All Politics Are Local
The former Speaker of the House, the Honorable Tip O'Neill, is credited with coining the phrase "All politics are local". What that means to us is that South Carolina's success....your success.... is directly tied to your representative's ability to understand and influence issues to reflect your interests. Your Congressman represents your interests and the state's interests at the national level. Don't let the word "national" fool you. The issues of the day such as the growing debt and lower standard of living we are leaving our children, the unprecedented money printing that is devaluing the dollar and encouraging inflation, new or increased taxes that will stifle business, declining education in many places, and many other issues deeply affect us all. It is unfortunate that some in Washington have forgotten who they work for. Below are my views on some of those issues that affect us all in District 7:
Balanced Budget Amendment:
Government spending is too high based upon its revenues. Congress has shown its inability to manage money. Why should you care? Because it's your money. Because when your money runs out the government borrows more...up to 40% of every dollar spent. There is no end to the borrowing in sight. And the people that are responsible for borrowing that money are leaving you with the responsibility for paying it off, or paying out billions in interest payments. I'm sure you've heard of the special committee for deficit reduction and other attempts to "cut spending", but you should know that no spending would be cut by these efforts. The only thing affected is the rate of spending increase. Spending still goes up and borrowing continues. I believe a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget is necessary while also setting a cap on the percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that government can receive. Right now the government receives just about 25% of GDP. A constitutional amendment without a spending cap based on GDP (or vice versa) would be counterproductive. If you required a balanced budget without setting a cap, Congress could just increase taxes until the budget was balanced. Also, if you only set a percentage of GDP the government could receive in revenue without a balanced budget requirement, we’d be in the same predicament we are today.
Life:
I believe in the sanctity of life. I do not support abortion, euthanasia, nor the death penalty. I believe the government should not support the killing of its own citizens.
Taxation:
All citizens derive benefit from our form of government and this country that we live in. All citizens are obligated in its support.
I believe the tax code should be overhauled and a more equitable rate structure implemented. A flat tax is an option.
I believe that all income should be treated the same.
I believe that corporate and personal deductions should be eliminated in order to reduce the overall tax rates.
I believe corporate tax rates should mirror personal income tax rates.
Spending:
Government budgets should reflect expected revenue, not a perpetual increase in spending and the need to borrow money we don't have. Optimum spending budgets would be 90% of expected revenue. To accelerate decreases in unnecessary spending, eliminate duplicate programs and reward implemented cost cutting ideas given by employees with a percentage of the cost savings.
Entitlement Programs: You may have heard about a Social Security Trust Fund. It does not exist. The social security taxes you pay go into the general revenue fund and are spent by Congress. You get an IOU generally in the form of bonds that pay interest. Its a paper promise that you will get that tax money plus interest back to fund Social Security. Sure, we owe that money to ourselves, but so much has been spent that getting it all back is a questionable proposition. Social Security is already spending more than it takes in.
All obligations for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should be met. I propose the elimination of the tax cap on Social Security wages and 65 years of age as the base age to receive retirement benefits. I believe if you paid into the system, you are eligible for benefits regardless of “means”. I believe that since Congress squandered over 3 trillion dollars of excess Social Security revenue, the system should be privatized and accounts similar to individual Roth IRAs be set up for all citizens as they enter the work force. Matching contributions, allowing emergency withdrawals, or a minimum guaranteed interest would be discussion items for the Congress. Current or soon to be recipients would not see any changes.
Medicare and Medicaid should be phased out by switching to private Health Savings Accounts or insurance, though some safety net should be retained. Current recipients would not see any changes. Insurance companies should be allowed and encouraged to cross state lines and compete. Mandated insurance should be eliminated, but individual insurance options should be encouraged.
Federal Departments:
Homeland Security: The current Department of Homeland Security was put together quickly to meet a desperate need. But it has grown into something that the American public has begun to look upon with skepticism and concern. The privacy violations of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) are unnecessary. No more grandmothers humiliated at airports. No more Innocent people on "no fly" lists. This agency should evolve into something the American people can trust and respect. I would propose a Homeland Security Cabinet position for policy, making sure that domestic terrorism and security came under the purview of the FBI and overseas ops remain under the CIA since they are already chartered to work those areas. Homeland Security does not need its own SWAT-like teams. A final organization would have to be worked out, but we already have trained manpower that would be hired by private agencies or contractors to the government, possibly with tax incentives or initial subsidies. Enhanced training of security forces at places like airports should include behavioral profiling as is done in some foreign airports. The current Department of Homeland security did its job to quickly plug the holes in our national security posture here at home. Now its time to evolve it to an efficient and privacy conscious organization.
Consolidation of the ever growing government departments makes good organizational and economic sense. Even the President is getting into the act with proposls to consolidate various parts of government. Here's what I think:
- Elements of the Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Department and the Department of Agriculture should be moved into the Interior Department.
- Elements of the Department of Labor and the Transportation Department should move into the Commerce Department.
- The Department of Veteran Affairs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Education should move into the Health and Human Services Department.
These Departments are like giant corporations and Congress needs to address their core roles, goals and methods. All programs initiated should have am "end date” or "review date" to ensure that non-performing programs are eliminated.
Congressional Pay and Benefits:
- All pay raises should be tied to a review process. An automatic pay increase gives the impression that you can do anything or nothing at all, and then be rewarded for it. Pay increases would be tied to criteria such as: budgets submitted on time (the country went without a true budget for far too long under this administration), constituent ratings, federal debt, and others to be decided. Our representatives need to be evaluated on their performance, just like most of the rest of us.
-- Congress should not be given exemptions from the laws they pass. Did you know that Congress does not have to participate in the health care reforms passed under President Obama? They exempted themselves. Some worked out deals for their states as well!
