Posted on 02/17/2010 6:57:05 AM PST by Tennessean4Bush
Here is a list of 21 items they are trying to whittle down to a "Top Ten." Idea is to open voting to everyone for a week, take the top 10, and then ask every representative, senator, or those running for one of those offices to sign it from either party. I was impressed with the list, but am having difficulty whittling the list myself. I'd enjoy a discussion on FR to decide on which ones I definitely want in my top ten.
DEMAND A BALANCED BUDGET
Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax hike. (Proposed by: Erik Carter, San Diego, CA)
STOP THE TAX HIKES
Permanently repeal all tax hikes, including those to the income, capital gains, and death taxes, currently scheduled to begin in 2011.
COMMIT TO REAL GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY
Every bill, in its final form, will be made public seven days before any vote can be taken and all government expenditures authorized by any bill will be easily accessible on the Internet before the money is spent. (Proposed by: Steve Kulik, Gonzales, Texas; and Steve Hollis, San Francisco, CA)
PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION
Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does. (Proposed by: Brooke Storrs, Midland, MI)
PASS MARKET-BASED HEALTHCARE & HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM
Make health care and insurance more affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health care and health insurance system that isn't restricted by state boundaries.
ENACT FUNDAMENTAL TAX REFORM
Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words—the length of the original Constitution.
END RUNAWAY GOVERNMENT SPENDING
Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth (Proposed by: Mark Meckler, Sacramento, CA).
LET US SAVE
Allow young Americans the choice of opting out of Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, creating both real financial security in retirement through the freedom to own your personal retirement savings, and reducing the long-term unfunded liabilities of the federal government
PROTECT INTERNET FREEDOM
No regulation or tax on the Internet. (Proposed by: Andrew Ian Dodge, Harpswell, ME)
GIVE PARENTS MORE CHOICES IN THE EDUCATION OF THEIR CHILDREN
Improve American education by reforming the broken federal role through eliminating ineffective and wasteful programs, giving parents more choices from pre-school to high school, and improving the affordability of higher education.
PASS AN “ALL OF THE ABOVE” ENERGY POLICY
Authorize the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition.
PROTECT FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
Prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from using funds to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine in any form, including requiring “localism” or “diversity” quotas. (Proposed by: Lori Roman, Annapolis, MD)
RESTORE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY & CONSTITUTIONALLY LIMITED GOVT
Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states. (Proposed by: Benjamin Tessler, Washington, DC; and Douglas Mainwaring, Potomac, MD)
PROTECT PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS
Block state and local governments that receive federal grants from exercising eminent domain over private property for the primary purpose of economic development or enhancement of tax revenues. (Proposed by: R.M. House, Woodstock, GA)
REJECT CAP & TRADE
Stop costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation's global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures. (Proposed by: Jan Heinricks, Spring, T)
STOP THE PORK
Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the process is fully transparent, including requiring a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark.
AUDIT THE FED
Begin an audit of the Federal Reserve System. (Proposed by: Judy Pierorazio, Parkville, MD)
NO MORE BAILOUTS
The federal government should not bail out private companies and should immediately begin divesting itself of its stake in the private companies it owns from recent bailouts. (Proposed by: Mike Ware, Mountain View, CA)
STOP CAREER POLITICIANS & CURB LOBBYIST POWER
Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require Congressional term limits. (Proposed by: Marylou Petriccione, Raleigh, NC)
SUNSET REGULATIONS & ENACT FUNDAMENTAL REGULATORY REFORM
Sunset all regulations in order to eliminate those that are wasteful, unconstitutional, and ineffective, and place strict limits on the ability of agencies to create regulations. (Proposed by: Jim Armstrong, Morgantown, WV)
LET US WATCH
Broadcast all non-security meetings and votes on C-SPAN and the Internet. (Proposed by: Matthew Lewis, Alexandria, VA)
How about STOP IMMIGRATION OF AMERICA-HATING PERSONS from palestine, Sudan & etc.
According to Congressional rules, they are allowed to assume an 8% growth rate from year to year. So they can increase spending by 8% and declare they haven’t increased spending. Never mind that we have never had 8% growth in a year. It’s all part of Washington’s definitions.
