The Plan to Get Us Back on Track

By Mary V. Larkin

Common sense seems to be on hiatus in Washington DC and Sacramento these days. Why do politicians keep supporting ideas that will bankrupt us? With soaring debt, tax rates and inflation no one will be enjoying the perks of a healthy economy including environmental causes, entitlement recipients and of course businesses, working men and woman and the middle class. We will all suffer. Let's fix this mess now! I've included some basic Do's and Dont's that I would support or fight against.

Here is a preliminary list of things to avoid:

• Spending more money than you have.
• Overtaxing your tax base.(Gets less $ & is wrong)
• Waging unnecessary wars.
• Expanding the role of government.
• Infringing on the rights of your citizens.
• Encouraging Unions that weaken your work force and demand huge member pensions that will bankrupt us.
• Disrespecting the legal foundation of your country (in our case The Constitution) when it is the only real reason your country has not devolved into the chaos and violence that most nations have faced so often.

• Stop spending and return stimulus money or apply it towards the deficit.
• Insist the Federal Reserve stop printing money.
• Cut programs that are not directly protecting the lives of US Citizens.
• Throw the Cap and Trade bill into the recycle bin and allow other countries to become developed like we are so they can enjoy the good life also.
• Terminate the Health Care reform bill (aka "power grab") Congress is forcing on us and open a real discussion on competition and tort reform to bring health care costs down.
• Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Put the returning soldiers to work helping rebuild our country's infrastructure which is crumbling. Be ready to defend ourselves here. Utilize the CIA as needed instead of punishing them!
• Stop passing stupid laws that infringe on our freedom!
• Simplify the tax code! Let the public pay for the services and products they use. No more slush funds for our corrupt politicians at our expense. Maybe have a small, flat tax across the board for everyone. The rich will still be paying most of the taxes (for those that think they should). If fact, they'll probably end up paying more money because they won't feel as much need to hide their assets anymore. 10% of 9 million is a lot more than 45% of an offshore account the IRS can't touch. If government would just stop spending like an addict that level of tax revenue should be enough.
• Stop creating government jobs! I would immediately suspend any government hiring except for positions outlined by The Constitution.
• To avoid rebellion and suffering, some kind of plan like to following would have to be implemented. I would suggest that citizens over 50 who currently have government jobs be allowed to keep their jobs until retirement (which should be the same age as the rest of us). I would also want anyone who has worked for the government for at least 20 years, is over the age of 50 and is expecting retirement benefits to keep most of their benefits. Once they retired those jobs would be relinquished to the private sector which can handle any task better and cheaper than the government can (it's been proven). Government employees under 50 years of age would be offered assistance and training to find a new job in the growing private sector. This is an over-simplified outline of a plan and certain amendments would undoubtedly be required, but that's the general direction of the plan.
• Reduce the deficit! It must be reduced drastically right now! Bringing our troops home and reducing the size of our enormous government would save us SO MUCH MONEY. It may seem extreme, but if we don't reduce the deficit, the consequences will be severe.
• Instead of the Federal Government buying more unneeded land which is what Obama wants to do, sell some of the Federal land! We could raise a lot of money that way with the original sale as well as tax revenues collected from the new owner(s). Furthermore, money we currently spend maintaining these lands could be put to better use (like paying off the deficit!) We cannot continue to ignore the pending doom this country is facing because some of the solutions are not philosophically ideal. Believe me, not many would even notice if we sold a third of the government owned, unused land.
• Fix the Education system by reducing the power of Teachers' Unions, allow school vouchers and choice. Allow more charter schools, especially in poorer neighborhoods. Let the Free Market fix the quality problem.