Posted on 01/29/2006 4:02:42 PM PST by RWR8189
Lobbying abuses keep party from implementing its ideas and solutions
In the recent and ongoing influence scandal in Washington, members of neither party can claim that their hands are clean. And while neither party is solely responsible for the political fundraising structure, Republicans, who earned their majorities in both the House and the Senate in 1994 as the party of reform, have a particular obligation to restore credibility swiftly and decisively. Re-establishing the integrity of the political process is a necessary precondition to getting on with what Republicans were put in charge to do – and that is the important business of governing.
While the quest to stay in power is legitimate, Republicans are exhausting their energies trying to retain control at the expense of good governance. Governing is, by orders of magnitude, much harder than campaigning, and the majority party seems content to merely preside rather than to govern.
The GOP must reclaim the mantle of reform with the objective of creating a stable governing majority, not just for the sake of remaining in power, but for the future of the nation.
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Governing means finding solutions to the core challenges facing America today, which, taken collectively, are as daunting and difficult as any America has confronted. Defining and implementing these solutions are not a partisan exercise. In fact, on most issues Republicans should expect a comfortable third of Democrats to routinely vote with them. That is the nature of a stable governing majority.
To win the future, America requires new ideas, new strategies and new solutions. Let's start with nine.
One, it is necessary that America soberly confront a world in which America's enemies, including the irreconcilable wing of Islam and rogue dictatorships, could acquire and use nuclear or biological weapons. Iran appears intent on developing a nuclear weapon and the Iranian regime has made clear its intention to defeat the Anglo-Saxons (meaning the United States and Britain) and eliminate Israel from the face of the Earth.
Moreover, North Korea, led by the unpredictable Kim Jong Il, very likely already possesses nuclear weapons, which requires a coherent strategy to prevent their further proliferation to our enemies and a vastly more robust military and intelligence capability.
Two, our reliance on oil from countries that are either unstable as in the case of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Nigeria and Iraq, or openly hostile to the United States – Iran and Venezuela – means that we need a comprehensive strategy that combines energy, environmental and national security concerns into a sound long-range program that minimizes American energy dependence while maximizing biodiversity, environmental health and economic prosperity.
Three, our national borders remain dangerously open to terrorists despite the public warning from the director of the Central Intelligence Agency that a nuclear weapon could conceivable be driven by truck into the United States from either Mexico or Canada.
At the same time, there are millions of people in the United States illegally and more arriving daily. Congress must work to greatly enhance border security using more border agents and technology that focus resources on vulnerabilities. Congress also must reform immigration policy by creating a rational guest worker program that meets American economic needs. Such a program would use biometric identifiers and a smart card to allow us to know who is here, where they are, and what they are doing. Guest workers would sign a contract agreeing to pay taxes and obey the law or face immediate removal within 72 hours. Congress must not accept amnesty; all who are here illegally must return home before they can secure legal guest worker status.
Four, for our children and new Americans, we must return to teaching American history, the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and their core writings, their importance and why America is a uniquely successful civilization worth protecting. Immigrants wanting to become American citizens should pass a U.S. history test given in English. We should, in particular, require the study of the Declaration of Independence and discuss why Thomas Jefferson thought it so important to place God at the center of the formation of our country by acknowledging that our rights come from our creator.
Five, we must reform the crumbling capabilities of our government bureaucracies. Hurricane Katrina was a vivid example of the objective fact that government today is incapable of moving at the speed of the Information Age and this must change. During Katrina, government failed at the local, state and federal levels. We have now entrusted the same bureaucratic system to create an effective response to an Avian flu or other potential pandemic, a problem a thousand times more complex.
America needs to move from an outdated bureaucratic public administration model into an entrepreneurial public management model that makes sense in the Information Age. It is simply impossible for the American government to meet the challenges of the 21st century with the bureaucracy, regulations and systems of the 1930s. The Republicans should no longer accept and defend the institutions they inherited from the left, but should instead, calmly and methodically, replace them with modern systems that reflect the reliability, speed and accuracy of ATM machines, overnight delivery services, gas pumps that take credit cards, or travel Web sites.
Six, we must reform health care. Already 16 percent of our economy and nearly 26 percent of the federal budget goes to health care. Transforming the entire health care delivery system will save lives and enough money to be able to return to a balanced budget.
The needed reforms in health care are far too numerous to list here, but strategies are urgently needed to deal with an epidemic of children susceptible to diabetes and obesity, disparities in care delivery that keep African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans from achieving best health outcomes, tens of millions without health insurance, and tens of thousands suffering or dying every year needlessly because of preventable medical and medication errors. A transformed health system would be consumer-centered, knowledge-rich, innovation-friendly, outcomes-based, prevention-focused and market-driven.
Seven, Congress must face the success that there will be more people living past the age of 80 than in all of human history. Therefore, we must look at solutions to keep people healthy, productive and active for as long as possible. That will require reforms in health care, pensions and Social Security. Allowing young Americans to have the choice of a personal Social Security savings account is absolutely necessary.
