Can this Nation Come Together?
The major issues will never be solved without Grand Compromises. In the spirit of the Season, we've made some suggestions
In the week before Christmas and the end of the year break, I am going to take a more positive look at the world. I’ll try to take a look at good things we can build on for 2024 in anticipation of the New Year and new opportunities to start fresh, focus on first principles and attempt to help hold the country together in what will very likely be a brutal, partisan fight for control of the White House and Congress next year.
Today I will attempt to, as best as my humble abilities can, to declare a platform for which a vast majority (at least 60% and hopefully 80%) of Americans can agree. In order to do so, I will focus on high level aims and strategies, avoiding detailed policies which inevitably lead to disagreement. It is my hope we can go into the holidays and the New Year thinking and acting as the best angels of our nature - where we can all agree to work together to make America a better place for our children and grandchildren. This should be the fundamental goal of every political party, every politician and every action by our governments: Peace on earth and good will to men.
Foreign Policy & War
American foreign policy should have the specific aim of supporting peace and prosperity across the globe. As President Kennedy said, “not peace in our time, but peace for all time.”
Unfortunately, America has become a nation of perpetual war. We were at war in Afghanistan and Iraq for 20 years. We are currently engaged in fighting in over 80 countries due to the abomitable vagaries of the AUMF of 2002. We are now supporting a useless war in eastern Europe, while China advances across the Pacific and around our shores, opening a base in Cuba with no response.
We have fundamentally lost our way. The federal government, and specifically the Department of Defense and the rest of the Military Industrial Complex have captured our foreign policy. Peace is never pursued. A proper accounting of our objectives, how we win and how we exit conflicts is never discussed. The American people have no say in these conflicts. Congress no longer declares war and the Office of the President has become a dictatorial war leader with no recourse for the people, save an election every four years. This must stop.
We need a Constitutional Amendment that strengthens the sole power of Congress to declare war. We need a Congress who will stop funding any military actions which supersede this fundamental right of the people to determine when the nation goes to war.
The Executive Branch must be made to seek peace and diplomacy first, with war being rare and only started when absolutely necessary and vital to our homeland’s defense.
Estimates are that we spent anywhere between $6T and $21T on the War on Terror. We could have used that money to build a clean and cheap energy grid based upon nuclear power. We could have funded a grand new vision of infrastructure and built the cities of tomorrow. We could have fed the world, eliminated poverty and invested in America. Instead, it was all wasted on foolish wars for no benefit to enrich DC military contractors and their elite cronies.
At the same time, the best deterrent to aggressive adversaries is a strong national military and defense. We should continue to fund a strong military presence, but center its deployment on the defense of the homeland and America’s vital interests. We have hundreds of thousands of troops and support in hundreds of bases around the globe, often deployed for wars that ended decades ago. We need to start over from a $0 cost basis and place our bases and military apparatus in the most efficient way to defend our country in the next twenty years - not the previous fifty.
Borders and Immigration
We are a nation of laws, and our laws require a secure border. No one should be allowed to enter the United States except by following the legal process to determine if they are eligible. In order to stop the illegal mass migration going on currently, we need to build a wall and take any other measures to catch and return any illegal crossers to Mexico or their country of origin.
At the same time, we are a nation of immigrants and we want to encourage the best and brightest around the globe to help build the American dream. The wall should have a wide, open gate which we control. We need a new, merit-based immigration system that selects eligible immigrants. Priority should be awarded to those with special skills and talents, education or other factors deemed needed in America. Every immigrant should agree, as a prerequisite for entering America, that they will not require nor receive any government assistance for a long period of time (5-10 years), that they will learn to speak and write English fluently and that will educate themselves enough to pass a citizenship test.
Asylum must be returned to its original intent - very rare cases in which some immigrants cannot return to their homeland for fear of their lives. The standard should be life and death, not improvement in economic conditions nor any other trivial factors.
The Economy, Taxes and the Social Safety Net
Our debt, deficit and inflation are out of control. Monetary and fiscal policy should no longer be at the whim of current politicians and central bankers. Congress must be required through a Constitutional Amendment to pass and implement a balanced budget and all appropriations each year before the beginning of the new fiscal year. The President needs the line item veto to eliminate waste and boondoggles. K Street and professional lobbying groups should be outlawed from providing anyone in government any benefit ever. Government spending and tax rates should return to historic levels - 20% of GDP as the short term goal; 15% long term. Eve3ry American should pay something into the system - their fair share. The central bank should return to one mandate - price stability. And the Fed target for inflation should be 1% or less to maintain the stability of the dollar as currency and encourage savings and investment.
