A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America

by Bruce Cannon Gibney

Notwithstanding all these tax cuts, the government has not simply evaporated or been cut in half, although that was the stated intent of the 1980s tax revolution. Returning to Grover Norquist, the purpose of the tax revolt was to starve the government of revenue so that it would shrink back to its size around the turn of the last century, making government small enough “to drown it in a bathtub.”41 (The government is not a person, but metaphorical murder of an institution that embodies society does reek of sociopathy.) The reason Norquist has succeeded in lowering tax rates but not abolishing the government is that people like the benefits each provides and will not part with either. This presents a certain mystery about mechanisms—if taxes fell, how could government soldier on? Partly, the government borrowed heavily;