Despite Louisiana facing a gaping 1.6 billion dollar budget
hole, Governor Bobby Jindal (R) is still trying to honor his “no tax
pledge” to anti-tax agitator Grover Norquist. To avoid raising taxes,
Jindal is trying to push for crippling cuts to higher education and
social programs.
Governor Jindal’s dogmatic refusal to find ways to raise revenue has made him incredibly unpopular with Louisiana voters.
His stubbornness has also created conflict with state GOP lawmakers who
recognize the severity of the state’s budget mess and are now arguing
that raising taxes has become necessary for Louisiana’s fiscal survival.
Eleven Republican lawmakers wrote a desperate letter pleading with Grover Norquist
to rethink his “no tax” position, and to give the legislature credit
for the tax cuts they have already implemented over the past seven
years. Norquist, predictably was unmoved and made no attempt to alter
his fundamentalist anti-tax position. The fact that Republican state
lawmakers in Louisiana feel that they have to beg for Norquist’s
permission as they consider legislation is troubling in its own right,
but Jindal is so thoroughly bought that he doesn’t even question
Norquist’s decrees.
Jindal is paying no heed to lawmakers or to
Louisiana residents because he apparently has his eyes set on running
for President. He would rather say he never raised taxes during a
presidential debate, than find a way to fix the fiscal disaster he has
created in Louisiana. He is willing to burn bridges in his home state as
long as he can ingratiate himself to Grover Norquist, the Washington
DC-based president of Americans for Tax Reform.
Like so many other ambitious Republican politicians,
Jindal has accepted the Norquist “no tax pledge” as an article of
faith. He is happy to take his marching orders from Norquist because GOP
politicians who wear Norquist’s anti-tax seal of approval, seem to
think they are bullet-proof in election contests. In Republican circles,
opposing tax increases is worn as a badge of honor, no matter how much
damage the ideology actually causes in the states where it is applied.
Bobby Jindal has become so steadfastly loyal to
Norquist, that he has forgotten who he works for. Jindal’s job is to
represent the people of Louisiana, but the puppet governor apparently
believes he works for Grover Norquist in Washington D.C. As Jindal
contemplates a run for the presidency, he may soon discover that voters
are looking for a leader and not a puppet.
Bobby
Jindal is content to let the man who wants to shrink the federal
government to the size it can be drowned in a bathtub, pull his strings.
Dancing to his master, Jindal is already watching Louisiana drown.
However, there is no reason American voters should let Grover Norquist’s
puppet governor flood the rest of the country with his fiscal
irresponsibility as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment