Posted on 12/05/2015 6:19:39 AM PST by Timber Rattler
To protect American national security we must first understand what threatens American national security. We must grasp who our enemies are, what animates them, and how they work together - despite their internecine rivalries - to destroy us from without and within. We must stop trying to define "true Islam" and start restoring our own principles as our guide: liberty, equality of opportunity, the rule of law, and peace through strength.
The vast majority of Americans still believe in these principles. It is Washington that has lost faith. It is Washington that looks at liberty's enemies and sees friends; that looks at anti-Western Islamic supremacists and sees "moderates" it can play ball with; that looks at lawbreakers and tut-tuts that "the system is broken."
Reinvigorating American principles will require taming Washington. It calls for restoring the Constitution as a vital limit on government, not a relic...or an obstacle. Ted Cruz gets this. Many Republicans talk the talk - we hear it in every election season, right up until it is time to stop campaigning and start governing. Senator Cruz walks the walk. That is why I believe he should be the next president of the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
You take the position of Boehner/Ryan/McConnell. It doesn't work.
February 10, 2014
WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today outlined his vision for unleashing American jobs and opportunity by harnessing our nation's energy resources. He spoke at the Heritage Action for America's 2014 Conservative Policy Summit.
"A Great American Energy Renaissance is at our fingertips," Sen. Cruz said. "There is only one thing that will stop us from embracing it to its full potential: the federal government. Nothing else will stop the next generation of American energy pioneers. It won't be lack of determination, ingenuity, or grit. It will be some faceless bureaucrat who simply says, "You're not allowed to do that."
"Yes, President Obama should drop his political opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline. But we also need to think bigger than a single pipeline. Here we stand at the edge of an energy revolution that is sweeping the nation, providing an untold number of new opportunities and well-paying jobs."
"The government will not solve our economic problems by controlling the economy or placing bureaucratic barriers to growth. The only thing that it must do is what it did in the Ronald Reagan era: get out of our way and let Americans do what they do best: dream, innovate, and prosper. It's happening in Texas and it's happening in North Dakota. Now, we just have to convince Washington to let it spread through the rest of America."
In the coming days, Sen. Cruz will present a bill outlining steps to expand energy exploration, stop harmful regulations, and eliminate barriers to trade and infrastructure development so as to allow the creation of private sector jobs and economic growth.
I. Prevent the Federal Government From Undermining the American Energy Renaissance and the Jobs It Creates (1-5)
1) Prevent Federal Regulation of Hydraulic Fracturing.
Leave regulation of hydraulic fracturing in state hands
2) Improve Domestic Refining Capacity.
Streamline the permitting process for upgrading and building new refineries
Repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard
3) Improve Process to Develop Energy Infrastructure.
Approve and allow private sector to build the Keystone pipeline
Remove barriers to developing and approving additional national pipelines and cross-border energy infrastructure
4) Stop EPA Overreach and the War on Coal.
Exclude greenhouse gases from regulation by EPA and other federal agencies
Stop certain EPA regulations that will adversely impact coal and electric power plants
5) Force Congress and the President to Vote on EPA Regulations that Kill Jobs.
Require both Congress and the President to approve any EPA regulation that has a negative job impact
Support passage of the REINS Act, separate piece of legislation not included in this bill, which would require congressional approval of all major rules and regulations.
II. Expand Energy Development So More Private Sector Jobs Can Be Created (6-9)
6) Broaden Energy Development on Federal Land.
Increase energy development on federal land
Provide states the option of leasing, permitting and regulating energy resources on federal lands within their borders; or
If states do not wish to manage energy development on federal lands within their borders, the federal leasing, permitting and regulating will be reformed to increase energy development by:
Streamlining permitting for development on federal lands
Improving certainty in the leasing and development process
Expanding development of energy on federal lands
Expand energy development in National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska
Expand energy development on Indian lands
Open up the Coastal Plain of Alaska (ANWR) for development
7) Open Offshore Exploration.
Expand the offshore areas of the Outer Continental Shelf available for development
Streamline the permitting process for additional offshore exploration
8) Expand U.S. Energy Exports.
Expand LNG exports by facilitating permits
End the crude oil export ban
Prevent excessively broad environmental review of coal export terminals
9) Dedicate Additional Revenues to a Trust Fund for Debt Reduction
Direct all additional revenues generated by exploration and drilling on federal lands (excluding the share allocated to the states) exclusively to national debt reduction--"Debt Freedom Fund."
Speech excerpts:
"In the State of Texas doesn't matter where you are, you can be in East Texas, up in the Pan Handle or Rio Grand Valley, over and over again when you ask Americans what their top priority, the answer over and over again is restoring jobs, restoring economic growth.
