By OcJim
Grover Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist and founder of Americans for Tax Reform. Most Republicans have signed his pledge not to raise taxes under any circumstances.
Where does that leave us? When Republicans have a majority in the House and the means to hamstring any legislation in the Senate, he looms as the devil we did not vote for, the puppeteer for most Republicans and a well-paid lobbyist for plutocrats, one who controls our economic policy and holds our destiny in his grasping carrion claws – carrion, because he seems willing to feed on our carcasses.
Our Founding Fathers would believe that their sacrifices against tyrannical rule were for nought. For, in effect, at this very moment, Grover Norquist is planning our demise. He is the head lobbyist for the Keystone XL Pipeline, something Republicans are trying to intimidate President Obama into approving.
By now we should know that Grover Norquist and the Republicans are willing to sabotage our economy, savage the middle class, and coddle the very rich for an extremist view that a small minority adhere to.
Furthermore, we know that Republicans will do his bidding while he makes millions as chief lobbyist for oil interests like Exxon and Koch Industries. We also know by now that approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline spells out a tipping point for global climate change, but more to the point, a blight on our future.
Politicians and lobbyist like Norquist are lying to the public. It will create fewer than 100 permanent jobs. It will endanger our nation’s largest aquifer in the agricultural heartland, which supplies one-third of U.S. irrigated farmland and drinking water for millions. It will use fossil fuel resources to refine tar sands which are more caustic and thick, and will be pumped at far higher temperatures and pressures than conventional oil. It carries a high risk for disaster and no real economic gain, in the form of high energy needed to yield oil from tar sands and a far greater risk of accidents and leaks.
Retired Brigadier General Steven Anderson says the pipeline will make the U.S. less secure:
The Keystone XL pipeline will not reduce America’s dependence on Middle East oil, or do anything to get us off oil completely, which is key to America’s national security future. Much of the oil produced by Keystone won’t go right to American gas-tanks — it is to be exported, meaning we will need to import oil the same as before.
How did we get in this position, being held hostage to low-life lobbyists like Norquist, lied to, and held as chattels by leaders we elected to Congress?
The question now is, “What are we going to do about it?”
The Rich: Red Rover, Send Grover!,
Kathy
22 Dec 2011Grover Norquist’s no tax policy will continue to see working class Americans lose ground as middle class and the rich get richer. As it has for the last 30 years. It works for the Republican Party just not the working class and small businesses. The debt will also continue to rise as it has under every Republican President (Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2) and the middle class will pay.
Jay
22 Dec 2011It’s funny how Norquist equates taxes on the super-rich with theft, while bailing out Wall St. unconditionally is not. Then, hypocrisy strikes again, with Republican consensus supporting deficit spending during the Bush years, and then railing against under Obama. He and his cronies are the real crooks & beneficiaries! Thank goodness, the people are waking up and taking to the streets.
Taboo Jiver
22 Dec 2011How many jobs will the Keystone project really create?
http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/143719155/just-how-many-jobs-would-the-keystone-pipeline-create
Ruth
23 Dec 2011Why does this guy have so much power? Clearly he is more than “just a random guy” which is the way Boehner has billed him.
Dan
23 Dec 2011Keystone XL is a bad idea. Tar sands are dirty, high carbon. The companies are talking about export markets?
How does exporting energy serve the national interest?
Suzi
23 Dec 2011Regardless of how we feel about the pipeline, or the actual number of jobs it will create, the vital piece of information in this, for me, is that Norquist is the main lobbyist for Keystone. Considering the GOP’s hard push for the pipeline, this is a vital piece in a game of connect the dots. ~Suzi @ Republicans For Obama
Margo
23 Dec 2011What kills me is that he is not even an elected official! Legislators should not be pledging anything to him!