The French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville in 1840, once prophetically said, “The
American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe
the public with the public’s money.” That day is here!
Both parties have succumbed to the temptation of getting elected by promising ever
more goodies from the public coffers, irrespective of constitutional limits, and
to the point that they have irresponsibly enslaved our children with 15.25 trillion
dollars indebtedness. Both parties are blatantly guilty with democrats far more
so the last three years. The national debt has increased at an average of 4 billion
dollars a day under President Barack Obama. The seriousness of this led Admiral
Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to exclaim, “Our national debt
is our biggest national security threat.”
Last summer both big government parties, Democrat and Republican, unable to come
to any agreement, turned their authority over to what was called a “Super Committee”
of six democrats and six republicans and still could not reduce the debt by 1.2
trillion dollars over ten years. Impasse!!
Everything is talked about in the presidential debates except this national security
threat. We will just pretend it away. Why? Because both parties know that the cuts
that have to be made to save the terminal cancer patient have to be drastic, career
politicians, which they are, do not want the media to blame their party—which it
will! So, the ship (the United States) will sink for lack of real leadership, each
party blaming the other.
Not so fast! The Tea Party Patriot movement comes to the rescue again. They predicted
correctly that neither party really represents limited constitutional government
and both are addicted to debt. It is like an addict prescribing his own detox program.
Consequently Freedom Works, a Tea Party affiliate, selected 12 of their own members
and through the Internet invited 150,000 members to make suggestions on what should
be done.
The Tea Party Plan cuts, caps, and balances federal spending. The budget is balanced
in four years, without tax hikes, and remains balanced. Federal spending is reduced
by $9.7 trillion over the next ten years. The plan shrinks the federal government
from 24 % of GDP to about 16 %. Finally it stops the growth of the debt and begins
paying it down. Within a generation there would be no national debt. Bold indeed!
These goals are accomplished, their report continues, by repealing ObamaCare, eliminating
four unconstitutional, costly, inefficient Cabinet agencies—Energy, Education, Commerce,
and HUD—and reducing or privatizing many others, including EPA, TSA, Fannie Mae,
and Freddie Mac. The report calls for ending farm subsidies, government student
loans, and foreign aid to countries that don’t support us—luxuries we can no longer
afford. Social Security is saved and improved by shifting ownership and control
from government to individuals, through new SMART Accounts, a program successfully
tried in Chile. It gives Medicare seniors the right to opt into the special Congressional
health care plan. Moreover, it suspends pension contributions and COLAs for Members
of Congress, whenever the budget is in deficit.
The new plan offers a rational transition to ownership of our own retirement and
more control and choice over our health care. Why did the government fail to accomplish
the same thing—even behind closed doors? Remember, Congress, as Alexis de Tocqueville
predicted, has learned that it can bribe the public with the public’s own money.
Their first concern is to protect their jobs and party. Outsiders, without a personal
stake in the outcome, can see much more and do much more without the inevitable
political wrangling. Will your establishment press share this plan with you? Probably
not.
I will follow in another column with Tea Party specifics on dealing with unfunded
liabilities in Medicare and Social Security which the two big government parties
will never talk about.
Dr. Harold Pease is an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated
his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge
to current events. He has taught history and political science from this perspective
for over 25 years at Taft College. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit
www.LibertyUnderFire.org
By Dr. Harold W. Pease - Posted on February 3, 2012