Posted on 03/17/2011 4:02:15 PM PDT by Qbert
Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., unveiled today his five-year path to a balanced budget, leaving several federal agencies behind. Among the items on the cutting room floor are the Departments of Education, Energy, Commerce and Housing and Urban Development.
“There’s a lot of things in here that everybody could agree to, Republicans and Democrats, but nobody’s leading on the president’s side and on our side we felt we needed to put this forward to get the debate started, at the very least,” the freshman Senator explained at a Capitol Hill press conference this afternoon.
The proposal also calls for the repeal of “Obamacare,” but leaves entitlements untouched.
“There’s an argument for every federal program up here… Nobody’s coming up here asking me for money that’s not for a good reason. But the alternative is that we get into a point of financial disaster where nobody gets any money,” he said.
According to Paul, a Tea Party conservative, the proposal will bring spending to the “historic average since World War II” in just one year. He further claims the budget achieves a $19 billion surplus by FY2016 and will bring all non-military discretionary spending back to FY2008 levels.
Paul’s proposal gained support from freshman Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, who today challenged anyone who opposes the plan to come up with a better option.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.abcnews.com ...
We need at least 67 Rand Pauls.
Do it!
The perfect becomes the enemy of the good.
Oh stop...
These AH's in D.C. who have made life long careers in government are the stinking problem. They have corrupted the machine so bad the wheels are coming off.
Gezzzz.
That's a pretty good summary of a solid candidate for both foreign and domestic policy success. I think Palin has that, and it looks like Paul does too though I don't know him that well. It's nice to know we don't have to settle for the lesser of two evils, or the media selection. I remain undecided at this point but see some good choices.
“I’m not “picking at perceived imperfections”. I’m stating that the man simply is not ready to take on the job of president.”
We’re going to continue to disagree on this.
“That’s fine, but we weren’t talking about my choice for Republican nominee.”
The context of it was important - I had repeatedly asked who you thought would be a better president since you volunteered your view that Rand Paul shouldn’t be drafted or supported, for reasons we’ve already discussed, and you deferred answering until then.
Regarding foreign policy, that seems to be another thing deficient in a system whereby executive experience is the most important factor in determining readiness for presidential office - city, county, state executive office alone doesn’t provide much, if any, of that experience.
Doctors deal with a wide array of people, from all walks of life, with all kinds of views, in all states of being, becoming, and passing on from life. Whether Rand Paul thinks he’s ready to be president is up to him - to me it seems he is and I’d like him to run.
I think we’re going to be going over the same ground again if we continue this conversation. As I see it, you’re not in favor of this now, maybe later, for the reasons you’ve stated, and would like Palin to be the next president. I am in favor of him now.
I’ll leave the last word to you if you’d like to correct or clarify something.
The man is a genius. Draft him for president yesterday. Or at least Vice President.
Cut real spending by 15-20% per year until budget is balanced. Then cut 10% per year on all spending except paydown on the debt until it is gone. Defund all UNNECESSARY programs/agencies. Reduce Medicare/Medicaid 10% this year (FY12) and by that same $ amount for the next 9 years until it is zero. Defund UN to zero. Establish a two-layer income tax of 10% for 1/2 the income earners & 20% for the other 1/2. Tie the two rates together so they move in lockstep. Put corporate rates in between. Corporate tax is paid on the gross revenue. EVERYONE who earns income pays tax; no subsidies, payback, deductions.
Renegotiate all Federal pension plans and require all incoming Fed employees & all with less than 15 years of experience to go on a 401(k)-type plan with industry-average matching. Eliminate ALL non-profit statuses and gov’t subsidies/earmarks. If someone wants to support a cause they do it with after-tax $$. Eliminate death tax.
I applaud the effort, but any plan that claims to balance the budget without touching military or non-discretionary spending is most likely smoke and mirrors.
Rand Paul has been a US Senator for all of three months, but he's already prepared to be leader of the free world?
He didn't even spend time in his state's legislature, so, in fact, this is Rand Paul's very first government post.
Even Obama had been an Illinois state Senator prior to becoming a US Senator, and he is the LEAST experienced president the US has ever had.
You now want Republicans to adopt the Democrats' standards. Why not? Let's just nominate anyone who gives a good speech, or who says what we want to hear. Experience? It's over-rated.
"We need to find a new CEO. Oh, I know....let's get that kid down in marketing to do the job. He's a real whiz!"
Sheeeesh....
Hey, don't get me wrong. I like Rand Paul a lot. Right where he is. What I don't get, is why some people want to nominate freshman Senators and junior House Reps for President.
Surely, any one of them would do a better job than the current occupant, but that's not saying much. Any one of us could do the same.
I'm thrilled that we've got some new blood on Capitol Hill. We need a lot more, and we will, in 2012. It's just ridiculous to start nominating these new people for president as soon as they show up. Some folks on FR were doing the same thing with Scott Brown when he ran for the Senate - remember that? It's ridiculous.
Ok. I would personally like to see the corporate tax rate close to zero eventually (slim chance, probably). But you do have a lot of good ideas. I wish more Conservatives would take the lead on this.
Failure to deal with S.S., Medicare and Medicaid in the context of keeping the US solvent is akin to rearranging to deck chairs on the Titanic. Let me know when he's got a proposal to handle those poniz schemes.
He left out the biggest. Let’s institute either the flat or fair tax (I could live with either) and GET RID OF THE IRS
Let’s add the money sent to the U.N. too. They have that big building in N.Y., and the high price property. Maybe THEY should pay US instead.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.