A Plea to the Speaker and the Soon-to-be Majority Leader
To Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader McConnell,
I believe that you gentlemen have an obligation to serve the people of the United States, not just the Republican party. The time to start is the day the new Congress is sworn in. Not a day later.
I have several suggestions to the new Congress, to be completed in the first 90 days or sooner:
Immediately pass legislation to prohibit spending Federal funds to support people in the United States illegally: welfare, education, healthcare and more. The people of the United States clearly support this action, just take a look at the vote in Oregon.
Close the border with Mexico via physical constraints, and Army or National Guard wherever they might be needed. Turn back those who try to enter illegally.
Erase the law that restricts the export of oil from the United States, and at the same time approve the XL pipeline.
Cut Federal taxes to maximum 15% or 20% immediately, then take a serious look at the FairTax, which would be a boon to jobs in the United States.
Stop funding to the EPA and the other regulatory agencies so that these organizations are not able to issue new regulations. And, pass legislation requiring that all new Regulations from Federal Departments must be approved by and funded by the Congress.
Stop all automatic increases in entitlements and other programs and roll back the max spending to same levels at 2000. By the way, you both contributed to the massive spending of the GW Bush years, so you are not innocent. Federal spending must be reduced and this is a fine way to start.
Do not allow the Congress to consider any bill more than five(5) pages in length, and restrict amendments to those that do not push the bill to more than five(5) pages.
Going forward, I recommend to the GOP that you assemble a panel of wise councilors to put together a positive program to be supported by all future Republican candidates. My suggestions for this panel include Dr. Walter E. Williams, Economics Professor at George Mason University; Thomas Sowell, an economist and currently a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution in Stanford, CA. Both men are distinguished scholars and write often about our country.
Another panel invitee should be Dr. Larry Arnn, the President of Hillsdale College in Michigan, who is a Constitutional scholar. We certainly need to pay more attention to our founding documents and the philosophical rationale for the Declaration and the Constitution.
The place to start for this effort is the 1984 Republican platform, and update it to the current day.
You must convince the people that your goal is to “promote the general welfare”, in an effort to “lift all boats.” The recent Federal policy of increasing taxes clearly suppressed economic activity, and the best way to lift all boats is to promote and increase economic activity. Congress should measure every bill to see whether the result is useful to “promoting the general welfare”.
PS – It is now time for the GOP to treat Senator Harry Reid with the same disdain as he treated the GOP since Senator Reid assumed the position of Majority Leader.
Jim Dick is a California resident and a lifelong conservative.
