Posted on 11/23/2011 4:52:48 AM PST by Kaslin
One of the most disappointing things about the last three decades of American government are the opportunities that politicians have missed to set the country back on the path of prosperity and fiscal sanity.
We’ve had a lot of opportunities, but fumbled the chance in the same type of skirmishing that went on in the Super Committee, which is the same type of skirmishing we got with the debt ceiling, which is the same type…you get the idea.
Now, in a form of poetic justice that shows that God has a sense of humor and a long memory, the GOP just may be given back that moment of opportunity in 1994 when the Contract with America propelled the House to a Republican majority for the first time in 40 years; back to a time when freshman congressmen pledged self-imposed term-limits; before a time when many of those same congressmen took back that pledge- and many other pledges.
And while the Contract was a collaborative effort, no name was more strongly attached to it than current presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s.
The Contract was a document that captured the imagination of the believers in limited government and self-reliance and capital markets. It told us the American people had an advocate who took small government seriously. The Contract still is a powerful image in the minds of small government, free market conservatives.
And that is why I would relish a Newt Gingrich presidency as a chance at redeeming that lost opportunity.
The Contract contained provisions that would have included a balanced budget amendment, term limits for Congress, tort reform, the elimination of legislation by regulation- made practically an art form by our current administration.
In fact, I think it’s safe to say that had the Contract with America been fully implemented we would have not faced decades of boom and bust policies emanating from the federal government. At the very least, we certainly would not be facing the super deficits, the spiraling economic crisis, out-of-control federal spending and un-helpful entanglements with the UN had we heeded the advice of then House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Like Winston Churchill, who spent much of two decades in the political wilderness because he wanted to be right rather than powerful, Gingrich has proven to be prescient when it comes to what kills our economy.
This week Gingrich released major details of his new contract called a 21st Century Contract with America.
In the new contract, the campaign vows to “[liberate] the poor from the trap of the Welfare Empire through new programs that are tailored to local communities, that promote work and that incentivize lifelong study. Building on the success of the 1996 welfare reforms, block-granting all federal means tested welfare programs back to the states would help millions move from dependency to prosperity while saving taxpayers trillions.”
Gingrich says that we have three choices when it comes to entitlement reform: 1) The Fantasy option- an option which I think best describes the Democrats’ approach to government; 2) The Austerity option- an option which we see Europe being forced into because of dawdling too long on Fantasy Island with the Democrats; and 3) the Growth and Innovation option- an option which plays to America’s strength as the global economic powerhouse that our traditional reliance on free markets and innovation used to secure for us.
But first Americans have to come to terms with the failures of their approach to government over the last four decades.
“The current system is broken,” says Gingrich. “Schools do not adequately prepare young Americans for adulthood and the workforce. Americans pay into Social Security their entire lifetimes to receive dismal, inadequate returns. Medicare dramatically limits options for retired Americans. And the welfare empire that has grown since the1960s is the greatest engine of inequality of all, trapping millions of Americans in a cycle of poverty.”
While the campaign acknowledges that changing the system will be “controversial,” the reforms once enacted will be like the welfare reform of the 1990s: so successful that even Democrats will have to embrace them.
Obama has governed under the philosophy of not letting our current crisis go to waste to force unpopular “transformation” of American society. Republicans should respond by not letting this great opportunity go to waste to reestablish a traditional small government, free market approach that has been opened up by Democrat overreach and mismanagement.
Because this could be our last chance.
Is this the “humane” thing to do?
He he
No, the humane and pure thing to do would be to nominate an untested, inexperienced huckster given to garbled transmissions and seeking on-the-job government training in the position of leader of the free world, now that Obama has broken the glass ceiling for slick-talking rookies.
It’s a great position to be in - another contract - the last contract was a success.
You are obviously a hater of this candidate. Why be a Bachmann and tear everyone down? Why be afraid that only by tearing down others can your chosen candidate have a shot?
it’s a losing strategy. Ask michelle.
This could indeed be our last chance. I’m voting for the guy who has delivered a balanced budget and required moochers to find work. If he doesn’t want to wheel Abuela to the Rio Grande and dump her, chair and all, I can live with that.
