The Pledge to America

The Republicans’ new Pledge to American is solid.  Regarding taxes and the economy, it would stop tax hikes that are helping to keep our unemployment rate so high, including nice tax breaks to small businesses.  In addition, it would repeal health care mandates for small businesses.

Concerning federal spending and the deficit, it would repeal the new health care law, and replace it with something more reasonable.  It would also apply budget caps for federal spending, and implement a long-awaited reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

On Congressional reform, it would also require three days for members of Congress to actually read the bills before they vote on them.  This would stop those late-night deals and votes like we saw with the health care bill.  It would require all legislation to point directly to the section of the Constitution that gives Congress authority to pass that bill.  This is probably a good idea, although it should be unnecessary, although it does seem as though it’s needed.  You would think that our representatives would know the Constitution well enough such that they wouldn’t propose unconstitutional legislation.

The Pledge also addresses national defense, allowing for plenty of resources for our troops and our missile defense systems, as well as strict enforcement of sanctions against Iran.

On social issues, it permanently prohibits federal funding of abortions.

However, I noticed that a couple of things were missing.  It should have put strict restrictions of lobbyists, or even made lobbying illegal.  Perhaps most importantly, it also should have called for term limits for members of Congress, which would help to keep us from getting right back into these same messes again.  Still, The Pledge is a good start, and a good platform for the 2010 elections.

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