My Plan for Saving the United States of America

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