Sunday, September 30, 2007

What Conservatives are planning for America

There have been a large number of Conservatives who have been in strategy meets on and off over the last month.  These are the results of and the statement of what they have agreed to:

How things SHOULD BE ---

  1. Levees shouldn't break, and the Corps of Engineers should be changed until it is reliable.
  2. Bridges shouldn't fall, and our federal and state highway programs should be changed until we have reliable inspection and repair.
  3. Students should learn, and the bureaucrats and bureaucracies that dominate failing educational systems should be changed every day until the students are learning.
  4. The border should be protected for national security reasons, and it should be protected now.
  5. English should be the official language of government, and first-generation Americans should be offered intensive English education.
  6. Congress should control spending and spend within its budget, so we can get back to the balanced budgets we had when I left the speakership.
  7. The death tax should be abolished permanently.
  8. The capital gains tax should be abolished to increase the money in our retirement accounts and to help create jobs in America.
  9. An energy strategy should be implemented to meet national security, environmental and economic goals and to eliminate the danger of foreign dictators who are manipulating us through our energy needs.
  10. Americans should not be bogged down in long, indecisive campaigns: We need a strategy for defeating our enemies, defending our friends, winning the campaign in Iraq and bringing our troops home.

Policy Goals and Strategy Needs:

  • There ought to be an optional single-rate tax simple enough to be filled out in one page. The optional single-rate tax ought to have a 17% rate for both individuals and corporations, so we can create more jobs in America instead of seeing them go overseas.
  • We need a strategy to reindustrialize America and bring jobs back to America.
  • There should be tax incentives for companies that make their headquarters in the United States and want to bring jobs to America.
  • We need a decisive series of reforms to keep New York City the financial capital of the world. There must be changes in litigation, regulation, taxation and the visa system if New York is to remain the best place for investment in the world. Every American has a stake in keeping investment activity in the United States, and we need this change quickly or London may replace New York by the end of the decade.
  • Social Security today is not facing up to the reality of people living longer, and it should be reformed to ensure it is stable and reliable and taken away from the politicians so the younger generation can rely on it. People should have the option to have a personal account in Social Security that they can invest to get a bigger retirement income. Any money left over in their personal Social Security account should belong to them, and they should be able to leave it to their family -- something they cannot do today.
  • Since we have an obligation to be good stewards of God's creation for future generations, we need a new program of scientific and technological change and entrepreneurial leadership to meet the environmental and energy challenges.
  • We should dramatically increase our investment in math and science learning and keep reforming and innovating until the failing bureaucracies in education are replaced by systems in which young Americans learn better than their foreign competitors.
  • There should be a prize for breakthroughs in the environment and for highly fuel-efficient vehicles.
  • Companies that invest in cutting emissions ought to get a tax credit to accelerate lowering carbon in the atmosphere.
  • Homeowners should get tax credits for modernizing their homes and reducing energy use.
  • The United States could reduce the carbon going into the atmosphere by 2,200,000,000 tons a year and be 15% better than the Kyoto standard if we simply produced the same percentage of electricity from nuclear power as France does today. There should be a strong effort to develop safe, reliable, 21st-Century models of nuclear plants which could be built quickly and reliably.
  • Schools should be encouraged to open each day with a moment of silent prayer so those students who want to have a chance to be reverent at the beginning of each school day can do so.
  • American history should be reemphasized in both K-12 and in college, and being able to pass a basic test in American history should be a part of both high school and all publicly funded college graduation requirements.
  • We should reassert and reemphasize what is written in our Declaration of Independence, that our rights come from our Creator and are unalienable, and we should insist on the constitutionality of saying "One Nation under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance.
  • The McCain-Feingold Censorship Act is unconstitutional and is a big part of why we now have destructive two-year long campaigns, and it should be repealed and replaced with a simple system of reporting all contributions every night on the Internet so everyone can see where every candidate's support comes from.
I guess I think these are worthy goals but I think some are too Politically Correct. 
 
I'm glad the Conservatives are thinking things over, I just hope these thinkers don't get off base.
 
Thought you would find it interesting.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Schools should be encouraged to open each day with a moment of silent prayer so those students who want to have a chance to be reverent at the beginning of each school day can do so. "
And why can't they begin their day with this prayer at HOME so that they will be reverent at breakfast and on the school bus. And so it does not offend those who choose not to do it? Religion has no place in a government run school. Never will. Not in THIS country.

Anonymous said...

Jesus is always a stumbling block to people. Even in THIS country. But don;t worry--someday we can all chant to Allah if this boob has his way. My kids will pray for him at breakfast tomorrow. Sorry if that offends him/her.

Anonymous said...

it is not offensive at all if your kids pray at home. that is the point. that is where they should pray. not where it is an official part of a public school day. not where it imposes on other students and not where it takes time from the purpose of school: Education.

calling other commenters names IS offensive, however.
that would NOT be tolerated at my kids' school under rules of basic politeness.