Back in 1994, the Republican Party gained the majority of seats in the House of Representatives with a campaign it called 'Contract With America'. The 'Tea Party Movement' has now co-opted and adapted the name to a new project it calls 'Contract From America'.
On its Web site, the Contract promoters state:
The Contract From America is the ultimate grassroots democratic experiment. The tea party movement has the potential of completely reshaping American politics. But to achieve this goal, we need to be proactive, rather than just reactive. The Contract From America project allows you to play a key role in developing a 10-point economic conservative plan that we can use to push for real reform in Washington. Submit your ideas and vote and comment on those of other fellow patriots.
I like that! In particular, I like the fact that the movement is non-partisan. It doesn't matter whether one is a Democrat, an Independent or a Republican: one can participate in this forum, put forward ideas and suggestions, vote on the positions offered for consideration, and help to shape something meaningful to put before our politicians.
As of this evening, the ten most popular (i.e. user-supported) proposals advanced so far were:
- Abolish the Department of Education;
- Implement Congressional Term Limits;
- Implement the Fair Tax;
- Establish an Official Language of the United States;
- Require that legislation contain no unrelated amendments;
- Require that Congress shall not exempt themselves from measures that affect the people;
- Pass Nationwide Medical Malpractice Tort Reform;
- Drill Here, Drill Now (for oil);
- Permit interstate Health Insurance competition;
- Limit citizenship to those born of two US citizen parents, abolishing the so-called 'anchor baby' provision.
I can support most of those proposals with a clear conscience. There are many others under discussion.
I think this is a great idea! I'll be actively participating in this forum, and I hope that something worthwhile will emerge, to lay before our political candidates next election (of any and all parties) and ask them to sign on to the points it contains.
I hope many of you will join me there. See you at the Contract From America Web site!
Peter
3 comments:
The problem with the "fair tax" is that a lot of the richest 1% will take a lot of their money out of the country, and won't be paying any tax AT ALL.
Private imports will also probably rise.
Actually, I suspect a lot of very wealthy people will move their money back into the country, since they'll now be able to do so without paying crushing taxes on it.
In any event, it would almost certainly be offset by the huge efficiency gains at the IRS.
dave has it right. There are trillions of $US currently working overseas due to the tax consequences of bringing that currency home. With no tax liability on labor and capital, the US would become a tax haven, not only bringing home that money, but attracting foreign investment as well. There would be little incentive for the "richest 1%" to hide their money overseas.
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