I'm somewhat frustrated by the selection and description of available issues at contractfromamerica.org. I intend to write a separate post of what I would propose if I was a Congressional or US Senate candidate from Maryland. (The only election I ever won was head of the altar boys back at Laredo AFB, and I needed my little brother's vote.)
We have got a massive federal debt issue, and we need to deal with it. This is the highest priority. I would like to see the GOP take NJ Governor Chris Christie's lead, e.g., a 9% cut in federal spending year to year. Among other things, we need to freeze government pay across the board and rescind any increases (excluding federal judges) granted since the start of the recession in December 2007. We need to freeze hiring and look at revamping federal retirement systems to be actuarially sound.
Second, I think we need to promote business growth. Among other things, this means deferring any and all tax increases, specifically on the job creator class, and bringing down the top level business tax bracket to a more globally competitive level (e.g., below 25%).
Third, we need to address entitlement insolvency (Medicare and social security) to make the necessary SHARED sacrifices for actuarial soundness, which will likely include a number of politically unpopular elements, including eligibility, increased premiums, benefit cuts, and modest payroll tax adjustments.
Fourth, we need to move towards natural resource self-sufficiency and narrowing the trade imbalance, which among other things moving as quickly as possible in an ecologically sound manner to develop internal resources to replace imported commodities, including oil and natural gas.
Obviously we need to reform the recent partisan health care bill; as a start, we need to dissolve the individual and business mandates and the federal health insurance regulatory authority.
Unfortunately, I had to settle for selecting 10 issues they presented. I'm not thrilled with the statements, because I think we need to deal with bundled short-term and long-term strategies. For instance, there should be a short-term strategy to radically cut the federal deficit and a long-term strategy for a constitutional amendment. Here are my selections, in descending sequence (based in part on the need for short-term attention):
STOP THE TAX HIKES
Permanently repeal all tax hikes, including those to the income, capital gains, and death taxes, currently scheduled to begin in 2011.
PASS MARKET-BASED HEALTHCARE & HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM
Defund, repeal, and replace government-run health care. Make health care and insurance more affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health care and health insurance system that isn't restricted by state boundaries
END RUNAWAY GOVERNMENT SPENDING
Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth (Proposed by: Mark Meckler, Sacramento, CA)..
RESTORE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY & CONSTITUTIONALLY LIMITED GOVT
Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states. (Proposed by: Benjamin Tessler, Washington, DC; and Douglas Mainwaring, Potomac, MD)
SUNSET REGULATIONS & ENACT FUNDAMENTAL REGULATORY REFORM
Sunset all regulations in order to eliminate those that are wasteful, unconstitutional, and ineffective, and place strict limits on the ability of agencies to create regulations. (Proposed by: Jim Armstrong, Morgantown, WV)
DEMAND A BALANCED BUDGET
Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax hike. (Proposed by: Erik Carter, San Diego, CA)
ENACT FUNDAMENTAL TAX REFORM
Adopt a fair and simple single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words—the length of the original Constitution.
PASS AN “ALL OF THE ABOVE” ENERGY POLICY
Authorize the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition.
NO MORE BAILOUTS
The federal government should not bail out private companies and should immediately begin divesting itself of its stake in the private companies it owns from recent bailouts. (Proposed by: Mike Ware, Mountain View, CA)
STOP CAREER POLITICIANS & CURB LOBBYIST POWER
Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require Congressional term limits. (Proposed by: Marylou Petriccione, Raleigh, NC)
Obama and Democratic-Controlled Congress Losing Confidence of the American People
I swear: this is NOT an April Fool's joke. The USA Today published its most recent poll; here are some key findings:
- By 50%-46%, those surveyed say Obama doesn't deserve re-election.
- Twenty-six percent say he deserves "a great deal" of the blame for the nation's economic problems, nearly double the number who felt that way last summer. In all, half say he deserves at least a moderate amount of blame.
- For the first time since the 2008 campaign, he fails to win a majority of people saying he shares their values and can manage the government effectively.
Then Gallup poll shows, for the first time, what some other pollsters have been showing regarding the mid-term elections:
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| Courtesy of Gallup.com |
Political Cartoon
IBD cartoonist Michael Ramirez is mocking the Democrats whom are insisting they needed to pass the Democratic Party Health Care Bill to show the American people they didn't waste a year creating just another entitlement Ponzi scheme. I think this is delusional: even if you agree some things like preexisting conditions are important, the question is whether we needed to centralize health care regulation under the federal administration and whether we can afford the scaled up taxes and spending. But I would argue that the cartoon has a message to the GOP as well. You can't simply run against the health care bill for 8 months. There's no doubt it has motivated the base, and I seriously think we need to have a broader agenda for the fall. I'm addressing a fall campaign strategy in this and separate posts.
Musical Interlude: Road Songs
The Beatles, "The Long and Winding Road"
Willie Nelson, "On the Road Again"
Boyz II Men, "End of the Road"
Roger Miller, "King of the Road"
