Today’s Article                                                                         November 06, 2002

 
The Election is over, Now its time to Govern
 by Bill Hocutt

Yes, The election is over and the Republican party has regained control of the Senate. Before you start your celebratory dance, let's remember that winning the election was only the beginning. Now it is time to Govern the nation. Two years ago, Senator Lott squandered the GOP's temporary control of the senate by going out of his way to "Share" power with the Democrats. After watching Senator Daschall's tactics for the last year and a half, I hope Senator Lott has learned his lesson. The GOP needs to aggressively implement the Bush agenda. I have compiled a list of 10 items that should be at the top of the priority list.

1) Judicial Appointments --- The Senate should begin to move immediately on approving the Bush appointees. The only way that we will ever see an end to "Legislating" from the bench is to replace the Liberal Judges with Conservatives Judges that will ENFORCE the laws instead of interpreting them.

2) Opening the Alaskan Oil Fields -- So long as we continue to depend on imported oil we will remain subject to blackmail by the Arab countries that actively support or financially support people like Osama Bin Laden. We need to open the fields in Alaska and make the United States Energy Independent.

3) Homeland Security -- The events of 9/11 has driven home the importance of our nation's need for Homeland Security. The President (no matter who it is) needs to be able to fire or reassign anyone in this department that is either a security risk or not doing their job. This Department cannot function with incompetent people that cannot be removed because of Civil Service restrictions.

4) Tax Reform --- The immediate and permanent removal of the Death Tax, The immediate and permanent removal of the Marriage Penalty. At the very least, the Bush tax cuts of 2001 should be made permanent. I would prefer an across the board reduction of tax rates by at least five percent. For example, if you currently pay 36%, your rate would be reduced to 31%. If you currently pay 15%, your rate would be reduced to 10%. There should be a serious look at implementing a flat tax of 15% instead of the current tax "scheme" that penalizes people who succeeded.

5) Privatize Social Security -- The Social Security Privatization plan put forward by President Bush should be approved immediately. As it stands right now, people my age (43), will never see a single penny of the money that we have "donated" to Social Security. At least with a partial privatization, we would reap some of the benefits that we are paying for.

6) Reevaluation of all Foreign Aid -- There should be an immediate reevaluation of all foreign aid. We should not be giving taxpayer dollars to nations that oppose our interests We should not be building nuclear plants in North Korea or building bases in Arabic countries that side with the terrorists that attacked us.

7) Reevaluation of our Immigration Policies -- We should not be allowing people from countries that our State Department has branded as "terrorist" nations to emigrate to the United States. Until the current war with terrorism is over, we should allow NO emigration from predominately Muslim nations.

8) Restructuring of the EPA -- The Environmental Protection Agencies should not be allowed to designate people's private property as "Wetlands" and then take them away from the rightful owners. This agency has grown too big and powerful, it is no longer functioning in the best interest of the United States.

9) Elimination of all government funding of the arts -- The Federal government should not be in the business of sponsoring the fine arts. The Constitution does not allow it and the taxpayer dollars would be better spent in other areas.

10) Statehood or independence for Puerto Rico --- The Congress should immediately call for a binding election in Puerto Rico to determine if the people living there would prefer Statehood or Independence. Puerto Rico has been a US "Territory" since the end of the Spanish American War in 1898, it's time to bet or fold.


In closing, I would like to remind everyone the goal was not just to win but to govern.

God Bless America,
Bill Hocutt

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