A More Rational Election Agenda for Tea Partiers

Reading this Pajamas article  on yet another pathetic "Conservative Guide for Governing" -- election planks for 2010 -- I was motivated to suggest a few of my own.  These were off the top of my head, and oh-so-much more could be called for, but something to ponder:

 #1 At the immediately achievable end, goals could include:

1A) Start paving the way for repeal of the health care bill in 2012.  More than any other thing, this is the single rallying cry that will galvanize a LOT of voters.  Don't muddy the message:  make it the basic requirement for any politician to get a vote in 2010/12.  A condition of employment.

1B) Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley and "Mark to Market" requirements for business.  More than any other thing, this triggered the financial collapse, though the CRA and other Federal policies that "encouraged" banks to make bad loans  for almost twenty years certainly contributed to the massive credit expansion that is the root of our current crisis.

1C) Eliminate "nation building" as defense department policy.  This is why brush wars like Afghanistan have become so ridiculously expensive.  The Leftists and Neo-Cons (another form of RINO) have infected warfighting with the notion that "winning the peace" is more important than eliminating a threat.  So we spend $2B to conquer Saddam Hussein and $800B to re-build it.  NOT OUR JOB.  We must put the security of the United States first.  If some country we have to conquer needs a new government, they don't get to vote on it.  They get the U.S. Constitution, period.

1D)  Eliminate all foreign subsidies.  If they don't like it, tough. 

1E)  Lots more.

  #2: We also need to start paving the way for mid-range goals (5 - 10 years).  As examples: 

2A) The elimination of Omnibus Bills that have the kitchen sink in them.  We must end smuggled legislation.  Require bills to have a real theme -- and anything that doesn't fit that theme isn't allowed in.  No more agriculture "reparations" in defense bills, for instance. (AKA, Shirley Sherrod.)

2B) Politicians should be required to have their paychecks forfeited if they vote for any bill that exceeds a balanced budget.

2C) Politicians who sponsor and vote for legislation (including the President) that is ultimately ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court should be personally liable in perpetuity for the harmful effects of their legislation to the American people -- and exempt from bankruptcy laws. (Think how this would deter egregiously unconstitutional legislation and omnibus bills.  You can give them an out if they go through review by the Supreme Court before passage.)  

2D) Privatization of Social Security -- which is the only thing that will save that mess.  And the rest of us from the next economic extinction event.  Give people opt-out options, like "don't pay, don't get".  Or, no estate taxes if they opt out.  Etc.  Many tax breaks can be offered to incentivize even the old to get out.  For instance, after 65, let them work tax free to earn more than SSI pays out.  

2E) The elimination of entire Federal Bureaucracies.  Cut them off at the ankles entirely.  AGRICULTURE (billions for crops we don't need and for not growing crops we do need). FDA -- who have killed more people than any other agency with obstacles to new drugs, and support for bad drugs.  Dept. of EDUCATION -- who are killing the nation with ignorance and socialist brainwashing.  INTERIOR DEPARTMENT, who block any new mining and continue the biggest land grab since Ghengis Khan.  Shut DOWN Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Federal government has NO business in the housing).  LABOR department -- treat all unions as businesses (which they are).  SEC -- no more surfing for porn at taxpayer expense.  (Seriously, the SEC doesn't do anything to protect us.  At all.)

2F) Many others.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_United_States_federal_budget.   Did we need all that in 1793? 

 #3: At the long-range (10 - 20 years) we need to promote: 

3A) the requirement that *anyone* receiving Federal subsistence forfeit the _right to vote__, to eliminate the Democratic strategy of expanding handouts to get votes. (Probably requires a Constitutional Amendment and a radical change in the voters -- but you've got to get people thinking and talking about it.) 

3B)  We must call for A SEPARATION OF STATE AND ECONOMICS.  Shouting mandatory.  There is nothing good that the Feds can do for economics except laissez nous faire -- get the hell out of our way.  The Federal government should be forced onto a gold standard (constitutional amendment), prohibited from printing money, and should only be allowed to borrow in a time of declared war. 

I could go on and on.  Let's use our imagination to create new issues that look bad for any politician to oppose.  Box the SOBs into a corner. But the overarching message must be:  Limited Government whose sole task is protecting the Rights of the Individual  -- eliminate group rights!   Protection of Individual Rights is the only thing the government is supposed to be doing.  This is a rallying cry that even some Democrats could support.  Don't dilute it with social issues.  Saving the country right now is too important.