Talk Taxes, Get Pepper On Your Tongue.

Is your friend a Republican? Or, is a Republican your friend? Now you can ask the same two questions about Democrats. Or even Independents. And I'm not talking about the guy that lives next door or that person sitting in the next booth at the local diner. I'm talking about the politicians. In that case, you might say the answer is a resounding "NO" to all the above questions. But what about the philosophy of the three groups or parties? Now the first, the Republicans, have come to stand for no new taxes of any kind. Not even something that is some abstract formula that might come to suggest a tax increase. It's now dogma. Many politicians are almost forced to sign a pledge of no new taxes. If increased taxes are absolutely necessary to save the state, county or town, or country, better to allow it to go down the tubes then to vote for a tax increase. And a fellow named Grover Nordquist and his organization has made it his business to back that statement up with proof by getting politicians booted out of office for breaking that pledge. Virtually every national Republican serving in office has signed that pledge. Ya know, making promises of one kind or another is a good thing and you should always strive to keep those promises unless it turns out that keeping it would actually be harmful. Not so, says Nordquist, a promise is a promise. It's a warning not an opinion.