Nothing on abortion, illegals, or homosexual marriage?
But a fight for cspan...sigh
Yeah, I wish I had known about this earlier. There are a few like that I would have added, and a few I would have changed the wording on quite a bit.
Yikes, I had not heard that.
They’re missing one of the biggest problems: BORDER CONTROL/ILLEGALS.
how about STOP PAYING THE CONGRESS AND SENATE WITH FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS. senators and representatives will not be given federal salary or benefits. they are strictly banned from accepting any payment or gifts of any kind from lobbyists. if the state they represent wishes to pay them for their services they may do so but the salary can be no more than twice the poverty rate by federal guidelines. the states will also pay for adequate living accommodations for their representatives and senators.
how about a total moratorium (minimum 5 years) on ALL immigration to the U.S. ?
No man should be held as another mans slave.
How about de-unionizing American public education and returning it to the states?
If anyone is interested in a Contract w/ America list which could be turned into viable legislation they should contact the Heritage Foundation. It was mainly Heritage which provided the framework for the 1994 version.
Enacting legislation based on the principles of the 1994 Contract into law met w/ mixed success. IIRC, about 75% of the original Contract passed the House, about 50% passed the Senate, with about 30-40% actually being signed as law.
Those are just rough figures based on my memory from 15 years ago. But I would suggest again that if you want a legislative agenda rather than talking points or political theater go to the original source of policy experts.
Amen. That is one on the current list.
So has the Heritage Foundation constructed another list? Please provide a link. Thanks in advance.
bump
Those three you mentioned, most specifically the THIRD, I am glad to see omitted: homosexual marriage (same-sex marriage) is a LOSER issue for us, and will remain so in perpetuity—not so much because a good argument can’t be made for it, but because IT NEVER WILL. It will always be demagogued by its proponents and ALWAYS make us look bad for opposing it, and them good for wanting ‘to join us’ in the ‘sanctity’ of marriage. Hell, the tone-deafness of Conservatives on this issue is baffling AND disheartening.
They don’t even have the sense of humor and irony of my nephew who twice ran for Congress in Ohio as a classic Liberal Democrat, garnered a great deal of votes, and told an interviewer he was for gay marriage because they should be allowed ‘to be as miserable as the rest of us’-—(In the last five,six years, he’s lost at straight marriage TWICE, and knows whereof he speaks). If I were responsible for Conservative talking points, as soon as I saw that Obama was “ALSO” opposed to Gay Marriage, I would’ve found a way to undermine him because of that: the idea is that you don’t want to agree with a dreaded opponent like Obama on ANYTHING, and are willing to find ways to make him look bad about his entire set of beliefs-—apparently this was too taxing a possiblility for conservative brains, and we conceded this issue to the Left, who were only positioning themselves to curry favor with American Blacks. I won’t expound further on this issue, and then only if I get responses on it; then an actual dialogue can begin. As to the other two in your list , I am staunchly and seriously PRO LIFE, and am OPPOSED to illegal immigration, and believe that if ANY form of amnesty is to be ratified, it needs to be carefully controlled and monitored, and the REMITTANCES also exposed and either curtailed or discussed seriously as to the negative effects they have on our economy. This outflow of American dollars back to Mexico has been going on for decades, in one form or another, and take billions out of the American economy, while bolstering the moribund Mexican economy. These are just a tiny few of the salient issues regarding immigration: they MUST be laid open, “exposed”, as it were, if you want to get people on our side. Once they have the facts presented to them in a straightforward way, we’ll get them on our side. Shipping enormous numbers of Mexicans back to Mexico, and all the preliminary steps, and enormous expenses and social dislocation and allocation of LE resources needed to get that going, is just not feasible. I’d love to see a solution to this problem, but I’m not holding my breath.
BOTH sides seem to need to be polarized on it, to satisfy their ‘bases’.
Wonder how many D.C. hacks will find out in november what type of contract the people have in mind?.
I did some searches on their web site and have not seen a specific new Contract w/ America, but they do highlight a section on “Ten Transformational Initiatives” which may be useful to you.
I had minimal contact with Heritage back in the 1990s and do not know anyone over there now personally or proffessionally, but perhaps if you contacted them and requested their help they would provide something more constructive.
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