"Today what I want to talk to you about is one specific avenue we can pursue to restore growth.
"We are seeing the beginning of an American energy renaissance. And if the federal government doesn't get in the way and mess it up, that has the potential to transform the situation for so many people who are struggling.
"Take a look at a state like North Dakota. The President has told us he wants to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Now what he doesn't confront is that the real Obama minimum wage is zero dollars because that's what everyone who has lost their jobs under the crushing taxes and crushing regulations is getting right now, is zero dollars with the Obama minimum wage.
"If you look at North Dakota, the average hourly wage in the oil and gas industry in North Dakota is $45.90 an hour. I'm a lot more interested in generating lots of jobs at those wage levels where people can provide for their family than continuing the path where more and more people who are struggling lose their jobs.
"In North Dakota, which is experiencing a boom because of shale gas and oil, the unemployment rate is 2.6%. In North Dakota, does anyone know the hourly pay for a cashier at Walmart? $17.50. In North Dakota, McDonald's is offering a $300 signing bonus because people can make so much in the oil fields it's hard to get people to flip burgers. That's the potential of growth.
"And it's happening in my home state of Texas as well. The Dallas Morning News reported last year that in West Texas, the flood of money and workers into the region is impossible to miss. Increased oil revenue is turning around poorer school districts. A high school graduate can earn more than $80,000 driving trucks. From 2001 to 2012, the number of Texas upper middle-income jobs grew 24.2%.
"We're seeing that as well in Pennsylvania and parts of Ohio, as they're taking advantage of the Marcellus Shale. Even so, it is striking if you look at the Marcellus shale, the shale doesn't end at the border between Pennsylvania and New York. But the jobs do. The jobs end because in New York they don't allow fracking.
"Now there is one thing and only one thing that can stop us from achieving the full potential of this energy renaissance and that is the government.
"Economic growth, the energy revolution, didn't come from the U.S. Department of Energy. It didn't come from any government agency. It didn't come from a grant program picking this is how we're going to transform energy. It didn't even come, with all due respect to our wonderful host, from a think tank in Washington. It came from entrepreneurs putting capital at risk and meeting a need.
"We cannot believe that government invents, creates or produces. It doesn't. What it often does it stifles creativity, invention, production. The only thing that can stop this great energy renaissance is the government getting in the way. And I will note, particularly with this administration, it's been doing that more and more. Right now, federal lands contain 43% of the nation's oil reserves and 28% of the nation's natural gas reserves. But significant portions of that land are not available for development. The number of new leases has fallen by 42%.
"President Obama's former Secretary of Energy... recently observed that the delay with the keystone pipeline is not scientific. It's political. There have been five environmental reviews, each of which has concluded the keystone pipeline does not raise significant environmental concerns; yet, it has not gone forward because this administration continues to block it. Tens of thousands of high-paying jobs with the stroke of a pen the private sector could be allowed to create, but this administration is not stroking that pen.
"But here's the point, as much as we need to approve the Keystone Pipeline, we need to think far broader than that. We need to do far more.
"In coming weeks, I will be introducing a bill, the American Energy Renaissance Act, that is designed to do two significant things.
Number one, to prevent the federal government from stopping the energy renaissance that is blossoming across the country.
And number two, to expand the lands, the resources that are available for the private sector to develop so that we can answer what the American people are asking for which is jobs and economic growth. This opportunity is right in front of us. If the federal government will simply listen to the American people."
Ted Cruz: "Imagine 4.9 million new jobs. Instead of Obama's income stagnation, imagine average wages rising 12.2 percent over the next decade. Capital investment rising 43.9 percent. And every income-level seeing double-digit increases in after-tax income. Imagine exports and manufacturing jobs booming. Our trade deficit falling as the tax bias against American made goods is eliminated. Imagine a 10 percent income tax, with every American filling out his or her taxes on a postcard or iPhone app. And abolishing the IRS as we know it."
Summary:
It's time for the next American revolution; it's time to reignite growth in our economy. And the best way to do that is through fundamental tax reform. Cruz's Simple Flat Tax abolishes the IRS and replaces the byzantine tax code with a simple, fair tax. America's economic strength has been smothered by years of Obama's broken promises, and stifling mandates and taxes, such as those under Obamacare. A great stagnation has led to a lost workforce: Millions of Americans have given up trying to find work and acquire skills to improve their well-being. America needs a bold stroke of pro-growth tax policy to reignite the mighty U.S. economic engine. The Simple Flat Tax is a critical first step to restoring the promise of growth and prosperity in America.
