Anyone who believed that the GOP would carry the shutdown around its neck like a dead albatross into the 2014 elections has surely begun to grasp what a bit of wishful thinking that was. Already people have begun to move on–the shortcomings of the health care act, eavesdropping on Angela Merkel (I’ll admit it: I want to read the transcripts. I want to know if know if it’s a boring as it sounds.) The point is, if the Republicans are going to have to pay for their 2013 folly, someone is going to have to make it happen. Someone, frankly, as Grover Norquist.
Norquist, as we know, turned himself into an influential figure in our politics by devilishly demanding that political candidates sign an oath swearing that they would oppose all tax increases. Having obtained a pledge, Norquest has been able to aim it like a bazooka at the head of any legislator who thought of increasing revenues.
The Democrats need someone who will go around to candidates of both parties and ask them to sign a pledge saying that if elected, they promise not to shut down the government.
Candidates would be free to sign or not, and of course, to explain why. This seems like a good way to make sure that the GOP’s act of malpractice gets addressed at the polls.