Such a bold – almost arrogant
– title. That I should presume to know
how to save our country. That I should
presume our country needs saving.
But it does.
I believe deeply that
the America we were taught about – our Declaration, our Revolution, and our Constitution
establishing a Republic of laws that guaranteed the rights of all individuals –
is going the way of the Dodo bird. It
has, in fact, been sick and dying for the last hundred years.
I also believe that
both our political parties have thrown us overboard. I believe that neither party represents the
ideals of liberty and freedom anymore, and that, in fact, the difference
between Republicans and Democrats is the difference between fascism and
communism.
And so, since our
elected representatives choose to serve their corporate masters by doing
nothing but kick the can down the road, I offer my own plan to save America.
Please note…this is
not an answer to every problem we face.
This is not a plan for Utopia. This
is a plan to address our most critical problems, restore freedom and improve
our economy.
Step1: End
the Spending. All Federal spending
should be frozen at current levels immediately.
In other words…it’s time to hit the “debt ceiling”. You can’t begin to cut until you stop all
further growth. It’s very simple…if you
don’t stop the bastards, they’ll never stop.
Step 2: End
the Wars. This country needs to come
to the realization that most everything we declare war on, we end up with more
of – whether it be terrorism, drugs or poverty.
America needs to bring her troops home and defend her own borders and
stop acting as policeman for the world…or muscle for global corporations or the
U.N.. The President should not be
permitted to authorize U.S. troops to attack any foreign enemy without a
Declaration of War by Congress.
At the same time,
America needs to end the wars it has declared on its own people – namely the “homeland”
war on terror and the so-called “war on drugs”.
Step 3: End
the Fed. I use this term because it
was made popular by former Congressman Ron Paul. At the very least there should be a full,
open audit of the Federal Reserve. Also,
being a private entity anyway, the Federal Reserve could still function as a “bank
of bankers”. Instead of the Treasury borrowing
money from the Fed, the Fed could borrow money out of the U.S. Treasury to fund
the banking industry, and pay interest to the U.S. citizens…in essence,
reversing the current relationship.
Along with this would
have to come an overhaul of our currency and banking system, as well as a
re-negotiation/re-structuring of U.S. debt, which is far beyond the scope of
this article.
Step 4: End
the IRS. Or, more accurately, end
the personal income tax. This is not
only an economic issue (what better way to stimulate the economy than to let
people keep and spend their own money?), but a moral issue. When a government – any government – lays
claim to your wages…the money you earn by the sweat of your brow…it is laying
claim to a part of YOU. It is saying it
owns a portion of your labor. I formerly
referred to this as “slavery”, but I guess a more accurate description would be
“indentured servitude”. Either way, it
is immoral. If we end our global
militarism and end the war on drugs, as well as tax the legitimized drug trade,
we could end the income tax. All other
revenue could be shifted to corporate, capital gains and sales taxes, tariffs
on foreign goods and user fees.
Step 5: End
the “Department of Redundancy Department”.
Again…this topic is too big for the scope of this piece, so I will give
one example: Homeland Security. First, a
question. Why does a nation with a
trillion dollar Defense Dept. need a huge “Dept. of Homeland Security”? The answer is it doesn’t. Homeland Security, with all its domestic
spying, privacy invasions, and Constitutional violations should be shut down
immediately. The security of this nation
should rest totally with the Dept. of Defense, and that includes our national intelligence
services (i.e. – CIA, FBI, NSA), FEMA, and CDC.
I would also argue that the Secret Service should be moved to
Defense. (Did you know that the Secret
Service is actually a function of the Treasury Dept.? A Treasury Dept. usually run by bankers (i.e.
– Timothy Geithner)? Does anyone else
wonder why we would trust the safety of the President to a department run by
bankers?)
Along with
streamlining Federal agencies, other departments should be shut down
immediately – such as, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy,
the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the aforementioned Department
of Homeland Security, among others. All
of the functions of these services should be reverted to the states.
Step 6: End
Private Prisons. The prison system,
both federal and state, must be nationalized and private corporations must
cease the running of these facilities.
Again…this is a moral issue.
Criminals must be incarcerated, but no one should profit from the incarceration
of human beings. This will only lead to
one thing…more incarcerations. And
America already has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
Step 7: End the tyranny and oppression. In a sentence…we must end all use of force in
an attempt to engineer society. All
people must be free to live their lives as they see fit, so long as they do not
violate the rights of others. All laws
regarding so-called “consensual crimes” (i.e. – drug use, prostitution,
gambling) are anathema to a free society.
Society has the right to regulate these areas to maintain quality of
life (i.e. – age restrictions for drug use, licensing for prostitutes, etc.). But society does not have the right to
prohibit an individual from his/her pursuit of happiness based on public
opinion polls or some politicians need to seem relevant.
It is very
simple: if you can tell me what I may or
may not do with, or put into, my own body…then I am not free.
And if I am not free,
then you are not free.
And if WE are not
free, then our Constitutional Republic is dead…and America is no more.
These six steps are
non-negotiable. They are intertwined and
each needs to be carried out in order for the others to work.
As I said at the
beginning, this plan will not create a Utopia or answer all of our
problems. But it is a beginning. And what it will do is restore the United
States to being a free and open society.
It will show the world that America is not an evil empire. It will show that we are capable of being
humble, and admitting our mistakes. It
will show the world that America is serious about the things we preach –
freedom, liberty, justice. And it will
also show the world we are serious about getting our economic house in
order. This, in turn, will restore
confidence not only in our country…but in our currency. And this will help to truly stabilize our
economy.
At its core, what
this plan seeks to do is strip away power and authority from a bloated and
corrupt federal government, and restore it to the states and to the people.
And while I do not
believe in Utopia, I do believe that to achieve this end would be to restore
our Republic…to restore America to being a shining city on a hill.
kc2013