Open, free and fair markets lead to better prosperity for all. Governments should establish simple, fair and egalitarian rules for commerce. Regulations should protect small businesses from monopolistic practices by large corporations and encourage competition free of the government picking winners and losers. Corporations and other large interest groups should have little influence in our laws and regulations. Unintended consequences are stifling growth and innovation -careful review of every law and regulation must take place, and any which are not working or punishing fair commerce should be rescinded. Government should only enter the marketplace to regulate it when absolutely necessary.
Taxes are much too high and large corporations and lobbying special interests have an inordinate amount of power in Congress and the Executive bureaucracies.
At the same time, market economies inevitably allow some people to slip through the cracks. Those incapable of earning a living should be provided for, people struggling for same deserve help. No one who is disabled, or who is struggling but willing to work should go hungry, lack shelter and the basics for human existence.
We should create a new, binding Blue Ribbon panel on the Social Security and Medicare systems for young people, as the current systems are bankrupt and will not be able to pay their benefits as currently constructed.
The Bill of Rights
Our government has trampled Constitutional Rights in the name of safety. We must return to the plain language of the Constitution and enact clear safeguards for the first, fourth and fifth amendments especially which have been abused terribly by the intelligence and law enforcement powers in Washington. These amendments were put in place specifically to disallow things that are commonplace in today’s society: government censorship of political views, warrantless searches, lack of due process and speedy trials, cruel and unusual punishments. Our legal system is turning into a political arm of the current party in power. It must stop.
Political Parties
The largest political affiliation in today’s electorate are independents, but they have no voice in the entire political process. Our two major political parties have inordinately too much power. Because they have dominated the political scene for 160 plus years, they are entrenched in every aspect of elections, political process and our choices for representation. The primaries are authoritarian jokes where the donor class and the political elite control the entire process. Independents are always left with two terrible choices or a meaningless vote for a fringe candidate. This is no way to pick leaders.
Any one who gets enough signatures should be on the ballot. Every candidate whose name is on the ballot should be required to attend debates hosted by a neutral third party and scheduled at its discretion. Any one should be allowed to vote in any primary race, regardless of party. The RNC and the DNC should have NO input to the voting, election, debate or primary process - these should be determined by a multipartisan panel of experts, with equal representation (measured by party registration) of independents, republicans, democrats and all other parties.
Healthcare
Pharmaceutical and Insurance companies have completely captured Congress and the agencies intended to regulate them. They drive up costs and profits indiscriminately, enabled by weak sauces like Obamacare which these bad actors helped to write; it did nothing to stop healthcare inflation. Medicare and Medicaid costs have risen just as fast as private insurance and will not solve the problem.
A national healthcare safety net should be enacted for all Americans. It would cover major medical events and diseases that are impossible to predict and finance. Emergency rooms, hospitalizations, surgery, cancer and other diseases would all be covered in one, national system. End of life and hospice care would need review - this is a huge cost of the current system and may provide little benefit. Private insurance should be available and encouraged for those wishing better benefits.
All other healthcare related costs - doctor’s visits, regular labs and tests, prescriptions, etc. should not be covered by this safety net and instead exposed to free market forces. Regulations should be reviewed to ensure safety but eliminate barriers to enter this marketplace. Market forces and profit motives will lead to new business models that sharply reduce the costs for these everyday expenses. The next Walmart, Amazon or Apple would be a healthcare company that creatively destroys the existing marketplace by delivering a better product at sharply reduced costs.
Finally, healthy lifestyles need to be encouraged. The largest input to the wild costs of our healthcare system is obesity. It is time to admit this fact, and drive public policy towards more healthy outcomes.
Abortion and other Culture War Issues
It is time for compromise. 20% of America believes life begins at conception and is 100% pro-life. 20% of America believes the right of a woman to make any decisions about her body is sacrosanct and is 100% pro-choice.
The 60% of us in the middle need to take over this debate and work out a national compromise, once and for all. Every western European country has done this - with an abortion limit at 15-25 weeks with exceptions for the health and well being of the mother and baby. This compromise is there for the taking if we stop letting the extremists rule the day. No one in Europe debates this topic; sadly, it is not solved in America because the two political parties would rather run on the issue than solve it for good. The Roe standard was 27 weeks; the recent pro-life bills enacted are 6 weeks. The average between the two is 17 weeks. Let’s agree on 20?
Likewise, most of the other culture war issues can be compromised or left to local governments. These issues are wedged by both sides to divide and conquer the electorate, and to keep the conversation away from their culpability in real problems facing America. Let’s stop taking the bait.
What do you think?
There are more issues to get to, but I hope this is a good start.
Obviously these suggestions have my own biases and slants - what do you think?
Can you get on board for this platform?
Where would you disagree or suggest a different approach?