"Notes and Quotes"

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. - Elbert Hubbard

Sunday, December 13, 2009

A Manifesto for 2010

A Manifesto for 2010

By Steve Mishket

12/12/09


noun: A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. A public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate.


It is time for a new manifesto for the American people. It needs to be devoid of political affiliation or party allegiance. We need a clear statement of principles that embraces the best that our current political parties offer.


We are at a crossroads in our country's history. Our political philosophies are fast becoming irreconcilable opposites. Neither the right or the left can govern effectively at the same time. Only one side can prevail. We are no longer able to compromise and find a satisfactory middle ground. This is a time of choosing, a time to take a stand and pick a side. Those who find this manifesto to be too "right" leaning for your taste… I'm sorry. We are repulsed by what is happening daily from the far left. We believe some of you are as well. If so, welcome to this manifesto for 2010.


This is not a mushy feel good "moderate" Manifesto. It is in fact, quite harsh and demanding of all of us. I frequently use quotes to make a point because many insightful people before me have expressed themselves on various subjects far better than I could.


Our goal is to present these objectives to the people who ask for our vote. A simple yes or no on these items will tell us most of what we need to know about their philosophy of governance. Too much nuance in their response tells us about their clarity of thought and commitment to principle. With all the caveats above, in no particular order, here is :


A Manifesto for 2010


1. ALL government spending (except national defense) is to be capped at 2007 levels ($2.75 Trillion) across the board. In addition we will cut all non-defense spending by an additional 10%. This cap shall remain in place until we run a budget surplus for two consecutive years. From that point forward deficit spending (except for national defense) shall require a ⅔'s majority by both houses.


We simply must stop spending money we do not have. Most of us live within a budget at home and there is no reason we cannot do so as a country. Nearly $3 Trillion per year is more than sufficient if we allocate our resources properly. It is nearly $10,000 per man, woman, and child every year. The only place to get that money is from ourselves via taxes. With few exceptions we believe individuals should decide how those dollars are best spent rather than government.


"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much." -- Ronald Reagan


"No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity." -- Rush Limbaugh


2. All ear mark spending must be reduced to zero. No exceptions. The massive waste and fraud found at all levels of government must be attacked with urgency and vigor. This behavior is unacceptable and must treated for what it is… the acts of common criminals.

3. No spending bills can be combined. All must stand or fail on their own.


4. All legislation must be posted on the internet for no less than one week (7 days) in its final form before it can be voted on.


"Thousand-page bills, unread and indeed unwritten at the time of passage, are the death of representative government. They also provide a clue as to why, in a country this large, national government should be minimal and constrained." -- Mark Steyn


5. Job creation is imperative for a healthy economy and essential for an economic recovery. Once we are secure and free, the next most important priority is jobs. It is not the governments function to provide jobs, it is the governments function to create an environment conducive to job growth. Through effective tax policy and regulation we should have the most job friendly economy in the world. We have the work force, technology, and skills to achieve virtually zero unemployment.


Almost without exception we shoot ourselves in the foot time and again when we lose jobs to other countries. Whether it be through government supported union inflexibility, or one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, or intrusive government regulations, or minimum wage laws, which effectively choke off entry level positions normally used to train the workforce for the next level of responsibility, we find the US taking a back seat to our trading partners. We have lost our manufacturing base and it must be a priority to develop programs to get it back.


We need jobs. What is the point of discussing Social Security, education, clean energy, healthcare, etc, if we do not have jobs on which we pay taxes, so the these programs can be funded? What is weighing down our economy is the loss of jobs and the tax base those jobs produce. We must free small business to create jobs and we will be well on the way to fixing many of the social problems we face.


6. We must simplify the tax structure. Our tax code is an embarrassment. It has been used for social engineering and rewarding special interest groups. The only legitimate purpose of a Federal tax code is to raise the funds necessary to run the federal government. The Flat Tax or Fair Tax both make sense and after a reasonable review period one or the other should be implemented. Which ever is chosen, it must require a ⅔'s majority in both houses to raise the tax rate but only a simple majority to lower it.


A constitutional amendment should be considered that prohibits deficit spending and outlines specific remedies should it occur.


We believe that every person over the age of 18 should pay taxes, even if it is only a nominal amount. Everyone who enjoys the benefits of living in this country should participate in supporting the basic structure of our government. (Obviously exceptions must be put in place for the truly needed or disadvantaged but this should be few and far between.)


7. We must develop and implement a national energy policy with the unequivocal goal of long and short term energy independence.


