A New Contract With America

Whatever the ultimate reasons were for the Republicans losing last November, it is clear that few of them still in office are willing to fight for the traditional conservative position. Rather than let the Reagan Revolution die, I offer A New Contract With America. I would whole-heartedly support any candidate who unequivocally endorsed the following.

1. Enact term limits

The 22^nd Amendment to the Constitution prohibits anyone from seeking more than 2 terms as President of the United States. This law was enacted to prevent a sitting President beginning to feel he was entitled to the job for as long as he jolly-well pleased. Despite the fact that term limits on the President were not codified in the original document, Washington prudently declined a third term, seeing the possibility of the role appearing imperial if a President were to die in office. The 22^nd Amendment made official what Washington recognized implicitly.

Despite the history of debate surrounding term limits for the President, Congress has failed to notice their increasingly aristocratic behavior. Congress now views their main objective as re-election, with Congressmen routinely serving 20+ years and then having their offspring run for (and usually winning) a retiree's seat. This prevents Congress from acting in the best interest of the country and instead focuses them on getting the largest slice of Federal pie for the home district.

Congress must remember the words of Thomas Paine: “Government is not a trade which any man or body of men has a right to set up and exercise for his own emolument, but is altogether a trust, in right of those by whom that trust is delegated, and by whom it is always resumable. It has of itself no rights; they are altogether duties.” It is time to enact the term limits that were promised in 1994.

2. Enforce immigration law

It is an incontrovertible fact that there are millions of people in this country illegally. It is equally incontrovertible that Islamic terrorists have used our openness against us to set up cells within our country. While we worship at the alter of multi-cultural tolerance, those that seek to destroy us and those who refuse to follow legal immigration channels both play the race card in order to further their illegal activities.

We do not need “comprehensive immigration reform,” nor do we need to expand or add government agencies. We need to enforce the laws that we already have. It is against the law to come into the US without authorization. It is against the law to hire those who are illegal. It is against the law to obstruct the investigation of someone's immigration status. Yet we daily allow these activities to take place.

There is nothing racist about saying to potential immigrants that if you want to live and work in the US you need to line up with everyone else. There is nothing fascist about telling a company they will be fined if they hire illegal aliens. It is simply a matter of respecting the laws of the country.

The multiculturalists invariably say that these “hard-working immigrants” are “doing the jobs Americans won't” and are just trying to “make a better life for their families.” The fact remains that the first act these aliens did was to break the laws of America and then were rewarded for doing so. How is that making a better life? Estimates of the number of illegal aliens in the US range from 11-20 Million. The IRS has issued only 8 Million Taxpayer ID numbers and only 2 Million of those are used annually to file taxes. Thus, the vast majority of illegal aliens continue to break the law over and over and over while liberals cry “tolerance! respect!”

The logistical challenge of deporting millions of illegal aliens is not a reason not to do it. We must enforce existing immigration laws. We must teach illegal aliens that there are consequences when you break the law. And we must teach those who wish to destroy us that you either believe in the freedoms granted to all Americans or you may not live here.

3. Fix the tax system and balance the budget once and for all

The federal deficit exists not because of tax cuts but because of spending increases. Government's sole obligation is to deliver basic services necessary to the functioning of a free society and then get out of the way of the free market. No amount of regulation, no number of bureaucrats can ever match the power of private enterprise.

Congress must change its attitude towards both taxes and spending. A pure flat tax assessed on all income at the time of its creation is the fairest and simplest tax system. A complex progressive tax with myriads of deductions and exemptions creates an incentive to find ways to avoid paying those taxes. As the opportunity cost of cheating the system increases, the percentage of those so doing will decrease. That is an inevitable result of a flat tax with no deductions and exemptions.

Zero-based budgeting, wherein every spending bill identifies its funding source would remove the final political nail from taxation and properly recognize that revenue and spending are tightly connected. Tax cuts only increase deficits and budget “surpluses” only reduce deficits when spending remains the same.

