Grover Norquist

The Cold, Dead Hand of the NRA

As the smoke produced by the internal feud clears, it is becoming apparent that America’s once most powerful and feared political lobbying group is facing an epochal crisis, one likely to drastically curtail its influence on American public life.

June 24, 2019

Edmund Burke Against Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist is the powerful president of Americans for Tax Reform (where reform means elimination). He issues to all Republican candidates and office holders Taxpayer Protection Pledges—a promise never, under any conditions, to support the raising of a tax—and then he monitors and reports the performance of those who have taken the pledge, as almost all Republicans in Congress have. That, in effect, puts a ban on congressional discussion of tax income, since the Republican bloc has pledged not even to consider it. The idea of committing candidates to a rigid position as a condition of their being elected seems to be catching on.

July 14, 2011