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| Here's Rick Perry's Audacious Plan To Completely Reinvent The U.S. Government |
| 2011-11-15 |
| 2012 presidential hopeful Rick Perry will try to reclaim some of the magic of his early campaign days today with a dramatic call to completely overhaul all three branches of the federal government. Perry's proposal, based largely on ideas from his 2010 treatise Fed Up!, is pretty radical — it would completely change the legislative and judiciary branches, and even involves changing the U.S. Constitution. Here are the highlights: Cut Congressional pay in half and make Congress a part-time job. If they don't pass a balanced budget by 2020, Perry would cut Congressional pay in half again Bring spending down to 18% GDP Criminalize "insider trading" by members of Congress Pass legislation requiring a two-thirds Congressional majority to pass any tax increases End life-time appointments of federal judges Pass a Constitutional amendment setting 18-year terms for supreme Court justices Issue a moratorium on pending federal regulations Eliminate the Department of Commerce, Department of Education, and Department of Energy Overhaul the Department of Homeland Security and privatize airport security Downsize the Environmental Protection Agency "so it no longer torments job creators or gives an official stamp to phony science." Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac And of course, end federal funding of Planned Parenthood Overall, this is a lot of federal government for one guy to hate. The proposal is a gutsy move that looks a lot like a Hail Mary pass by the struggling Perry campaign, which is looking for a second wind going into the homestretch before the 2012 primaries. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #18 Surely did "love me some" Sarah...tsk-tsk |
| Posted by: Angoper Smith4384 2011-11-15 21:58 |
| #17 Also get rid of the Department of Labor. And stop regulating resources the Federal government has no business regulating (like offshore oil drilling) except via a warped and twisted commerce clause. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-11-15 18:37 |
| #16 Rather than cutting the pay of Congress critters, I would just have term limits for them, just like for the president - two terms for Senators, five or six for Representatives. And a lifetime ban on lobbying for ex-critters. The Founding Fathers did not expect a Congress to be a lifetime job, a la T. Kennedy, Charlie Rangel, Robert Byrd, etc. Oh - and Congress critters don't get to vote on their own pay - it goes to a national referendum each election. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2011-11-15 18:15 |
| #15 It's just cronyism. Patton got in trouble for telling the truth that a lot of 'Nazis' were just members to get a job and that the technical people were needed to keep the power plants, water plants, etc operating, for which he referenced the 'spoil system' back in the States as being just the same. It doesn't matter what adjective you put on it, it's the old "who you know not what you know" that floats the corrupt political system no matter what 'ism' is tacked on. The best inhibitor to the process is not to allow power to concentrate or be sustained by any group for any extended period of time. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-11-15 17:38 |
| #14 I agree with the list also. I would try to get some reasonable interpretation of the Commerce Clause other than "Everything is commerce and can be regulated." I do not know how this wish list could ever be implemented by a president although it needs to be. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-11-15 17:32 |
| #13 It's not crony capitalism, it's crony socialism. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2011-11-15 15:03 |
| #12 I'm leaning toward that ancient chinese system where any government official had to be a eunuch. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division 2011-11-15 15:02 |
| #11 Politicians & the financial industry talk about one thing and the courts are starting to talk about something else: From today's NYT: The Bank of America lawyer laid down a patented rhetorical move heard in courts across America...we should be allowed to foreclose. Justice Catherine M. Bartlett of New York State Supreme Court cut off the lawyer. You, she said, are telling me lies. “Bank of America got a bailout, and this is an outrage, how this man has been treated,” she said. “Hard-working, middle-class Americans are trying to make it, trying to refinance with your bank.” Either bank officials show up in person, the justice said, or I’m going to order them “here in handcuffs." |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-15 14:26 |
| #10 End life-time appointments of federal judges Pass a Constitutional amendment setting 18-year terms for supreme Court justices This is long overdue. Lifetime appointments were instituted in an age where hardly anyone lived past 65. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-15 14:10 |
| #9 The only prominent GOP personage who has even mentioned "Crony capitalism" was Sarah, and she is out of the running. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-15 14:07 |
| #8 At the moment, any candidate who comes right out and says, "The Federal government will from this time onward abandon any effort to prop up housing prices." is simply unelectable. Fannie & Fraud are convenient whipping boys for some parts of the political spectrum, but that's not the basic issue. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-15 14:05 |
| #7 Anguper, haven't they already transferred that waste into the Treasury? I believe that's where it ultimately lies (in all senses of that word). The key point not discussed: Fannie and Fraud are being used to prop up the remains of the dying housing bubble. Get rid of their shuck & jive actions, and housing prices should collapse to an affordable level. This collapse will bankrupt many and cause political blowback. Knowing how the Feds work, they would simply institute other shuck & jive programs to continue propping up the zombie housing bubble, aka "Weekend at Bernie Bernanke's" |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-15 14:03 |
| #6 Also left out are "End corporate crony |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-15 13:59 |
| #5 Anguper, haven't they already transferred that waste into the Treasury? |
| Posted by: Jeque Hupairong2828 2011-11-15 13:58 |
| #4 He left out "Repeal Obamacare". However Zerocare is mathematically impossible in any case. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-15 13:58 |
| #3 Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac As if any private party were willing to buy the crap those two agencies hold, a pile of steaming bad debt. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-15 13:54 |
| #2 I was kind of leaning towards Cain, but Perry might get my vote with that. Good job. |
| Posted by: Jeque Hupairong2828 2011-11-15 13:36 |
| #1 There is nothing on that list I disagree with. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2011-11-15 13:31 |