12 Days of Solutions, Day 11: Revitalize America
December 20, 2012 at 1:35 pm in News by Tea Party Patriots 11 Comments
In 2012, the House Republican budget was viewed as the radical budget plan in Washington. It made modest cuts to non-defense discretionary spending, enacted tax reform, and instituted competition to Medicare. It also block-granted Medicaid to the states.
Unfortunately, the budget did not cut defense, or reform Social Security. It also needs two decades to balance, according to the Congressional Budget Office. As a result, many Tea Party activists viewed it as “not good enough.”
One Tea Party-minded Senator agrees with those activists, so he put forth his own plan. Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) budget, “A Platform to Revitalize America,” balances the budget in five years, pays down a significant amount of the national debt within a decade, and steers America a path to solvency.
Here are some specifics, via Senator Paul’s website :
- It block-grants Medicaid, SCHIP, foods stamps, and child nutrition
- Defunds duplicative or wasteful agencies and programs
- Sells off excess federal properties and land
- Eliminates:
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Education (preserves Pell grants)
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Department of Energy (transfers nuclear research and weapons to Department of Defense)
- Privatizes Transportation Security Agency
- It opens up America for more energy exploration
- Means-testing of Social Security, and an increase in the retirement age
- Institutes competition into Medicare by giving seniors the same health care and health insurance options as Members of Congress
This budget plan may be the best one in Washington, period. No tax increases – it actually institutes a 17% flat tax for individuals and corporations – and unlike other budgets it actually eliminates several major bureaucracies. It diminishes our overseas military involvement. Most importantly, it puts Medicare and Social Security on the path to solvency for generations to come.
Unfortunately, only in Washington is “reality-based” viewed as radical. Senator Paul’s plan is exactly what the nation needs, yet it was not given consideration by either party’s leadership. Instead, Washington favors raising taxes and allowing spending to grow at an unsustainable rate. Tea Party Patriots is therefore proud to promote A Platform to Revitalize America because it would do exactly what Senator Paul says it would, renew our country for the 21th century.
We should also merge the Army and the Marines. It’s wasteful to have two groups for ground soldiers. Also merge the Navy and the Coast Guard…more waste
Jerry, unfortunately the American Military Industrial Complex is too powerful and high military spending is here to stay. How about eliminating the Border Patrol and leaving it to our military to guard our borders against the Mexicans?
Hellfire,
Excellent idea. We could move military bases to border areas.
There’s no reason we can’t balance the budget in 5 years.
We could balance the budget now. All we have to do is not allow any increase to the existing debt, and just let any department or agency shut down when it expends its appropriated funds. Nobody outside the beltway will notice.
It’s time the government grew up.
NO MORE DEBT. NOT FOR ANY REASON.
Cut what spending needs to be cut. If the government needs more revenue, increase the number of people paying taxes. Make everyone pay their fair share of what the government costs.
The first step needs to be freeze hiring in government! As people retire, move others around instead of hiring more people. This is what business’ do. I am sure we could cut 40% out of government spending and a better government than we have now. When are we going to work to limit Congress! Two terms max, 50% cut in pay, no special retirment,and they live by every law they pass.
If we don’t deeply cut spending, why raise taxes? These people won’t pay down the debt with the money, they’ll spend it to keep themselves in office.
Let’s hope the Border Patrol isn’t shut down or all the Mexicans will move here and camp in the parks. We should shut down the DEA at once. We’d get higher quality dope with no DEA. The FBI, US Marshall Service and the Secret Service can be merged into one agency.
Federal prisons could be eliminated by moving all convicts to one big camp in the middle of the Nevada desert
Now I understand- you’re using bad quality drugs!
LOL….got any good ones?
Grow your own. You can develop your own strains to the quality of your choice.
However, there is a Supreme Court ruling that will get in the way. The feds seized a legally grown crop of marijuana for personal consumption after the state of California legalized growing marijuana for personal consumption. There was no evidence of any law being broken. Now, the insanity of our Supreme Court becomes evident:
The SCOTUS used the Commerce Clause in the Constitution to rule that the seizure was justified because it was POSSIBLE for the private crop being grown for personal consumption to be transported across a state line, thus impacting existing ILLEGAL interstate commerce.
Just when you think the Supreme Court can’t get anymore insane, they come up with a ruling like this piece of inane garbage.
That’s just using a precedent established during the New Deal, when the Court said a farmer couldn’t grow unapproved wheat on his own land for his own use, the commerce clause authorized the government to prevent that.
The supreme Court likes to follow precedent, except for when they threw out 150 years of precedent to authorize the New Deal. History begins with the “progressive” era…
Sorry, I don’t even like many of the legal ones, except caffeine and nicotine.