Tea Party Patriots, the group organizing the effort, will hold a press conference on Thursday in Washington, D.C., at the CPAC conference to announce the launch of thecontract.org, where activists can help “draft” the finalized contract by voting for their top 10 of those issues. After releasing a final “Contract from America” on April 15, activists will ask members of Congress to sign the final document.
Interesting that the anti-government Tea Baggers are asking the Federal Government to help them pass something. Is this even real or is this just another ploy to grind everything to a screeching halt? Take a look at some of these proposals.
Amending the constitution to require a balanced budget and a two-thirds majority for any tax hike.
Straight away, this is something that conservatives have not been able to accomplish. And taking such a cavalier attitude to what should be and shouldn't be in The Constitution tends to invalidate their ear piercing machinations that The Constitution should be followed the way it already is.
Requiring each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does.
This is where the Tea Baggers think they know more about The Constitution than people that are actual Constitutional scholars. Who is going to have the final say as to what The Constitution does or doesn't allow? From my perspective, it's a living document that must be applied to a situation based on the context.
Permitting all health insurance plans to be sold anywhere in the United States through the purchase of insurance across state lines. Allow small businesses and associations to pool together across state lines to buy insurance
This is the conservative movements prime reform suggestion that shows they lack the ability to see how insurance providers manipulate the system. All companies have to do is find the state with the most relaxed regulations and then it's all a big race to the bottom, with the consumer taking the brunt of the impact.
And speaking of massive deregulation....
Making all regulations “sunset” after 10 years unless renewed by congressional vote.
You kind of see where this is going, don't you?
But there is one suggestion in the list of 20 that has me quite puzzled.
Preventing any regulation or tax on the Internet.
I can understand and even appreciate the "tax" as it applies to the internet, but when they say "no regulation" of the internet are they speaking out for or against Net Neutrality?
In all, these suggestions would be beyond disastrous for this country and should any of them become implemented and a conservative politician would be the first one to break the "new rules". The consistent idiocy of the conservative movement and their inability to see what their policies have wrought is mindboggling.
2 comments:
I wish you had paid more attention to this rather than cherry picking ideas.
First, these are to be voted on by the members of the organization so there there is a list of 10. It seems to me that this is a lot more democratic than having a few bosses choose what they think the people need. It is based on the assumption that the voters are knowledgeable about the issues and educated enough to make up their own minds. We are not stupid despite the what the elitists in Washington believe.
Next, if you read the entire document you will see that this is NOT asking the government to do anything. It IS a petition for our representatives to refrain from doing certain things, and to do others that will restrict the scope of government.
Third, we do believe that the Constitution, like any other law, should be followed unless it is some how changed. It is NOT a living document, to be changed by anyone who wants to do so. To many of our leaders of both parties have taken liberties that could be very dangerous to all our liberties. However, like any law, there is no reason why it should not be changed if enough people think it is proper to do so. A "living document" is usually changed by a few people, usually lawyers and judges. Something like the Constitution ought to be changed by a super-majority of the people...just like the framers said. Hugo Chavez has a living constitution...I don't want the same thing here.
The Contract FROM American is just that... an agreement that our representatives will follow the will of the American people and adhere to certain principles. If liberals want to create a different document they can do so. Perhaps they can begin with counter statements... like keeping regulations in perpetuity, or never having a balanced budget. I would love to see a similar document and pick it apart as you have done.
I chose, what I thought, were some key points in this "mouth-breathing mandate" that I thought showcased the complete removal from reality that the Tea Baggers embody.
And yes, I did read the entire 1 page write-up that it was given - took about all of 3 minutes to digest.
Even though there would allegedly be 10 of the 20 bullet-points chosen by "the people", the reality of this is that it would require and act on Congress for this to be made into some sort of actionable law. Therefor, you are asking the government that you loathe to take part in your ideal. In that, lays the ultimate irony of this "contract".
Moreover, if you and your ilk truly followed The Constitution to the letter, there would be absolutely no progress in this nation, as people ( such as yourself ) would be hell-bent on tearing down any and everything that has made this country what it is. The Constitution is a document that requires to be interpreted based on the situations at hand.
People like Jefferson didn't forsee healthcare reform, Net Neutrality, abortion, credit default swaps, sub-prime mortgages, car insurance, or bank regulations when the inital document was written. So to claim that we sould adopt the mindset of the late 1700's in order to keep our country on track in beyond intellectually dishonest.
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