ATR founder Grover Norquist proferred the following conflicted assertion:
"The goal is to reduce the size and scope of government spedning, not to focus on the deficit."
Yet the deficit is part and parcel of Big Government, which demands relief for the huge debt weighing on this nation's bond markets and fiscal future.
In Norquist's view, anything which adds revenue to the Federal coffers is a tax increase, and there is anethema.
Cutting subsidies and tax credits to specified corporations, therefore, is off the table for helping to balance the budget.
Budget pragmatists like Republican Senator Tom Coburn are not permitting such shrill ideological populism to dent his efforts for compromises and long-term recovery for the nation.
Cut the spending, cut the corporate handouts, cut the entitlement enhancements, and thereby the United States Government can save the fiscal state of affairs, and thus the nation. And a fig to ATR!