THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 227, November 1, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
GOP SENATE HOPEFULS OFFERING NEW IDEAS FOR 2011:
These Republicans Are Definitely Not the "Party of No"
(as Cheap Shots Would Have it)
By Deroy Murdock
THE NOVEMBER, 2010, U.S. SENATE ELECTIONS & NATIONAL PUBLIC POLICY: GOOD, BUT LESS FAMILIAR, IDEAS
BEING OFFERED BY REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR SEATS IN THE U.S. SENATE -- PUBLIC POLICY IDEAS BEING PROMOTED
BY CALIFORNIA'S CARLY FIORINA, CONNECTICUT'S LINDA MCMAHON, & FLORIDA'S MARCO RUBIO
FULL STORY:
Whether or not the GOP wins the U.S. Senate, several Republican contenders for the World’s Greatest Deliberative
Body hope to promote some rather unique proposals. Republicans are running on such ideas as repealing ObamaCare,
curbing federal spending, and making permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. Those are all fine concepts, but several
candidates have gone beyond the old perennials to promote good, less-familiar ideas.
Among others, California’s Carly Fiorina highlights two particularly intriguing proposals:
First, she recommends something called Jobs for Americans Zones. In these specific geographic areas, federal tax
benefits would be coupled with relief from state and local regulations. This would create conditions designed to lure
manufacturing jobs back to America that have fled the country for more appealing economic climates. These
incentives would include:
A 10-year tax holiday for facilities repatriated from overseas.
A five-year tax holiday for start-ups and expansions.
State and local permitting and land-use assistance.
Holidays from uncompetitive state and local regulations,
such as onerous work rules that boost labor costs.
Fiorina's Campaign Press Secretary Andrea Saul says:
“Carly believes we must compete and fight for every single job.
That means both creating jobs at home and bringing jobs back
from overseas. She believes we should ensure that the
incentives we offer for high-skill and manufacturing jobs are
competitive with what foreign governments offer.”
Second, Fiorina advocates something she calls “Letting Americans Pay Down the Debt.” In short, taxpayers could
steer part of their levies to curbing America’s $13 trillion in deep-red ink. As Saul explains, Fiorina
“. . . understands that, in order to put Americans back to work,
get small enterprises back in business and boost economic
growth beyond just 2 or 3 percent, we must reduce the stress
that record-high federal spending places on our economy. To
do that, among many other ideas, she has proposed that
Congress give taxpayers the opportunity to designate 0 to 10
percent of their federal tax liability towards debt reduction.”
Connecticut’s Linda McMahon spotlights congressional pay. She would slash legislative salaries to match the U.S.
median income. If McMahon prevailed, congressional pay would plunge from $174,000 to $44,389.
McMahon spokesman Shawn McCoy elaborates:
“If Members of Congress want their own salaries to rise, they
will need to support policies that will help boost incomes for
average Americans. Career politicians will probably do their
best to block such a proposal, so it might be easier to push
for capping congressional salary until median income catches
up.”
Harmonizing congressional and rank-and-file salaries will pry Congress from the bubble of relative affluence that
isolates them from their constituents. Members of this Congress might have understood this economy’s
thoroughgoing flaccidity, if they struggled as hard to pay their bills as do the Americans they represent.
McMahon says:
“I won’t take a dime in salary. Career politicians run for the
U.S. Senate for the perks and the money. I’m not interested
in the perks, and I won’t let taxpayers pay me more than a
million dollars over six years while Connecticut families are
hurting.”
McMahon also says she will limit her own time on Capitol Hill. “I’ll serve only two terms. Period,” she declares. “If
you can’t work through an agenda in 12 years, you don’t have an agenda. You have a career.”
Florida’s Marco Rubio is a one-man think tank. He has unveiled “10 Simple Ways to Lower HealthCare Costs,” “12
Simple Ways to Improve Education,” and “23 Simple Ways to Create Jobs.” Among his “12 Simple Ways to Cut
Spending,” these look especially tantalizing:
Reduce the Size of the Federal Bureaucracy. To get
spending under control, we must cut the size of the
government workforce. To begin, we should freeze federal
civilian workforce pay for one year and bring the pay scale
back in line with market rates. In addition, we should
reduce its size to 2008 levels. To accomplish this without
disrupting critical government services, we should
implement a policy of only hiring just one civilian
employee for every two who leave government.
Freeze Federal Non-Defense, Non-Veterans Spending at
2008 Levels. We should freeze non-defense and
non-veterans discretionary spending at pre-Obama levels.
In addition, we actually should enforce our goals to cut
spending and reduce the deficit by making automatic
cuts, if politicians won’t. This could save hundreds of
billions of dollars over 10 years.
Automatic Sunset of Government Programs. We need to
end the permanent lease on life that government programs
are given. Too often, Congress creates a spending
program, increases it’s funding, and never looks back to
see if it is actually working. We should mandate that all
discretionary spending programs end every 10 years after
the Census, unless Congress specifically votes to
continue them.
Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Burgos says that the Automatic Sunset already brightens the Sunshine State. “It’s
an idea that’s been at work in the Florida Legislature and helps make sure programs are regularly evaluated and
properly debated, not passed once and allowed to live on forever.”
Democrats constantly accuse Republicans of brain death. “The other side just is not presenting a serious idea of how
to balance our budgets and put us on a stable fiscal footing,” President Obama complained to Richmond, Virginia
voters on September 29, 2010.
In fact, GOP congressional challengers and incumbents are bursting with worthy ideas for repairing America. Some
are wise, albeit oft-repeated. Others are novel and merit further interest.
Whether Leftists like Obama and his Democratic Party pals on Capitol Hill will listen to such proposals is another
matter entirely. After Tuesdays’ vote, those ideas may become too powerful to ignore.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, Special Interest Groups, & Political Corruption
American Government & the U.S. Congress:
Congressional Legislative Politics & National Public Policy
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Fiscal Policy: Taxation & Government Spending
New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a nationally syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service
and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. The foregoing
column first appeared on National Review Online.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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