The election of November 2 was a watershed moment. A strong message was sent from the people of America to those who walk the halls of power in this country. The question will be whether the message will be heard, comprehended, and assimilated into the heart, the head, and the hands of Congress. How will it affect their thinking? How will it affect their behavior?
It would be foolish for the establishment GOP to think the party’s victory represents any great affection for the Republican Party and its traditional machine. It was simply the repudiation of the leftward march we’ve experienced since 2006, and particularly the sharp lurch leftward since 2008. Just as 2006 and 2008 repudiated the Bush Administration and the RINO infused GOP majority; we see how quickly the winds of favor can change.
It would be equally foolish for the establishment Democrat Party to dismiss the voice of the people as their mass-stupidity, or as evidence of a failure to sell the value of the program. The people reject the Progressive/socialist/Marxist/Redistributive program because they reject the mindset and the world view! To the informed and engaged common grassroots American, the program STINKS ON ICE! The ONLY WAY the Soros/MoveOn/Obama agenda can move forward is by thuggery, trickery or tyranny – as it will be resoundingly rejected as long as the PEOPLE have a say!
So let me give the incoming Congress a couple of items that need immediate attention, and some advice concerning them. I claim no divine inspiration behind these – but this is the pulse of the American People – and they tend to have a lot of common sense! From Thomas Paine to modern “common sense conservatism”, these ideas are supportable by facts and logic, they’re in conformity with the original intent of the Constitution Framers, and they don’t require mental gymnastics to understand them.
1) Bush Tax Cuts: I'm getting tired of hearing from the left that extending the CURRENT TAX RATES (or better yet, making them permanent) is somehow TAKING something from the Government , and that has to be PAID FOR! Well, 'SCUZE ME but we're not even talking about cutting anything here... we're talking about MAINTAINING the CURRENT TAX RATES!! For Dems to cry that we're GIVING something to the "Rich" and TAKING it from government is like a family living above it's means and then complaining that their employer is taking food out of their baby's mouth when they don't get a raise!!! a. Just a reminder that taxes are not a zero sum game! When you raise tax RATES that is not the same as increasing dollars of revenue. When you cut taxes, you stimulate the economy and generate ADDITIONAL revenue. This is proved every time it’s tried… and if you would like some very valuable education on basic economics, please see my previous article at: http://starboard.blogtownhall.com/2010/07/26/basic_economic_reality_101.thtml
2) ObamaCare Repeal: Let me take issue with those who have declared that ObamaCare Repeal can't be done before 2012. I respectfully disagree! Not only is it NOT a hopeless cause, but it COULD be done and it's at least worth trying! There are numerous advantages to doing so even if repeal doesn’t pass or gets vetoed! Let me borrow a theme from Richard (his nickname is getting filtered as "inappropriate language"!) Morris' pre-election visit to St Louis. We don't want to be guilty of UNDER-Confidence and only reach for low hanging fruit when there's a greater harvest if we reach higher.
NOW is the time to introduce COMPLETE and UTTER (as if it never occurred) repeal. FORCE the surviving democrats to make a choice and take a stand; with the PEOPLE, or with the President! If we lose, they're on record AGAIN as the party of ObamaCare. If enough Dems got the message of the Mid-Terms and bail on ObamaCare such that repeal passes, Obama will CERTAINLY veto. Whether or not we have the votes for an override, we get to put them on the spot YET AGAIN and force them to stand with the PEOPLE or with OBAMA. If we override, it's a victory 2 years earlier, and portends 2 years of POTUS Impotence. If override fails, you've got the Dems on record supporting the President and ObamaCare at least once on the override vote, and possibly twice on the repeal vote too. Sets up 2012 to be a repeat performance!! It's a WIN-WIN to push repeal NOW.
3) Keynesian Economics: If ever there was a demonstrable proof that spending your way to prosperity or spending your way out of debt is an inherently unworkable strategy, one need only look at the TRIPLING of Bush’s WORST deficit, and throwing TRILLIONS into bailouts and “stimulus”! It took 42 presidents and 230 years for our debt to pass 6 Trillion. Bush took that debt from 6 to 8 trillion in his first term (dealing with 9/11 and the dot-com bubble burst) and added an additional one trillion in his second term to a total of 9 Trillion. Bush increased the debt by 50% in 8 years – and was derided as a big spender whose deficits “drove us into the ditch”. In less than 2 years Obama's added more than 5 Trillion to the debt to bring us over 14 Trillian!! With approximately 6.8 Billion people on the Planet, that's over $2000 for every breathing human being!!
Yes, even conservatives faulted the Bush administration and Republican Congress for the excessive spending! But if you will view the chart at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31121224&l=99329d1f36&id=1124552001 you’ll note that Bush’s deficit was largest in 2003 and then the Bush Tax Cuts were passed. The deficit was reduced by nearly half 2 years later, and by almost 2/3 by the next year… when the balance of power shifted in Congress. A year after Pelosi took the Speakership of the House (where spending originates) the deficit climbed exponentially! Bush’s WORST deficit with a Republican House was around 400 Billion (with a B) in 2003. The BEST deficit since the Dems took control of Congress was in 2007 at around 450 Billion, and in 2008 that was TRIPLED! It is time to CUT SPENDING!!
4) Spending: Sure, there’s a lot of worthless “discretionary” spending. Grants for ridiculous studies; pork projects that don’t need to be built etc. But while I would advocate elimination of a number of programs, and across the board reduction of the rest of our discretionary budget… we will NEVER get a handle on spending without a paradigm shift which addresses ENTITLEMENTS
Social Security is an UNSUSTAINABLE Ponzi Scheme. The money today’s beneficiaries paid into Social Security was spent while they were still working! We collect from today’s workers to pay benefits to the beneficiaries currently receiving them. A cursory observation of our demographics would indicate that the numbers of productive workers are declining as the numbers of eligible recipients is climbing rapidly, and the crest of the wave has yet to hit. At one time, there were 50 workers contributing to the support of each beneficiary. Now it is under 5. Soon, it will be a 2 to 1 ratio. At that point it would be cheaper and more efficient to replace Social Security with an “Adopt a Grandparent” program, where each working couple takes on the direct support of a single retiree!!
The Ryan plan or other incremental plan is workable. We must progress toward the elimination of this program, but not in a draconian manner. I’d favor an incremental process where current beneficiaries and those soon to retire will receive everything they had been planning on without change… but where those in mid-career will be given the option to continue paying in, and received reduced benefits, or opting to cease paying in immediately, and forgo any benefit at retirement. Those in the earlier career years would receive back any contributions paid in, and be fully responsible for their own retirements while they are young enough to accumulate a significant nest egg.
Almost no-one under 50 expects Social Security to be around for them anymore anyway (and this is not an opinion formed without an evidentiary basis!). Why not ACKNOWLEDGE the reality and ADAPT TO IT! We keep our promise to the seniors. We give the OPTION to OPT OUT to the middles. We make no promise to break to the youngsters.
I could write pages on entitlements, but this is intended as a “brief” piece!
There are many other items that need review by a conservative Congress. I’ll write on them from time to time as things progress. Illegal Immigration (GO ARIZONA!), Border Security, Foreign Policy, Taxes, Defense and many others will each require course adjustment. They are all important. But the items discussed here are not just important, they are URGENT. I would strongly urge the incoming Congress to work to address these issues in their FIRST SESSION.