Thank you from proving the point about the Newt Cultists
You just resorted to Cult of Personality follower debate tactics 1.
Cult of Personality debate tactic 1.
When incapable of making a rational defense of the cult figure’s record or statements, divert attention off the cult leaders failing by going into hysteric personal attack mode at anyone challenging the PR spin being projected around the cult leader.
Thank you from proving the point about the Newt Cultists
You just resorted to Cult of Personality follower debate tactics 1.
Cult of Personality debate tactic 1.
When incapable of making a rational defense of the cult figure’s record or statements, divert attention off the cult leaders failing by going into hysteric personal attack mode at anyone challenging the PR spin being projected around the cult leader.
Getting tiresome isn’t it?
It seems FReepers are getting used to the ‘dictatorship’ of the POTUS.
Our better candidates are having a conversation with us - not issuing a ‘manifesto’.
We are becoming ideologues - not realists. There are 300 million inhabitants of the US - an untidy bunch. If we were a painting we would be a Jackson Pollock - not a Monet.
At least that “untested huckster” had nothing to do with making the mess we currently have to correct, and made his money outside of politics.
These professional pols are why we are IN THIS MESS!
NOOT’s newfound spine will last halfway through the first day of lobbying.
When challenged to defend the actions of the Cult Leader, sing vapid praise songs about how wonderful he is, and what a great plan he has. At all costs divert attention off the Cult Leaders failures and short comings.
Hey Newbie.....are you saying that Obama made his money outside of politics??
Hater? No. Just someone experienced with Newt’s promises versus Newt’s wanderings.
Yes, I'd say actually making the system work would be the humane thing to do. And it would also be the one that makes economic sense and could entirely reenergize our country.
But if you want to stay on the Dems' Fantasy Island, where we keep the existing dysfunctional system in everything from immigration to education to taxes, go ahead.
“Poor little illegal aliens—tell you what—be illegal long enough and we will give you amnesty.”
Man, he coulda been a contender...
On the contrary, saying that illegals deserve free stuff is more the Democrat thing, not wanting to reward them.
There’s a very short list of freepers to whom I never respond, or even finish reading when it posts a comment.
LLS
I don’t care who you are, that right there is FUNNY!
Gingrich on illegals, 11/22/11:
I did vote for the Simpson-Mazzoli Act. Ronald Reagan, in his diary, says he signed it – and we were supposed to have 300,000 people get amnesty. There were 3m. But he signed it because we were going to get two things in return. We were going to get control of the border and we were going to get a guest worker program with employer enforcement.
We got neither. So I think you’ve got to deal with this as a comprehensive approach that starts with controlling the border, as the governor said. I believe ultimately you have to find some system – once you’ve put every piece in place, which includes the guest worker program, you need something like a World War II Selective Service Board that, frankly, reviews the people who are here.
If you’re here – if you’ve come here recently, you have no ties to this country, you ought to go home. period. If you’ve been here 25 years and you got three kids and two grandkids, you’ve been paying taxes and obeying the law, you belong to a local church, I don’t think we’re going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out.
The Krieble Foundation is a very good red card program that says you get to be legal, but you don’t get a pass to citizenship. And so there’s a way to ultimately end up with a country where there’s no more illegality, but you haven’t automatically given amnesty to anyone.
I do suggest if you go back to your district, and you find people who have been here 25 years and have two generations of family and have been paying taxes and are in a local church, as somebody who believes strongly in family, you’ll have a hard time explaining why that particular subset is being broken up and forced to leave, given the fact that they’ve been law-abiding citizens for 25 years.
I do not believe that the people of the United States are going to take people who have been here a quarter century, who have children and grandchildren, who are members of the community, who may have done something 25 years ago, separate them from their families, and expel them.
I do believe if you’ve been here recently and have no ties to the US, we should deport you. I do believe we should control the border. I do believe we should have very severe penalties for employers, but I would urge all of you to look at the Krieble Foundation Plan.
I don’t see how the party that says it’s the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century. And I’m prepared to take the heat for saying, let’s be humane in enforcing the law without giving
them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their families.
( An informative article on the Krieble Foundation can be read here: http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/283929/newt-gingrich-and-krieble-foundation-plan-reihan-salam )
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