It is important to understand that 300 million CITIZENS own this country.  There is no way to have someone or some entity (businesses) pay for anything.  WE are the ultimate payers for everything WE get from the Federal government.

            BUDGET
            There will be a balanced budget amendment.  Right now our Federal government borrows money without asking permission from the CITIZENS who are paying back the loans with interest.  This has to stop.  The Federal government will be required to spend only within what it receives in revenue.  For 30+ years or until the Federal debt it paid off, the Federal government will be required to run a $300 billion per year surplus to pay down the debt.  TAXES (see discussion on Taxes) will be increased.  There is no choice but for US to pay what WE owe to others.  The Budget Amendment will activate in year 2017 giving the first Office of the Presidents 4 years to get spending under control.

    While I believe any religious reference or reference to God should be absent from any Federal facility and from being printed on our currency, I do believe that a little Shakespeare should appear in every Federal facility:

 

 

“Neither a borrower nor lender be;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend,

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.”

 

(husbandry means work)

 

            HEALTH CARE

            Health Care is a States issue.  We have 50 of them.  Each State becomes responsible for the health care of it's residents.  99% of all health care is provided to a patient in the State where the patient resides.  What gets paid for health care within a State, stays in that State.  States will have reciprocal arrangements with all other States to cover Citizens traveling out of their home State.  Each State has the incentive to reduce their healthcare costs, whichever health care delivery model they choose.  The Federal government is to act solely to set minimum standards and to be a safety net for healthcare for the States that can't figure it out on their own.

            TAXES

WE  own this country.  WE are the only entity that pays taxes.  There is no such thing as businesses paying taxes.  Currently businesses collect taxes for the government, and then pass along those costs to YOU, their customer in the form of higher prices.  Plus WE are taxing the wrong thing, productivity (income tax) instead of consumption (sales tax).  If there is a social engineering part to a tax system it should be to encourage and support CITIZENs to be as productive as possible while at the same time encourage them to be frugal consumers.

 

WE will enact the Fair Tax (www.FairTax.org) .  The USA will become a tax haven for businesses so job creation will be large and immediate.  An estimated $10 trillion that sits offshore legally avoiding paying US taxes will be repatriated and put to work in our economy.  The Fair Tax is calculated to replace current revenue to the Federal Government.  To get our house in order and start running $300 billion annual surpluses the tax rate of the Fair Tax will have to be increased.

The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including:

• A progressive national retail sales tax.
• A prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level.
• Dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality.
• Repeal of the 16th Amendment through companion legislation.

 

 

EDUCATION

12-month curriculum and reward good teachers with much higher pay.  EVERY qualified student will have access to a 4 year college degree regardless of financial need.  But for the most part education will be a State issue, not Federal.

 

MILITARY

smaller but effective, and no longer the world’s policeman.  WE go where invited, or WE go in groups with allied countries, or WE don’t go.  

 

ENERGY

By 2013 T. Boone Pickens and his Pickens Plan will be in it’s fourth year.  WE will help things along by taxing imported oil to the $100 per barrel level to maintain an economic incentive for alternative energies to be developed.  This oil tax will be spent on supporting alternative energy R&D.

 

The Pickens Plan.

“There are several pillars to the Pickens Plan:

• Create millions of new jobs by building out the capacity to generate up to 22 percent of our electricity from wind. And adding to that with additional solar generation capacity;
• Building a 21st century backbone electrical transmission grid;
• Providing incentives for homeowners and the owners of commercial buildings to upgrade their insulation and other energy saving options; and
• Using America's natural gas to replace imported oil as a transportation fuel in addition to its other uses in power generation, chemicals, etc.

While dependence on foreign oil is a critical concern, it is not a problem that can be solved in isolation. We have to think about energy as a whole, and that begins by considering our energy alternatives and thinking about how we will fuel our world in the next 10 to 20 years and beyond.”

 

 On May 12, 2009, Jimmy Carter testified in a Senate hearing that the energy challenges haven’t changed much since he was President, primarily because of special interests of the oil industry.  We’ve gone from 46% of our oil imported when Carter was President (1977 to 1981), to 60% today.

 

MARITAL RIGHTS

Every CITIZEN has the right to choose 1 human to legally marry.  Any and every married couple will have nothing more and nothing less than equal protection in all matters concerning civil law in all 50 States.  For any CITIZEN who objects to this based on his/her own moral or religious beliefs then do note that you are fully within your rights to try to convince others to live within your moral or religious beliefs.

 

OTHER MORALS

WE have to stop trying to legislate morality – it doesn’t work and is wasteful of $billions.  Gambling, prostitution, alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes will all be legal – legalize, regulate and tax, with help available to those with problems with these products or services.

 

WE should also take this opportunity to invite in a few new States – Bahamas, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and yes even Cuba – extend an invitation to the people of Cuba that WE would welcome them as a State after they overthrow their current government.  OR create 1 new State called The Caribbean Basin.

 

IMMIGRATION

While I’d like to say “give US your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…” (inscription on the Statue of Liberty), WE have to be smart about immigration.  It is not necessarily clear to me or any economist that an economy automatically adjusts to provide jobs for a growing population.  WE need to take some time to digest this revolution before welcoming more people to become CITIZENS of the USA.  The Fair Tax might help in this regard as the prebate feature is available only to CITIZENS – an illegal immigrant is going to be further disadvantaged economically compared to his/her CITIZEN neighbors.

 

And speaking of neighbors:

Reportedly only about 30% of colonialists were in favor of revolution against the King of England.  It’s difficult to report on the sentiment of the other 70% but at least it was “US against them” and “them” were people in a country all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.  In the Revolution of 2013 it will be neighbor against neighbor.  Those against this platform will include the 435 Representatives of the House of Representatives, lobbyists, anyone who earns their living because the income tax code is complicated (maybe 500,000 people), and anyone who owns or has a stake in for-profit health care.  Many against this platform will be those with knee-jerk reactions of “you just CAN’T change the Presidency and Congress”.  Then there will be lots of CITIZENS who will always believe that the solution is simply to elect the “right people”.