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The answer to almost every challenge in the United States is federalism, and Restoring the Republic

GOP Needs To Reorganize Government, Not More Partial Shutdowns



Restoring the RepublicThe fact that Republicans always get blamed for “partial government shutdowns,” ought to be enough of a lesson that the strategy of threatening one is always a losing strategy. Why? Because these shutdowns are stupid, and the American People don’t like stupid. What the American People want is smart, and the only answer is federalism: restoring the balance between the federal government and the sovereign States, and even getting rid of the personal federal income tax in the process. The latest looming “partial government shutdown,” which would have been the second in three months, has been averted, but unless Republicans embrace the hard work of restoring federalism, they invariably will find themselves again threatening another partial government shutdown over the next budget dispute. Oh sure, like addicts, the Republicans will press that button marked “threaten partial government shutdown,” and believe with all their might and brainpower that this time it will be different and the masses of Americans will rise to their defense and applaud their bravery against the federal government leviathan. Like clockwork, when it doesn’t work after a week, two weeks, a month, and the Republicans capitulate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the rest of the Democrats in the media will laugh their collective faces off at the GOP.

Eliminate the federal personal income tax

Nearly everyone half-way sane, except for the tax-and-spend Democratic Socialists, agrees that federal spending and the size of government are out of control. Yet, the federal government never contracts, mostly because of inertia. What goes in motion tends to stay in motion, and turning around an ocean liner needs a wide arc. Mostly, there is no “political cover” for cutting the federal government, and every Congressperson who votes to cut the budget risks being eviscerated at the next election as being cold and heartless to children or old people or cancer sufferers. Who needs that? The Republicans, and the conservatives and the libertarians need to coalesce and go on the offensive, just like on border security, which is popular. With a plan, the independent voters and the American people might even believe that this disparate group can govern and even change things for the better. The majority of Democrats will never support cutting the size and scope of government, except maybe the ones in competitive electoral districts. There will even be a few Republicans who will gum up the works as well. So going on the offensive is critical. It’s incredible that Congress can’t allocate $5 billion to fund the border wall, when we have an $867 billion farm bill, for example. How to do it? President Trump, as part of his next major campaign theme, ought to announce his intention to eliminate the federal personal income tax. He could call the effort: Government Reprioritization for the 21st Century, or in short Reprioritization 21. Simply, a federal government aligned for the needs of the 21st Century, not the 19th Century or even the 20th Century.

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United States also has an inefficient and outdated tax system with 47 percent of Americans paying no income taxes at all

The United States has experienced massive economic changes since the Great Depression and World War Two., including a digital and information technology revolution. The United States also has an inefficient and outdated tax system with 47 percent of Americans paying no income taxes at all. Combine this with the fact that the United States has an exploding national debt that threatens the long-term financial security of the country and you see we have a problem. The Trump Administration could announce the following initiatives to begin to address these challenges:
  • GOAL 1: An academic and bipartisan review to streamline the federal government and to root out duplication of services and to recommend which efforts ought to be better delegated to the States.
  • GOAL 2: To devise a new tax system to fund the reorganized government based on taxes on corporations, tariffs, and borrowing while maintaining personal income taxation to protect Social Security and Medicare.
  • GOAL 3: Reduce and eventually eliminate personal, non-FICA federal income taxes when the US debt to GDP returns to historical levels of between 40 percent and 60 percent, which now stands at 95 percent.
So, in other words, a transition period that keeps the income tax but only to reduce the federal debt, and retention of Social Security and Medicare which are popular programs. The Republican plan is always to scream “fire” in a crowded movie house instead of rolling up their sleeves and coming up with a new system, in the same manner that military bases were closed in the late 20th Century by a bipartisan panel. The answer to almost every challenge in the United States is federalism, and Restoring the Republic.

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Daniel Wiseman -- Bio and Archives

Daniel Wiseman is an independent political commentator, who focuses on national and international affairs. He spent nine years as a professional journalist in Wyoming before working in fund-raising, non-profit management, and is now working in New York City. Wiseman focuses his writing on how to bring the United States back to its Constitutional moorings.  He writes exclusively for Canada Free Press.


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