stuff like air traffic controllers to make sure you and another rich dude don't have mid-air collisions in your private airplanes. You know, stuff like approving drugs so that you can have some hope that the tremendously expensive medicines you get from your (state-licensed so you know he's not a quack) doctor aren't in fact going to strike you dead. You know, some level of financial regulation to give you some sort of assurance that the company whose stocks you buy really do what they purport to do, and really do earn what they claim to earn. (See Enron and Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling for examples of why that's important.) You know, energy regulators to prevent companies from taking unfair advantage of their market power to manipulate markets and jack up prices (again see Enron...).
Anyway, despite his claims of ideological purity (no matter how dumb the ideology), Grover is revealed as just another venal money-grubber lining his pockets with money that ultimately comes from FEDERAL taxpayers. If Norquist had any sense of shame, he'd drown himself in a bathtub.
It's a sad commentary that he has had any influence in the first place. He's famous for saying he wants to make the Federal government small enough to drown in a bathtub. That's a great ideology if you are rich enough to imagine being able to pay for all of your own needs yourself, but it's pure and simple dumb even for the wealthy to imagine they can do without some of the benefits of the Federal government. You know, stuff like air traffic controllers to make sure you and another rich dude don't have mid-air collisions in your private airplanes. You know, stuff like approving drugs so that you can have some hope that the tremendously expensive medicines you get from your (state-licensed so you know he's not a quack) doctor aren't in fact going to strike you dead. You know, some level of financial regulation to give you some sort of assurance that the company whose stocks you buy really do what they purport to do, and really do earn what they claim to earn. (See Enron and Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling for examples of why that's important.) You know, energy regulators to prevent companies from taking unfair advantage of their market power to manipulate markets and jack up prices (again see Enron...).
Anyway, despite his claims of ideological purity (no matter how dumb the ideology), Grover is revealed as just another venal money-grubber lining his pockets with money that ultimately comes from FEDERAL taxpayers. If Norquist had any sense of shame, he'd drown himself in a bathtub.
posted by Don Q Blogger at 9:05 AM
1 Comments:
Hmmmm....well, a federal government that IS small enough to drown in a bathtub would be SOOO small that we who actually WORK for a living,and others besides,would, in effect, get a large RAISE,when our taxes go WAY down.
Also,our drugs and doctors would be a LOT cheaper,WITHOUT the Feds butting in. The cost goes up because the FDA insists on long trials,which cost millions, and because of Medicare and Medicaid fraud that we all have to pay for.Also,since Medicare and Medicaid, the medical part of the economy has overcharged for things,BECAUSE the Feds are paying. Why charge $400 for an operation, when you can bill Uncle Sam for $4,000? So the Federal involvement has fed the huge inflation of medical EVERYTHING.
If not for the FAA,we could have STATE level air traffic controllers, which is in fact what the civil aviation industry started out with. With all the onboard computers and radar, a pilot is not as dependent on an ATC on the ground as he used to be.
With a small federal government, the massive corruption, the armies of lobbyists,government-as-an-industry,would be GONE. We, the PEOPLE, would be able to be heard,WE could suggest regulations be added or scrapped. No more appointed (not elected, totally unaccountable,DICTATORIAL) "czars", making mountains of impractical,hideously expensive (and destructive to SMALL businesses) regulations,paperwork and expenses,micromanaging us, telling us what to drive, what lightbulb to use,not to smoke,forcing us to wear seatbelts,to give our hard-earned money to people who are poor because they are lazy or high or drunkards or illegal aliens,and on and on endlessly.
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