The less we depend on foreign governments for our energy the more self sufficient we are. Anytime we depend on others for our energy needs, we run the risk (especially in times of war or emergency) of severe shortages. The more we use our own resources such as oil, clean coal, natural gas, oil shale and tar sands (all of which we have in abundant supply) the more our jobs and dollars stay in the US. How many jobs could we create if we built ten more oil refineries and/or nuclear power plants? How many jobs could we create if we drilled for oil both on and off shore, and utilized our more than ample supply of oil shale and tar sands? You cannot export this kind of job.


8. We must proudly acknowledge that the United States IS an exceptional country. We truly are an exceptional people. We love our freedom and independence but are more than willing to share it. Our military is the mightiest force the world has ever known. With little or no effort we could virtually control the world and force our will upon it. Thankfully our value system does not need or want that kind of control. We respond to aggression if provoked. We come to the aid and defense of people all over the world and ask for nothing in return. Our military victories are just that, military. We do not occupy our vanquished enemies land... we rebuild it. We make an extraordinary effort to minimize the injury and killing of innocent civilians. Don't we wish our enemies were as considerate?


As Cecil Rhodes once said of England, "To be born a U.S. citizen is to win first prize in the lottery of life."


"You should thank God for making you an American; and instead of feeling guilty about it, help spread our ideas worldwide." -- Rush Limbaugh


9. We are adamantly opposed to large intrusive government. We must embrace the clear set of principals established by our Constitution defining the role of government in our daily lives.


"The role of the government is to "promote the general welfare," not provide for it." -- Author unknown


"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others." -- Ayn Rand


"There's a world of difference between a good cause and a good cause you're willing to pay for out of your own pocket." -- John Hawkins


"There is no such thing as a "right" that other people have to pay for." -- Author unknown


10. If one doesn't like what our constitution provides we have a system to change it. That change is not via judicial or legislative means. It is by the amendment process. Until that time, we must follow the Constitution as it is written.


11. Restore our education system with an emphasis on the basics. This is really a local (states rights) issue. Any funds expended by the federal government to the states should have specific strings attached to accomplish a fixed set of goals and results. We spend more dollars per student than any country in the world and increasing have less to show for it.


We live in a fast paced changing world. It is our obligation to prepare our youth to compete in this environment. Study after study show that we have failed badly, especially in the fields of math and science. I would add that we have also failed to teach our youth the core history and principals of our form of representative government. It is a national disgrace when high school students cannot name the vice president of the United States or name the three branches of government.


We should also consider teaching life skills at the high school level. Too many of our students get out of school without the basic life skills needed to succeed in today's world. How to balance a checkbook, how to plan and live within a family budget, or how to plan for retirement. These are needed skills completely omitted from the typical curriculum.


Our school systems are over-run by bureaucrats and unions. They no longer serve the needs of the students. By their actions they seem to be more concerned with their own self interest that those of the students.


12. We must severely limit or better yet eliminate the role and influence of Czars (presidential advisors) in our Government. No unelected or unapproved (via the vetting process) person should be given nearly unlimited control and power over our daily lives.


13. We must select leaders who are excellent communicators. In this day and age intelligence is not enough. You must be able to effectively communicate your position to ordinary citizens.


14. We should never be in a war unless we are in it to win. Win big, win fast and win beyond any shadow of a doubt. Anything short of that is immoral.


"History from Carthage to Vietnam teaches that if we fail to prosecute a war in a manner calculated to win it decisively, we will lose it inevitably." -- Jeb Babbin


"War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over" -- General William T. Sherman


"Naked force has settled more issues in history than any other factor. The contrary opinion 'violence never solves anything' is wishful thinking at its worst. People who forget that always pay...They pay with their lives and their freedom. -- Author Unknown


"Peace only results after victory is obtained during war. Peace is never negotiated. Lasting peace is not discussed, and arranged over tables with papers signed. -- Rush Limbaugh


15. Create a public forum for policy debate. Our media has for the most part abandoned objectivity. We need to develop a forum where civil thoughtful debate can be presented without bias.


16. Political correctness is completely out of hand. It is time to get over it. Not every utterance is biased, racial, or prejudicial.


17. A sensible balanced approach to climate change. The debate must continue. There are wide variations in the results of scientific studies relating to climate change. Both sides present reasoned and reasonable approaches to the problem but until the data can be confirmed and is repeatable, it is sheer folly to spend trillions of dollars attempting to solve a problem we can't even define.


