You all know about Grover Norquist, I presume. He started off working in like the Reagan White House or whatever, but for a long, long time now he has been the head of “Americans for Tax Reform.” Reform sounds like a good idea, since nobody without an accounting degree or a copy of Turbo Tax can figure the situation out anymore. But by “reform” Mr. Norquist means “elimination.” That’s why his organization has put forth the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.”
I thought that was the pledge that every recruit takes as he or she is sworn into the armed forces. Apparently not. This is a pledge that 95% of the Republicans in the House of Representatives have taken to never, ever raise taxes. That’s how we find ourselves in the dire financial straits we are in today, what with the no debt ceiling raising and so forth. And some may say that it is time America started living within it’s means and so forth.
Which has some truthiness to it, but our means are much greater than our current government revenue. When we choose to limit that revenue we are choosing, for instance, to make 50,000 children wait for daycare in the state of North Carolina. Many of those same children are not getting access to Head Start and More at 4 programs that have been proven to prepare them for school and lift them out of poverty. We are talking about eliminating dental care, eyeglasses, and countless other “optional” services once available under medicaid.
In short, when we choose to “protect” taxpayers, we are choosing to neglect children. Does that sound harsh? I hope so, because it is. One in three children where I live do not have access to enough food to live a normal, healthy life. No child should have to go to be hungry, wondering where her next meal is coming from, but it happens everyday. How can we not say that we as a country have failed, and failed morally, when conditions like this persist? Nothing can protect a taxpayer from this truth.