- There should be new and stricter restrictions on lobbying by those in Congress and their staffs once they leave office or no longer serve. Lobbyists routinely make future lobbying jobs available to those serving in Congress and their staffs while they are in office, making it easy to represent the interests served by the lobbyists and not the interests of constituents.
Balanced Budget Amendment:
Government spending is too high based upon its revenues. Congress has shown its inability to manage money. Why should you care? Because it's your money. Because when your money runs out the government borrows more...up to 40% of every dollar spent. There is no end to the borrowing in sight. And the people that are responsible for borrowing that money are leaving you with the responsibility for paying it off, or paying out billions in interest payments. I'm sure you've heard of the special committee for deficit reduction and other attempts to "cut spending", but you should know that no spending would be cut by these efforts. The only thing affected is the rate of spending increase. Spending still goes up and borrowing continues. I believe a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget is necessary while also setting a cap on the percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that government can receive. Right now the government receives just about 25% of GDP. A constitutional amendment without a spending cap based on GDP (or vice versa) would be counterproductive. If you required a balanced budget without setting a cap, Congress could just increase taxes until the budget was balanced. Also, if you only set a percentage of GDP the government could receive in revenue without a balanced budget requirement, we’d be in the same predicament we are today.
Life:
I believe in the sanctity of life. I do not support abortion, euthanasia, nor the death penalty. I believe the government should not support the killing of its own citizens.
Taxation:
All citizens derive benefit from our form of government and this country that we live in. All citizens are obligated in its support.
I believe the tax code should be overhauled and a more equitable rate structure implemented. A flat tax is an option.
I believe that all income should be treated the same.
I believe that corporate and personal deductions should be eliminated in order to reduce the overall tax rates.
I believe corporate tax rates should mirror personal income tax rates.
Spending:
Government budgets should reflect expected revenue, not a perpetual increase in spending and the need to borrow money we don't have. Optimum spending budgets would be 90% of expected revenue. To accelerate decreases in unnecessary spending, eliminate duplicate programs and reward implemented cost cutting ideas given by employees with a percentage of the cost savings.
Entitlement Programs: You may have heard about a Social Security Trust Fund. It does not exist. The social security taxes you pay go into the general revenue fund and are spent by Congress. You get an IOU generally in the form of bonds that pay interest. Its a paper promise that you will get that tax money plus interest back to fund Social Security. Sure, we owe that money to ourselves, but so much has been spent that getting it all back is a questionable proposition. Social Security is already spending more than it takes in.
All obligations for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should be met. I propose the elimination of the tax cap on Social Security wages and 65 years of age as the base age to receive retirement benefits. I believe if you paid into the system, you are eligible for benefits regardless of “means”. I believe that since Congress squandered over 3 trillion dollars of excess Social Security revenue, the system should be privatized and accounts similar to individual Roth IRAs be set up for all citizens as they enter the work force. Matching contributions, allowing emergency withdrawals, or a minimum guaranteed interest would be discussion items for the Congress. Current or soon to be recipients would not see any changes.
Medicare and Medicaid should be phased out by switching to private Health Savings Accounts or insurance, though some safety net should be retained. Current recipients would not see any changes. Insurance companies should be allowed and encouraged to cross state lines and compete. Mandated insurance should be eliminated, but individual insurance options should be encouraged.
Federal Departments:
Homeland Security: The current Department of Homeland Security was put together quickly to meet a desperate need. But it has grown into something that the American public has begun to look upon with skepticism and concern. The privacy violations of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) are unnecessary. No more grandmothers humiliated at airports. No more Innocent people on "no fly" lists. This agency should evolve into something the American people can trust and respect. I would propose a Homeland Security Cabinet position for policy, making sure that domestic terrorism and security came under the purview of the FBI and overseas ops remain under the CIA since they are already chartered to work those areas. Homeland Security does not need its own SWAT-like teams. A final organization would have to be worked out, but we already have trained manpower that would be hired by private agencies or contractors to the government, possibly with tax incentives or initial subsidies. Enhanced training of security forces at places like airports should include behavioral profiling as is done in some foreign airports. The current Department of Homeland security did its job to quickly plug the holes in our national security posture here at home. Now its time to evolve it to an efficient and privacy conscious organization.
Consolidation of the ever growing government departments makes good organizational and economic sense. Even the President is getting into the act with proposls to consolidate various parts of government. Here's what I think:
- Elements of the Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Department and the Department of Agriculture should be moved into the Interior Department.
- Elements of the Department of Labor and the Transportation Department should move into the Commerce Department.
- The Department of Veteran Affairs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Education should move into the Health and Human Services Department.
These Departments are like giant corporations and Congress needs to address their core roles, goals and methods. All programs initiated should have am "end date” or "review date" to ensure that non-performing programs are eliminated.
Congressional Pay and Benefits:
- All pay raises should be tied to a review process. An automatic pay increase gives the impression that you can do anything or nothing at all, and then be rewarded for it. Pay increases would be tied to criteria such as: budgets submitted on time (the country went without a true budget for far too long under this administration), constituent ratings, federal debt, and others to be decided. Our representatives need to be evaluated on their performance, just like most of the rest of us.
-- Congress should not be given exemptions from the laws they pass. Did you know that Congress does not have to participate in the health care reforms passed under President Obama? They exempted themselves. Some worked out deals for their states as well!
- There should be new and stricter restrictions on lobbying by those in Congress and their staffs once they leave office or no longer serve. Lobbyists routinely make future lobbying jobs available to those serving in Congress and their staffs while they are in office, making it easy to represent the interests served by the lobbyists and not the interests of constituents.