"What is the perfect temperature? If we are to embark on a lifestyle-altering quest to lower the temperature (or at least minimize its rise), what is our goal? I don’t ask this flippantly. Can we demonstrate that one setting on the global thermostat is preferable over another? If so, what is it, and how do we get there? And, once there, how do we maintain it? Will we ever have to “heat things up” again if it drops below that point?" -- Pat Sajak


“Mars has also been experiencing global warming. Since man can't be a factor on that planet, does it not suggest that perhaps a factor other than man, i.e. the sun, is responsible for the warming on both planets?" -- John Hawkins


"Skeptics of manmade global warming have often pointed out that the rise in global temperature seems to track much more closely to increased solar activity than it does to an increase in manmade greenhouse gasses. Doesn't that seem to strongly suggest that the sun, not mankind, is more likely to be responsible for global warming?" -- John Hawkins


18. Support and defend Israel's right to exist unequivocally.


"The only way some form of quiet will ever exist in the Middle East is if Israel is given the latitude to totally defeat its declared enemies. Only then will the terrorist attacks on Israel's civilians come to an end. Perpetual negotiations, diplomatic half measures, or land for peace deals will not bring peace to the Middle East." -- Rush Limbaugh


"We believe that religious liberty is fundamental to a civilized society. So we condemn anti-Semitism in all forms — whether by those who openly question Israel’s right to exist, or by others who quietly excuse them. " -- George W. Bush


"We believe that free people should strive and sacrifice for peace. So we applaud the courageous choices Israeli’s leaders have made. We also believe that nations have a right to defend themselves and that no nation should ever be forced to negotiate with killers pledged to its destruction." -- George W. Bush


19. Torture. Nothing more needs to be said than this.


"Torturing prisoners should never be our policy, both because it's immoral and because it's usually ineffective. But it's madness to declare that there can never be exceptions. Forget the argument about the "ticking bomb" and the terrorist who might have information that could save numerous lives. Let's make it personal. Whether you are left, right or in between, ask yourself this yes-or-no question: If torturing a known terrorist would save the life of the person you love most in the world, would you approve it? If your answer is "no," you're not a moral paragon. You're an abomination. And please make your position clear to your husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter. Just tell 'em, "Sorry, honey, but I'd rather see you dead than mistreat a terrorist. It's a moral issue with me." -- Ralph Peters


20. Control illegal immigration. The total emphasis of this principle is the word "illegal". We must enforce our existing laws. Coming to this country is a privilege not a right. We cannot reward those who break our laws to come here. We welcome and embraced those who come here legally to find a better life. A restructuring of our immigration policy is long over due.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

