The Republican Party approaches a crossroads. Some of which is fictional and of their own creation, while the rest can be blamed simply on neglect and political caprice. They have become the party of corporatism (not that they engage in this more than the opposition, only that that they are more famous for it); while the American Public seems hell bent on reforming the Republican Party into a populist, progressive, nationalist, and protectionist party, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Germany, Italy, and Austria over the years. However, I believe that the majority of these supporters are simply ignorant of where their leaders are leading them and generally uninformed about politics in practice.
Clearly, this corporatism has been a disaster. A cozy relationship between billionaires in the private sector and millionaires in Congress has left a bitter and resentful taste in the mouths of the voting public. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton represent the elitist, Wall Street, Donor-classes of their respective parties, but a majority of voters in each constituency appear unwilling to continue to humor the “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” momentum of modern political philosophy.
As both Democrats and Republicans stir violence amongst themselves, the American Majority might do well to reconsider more attractive and less complicated directions. Our future governments ought to be governments of austerity, discipline, and constitutional principle. Neither political party should be happy with such a foundation, since such a foundation promises less in political and personal fiscal contributions, however, such an agenda would protect each party (and their supporters) from the other.
Our government should establish practical goals, in the face of our overwhelming debt, of 1 to 2% spending cuts per year for the next fifty years. These marginal and hardly noticeable cuts will be amplified by population growth, but will force our government to rely upon modern technologies and stream-lined budgeting that most American Families have been forced to adopt already.
These cuts would require difficult choices – where each party swallows a series of bitter pills. That said, we can begin in all the hard-to-defend places where we recognize a violence of waste, fraud, and abuse. The military and entitlement sectors of our government should become the most disciplined, with quarterly audits, and some public reporting. These should be followed by a reduction in regulation and law enforcement, freeing up the American People and turning over more resources and authorities to localities within the fifty States – not to mention freeing up our economies.
Most of our subsidies, tariffs, and entitlements can be relaxed, freeing up the private markets to expand without infringement or restraint.
Reductions in spending should be met with decreases in taxes, across the board, relative to surpluses incurred. The majority of federal departments should be reallocated to the States, which can compete for best practices and efficiencies.
We should measure the success of our federal government by how little they take in and how little they spend, without sacrificing essential infrastructure and national defense. We should measure the success of our State Governments by the efficiency and efficacy of their programs, and the benefit in the standard of living to their citizens.
If our government desires to do something extra, they ought to be forced to petition the American People and rally them to support the cause with higher taxes or regulations; as opposed to what we have today, where we are forced to accept higher taxes and regulations in response to one federally created crisis after another. (And to those who will claim that our government is lowering our taxes, I would remind you that debt is merely a delayed tax increase and selling off strategic national resources like oil and uranium, will inevitably cost us much more than what we sold them for down the road).
Austerity and discipline are good. We all know that necessity is the only force powerful enough to reign in our own personal household budgets, therefore, political necessity is likely the only means we citizens possess to reign in the spending of our governments. That means that we must take the lead and demand that our governments obey the same natural laws which we, the mere masses, are forced to obey day in and day out.
I present this perspective as merely a possible foundation for a future Republican Party capable of identifying with and appealing to the majority of its citizenry.
Originally published on PendletonPenn.com
