If you’re a political junkie, chances are you know of Grover Norquist. Liberals despise him because of his staunch support of low taxes and economic freedom (he’s been a favorite bogeyman of the leftwing nutroots err, “netroots” for years); movement conservatives, naturally, extol him as a luminary for these same reasons. He’s played an active role in countless conservative political organizations, including the American Conservative Union, the NRA, and perhaps most famously, Americans for Tax Reform, where he currently serves as President.

As a conservative myself, I hold Mr. Norquist in high esteem. He articulates the conservative position on tax reform and supply-side economics more effectively than any other Republican (elected or unelected) today. I also appreciate his eager embrace of ethnic and religious minorities in his promotion of free-market economics. I’m not quite as stalwart as he is on questions of taxation, but even on that subject, my disagreements with him are rather negligible in comparison to my disagreements with tax-and-spend liberals!

After watching this video, however, I am even more certain that Grover Norquist’s political and economic worldview resonates with my own.

I’d encourage listening/watching the whole thing, but there are some particularly salient moments in the 30 minute speech. Check out 12:44 for a great commentary on speed limits and immigration, for example. It doesn’t make sense to use law enforcement resources to hunt down people who broke the speed limit, even years after they’ve committed the deed; it makes far more sense to reform speed limits to correspond to the needs of both commuters and public safety alike. Why should we treat immigration any differently?

Later, around the 19:30 minute mark, Norquist makes another great point about talking to Hispanics about abortion and other social issues. It’s not possible to talk about family values, pro-life issues, or low taxes if, at the same time, we’re also advocating for deportation of family members. You can’t be the party of “family values” if you support mass deportations!

Let me know what you think of the video in the comments section of this blog!