Tom McGee's Blog

We’re all prone to this: there’s something you want to believe. Evidence that supports it you eagerly accept. Evidence against it you ignore. It’s probably ingrained into us because of something that happened while our ancestors still lived in trees.

And then again, there are the ideologues, particularly the highly paid ones, the ones whose job it is to believe something to the point where their day-to-day business consists of turning a 180 on reality, standing facts on their heads, making black into white and day into night.

Enter Grover Norquist. Exuent common sense.

The Sunday Times Magazine “20 Questions” feature gives Deborah Solomon a shot at the anti-tax crusader, and what we see isn’t pretty. Now admittedly the 20 Questions take the form of a longer interview which is boiled down to enough of an essence to fit on a single page. It’s entirely possible Mr. Norquist is taken out of context. But that said, here’s what he has to say in response to a question about the desirability of greater government involvement in regulating carbon emissions:

Solomon: Many prominent conservatives feel the movement needs to be more environmentally conscious and are recommending big-government solutions like a carbon tax.

Norquist: But nobody listens, because it’s nonsense.

Solomon: Don’t you see how regulation could help?

Norquist: If you let people own their land, they take care of it. That’s why privately owned land is always taken care of, and the parks look like cesspools. nobody takes care of what everybody owns.

Whoa — whoa — privately owned land is always taken care of? Where? Already the preposterous nature of his comments is apparent. Look at any slum in America (with the exception of public housing), look at any superfund site, look at any weed- and litter-filled vacant lot, and you’re looking at privately owned land. Privately owned land that is not taken care of can be found within a one-mile radius of anywhere.

And of course, when we’re talking about carbon taxes we’re talking about the effects on the atmosphere. Has anyone before seriously contemplated private ownership of the actual air around us? Your air in Ohio is my air tomorrow, after all. And then there’s the question of moving waterways. I seem to recall a medieval king commanding the tides to stop once. Tradition has it his command was disobeyed.

Norquist is using the very true problem that nobody takes care of what everybody owns — the “tragedy of the commons” — which is the ultimate argument for governments to regulate their care and maintenance, and using it as an argument against regulation. How exactly does he see that playing out? Alas, there are only twenty questions.

Norquist lives in DC, which has some of the most magnificent, important and meaningful public spaces in America. And this time of year, coming over the bridge from Virginia, the whole of the National Mall, the Potomac basin and the whole area around the Jefferson Memorial, is lined as far as the eye can see with the pink blossoms of the cherry trees. If you’ve never seen it, it’s one of the spectacular sights.

What blackness must inhabit your soul, for you to see this gorgeous array of flowers every spring, and still say that the parks look like cesspools?

Reading the rest of the questions, it starts to be clear that just one thing has any effect on him. He dismisses the beauty of nature, he dismisses the needs of posterity (he doesn’t have any children). The only thing that he feels passionate about is his money. There’s good reason why Jesus said, “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Because once you fall in love with money — as opposed to the things money can buy — all the good things are shut out.

What characters in fiction or myth are sorrier than King Midas or Ebenezer Scrooge? They loved their money, and because of it their lives were rendered barren.

And that’s why Grover Norquist, tireless advocate for tax cuts immune to the lure of grace and beauty, is the sorriest man in America.