"Notes and Quotes" Archive

  • **“Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence.” – Justice Tom C. Clark (1899-1977) US Attorney General, 1945-1949
  • **"If the Constitution no longer matters, then the federal government no longer exists. The same document that restricts the federal government is also the document that created them and gives them their authority. Either it is in effect, or it is not." Gary Henderson
  • **"The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in the time of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." Dante
  • **“When anyone gets something for nothing, someone else gets nothing for something.” -Anonymous
  • ** "My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane" Author unknown
  • ** “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” — Peter F. Drucker
  • ** “If getting employer benefits without paying union dues is BAD, why is getting government benefits without paying taxes GOOD?”
  • ** “It's not that ‘the rich’ aren't paying their ‘fair share,’ it's that America isn't. A majority of the electorate has voted itself a size of government it's not willing to pay for.” - Mark Steyn
  • ** "One of the penalties of not participating in politics is that you will be governed by your inferiors." ~ Plato
  • **"Fathom the hypocrisy of a Government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured...but not everyone must prove they are a citizen."
  • **If it matters, measure it: How do you know how much you’ve slipped or improved in an area unless you measure it? How do you take something “to the next level” if you don’t know what level you’re already at? How do you set concrete goals without a sense of where you are and where you want to go? If the success of your venture depends on it, you need to find a way to measure it.
  • **The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. - Mark Twain
  • **Political correctness is an approved form of censorship.  Based on emotional appeals at the expense of reason, political correctness mandates that inconvenient truths or facts be swept under the carpet.  Or else. Free speech, guaranteed to all Americans under the First Amendment, is on its way to becoming moot.  The political, media, and intellectual elites who control the terms of national debate and the rules of civil society have succeeded in censoring opposing views, limiting debate, and demonizing dissent.  Perception is on its way to becoming our new reality. Nancy Morgan
  • **Ronald Reagan once defined an economist as somebody who sees something working in real life and wondering if it will work in theory.
  • **"Fathom the odd hypocrisy that Obama wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but they don't have to prove they are citizens." ~ Ben Stein
  • **“America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world.”--Dinesh D'Souza
  • **No politician has any business talking about tax increases until ObamaCare is repealed. It’s the most comprehensively failed legislation of the modern era. Like a taxi that runs on plutonium, it’s costing us a fortune, and making us sick, even while it’s sitting there and doing nothing. Sold with fanciful promises and fraudulent cost estimates, it’s another expensive scheme to buy votes with taxpayer money, ending with a planned crisis the government will be only too happy to step in and “solve” by seizing even more of our wealth and liberty. Its passage stymied serious attempts at real improvements to our health-care system, including tort reform and allowing the interstate sale of insurance plans to increase competition. As with so many other delusional Big Government programs, the opportunity cost of passing ObamaCare, and passing up on reasonable plans that enhance individual liberty, rivals its staggering price tag. We’ll come trillions closer to a balanced budget by shredding it. -- Dr. Zero
  • **'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel' -- Benjamin Netanyahu
  • ** This is almost unbelievable. Barack Obama is more concerned about Jews building homes in Jerusalem than about Iran building a nuclear weapon. --Ben Stein
  • ** I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts. --Ronald Reagan
  • ** "As an American I am not so shocked that Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize without any accomplishments to his name, but that America gave him the White House based on the same credentials." - - Newt Gingrich
  • ** An ideal Federal government in our country wouldn't take much from you, do much for you, or get in your way . --John Hawkins
  • ** The banking crisis wasn't caused by a lack of regulation. It was caused by regulation that pushed banks to make bad loans. --John Hawkins
  • ** An ideal Federal government in our country wouldn't take much from you, do much for you, or get in your way . --John Hawkins
  • **Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, "We don't know how lucky we are." And the Cuban stopped and said, "How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to." And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.--Ronald Reagan
  • ** A final word on Tea Party numbers.  The Obama Inauguration left in its wake 100 tons of trash on the Mall that required herculean efforts by the District and the Park Service to clean up.  And it devastated the grass surfaces of the Mall that necessitated budgeting millions of dollars to repair.  Saturday’s Teapartyers left behind a west lawn and Mall that could be used for the U.S.Open.   The sparse trash that was left was neatly stashed in and closely around the too few receptacles provided.  And police reported zero arrests.-- William Campenni
  • ** There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress. --Mark Twain
  • ** What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. --Edward Langley
  • ** To be born a U.S. citizen is, as Cecil Rhodes once said of England, to win first prize in the lottery of life.
  • **"Free speech does not include the right to deceive". --Author unknown
  • ** Although racism certainly exists in this country, it has become blessedly rare and marginalized. Some of the best evidence you can find for that is Barack Obama's election as President. Only in a country as colorblind as America could a black man easily win the Presidency when 75% of the votes were cast by white Americans. --John Hawkins
  • **I think we need a Constitutional Amendment that says: 1.  Congressional salaries are tied to increased jobs, per capita income and increased GDP. 2.  Any raise for any member must be approved by a super majority in his/her home district or state. --Tom Hall
  • **There is a certain irony in an administration denouncing ordinary Americans who get together to express what they believe and to confront authority, when that administration is led by a man who began his career as a community organizer, whose job, as I understand it, is to take ordinary Americans, get them together to express what they believe, and express demands against the authorities. So it's unbelievably hypocritical. And, of course, as we just heard, this only happens when you have a conservative protest. It is called a mob. If it's a liberal protest, it is called grassroots expressing themselves. -- Charles Krauthammer
