I am a registered Republican but I vote on the person not the party. My problem is that I cannot find anyone in the political arena that I can put any faith in to REPRESENT ME!! I think that I speak for a majority of Americans when I say that our supposed representatives in Washington and to a great extent, State and Local Governments have lost focus on their constituents and push whatever agenda benefits them most. This attitude has fostered and nurtured the economic chaos that is now in our midst. Everyone knows that every decision entails a consequence and reward. Well in case anyone has missed it, we are fresh out of the rewards and the consequences are coming to bear.
The single largest drag on the US economy is the public debt. The US is effectively bankrupt! Don’t believe it? Ask China’s premier who has voiced concern over America’s direction and its ability to pay off the huge debt that China owns! That is one of the purposes for Mrs. Clintons visit to the People’s Republic. The only way out of this mess is to do what Obama claimed he was going to do during the campaign, couple a strategic stimulus plan with equal cuts in the US budget to offset it. His “plan” further called for balancing the budget by 2011!
That “plan” was thrown out the window on innauguration day and capped off by the largest “Stimulus” PORK in our country’s history. What is really needed NOW are the following actions:
Stop the stimulus package and freeze it until a comprehensive review can be carried out by an independent group of economist and business leaders line by line with the emphasis on long term, sustainable growth. If it smells like pork, remove it!
Return the President’s budget to him and tell him to sharpen his pencil! We don’t just need a balanced budget, we need a budget that will start paying down the National Debt with real principle payments, not just debt service.
Give the President the power of the line item veto and make sure that he uses it! If he won’t use it or doesn’t start being fiscally responsible, let him know about it in 2012. As a matter of fact, make sure that Congress follows the same rules or live with their mistakes on election day 2010.
Term limits! We need to get rid of the power brokers and the dead wood. Most Congressman are so entrenched with huge war chest that new blood cannot even compete even if their message is strong because they are outspent during the elections.
Throw out the current Federal Tax Code and start anew with a fair tax system that applies to all equally. No deductions, no exemptions, no corporate tax shelters. A straight percentage of earnings regardless of how you spend it. The displaced IRS workers can be moved over to enforcement in and around the Washington DC area where it seems that most of our current deliquencies are occuring.
Leave the free market system to the market and stop socializing and nationalizing business and healthcare. Government has a really poor record of management as it is, don’t compound it by allowing them to run business where the goal is obtain a return on investments or healthcare where Medicaid is broke and Medicare is not far behind. They have shown a propensity to fail repeatedly in that regard.