Additional procedural reform will be necessary to ensure that Congress does not backslide into their old pork-spending ways. Such changes include raising the majority for any tax raise or tax cut to 2/3 and baring spending amendments that have nothing to do with the bill being discussed. This latter is especially needed to prevent the Senate from violating the spirit of the Constitution's granting of the power to initiate spending bills exclusively to the House.

4. Enforce Roe v. Wade

Let's acknowledge Roe as the “settled law of the land” and enact legislation consistent with the actual ruling. That means:

1. An immediate ban on all late-term abortions, where “late-term” is defined as the point of viability (the point at which the fetus could survive outside of the mother).

2. Regulation of all abortion procedures done after the “compelling point” (arbitrarily defined by Blackmun in his ruling as the end of the first trimester). Such regulation will include an outright ban on all procedures not done for the express purpose of preserving the health and safety of the mother, as agreed by two separate, licensed physicians. Such regulation will also include licensing requirements for both surgeons and facilities providing the procedure.

3. Start a national debate around resolving the unanswered question in Roe, namely, what the “compelling point” actually is. Blackmun engaged in a rather lengthy historical analysis to try to define the “compelling point,” ultimately deciding on the end of the first trimester. That decision is not supported by any of the historical arguments (which demonstrated widely varying interpretations) and is therefore open to debate. This debate must, however, be purely scientific and not religious in nature.

5. Enact sensible gun laws

Owning a gun is an individual right. No honest reading of the historical record can lead one to conclude that that was not intended by the Second Amendment. However, with rights come responsibilities. Requiring current or future gun owners to demonstrate basic competence with a firearm is both reasonable and Constitutional.

Arbitrary restrictions on gun ownership based on the belief that more guns equals more crime will never result in decreasing gun-related violence. We need only look at two countries to see the folly of this belief. Taiwan has one of the most restrictive gun laws in the world – possession of any firearm carries the death penalty. Switzerland has one of the most inclusive gun laws in the world – all citizens between certain ages must own an infantry rifle. In Taiwan there is on average 1 murder per week committed with a gun along with hundreds of armed robberies. In Switzerland, gun-aided crime is nearly zero.

Sensible gun legislation would include limiting individuals to possession of any weapon likely to be employed by infantrymen, up to and including assault weapons. Logically included in this would be inferior and antique weapons. Sensible gun legislation would also include a requirement to obtain a license after demonstrating basic competence, just as sensible driving laws demand that a person demonstrate the ability to properly handle a vehicle prior to obtaining a driver's license.

Finally, sensible gun legislation would also include a law to shield gun manufacturers from liability lawsuits except in the case of negligence as well as specifying additional penalties for the commission of crimes involving the use of firearms.

6. Repeal Social Security

It is futile to assume that Social Security can last. The truth is that Congress, Democrat and Republican alike, has been borrowing from the Social Security Trust Fund for years. By the best estimates, there is already a $4 Trillion unfunded obligation. Whether the cost of Personal Savings Accounts is $6 Trillion or $10 Trillion really doesn't matter. We simply cannot afford to continue this program.

An honest recognition that something must be done is needed. Simple demographics conclusively demonstrates that the current program is not supportable. Whether we increase payroll taxes, decrease benefits, or delay retirement age, the fact remains that we cannot indefinitely continue to fund individual retirement for all Americans. Nor should the Federal Government be in the retirement business.

The unfunded obligation started the day Congress first got the bright idea to try to reduce the deficit by “borrowing” against the Trust Fund. And that unfunded obligation means that at some point in the future (an again it does not matter whether it is 2040, 2041, or 2070) there will be no money to pay anyone. However, just as it was necessary to enact Social Security in the first place, it is also necessary, albeit unfortunate, that we cannot simply “turn off the faucet” so to speak. Therefore, any proposal to repeal or replace Social Security must contain an age-based phase out period. This is not only sensible, but vital to the economic future of America.