It is not Grover Norquist who is the con but the two-faced politicians who say one thing and do another. To such ‘representatives,’ politics is a game of fool-the-voter. The Taxpayer Protection Pledge makes it much harder for con men to play this game on a key issue of American politics — taxes and the associated cost and size of government.

When Washington’s tax-and-spenders want to trash the Pledge, they typically say something like: “I took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not to obey Grover Norquist, a lobbyist.” That’s another con job. Grover invented the Pledge, administers it, and monitors fidelity to it. But the Pledge itself is a promise not to Grover but “to the citizens of my State/District.”

The much-maligned Pledge is based on a few simple insights. (1) If people really mean what we say, they’ll put it in writing. (2) Once put in writing, promises are harder to break. (3) Pledge takers will gain a competitive advantage over politicians who don’t or won’t take the Pledge. (4) In time, no Republican candidate will be able to win a primary if he doesn’t take the Pledge. (5) Consequently, in time, the GOP will earn a brand name — ‘the party that won’t raise your taxes’ — that actually means something. Voters will finally have a ‘choice, not an echo.’

In short, the Pledge has helped create real product differentiation between the parties, and instill real discipline within the GOP on taxes. Grover is a ‘public citizen’ — a policy entrepreneur who has protected taxpayers by making politicians more accountable to the people they are supposed to serve. Anyone who tells you different, chilipalmer, is conning you.