  • **Government does not solve problems... it subsidizes them! --Ronald Reagan
  • **When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President -- I'm beginning to believe it.’ - Clarence Darrow
  • **The liberals will give free medical care to illegal aliens who are on welfare but will deny it to American citizens who have worked all their lives and made their contributions to American society.-- Charles Hakes
  • ** Medicare is a huge, single-payer, government-run program. It ought to provide the perfect environment for experimentation. If more-efficient government management can slash health-care costs by addressing all these problems, why not start with Medicare? Let's see what "better management" looks like applied to Medicare before we roll it out to the rest of the country. -- Virginia Postrel
  • ** You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think. -- Milton Berle
  • **We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are. --The Talmud
  • **You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think. -- Milton Berle
  • **We're getting too much lip service and not enough action from the Obama administration on nuclear power, and the impression is being left that we can run this big, complex country on electricity from the wind, the sun and the earth. ...Climate change may be the inconvenient problem, but nuclear power is the inconvenient answer. -- Lamar Alexander
  • **The government may very well come up with a health insurance product that is cheaper (to the consumer) and more effective than those offered in the private sector. Think about this though ... Could that possibly be because the government will be under no pressure whatsoever to make a profit on its health insurance? When you can operate at a loss indefinitely you have no problem undercutting your competitors. When you can call on endless government subsidies you can run anyone you chose out of business. -- Neal Boortz
  • **I'd like to quote from an e-mail I recently received from a reader named J. Pyle. In response to a piece I had written ridiculing the state of higher education, he wrote: "I remember when 'Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies' meant trying to figure out what's wrong with those people. In fact, if your child is majoring in something that ends in 'Studies,' you better not turn their bedroom into a den, because that one is coming home after college." --Bert Prelutsky
  • **People are gushing over the late Michael Jackson. I suppose they will honor him on a postage stamp, in a new “Famous Child Molesters” series, to go with Elvis from the “Famous Drug Abusers” stamp series. Meanwhile, men and women dying to protect an America pass with little but perfunctory notice. One wonders, in the black hours of the night, if this nation deserves protecting. -- Robert Hall
  • **I sincerely hope that when the president goes in for his annual check-up, the doctors at Bethesda will do a brain scan. Surely something must be terribly wrong with a man who seems to be far more concerned with a Jew building a house in Israel than with Muslims building a nuclear bomb in Iran. --Bert Prelutsky
  • **"Even if the majority agrees on an idiotic idea, it is still an idiotic idea." Sam Levenson
  • **The most hilarious thing about the Democrats' attempt to engulf the health care industry in the inky blackness of the federal government is their primary selling point: that a government takeover will actually lead to reduced costs. How's that plan working out with Medicare so far? Oh yeah, it's on track to bankrupt the entire country. So let's expand that -- what could go wrong? Well, besides all the features that usually come along with socialized medicine: reduced quality of care, long wait times for operations, and allowing old people to die in order to cut costs. Obamacare would lead to health care with the compassion of the IRS, the competence of FEMA, and the well staffed work force of our border patrol at a much higher cost, but on the upside, you won't live as long, so you'll have less time to complain about it. -- John Hawkins
  • **President Obama wants greater transparency from businesses, banks, the government — everyone except the union movement. This clearly benefits the union leaders, who will become less accountable to their members. But it’s hardly the change Obama promised to bring to Washington. — James Sherk
  • **Being politically correct is, unfortunately, not the same thing as being correct politically.-- Bert Prelutsky
  • **If increased government spending with borrowed or newly created money is a "stimulus," then the Weimar Republic should have been stimulated to unprecedented prosperity, instead of runaway inflation and widespread economic desperation that ultimately brought Adolf Hitler to power. -- Thomas Sowell
  • **“The big mistake of Republican leadership is thinking that going through the motions of listening to their ‘base’ is the same thing as actually listening to the base. They keep trying to drag us to where they think we should be instead of joining us where we are.” -- John Hawkins
  • ** Torturing prisoners should never be our policy, both because it's immoral and because it's usually ineffective. But it's madness to declare that there can never be exceptions. Forget the argument about the "ticking bomb" and the terrorist who might have information that could save numerous lives. Let's make it personal. Whether you're left, right or in between, ask yourself this yes-or-no question: If torturing a known terrorist would save the life of the person you love most in the world, would you approve it? If your answer is "no," you're not a moral paragon. You're an abomination. And please make your position clear to your husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter. Just tell 'em, "Sorry, honey, but I'd rather see you dead than mistreat a terrorist. It's a moral issue with me. --Ralph Peters
  • **The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife. -- Teddy Roosevelt
  • **The prudent capitalist will never adventure his capital... if there exists a state of uncertainty as to whether the Government will repeal tomorrow what it has enacted today. -- William Henry Harrison
  • **The price of a postage stamp has gone up to 44 cents. The government says they had to raise the price because fewer people are using the mail these days. That's government thinking for you — "Hey nobody's buying our products . . . let's raise the price!" --Jay Leno
  • **If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand. -- Milton Friedman
  • **Since torture doesn’t work but waterboarding did work on KSM, doesn’t that prove that waterboarding isn’t torture?
  • **"The world is controlled by those who show up." --George Allen
  • **John Maynard Keynes, responded to a challenge about his changing views, saying, “When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?”