Norquest Pledge Video — Robert Thurman, Professor of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, released a video that questions the patriotism of several of the Republican Senators and Representatives who signed the Norquist Pledge to not raise taxes no matter what the condition of the United States.
According to Thurman, and common sense, when a person is elected to office they pledge to place the well being of the nation and the people above all other
entanglements.
In this case, since many who have signed a pledge with a person who has openly said that his plan is to “starve the beast” referring to the U.S. democratically elected government, so he can “drown it in the bathtub,” Thurman sees this as a conflict of interest and understands the desire to destroy the U.S. Government in order to carry out a pledge to a leader in corporate American as treason.
Why did Thurman make this video?
Thurman felt that this was something obvious, but something that no one was willing to say openly. When we look at the facts, as presented by Thurman and the news outlets, concerning the signing of this pledge not to raise taxes, and the actions that allowed the U.S. to be forced to pay billions of dollars more on debts because of purposeful coercion by the signators to not raise the debt ceiling until the tax breaks for the top 2 percent of the people continued, and the driving toward the fiscal cliff by the signatures now to force cuts in medicare and social security to maintain the tax breaks for the top 2 percent again, we must ask why it is so important to be more faithful to this pledge than one’s sworn government responsibilities, and what they are getting for being faithful to the pledge. Perhaps following the money trail can help us understand a bit more. Is it treason, or just being more faithful to someone other than the U.S. Citizenry?
Thurman’s video is at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fl0L