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Ten candles for the 'Contract'
Washington Times | Sunday, September 26, 2004 | Dick Armey

Posted on 09/26/2004 12:35:42 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

Ten candles for the 'Contract'

By Dick Armey
Published September 26, 2004

Ten years ago, under blue skies on the back steps of the U.S. Capitol, 367 Republican members of the House of Representatives and candidates pledged to "restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives."
    Thus, on Sept. 27, 1994, the Contract With America was born. Republicans used it to launch big ideas into the election year debate -- ideas like a balanced budget, welfare reform, congressional reform, and limits on lawsuit abuse.
    The Contract nationalized the election and turned Tip O'Neill's maxim that "all politics is local" on its head. We promised America that day: "If we break this Contract, throw us out."
    When the Contract was presented, the media reacted with predictable disdain and doubt. Pundits parroted the O'Neill adage that "all politics is local" -- a cynical way to imply Americans care more about highway pork and pancake breakfasts than detailed visions for the country. Even on policy, editorials attacked the Contract as "anti-poor" and "fiscally irresponsible," and Clinton adviser George Stephanopoulos said, "I'll match our record vs. their Contract any day." The Democratic National Committee launched negative ads, darkly saying the Contract would "return us to the Reagan years." I wish the DNC ran ads about the Reagan years every election.
    Of course, in state after state, people voted for overwhelmingly for the Contract With America. Newt Gingrich estimated these ideas mobilized 9 million new voters in the 1994 elections. In the end, Republicans gained 52 seats and ended four decades of Democratic control of the House of Representatives.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: contractwithamerica; gingrich

1 posted on 09/26/2004 12:35:43 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
And 10 years later, the government is bigger, dumber and far more expensive than ever. Bush & Co. have instituted a trillion-dollar "free" pill burden attempting to buy the votes of Greedy Geezers, failed to stem illegal immigration and severely assaulted the First Amendment.

We need to start over.

2 posted on 09/26/2004 12:41:11 AM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: Mathlete

Why should the young be forced to pay for the mistakes of old?

Some day you'll be there (maybe) hope you don't make any.


4 posted on 09/26/2004 1:35:37 AM PDT by garylmoore (Repeat: They made a mistake, they didn't count of George W. Bush.)
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To: Hank Rearden

Bush & Co. have instituted a trillion-dollar "free" pill burden attempting to buy the votes of Greedy Geezers, failed to stem illegal immigration and severely assaulted the First Amendment.

Freedom isn't free, what did you want to do, slap them on the hand?


5 posted on 09/26/2004 1:38:26 AM PDT by garylmoore (Repeat: They made a mistake, they didn't count of George W. Bush.)
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To: JohnHuang2
I will always remember the days of that contract because I worked very hard politically to make changes not the least of which was to stop Hillarycare. In those days electronic activists used Compuserve and AOL much more than the Internet, although I was on all three. I was at a "computers in medicine" conference in Washington DC on election night, and it was a great pleasure to watch all the government bureaucrats attending the meeting looking for windows to jump out of as the election results came in. They had been plotting and preening the entire conference about Hillarycare, and I got to watch it slipping away from them. Unfortunately, most of their plans for their fascist "names things the opposite of what they do" legislation like the "Patient Privacy Protection" that gives away your privacy have come to pass despite the short-lived victory.

We DID get some positive things out of the contract, but I remain greatly disappointed that we did not get more out of it. Perhaps the thing that I think about more than anything is that we could not even get the largely symbolic issue of the National Endowment for the Arts handled!

That program is clearly unconstitutional and dropping it would not have taken the food out of the mouths of anyone. Everything it does would long ago have been made up for by private programs funded voluntarily.

That failure to this day serves as a continual reminder of Republican unwillingness to play hard ball when necessary and right.

And don't even get me started on judicial appointments...

6 posted on 09/26/2004 1:42:46 AM PDT by Weirdad (A Free Republic, not a "democracy" (mob rule))
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To: JohnHuang2

I was raised by my 60s hippy father to believe that the government was an unending supply of goodies. Then as a 24 year old liberal I read the Contract with America and realized, "Damn I agree with this thing!"

I started watching Newt on CSPAN and soon considered myself to be a staunch conservative.

