Opportunity for All

Is America in decline? An honest review of the state of the union would show spiraling budget deficits, uncontrolled growth in government spending, and persistently high unemployment levels. The impression of a once-great nation in eclipse is all too plain.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s not that these problems aren’t real, or don’t pose serious challenges. They do. But those who insist that our best days are behind us don’t have history on their side. Though all kinds of setbacks, from civil wars to great depressions, the United States has always waged a valiant struggle and emerged stronger.

That’s due to in small measure to the innate optimism that has always undergirded the American experiment. It may wane at times, requiring strong leaders to remind us of our birthright, but it’s never far below the surface. That’s why, when America was reeling from Watergate, Vietnam, “stagflation” and a militant Soviet Union, President Reagan was able to inspire Americans to believe in themselves again -- and turn the course of history.

And there’s no reason that a nation born in the unforgiving snows at Valley Forge can’t solve today’s trials.

Yes, they are considerable. As noted in a new report from The Heritage Foundation -- “America’s Opportunity for All,” they include an expanding welfare state, a bloated and overextended federal government, and an increasingly tangled chain of rules from unelected bureaucrats in Washington.

“Nothing about today’s conditions is inevitable or irreversible,” writes Heritage scholar Matthew Spalding. “We can reduce the size and scope of government and let the private sector restore economic productivity and opportunity. We can reform the core programs of government and provide assistance to those who need it because they have fallen on hard times.”

Here are just a few problems and solutions from “America’s Opportunity for All”:

Problem: We face a flood of regulations from Washington. Some 50 commissions, bureaus, and departments enforce more than 150,000 pages of rules. These take a heavy toll on the economy, leading to fewer jobs.

Solution: Congress needs to stop writing vaguely worded laws that leave the details to bureaucrats who aren’t accountable to the voters. Laws should be specific, necessary and carefully written. And they should carry a “sunset” provision, or expiration date.

Problem: From public lands, offshore oil and natural gas fields to domestic coal and uranium mines, the U.S. has enough energy resources to power its economy for decades. Yet we’re the only nation that routinely blocks development of its domestic energy sources.

Solution: Open access to these areas -- and, in the process, create tens of thousands of jobs.

Problem: Labor laws actually prevent employers from giving workers more flexible schedules and prohibit many workers from getting performance-based raises.

Solution: Overhaul the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. The line between workers and management has blurred -- most workers want a cooperative relationship with their employers, not an adversarial one. Workers in the private sector should be free to decide whether they want to join a union.

Problem: Tax rates on individuals, families, businesses, investors and entrepreneurs are too high. High taxes discourage work and investment, which leads to less take-home pay, fewer jobs, and slower overall economic growth.

Solution: Reform the tax code to eliminate the loopholes that lead to crony capitalism and unleash the productive potential of the U.S. economy. End the death tax, which destroys jobs, slows growth, and lowers wages.

Problem: By the end of the next decade, almost half of all health care spending will be controlled by Washington. More government control over the financing of health care means that government will control more of our health care decisions.

Solution: Repeal Obamacare, which was passed with too much haste and closed-door deliberation. Restructure the tax code to allow individuals to own and control their health care. Reform health care entitlements such as Medicaid, now facing trillions in unfunded obligations.

These and all of our other problems are fixable, if we approach them with the right attitude. “One of the worst mistakes anybody can make is to bet against Americans,” President Reagan once said. It’s time to reject the “America is in decline” narrative -- and prove the naysayers wrong.

Bring back American jobs now.

Discuss the other things at the same time. But bring back American jobs now.

Obama deliberately said the state of our union is “stronger”. The President always says it is “strong” at the state of the union. I’ve never heard “stronger” before.

This was a glaring admission of weakness by Obama. From the republicans: crickets as usual.

There is only one way to reclaim what we once were.

Start from “Scratch”. Rid ourselves of ALL politicians, Federal Agencies.

Take the Constitution and rewrite it and clarify parts which are no longer pertinent. (Example - Slavery)

Insure that all leveles of education are based on PURE FACTS and practicality.

Install a law that any politician that intentionally cheats on those laws be hung from a tree at either the White House, or on the lawn of the Congressional building, and their body left till the last bone drops from the tree.

Anyone who tries to take down the body or attempts to remove even one bone of the body, should be hung next to that person.

I agree with the federal agencies, but how do restart with new politicians? You don’t know what you get. The new politicians can be worse then what we have now. It is easy to promise all kinds of things, but keeping or being able to keep the promises is another thing

Are there that many trees in Washington? On a summer day, you could smell the stench for 200 miles.

I like your idea, and will add one:

When a politician votes in a law that costs X, it costs <=X. The day it costs >X, the person who voted it in forfeits all assets. They (and three generations) live in a homeless shelter for the rest of their lives. They possess nothing.

I am convinced we could randomly pick 535 people out of the phone book and have better representation than what we have now save an airport van full (maybe) of current representatives.

Our decline will go far enough to erase the “empowerment” of those who receive insanely large salaries to sit on their rear ends and discourage real production. It’s a natural result of such an abominable, debt-ridden excuse for an economy. It’s going to happen. There’s no way out of it, especially if bureaucrats and their fellow constituents continue to screech their effeminate panic, hysteria and idle threats at healthier Americans.

There are about 6 or possibly as many as 8 large trees around the White House.

On and around Capitol Hill there are well over 40 - 50.

With at least 10 strong branches per tree that should pretty much be adequate.

Besides that there are many more between the Vietnam memorial and and Reflecting Pond.

Along the street next to the memorials and the White house are MANY more trees that would be adequate.

The stink would only last a couple of weeks though. No problem.

Just think. A sign as you cross the river saying “Welcome to Washington, Don’t pick the fruits hanging from the trees.”

We KNOW what we have now. Even picking randomly we would be better off a thousand times over.

Besides, we could get rid of the bad eggs much easier under these conditions than the one we have so deeply embedded in our system now.

I would much more trust 100 random men/women to do the right thing than 95% of the crooks that control our government now.

The difference is that new blood would tend to bring in people of good conscious and not those that have none and are self serving egotists.

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