“Drowning in Grover’s Tub” 

A few years ago, Grover Norquist, Republican strategist, famously said, "Our goal is to shrink government so small that we can drown it in a bathtub."  But how would Grover get it done?

After ten years in Austin and DC we know. Tax cuts for the rich, program cuts for us. From Austin to DC we have witnessed historic cuts to CHIP, student loan funds, Medicaid and a host of programs that matter so much to the middle class, all to fund the relentless mantra from the right—more tax cuts.

What Grover never told us is that it is our children in his tub.

What’s does ‘busting the cap’ have to do with Grover’s tub? Back in the 70’s when the Southern strategy was conceived, conservatives inserted a cap in the Texas constitution. Budgets could rise only as far as the economy.

By capping budgets and delivering on tax cuts, Lee Atwater, David Stockman and others long ago recognized that this was the best way to keep money in the pockets of wealthy donors while dealing blows to low, middle income and minority America. Tax cuts avoided the obvious racial implications of earlier Southern strategies.

Back in 1981, in an interview with author Alexander Lamis of Case Western Reserve University, Atwater explained it this way: “Sitting around saying, ‘we want to cut this’ is much more abstract than the busing thing.”

When Republicans passed tax cuts last session, they forgot the cap from 1978. To deliver the tax cuts to the wealthy in 2005, they need pay with taxpayer money in 2007. As nearly all Texas now knows, tax cuts go to the rich. Under HB 2, nine in ten tax dollars go to Texans who make over $85,000.

Meanwhile, Texas has more uninsured children and more dropouts than any state. In a world where what you earn depends on what you learn, our students rank 47th in average SATs.

So what matters to you—more tax cuts for the rich, or educating and getting CHIP to kids? Make no mistake. The Republicans want to bust the cap to deliver the cuts—not just tax cuts for this budget, but the next budget too.

In a press conference on January 23rd, David Dewhurst delivered the plan: $3b in tax cuts for 2010-2011 are the top priority for your historic surplus. In other words, kids need to wait six years for CHIP today while Republicans bank $3b of your tax dollars in a "rich man’s rainy day fund" to guarantee tax cuts for wealthy Texans tomorrow.

Is that your priority? Do you want to steal from children to reward the rich? Do you want our children in Grover’s tub?

Well then let Austin know.

Senator Eliot Shapleigh

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