Under the Simple Flat Tax, the current seven rates of personal income tax will collapse into a single low rate of 10 percent. For a family of four, the first $36,000 will be tax-free. The Child Tax Credit will remain in place, and the Simple Flat Tax Plan expands and modernizes the Earned Income Tax Credit with greater anti-fraud and pro-marriage reforms.
As a result, the Simple Flat Tax will ensure that low- and middle-income Americans have greater opportunities - not only through minimal taxes, but also through better, high-paying jobs that the Simple Flat Tax will generate. Under the plan, deductions for charitable contributions and mortgage interest payments are preserved.
The IRS will cease to exist as we know it, there will be zero targeting of individuals based on their faith or political beliefs, and there will be no way for thousands of agents to manipulate the system.
For businesses, the corporate income tax will be eliminated. It will be replaced by a simple Business Flat Tax at a single 16 percent rate. The current payroll tax system will be abolished, while maintaining full funding for Social Security and Medicare.
The convoluted tax code will be replaced with new rules of the game - so simple, in fact, that individuals and families could file their taxes on a postcard or phone app. The Death Tax will be eliminated. The Alternative Minimum Tax will be eliminated. The tax on profits earned abroad will be eliminated. And of course, the Obamacare taxes will be eliminated. Also gone will be the unending loopholes in the current code, the stacks of depreciation schedules for businesses, and the multi-tiered rates on income and investments. Under the Simple Flat Tax, the Internet remains free from taxes.
The results will be truly dramatic. According to the well-respected Tax Foundation, the Simple Flat Tax will deliver an economic boost of tremendous magnitude.
In the first decade, the Simple Flat Tax will:
Boost Gross Domestic Product by 13.9 percent above what is currently projected
Increase wages by 12.2 percent
Create 4,861,000 additional jobs
In the tax-cutting spirit of Presidents Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, the Simple Flat Tax will lift Americans out of the current economic stagnation and into an historic boom. ..."
more:
I agree.
As for the Senator's record, do a little research. Ted Cruz's time as Senator is limited, but he does have a track record of representing the people who voted for him. He is the most consistent defender of the Constitution. He upholds conservative values. Has he made mistakes? Yes. We will never find the perfect candidate. But Ted Cruz most closely comes to my ideal of the best candidate.
Not wishing to trash Trump, but he does not have Ted Cruz's record. Trump may say a lot of things, but can or will he deliver? I have my doubts. I'm still not sure Trump will stay in the race, but even if he does, I think this campaign is an ego trip for him. Should he be elected, can we trust that he will deliver on his promises, or will his presidency be all about him, not the people?
One thing I have to caution voters on — and this applies to supporters of all candidates, not just Trump — beware of the pretty speech, the candidate who says what you want to hear. Obama could deliver pretty speeches too. People believed in him and look at the almost 8 year nightmare we've been enduring.
If by "Reagan Democrats" you mean, living, registered Democrats who were registered Democrats in 1980 and who voted for Ronald Reagan, then, of course, you are right that their numbers have dwindled.
I'm using the term more broadly, to mean white men with real jobs who are supporting a family, not on welfare or SSDI, their wives, and their adult children who have been consistently voting Democrat because they hate the local Republicans and are afraid that their kids won't be able to get good jobs.
There are lots and lots of them. If you don't think so, you need to get out more.
Andrew McCarthy endorsement, NRO is still shilling for their sainted Party pukes.
Ignoring the elephant in the room?
You have to win, Trump moves the needle.
I'm using the term more broadly, to mean white men with real jobs who are supporting a family, not on welfare or SSDI, their wives, and their adult children who have been consistently voting Democrat because they hate the local Republicans and are afraid that their kids won't be able to get good jobs.
Any remaining white working men who voted for Obama are going to vote for Hillary. They are a hopeless group that believes what they hear from Big Media. Big Media will tell them to be afraid of Trump and they will be afraid of Trump and they will come home to Hillary.
I think there's only one thing you can be "sure" about when it comes to Trump's putative presidential decisions -- namely that, because of his consistent lack of consistency in political and moral principles, you can never be sure about what he will do.
My point is, with Trump, what will we win?
There is only one issue that must be, MUST BE decided in our favor in 2016- immigration. You’re going to lose the American way of life otherwise.
YEAH!
Keep cheering, guys.
You need 65-70 million voters who agree with you.
What's the plan?
How long has Andy McCarthy been there? This is definitely not a new stance for him.
I think this is the only thing you ever post, Levin’s ridiculously slanted ‘ratings’ of candidates. The Trump ratings are BS, and reflect nothing of the positions he is advocating and running on, while Levin conveniently acquires amnesia around Cruz’s multiple failures on TPP, Corker, Amnesty, Visas, etc. Try something a little more original to advance your viewpoints.
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