Posted by
Closet GOP on Saturday, February 07, 2009 1:20:32 AM
One of the big reasons for the success of the1994 Congressional Elections was the Contract with America. This introduced 10 ideas that were popular to bring to the floor of the Senate and Congress. The Republican Party needs to implement this contract every election cycle on even numbered years. The top 10 will most likely all be changed but this is needed for the Republican Party to stay in touch with Americans. This will help the Republican Party stay in line with issues that are important to our country and help Americans relate back to its conservative values. We must hold the party accountable for these actions.
The contract will also help find commonality for all Republicans; moderate, centre-right, social conservatives, etc. Some issues I would love to include but would either be too controversial or get us off track (i.e. Fair Tax, Abortion, school vouchers, Fairness Doctrine, etc). I am not saying ignore these issues but there has to be a starting point. These are ideas I think we can fine tune but this is our starting point none the less.
1.) Tax cuts – This is going to sound like a broken record but we need tax cuts across the board. This will include a payroll and capital gains tax along with income tax cuts for everyone. This helps the economy remain strong.
2.) Marriage Amendment - With Proposition 8 passing in California, I think that it is pretty clear how the country feels how marriage should be defined as “One man, one woman.” A constitutional amendment would be the next logical step to proceed. This will stop activist judges for making the definitions of marriage for us.
3.) Eliminate Earmarks – This might sound a little pie in the sky but this is a big one. John McCain was focused on these issues more than any other legislator. Republicans have to take more accountability and stop pork barrel spending. Any earmarks that get put on a bill will be immediately voted down no matter the content of the bill. It will always be popular for Congressman to vote for a tax cut but now they must step up to the plate and cut ridiculous spending too.
4.) Expand Domestic Oil Drilling and Nuclear Expansion – It seems interesting that this debate quickly died with a bad economy and dropping oil price but it bears repeating. “Drill here, drill now.” With the state of our economy, imagine the jobs would created by domestic drilling and nuclear power without government throwing money to create it. It is also interesting to me how Democrats talked about clean energy but will push away anything relating to nuclear energy. We have to develop nuclear power in our country along with domestic drilling to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
5.) Crack down on Illegal Immigration – This issue got a lot of people excited about last year and rightly so. This is a hot button issue that will rally many people to our side. The Republicans would implement a national ID card, a permanently constructed southern border fence, enforce current laws on the books with law enforcement and deport any found illegal aliens. All immigrants must go through a legal immigration process and not be rewarded for breaking the law.
6.) Health Care Tax Credit – The cost of health care is increasing, no doubt. For people to take advantage of their own health care will better protect the quality of care in the United States. John McCain had it right when laid out a plan in his election: $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families. With Health Savings Accounts this will allow American to make decisions for the health care and keep the government out of it.
7.) Congressional Amendment for Line Veto for President – Some people might thing I am crazy for trying to give Barrack Obama more power but hear me out. I believe this will hold the President more accountable to the American people. A bill comes up and is passed with earmarks all over it. A president who signs that bill will be accountable for all those earmarks. This might have been good for George W. Bush as a way reduce spending. This makes everyone more accountable.
8.) Partial privatization of Social Security – One of the issues Bush ’43 couldn’t connect on was the privatization of Social Security. People argue with me about the state of economies like this one but people would have the choice of what types of investments they would want to their resource in (high risk, low risk). This will not be completely privatized but Americans should have some control over their social security and give the government less control.
9.) Eliminate Useless Government Subsidies – I know this one is also a little vague. What does “useless” mean? I think we all know about the extreme cases like ethanol for corn subsidies, sugar subsides, etc. It still boggles my mind that farmers are given money and told by the government “Don’t grow anything.” This has to stop along with earmarking.
10.) Invest on the Military – This is one of the few areas our country needs to spend money on is our protection. We must develop new aircraft, ships and other military technology to stay on the leading edge of everyone else. National Defense should always be our main priority above anything else. We must avoid cuts like we did during Clinton’s reign.
I would love to create dialogue with other on how this. Maybe other areas we could focus on or have better difination or expantion of a covered topic.