Treason via the Norquist Pledge

I don't like to throw words such as "treason" and "traitor" around lightly.  It has too much meaning in human and U.S. history.  To be a traitor in this nation is to be against the very foundations of our nation and system of government.  To be a traitor means that you place yourself and your ideology above all else.  But anyone who has taken the Grover Norquist pledge against voting to raise taxes, including Mr. Norquist himself, has committed an act of treason and are thus traitors to the United States.

It doesn't matter if the person taking the pledge and acting upon it is a member of a local school board, a city council, a county board of supervisors, a state legislature or a Congress, they are committing treason.  They have, by taking the pledge, chosen to work against the best interest of those they are supposed to represent and have forsaken their oaths of office.  They have, by taking the pledge, chosen to wage war against our very system of government.

They don't want to make government better for all, they want to destroy it and replace it with a form of government that favors the rich, powerful and corporations and in most cases, a government that embraces their brand of Christianity as the only allowed religion.  They aren't trying to overthrow our government via use of an army, but through economic destabilization.

Our forefathers weren't against taxation, they were against taxation without representation.  They knew then that taxes were a necessary part of allowing government to function.  They knew that taxes were how we take care of our "debts and obligations".  That's why they gave Congress the ability and the authority to levy taxes as needed, without the requirement of a "super majority".  It is also why they didn't put a false ceiling on taxes or debts.

This is why I believe that Grover Norquist and his adherents are committing treason.  This is why they are so dangerous and must be stopped.

Stop Saying We Are Broke

Now that the Arizona Legislature has passed $538 million a year in new corporate welfare, can we stop saying that Arizona is broke?  The argument for the last few years has been that we need to cut state spending because we don't have the money to balance our budget.  In fact, that was the argument used when Governor Brewer sought a waiver to cut $540 a million a year from the state's Medicaid program, ACCCHS.

Saying we are broke is a lie.  Our state has revenue shortfalls primarily due to our over reliance on sales taxes and our constant cutting of other taxes such as property and income.  Of course, those that lie about the state being broke while shoveling out corporate welfare are the same ones who lie about tax cuts paying for themselves.  The myth that tax cuts somehow generate more revenue for the state is perpetuated by those who have sworn allegiance to Grover Norquist and his "starve the beast" scheme.

In fact, the adherents of Grover Norquist have also sworn to not raise taxes.  In Arizona that's an easy promise to make as it takes a 3/4ths majority of both house of the legislature to raise taxes and only a simple majority to cut taxes.  They keep braying that people don't want higher taxes, which is another lie, since the voters of Arizona approved a temporary 1 cent increase in the sales tax for three years to help prevent cuts in education and other programs.

No, Arizona isn't broke, its just run by a bunch of mental midgets who have sworn their allegiance to Grover Norquist and his Milton Friedman ideals.