Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Norquist should have given keynote

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What struck me during the Republican National Convention was that the longtime leader of the Republican Party was not given an opportunity to speak. I’m not referring to either George W. Bush or Dick Cheney but Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. Nearly all of the Republicans in Congress have signed Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” and those who don’t vote with Norquist can find their re-election in jeopardy.

The Republican Party can talk about the need to reform Social Security and Medicare and bring the deficit under control, but a meaningful discussion is not going to occur until the GOP unseats Norquist.

Most economists agree that to balance our budget, we need a combination of increased revenue and cost reductions. The Republican Party, at the urging of Norquist, has repeatedly refused any compromise that includes increases in the tax revenue. The United States prides itself on being a democratic society. In the Republican Party, the freedom to decide an issue is impaired when one individual dictates the voting pattern for the entire party.

It was great that Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney gave speeches at the convention, but because I truly want to know where the Republican Party wants to take our country, the keynote speech should have been made by the true party leader.

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