Remember the derisory "Contract on America"?


7 posted on 09/26/2004 1:49:34 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Liberalism: The irrational fear of self reliance.)
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To: JohnHuang2

REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.

That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.

This year's election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.

Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act "with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right." To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:

Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.

1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. (Bill Text) (Description)

2. THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer's "crime" bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools. (Bill Text) (Description)

3. THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. (Bill Text) (Description)

4. THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society. (Bill Text) (Description)

5. THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A S500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief. (Bill Text) (Description)

6. THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world. (Bill Text) (Description)

7. THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years. (Bill Text) (Description)

8. THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages. (Bill Text) (Description)

9. THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation. (Bill Text) (Description)

10. THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators. (Description)

Further, we will instruct the House Budget Committee to report to the floor and we will work to enact additional budget savings, beyond the budget cuts specifically included in the legislation described above, to ensure that the Federal budget deficit will be less than it would have been without the enactment of these bills.

Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America.

8 posted on 09/26/2004 2:05:10 AM PDT by risk (Time for another contract!)
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To: Hank Rearden

It doesn't help that the Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) fell one vote short TWICE in the Senate after it already passed the House. Thank Oregon RINO Mark Hatfield...

Some say a BBA could be used to justify tax hikes; not so. A BBA would simplify the debate to a point where it clearly benifits fiscal conservatives. Voters would have a clear choice: Cut taxes and cut spending, or raise taxes and raise spending. And we all know if the debate is made that simple, voters will come down on our side.

I also feel that the failure of the BBA partially discredited the Republican Revolution an took a lot of ammo out of our other initiatives.

A flat tax was supposed to follow the BBA, but since the BBA didn't happen...

THe gutsiest part of the Contract With America were self-imposed term limits, but the gray hair caused by the failure of the BBA took a lot of the courage out of moderate republicans.


9 posted on 09/26/2004 2:21:02 AM PDT by Remember_Salamis (Freedom is Not Free)
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To: Straight Vermonter

I was 14 when the Contract with America was introduced, and that convinced me that I was a Republican.


10 posted on 09/26/2004 2:23:09 AM PDT by Remember_Salamis (Freedom is Not Free)
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To: Remember_Salamis

Great points, RS! I'm all for term limits...maybe, if we lose some of our RINO's and pick up MORE senate seats, along with some favorable DINO's, we'll gain a super majority and get more legislation passed. Less spending would be GREAT!! There's always hope for America and our conservative values! We can't give up. Our voices will be heard.


11 posted on 09/26/2004 2:33:59 AM PDT by GBA_001 (GBA - God Bless America!!)
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To: Remember_Salamis
Now we need:
  1. An end to all gun control.
  2. Severe limits on immigration, and an end to illegal immigration -- as well as deportation of those illegals already here.
  3. A promise to win the war on terror in four years with no reservations, doubts, or qualms.
  4. Federal legislation banning interstate recognition for, federal benefits on the basis of, or immigration on the basis of same sex "unions" of any kind.

12 posted on 09/26/2004 2:37:10 AM PDT by risk
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To: Hank Rearden

"And 10 years later, the government is bigger, dumber and far more expensive than ever. Bush & Co. have instituted a trillion-dollar "free" pill burden attempting to buy the votes of Greedy Geezers, failed to stem illegal immigration and severely assaulted the First Amendment.
We need to start over"

Six of those years were under Clinton and the other four we had to deal with the remnents of a Clinton recession and 9/11.

What we have to do is get enough senate seats to implement the policies that will provide these things. Then we need to remove all pork from Democrat politicians(political payback, which by the way is a bitch)and set our sights on protecting the Constitution from Socialists trying to bastardize it in the name of freedom.

Why do people forget these "nuanced" things?


13 posted on 09/26/2004 4:49:26 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Control the information given to society and you control society.)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Oh yeah, term limits should be implemented. It is a representatives job to make law and go home to his/he real job. The job of Senator and Congressman was never meant to be a full time job.


14 posted on 09/26/2004 4:52:41 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Control the information given to society and you control society.)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

"If we break this Contract, throw us out."


15 posted on 09/26/2004 9:25:35 AM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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