The infamous Grover Norquist famously said this:
I don't want to abolish government.
I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.
And who would benefit from no government, no rules, no taxes? Not you or I, dear reader. Walmart would do just fine. The Koch Brothers would do just fine. The many Monopolies arrayed across our economy would do better than ever, I'd guess.
Minimum wage? Environmental cleanup? Usery?
Fuggedaboudit.
And even though voters have rejected this path thoroughly and repeatedly, and even though more Republicans have renounced Grover and his pledge, there are still large numbers of Republicans who have signed it and who are afraid of Grover and his Americans for Tax Reform: 239 Republican House members and 39 Republican Senate members. (Actually, I think there's an Idiot Dem in there somewhere, too.)
Now that the election is over, and mandates for protecting the social safety net and raising taxes on society's wealthiest have been recorded, the pushback from radical Republicans continues; House Speaker John Boehner wants to put the repeal "Obamacare", aka the Affordable Care Act, on the negotiating table as a sign of bipartisanship during negotiations for our 2013 budget. With a contingent of Dying Blue Dog/ConservaDems still wondering what this election said, and enough who don't care, you probably can't blame Boehner for throwing the kitchen sink into these negotiations.
Of course, Republicans like Mike Coffman, Doug Lamborn, Cory Gardner and Scott Tipton ran on the ACA's repeal in this last election. Most got their asses handed to them. But Republicans never let a fact, nor an election, dissuade them from doubling down on a policy pronouncement.
So while Republicans stick to their hand, doubling down on a sure loser even, Democrats still seem prepared to fold in another vain attempt at bipartisanship while holding the strongest political and policy cards they've had in years.
I wouldn't trust Republicans one second in the next round of budget talks, but can't yet trust Democrats who have forgotten their party's long-held principles and who are determined to be bipartisan with as crazy a batch of Republicans as we've ever seen.
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