“It is so cool that the pedestrians can cross a street with 200,000 vehicles a day — it’s too bad the vehicles have to wait,” Norquist said to a loud cheer. “It’s a beautiful day — just wait. What’s your rush? It’s the city. If you don’t like it, you can go out to the suburbs and eat at Olive Garden instead.”

At this moment the crowd went nuts.

When Norquist added: “The city doesn’t bow to you,” one might have assumed many in the crowd were on the verge of a religious conversion.