Eight, improving math and science education is the single greatest challenge to our continued economic and national security leadership. Without a profound improvement in math and science learning, America will simply not be able to sustain its national security nor compete for high value jobs in the world market. Congress should look at proposals like forgiving student loan interest to entice more students into the challenging areas of math and science and paying high school students in poor neighborhoods the equivalent of working a part-time job to get a grade of B or higher in math and science.
Nine, American industry is not competing in the world market at a level worthy of who we are. One example is the worry about General Motors and Ford facing potential bankruptcy while foreign competitors are producing high quality cars in the United States with lower operational costs. To compete globally, Congress must look at reforms in taxation, education, regulation, litigation, energy and health care so that American companies can compete without government-imposed disadvantages.
These are all great challenges requiring solutions that must be communicated to the American people in a way that wins broad support.
But in order to meet these challenges, Republicans in Congress must first restore the public trust. Corrupting influences are an inevitable consequence of big government. A federal government that is too large is irresistibly attractive to special interests groups and their fixers. For Republicans the earmarks for lobbyists are inexcusable. Republicans are not supposed to be the party of pork. After all, we're the party of the people who actually end up paying for the pork.
Jack Abramoff broke the law and will be punished, but the self-perpetuating incumbency protection racket, made lawful by lawmakers, is far more dangerous to our representative republic than the current scandal.
Notwithstanding its promise of removing corrupting political temptations, campaign finance reforms like the McCain-Feingold Act have only served to concentrate power in Washington while diminishing citizens' right to promote issues and candidacies that reflect their interests. This is especially true where the parties have recruited millionaires and billionaires to buy public office.
We are entering a period in American history when the challenges will be so important and the consequences of failure will be so catastrophic for our children and grandchildren that we must act decisively. We owe them an America that is the safest, freest and most prosperous country in the world.
Twenty-five years ago in his first inaugural address, Ronald Reagan said, “We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today.”
Ronald Reagan's words from 1981 still ring true today. To achieve a stable, governing Republican majority, the GOP must define a vision, set goals, pursue new ideas, communicate with clarity, and deliver solutions to meet the very real challenges that threaten our unique civilization. In short, we must invent the future. And we must act, beginning today.
Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America.” He will keynote the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on Feb. 11.Newt? I really, really wish I could like you. You have awesome ideas, however they come packaged in an adulterous little pasty-faced troll.
I just can't do it. Sorry. :(
Newt gets it.
Same here. Newt's a fine one to talk anyway. Sheesh.
Good post, RWR. For it is conservatism that will save America. And it is conservatism, not the person, that we should lay claim too.
LOL - I like what he says but I don't like him.
Whether we like Newt or not, he is an idea man and that is needed in the Republican party. His background and reputation probably do not make him electable, but he can serve the Party in some important capacity nonetheless.
I'm with you. I can't stand this suck-up Gingrich and the way some people of FR worship him suprises me.
Newt can best serve the party by going away.
He's the last person to lecture Republicans about scandal.
Newt Gingrich is a Twice Divorced ChickenHawk with a Superiority Complex. He is like alot of the GOP "Leadership".
Is this Newt's stump speech? The balloon ain't gonna fly but I guess he will have fun & face time until he gets knocked out in the first primary.
Don't get me wrong. The Republicans need to agree on and adopt a clear, specific, attractive set of actions they will take if returned to power. But given the history detailed above, Newt is not the man to carry it forward.
"His background and reputation probably do not make him electable, but he can serve the Party in some important capacity nonetheless."
Nope. Sorry. I have my standards. He's creepy. He's blown his "street cred" with me. And I don't care if he's only eligible to be elected Dog Catcher. Morals matter to me.
Why compromise your morals and standards? As a Conservative, you can live with that? I can't. And as a woman, I certainly don't take advice from the likes of him. Maybe it's a "Guy Thang?" ;)
"Don't get me wrong. The Republicans need to agree on and adopt a clear, specific, attractive set of actions they will take if returned to power."
If RETURNED to power? We HAVE the power. We're just not using it to our full advantage. I know; some days I wonder about that too, LOL!
The party will lose its control of the Congress and White House if it continues to be governed by the religious zealots who are intent upon incorporating their religiosity into law. Social conservatism is anathema to the great mass of the American electorate, fiscal conservatism is not. The intraparty riff between the two grows larger and more significant every time the presently controlling faction crams some theologically driven societal change down the throats of the party regulars and the popular electorate. One day in the future we'll be on the outside looking in and wondering what the hell happened.
"Reform healthcare?" I saw that and about puked. Get the GOVERNMENT OUT OF HEALTHCARE.....then we'd be making progress.
I understand what you are saying, but in my view every 2 years all members of Congress are out of power. An incumbent, re-elected, has been returned to power by his or her constituents.
The distinction is a subtle one and one that is totally lost in today's debate. But I think it is an important one as it reflects most closely the intent of the Founders.
I wish Newt hadn't messed up his chances. He has great ideas, and expresses them eloquently, but he wasn't that great at the leading part....
"The distinction is a subtle one and one that is totally lost in today's debate. But I think it is an important one as it reflects most closely the intent of the Founders."
I can live with that. Wish more people paid as much attention to this as you do. ;)
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