In 2000 the country had a budget surplus. President Bush and our Congress chose to cut taxes and give up that surplus. When we went to war in Iraq we borrowed the money instead of rescinding or stopping the tax cuts to pay for the war. That giveback of taxes was a cheap easy way to get votes and get reelected but it was a sorry way to run a country. Now, thanks in large part to those tax cuts, we have a $14 trillion budget deficit. I am asking for five Progressive Senators to come forward and pledge that they will never vote for those tax cuts to be allowed to continue but will instead filibuster any attempt to keep them alive after the end of 2012, when they are scheduled to expire. I think five Senators will be enough to filibuster any bill that tries to reinstate the tax cuts. This will further assure the markets that our government is not just ready and willing to make budget cuts but that we are also prepared to make sacrifices and pay for the rest of our shortfall in increased taxes that fall hardest on the wealthy. Let’s have a pledge, if you will, in the Grover Norquist tradition. Come on now, don’t be afraid, just sign the pledge and prove you are a true progressive.