One of the most successful strategies that the Republican party ran on in 1994 when they took back the House in an overwhelming repudiation of Clinton's progressivism, was the "Contract with America." It was essentially a pledge of legislative actions that, if elected to the majority, they would enact. I think it's high time a new version of the Contract be taken under consideration to provide would be challengers to Democrat hegemony some rallying points. Herewith, my first draft and I invite your suggestions.
1. We goofed, and we know it. We are a chastised party now, and pledge that we will enact no legislation that a) expands the power of the Federal government or b) that increases the national debt and deficit.
2. We pledge to tackle the problems that already exist and to fix those before any additional programs are considered. We will figure out how to restructure Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to make them solvent. We will not pass this ridiculous burden on to the next generation.
3. In order to do #2, we recognize that we have to seriously cut the scope of our current Federal government. We will appoint a blue-ribbon panel that will use the Constitution as its guide to identify programs, departments and agencies that are already un-Constitutional and should be cut along with a bottom-up review of ALL Federal agencies in an effort to streamline government.
4. We will enact term limits.
5. We are committed to defending those in our society that are least capable of defending themselves - the elderly and the unborn.
6. We believe that freedom is the most important gift we have and we aim to restore that value to the pinnacle where it belongs. For we believe that freedom, not dependency, should be the guiding principle of our American Republic.
7. We believe evil exists in this world and that it must be defeated. To that end we will restore our military strength with a robust ship-building program, a revitalization of our nuclear shield and a re-commitment to provide missile defense for all who seek shelter under the banner of freedom.
8. We make no apologies for the United States. Like all nations, we have erred, but we believe that in the history of the human race there has never been a nation so generous and so kind as the United States.
9. We believe that those that want to come to this country to work as part of the American experiment should be given that chance. We will eliminate immigration quotas and establish a more streamlined platform to allow people in to this country. We will not give amnesty to those who are here illegally, but we will give the opportunity to return without penalty to their native land and re-enter legally if they have employment here.
10. We believe America's best days are not behind her, but ahead of her and we pledge to protect that reputation as the "shining city on the hill."
4 comments:
re: immigration - do we really need the requirement for current illegals to exit first? Wouldn't it be better, less disruptive, to create an in situ process (to include some citizenship education and payment of FICA) and let people stay?
Some of your stated 'goals' in this little contract are mutually exclusive. This is the problem with the GOP platform these days - just saying "no" to everything and whinging about amorphous 'freedom' is not a real discussion.
If you want everyone to have 'freedom', you don't then get to turn around and say you want to legislate protecting the elderly and unborn; under the every-man-for-himself, no-government-anyplace-for-anything plan you outline here, those stated goals are mutually exclusive.
And as far as "We make no apologies" - That is exactly the sort of thinking that angers the rest of the world - we are clearly NOT perfect, and admitting mistakes and apologizing for them is just good business. That head-in-the-sand mentality will literally prevent america from being that 'city on the hill' that you are tlking about - if everyone is pissed off at us, who would even consider looking up to us? We cannot just SAY we are the best, we have to BE the best, and when we fail we have to own up and apologize while we try agian.
While the goals of smaller government and better administration of existing subsidy programs is laudable, the other stated goals are a poor facsimilie of the same old hackey GOP talking points.
Pretty lame effort today, Sellersburg...you need to read the post before commenting.
1. No one is advocating anarchy - the complete dissolution of government. As a conservative I appreciate government's proper role. Maintaining freedom can be done with adherence to our Constitution.
2. Defense of the unborn and the elderly is a noble cause. You may not have been taught about "inalienable rights," but it's hard to have "liberty" and "pursuit of happiness" without life. Enacting socialized medicine and the inevitable rationing that it brings, places the elderly squarely in the cross-hairs. Reducing abortion to true emergencies, or at a minimum overturning Roe v. Wade so that those decisions revert to the states, makes more sense than state sanctioned murder.
3. The "Apology Tour" is having great success so far! We are now the laughing stock among all our enemies and our allies worry which one of them will be stabbed in the back next. Do you even read the headlines before you receive your MoveOn talking points? "Iran testing medium and long range missiles," "Venezuela exploring uranium refinement," "Iran reveals secret centrifuge site...."
How many of these do you need to read before you realize that kowtowing to the world because you want to be liked is no way to run a country?
I suppose it will take another 9/11 type attack or the annihilation of Israel to get you people to understand that evil exists in this world and it doesn't have much of an appetite for "negotiation." It's called "peace through strength," and it has been proven to work a whole lot better than YOUR head in the sand approach.
Hilarious. You really do buy the fear-mongering nonsense from you FauxNews overlords...
Iran may have some bat$hit insane leadership, but that same leadership knows full well that 1 single nuke, launched toward Israel (or whomever), would mean that they have oh, 17 minutes or so, until Iran is 4 feet of black glass for the next 10,000 years. And you won't even have to rely on Obama. Israel will do it WAY faster. The threat of force is overwhelming, and the growing MIDDLE CLASS in Iran (you know, the people we are ENGAGING with) are exerting political will to curb the crazy despot types. Give it a few more years and we will see a radical shift towards a more secular, internationally engaged Iran. (To know that, you would have to interact with something BESIDES NewsCorp.... I dont want you to pull something...)
You are just scared of your own shadow, like all jesus-freaks who don't like any other religion's freaks. Cute, but rather unbecoming on a grown man...
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