An Open Letter to the GOP

It is now about 13 months since the 2008 elections. Not only did you lose the presidential election, the Democrats now have majorities in both the House and the Senate. Except for Sarah Palin resigning her Governor post and selling one million copies of her new book and some rather piecemeal objections to the Universal Health Care plan, there doesn’t seem to be that much activity at all from the GOP. Perhaps some of you are wondering where you went wrong while others are adding up the chits they own and the favors they are owed to see if they have any viability for 2012, but that is almost three years away. Your biggest concern right now should be 2010.

First off, you might ask ‘Who am I’? I am nothing more then average American citizen who once thought that the GOP represented change. I tore up my GOP registration card in 1988 when you allowed your party to be co-opted by the religious right and decided that the status quo was good enough. By doing so without producing any other ideas or either a viable candidate or platform, you lost the election in 1992 and in 1996. Since 1988, I have considered myself an Independent as far as party affiliation goes. There are quite a few of us out there with more being created in every election cycle (not just the presidential ones); we have decided that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans represent any sort of change at all, only statism in its most deadly ossified and stratified form. Many refer to the GOP as the Republican’t party while the Democrats are called the Demorats for good reason.. Know this and learn from it:

We will not blindly follow a candidate because someone decided to stick a ‘GOP’ tag upon them. The GOP decided not to define their party platform properly, echoing solely what the Democrat candidate promised us. (Look what we have now!) The GOP also did not present a viable candidate in 2008.

We will not support any such candidate as stated above. Perhaps if the American people had a real choice, they would vote with pride rather then acting as if they only took a lesser dose of poison.

Until you actually define yourselves as being Republican, not Democrat light, you can expect to lose more seats in the Congress.

The 2008 election was a joke. The economy was in a slump, but what did you do? Against a Democrat candidate that appeared youthful, vibrant and full of energy, you ran someone that looked old and tired and on his last legs. What in hell else did you expect? Didn’t you learn from 1996 at all? What is even more ludicrous was that John McCain wants to ‘fix Washington’. How exactly was he going to do that? The McCain/Kennedy Immigration bill not only would have provided the government with an endless income stream, it would have given the green light for even MORE illegals to cross into the USA. The fact is that Senator McCain has been a senator for over 20 years; to me, he seems to be part of the problem that needs fixing, not any sort of solution.

The way I see it, if you once more wish to hold power in Washington D.C. , you will need to first define your candidate as someone who actually believes in what they are saying and then define your party as an actual different choice then the Democrats. We, the people, are tired of hearing the same old garbage from BOTH parties as states’ rights are usurped by the federal government and our very basic enumerated freedoms are under a full scale attack. If you want the votes from the people like me, you will have to stand for something in which we can believe.

Defining a candidate shouldn’t be that hard, but the GOP made the same mistake in 2008 as they did in 1996. It is time to put the fossils out to pasture instead of digging up yet another one to run in 2012. You need a candidate that is dynamic, energetic and looks like they will get the job done. It is the time of the Baby Boomer regardless of what the old guard would like the people to believe.

Once you have defined your candidate in a proper manner, you will need to do something that will take a lot more work: You need to define your platform! This doesn’t mean that you recycle all of the vague promises that your opponent also supports; you come up with your own stances on issues that will set you apart. There is always some risk involved, but at times risks must be taken even if the rewards are not immediately forthcoming. The time for taking a stand is NOW!

There are a number of pressing issues that confront the USA with challenges and potential pitfalls, but now isn’t the time for half measures. How can The GOP define its platform? Here are some ideas.



Support HR25 (This would reap the most benefits)

When you think about it in the broad scope of things, taxing Capital and Labor is pretty stupid unless your desire is to mask actual spending. All that taxes on Capital and Labor will do is drive them out of the USA to Offshore Financial Corporations or to other countries where the tax is lower. Our current tax system is a morass of rules and regulations so obfuscatory that even tax preparation companies have difficulty navigating through the maze. The costs of compliance with the current tax code are ruinous. The current system not only is an incentive for people to cheat, in some ways, it encourages the practice. Why should a taxpayer pay 36% tax on capital gains in the USA when they can pay 5% tax with an OFC? A consumption tax in place of the mess we have now is business friendly and with the Capital Gains tax at 0%, the USA becomes the place where money is invested. With the money flowing back into the USA, the cash crisis will be solved in short order. When the voters see more money in their paychecks, they will be quick to remember who was responsible.

Take the SSI pay-in receipts out of the hands of Congress and Stop taxing SSI Benefits

When a politician goes on record saying that such and such an action will affect the Social Security lockbox/ trust fund, it makes them look very stupid. The SSI pay-ins that are supposed to fund Social Security are spent as soon as they are received; it has been that way since 1968. Since that time, those receipts have been used to mask actual spending at the government level. Furthermore, taxing Social Security is taxing a tax that was already levied; that is double taxation.

Support a REAL Illegal Immigration solution

From 1892 to 1954, Ellis Island processed ca. 200,000 immigrants a year and that was using analog technology. With the technology we now have, we could easily process far more then that number on an annual basis. This would be the basis of a new US Immigration policy called Open/Controlled Immigration. Quotas will be tossed into the garbage while native born Canadians will get an express immigration route into the USA (They already speak English.) The other aspect of this new policy would be to completely seal off the US-Mexico border to stop the criminal element. The Ellis Island styled Immigration Processing Centers would kill off almost all incentive to illegally enter the USA. They will enter this country anyways, so this is a means of not only letting them enter legally, we will KNOW who is entering. (We really have no idea at all at the moment who is entering the USA.) A solution to this issue will have to be politically neutral if it has any chance of becoming law. The full details are here: http://thejadedbard.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-radical-solution-to-illegal.html

Become and advocate for States’ Rights (Another Hot Button Topic)

There is a seemingly endless list of powers that should be in the realm of the states that have been usurped by the Federal Government. The U.S. Constitution specifically defines the powers that the Federal Government possesses. The Tenth Amendment then reads as follows: (Hopefully you DO remember there is a Constitution?)

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

It is rather simple in its wording, but there is much beyond that simplicity. If you take a look at the Federal Government these days, you can easily find examples of usurped powers that do not belong to the Federal Government at all. Some examples:

- Gay Marriage (Not listed as a Federal Power)

- Abortion (Not listed as a Federal Power)

- Education (That includes the Federal Dept. of Education; this is a STATE’S right!)

- The ownership of land beyond that which is needed to fulfill the Federal Government’s purpose.(That land belongs to the states in where the land exists.)

To attempt to use the U.S. Constitution for the purposes of banning Gay Marriage is obscene and represents a violation of the tenets upon which this country was founded. The massive waste of money resulting from these usurped powers should also give you notice that it sorely needs repair.

In conclusion, perhaps instead of generating even more disgust amongst the electorate, you should think of constructive ways to harness that disgusted electorate to once more become the Republicans versus the Republicant’s.

Any and all commentary is welcomed regarding this post.

A Jaded Bard

Before you reform my health care, reform my government first....