POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

GOP releases the text of its “Pledge to America”

Which will be formally rolled out later today at a hardware store in Northern Virginia.  Which I must say makes for some pretty good symbolism, not only regarding everyday Americans putting their heads together to "fix" their problems, but also regarding providing the nuts and bolts to fix our current national one.  Listen to some of the document's preamble:

America is more than a country.

America is an idea – an idea that free people can govern themselves, that government’s powers are derived from the consent of the governed, that each of us is endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. America is the belief that any man or woman can – given economic, political, and religious liberty – advance themselves, their families, and the common good.

America is an inspiration to those who yearn to be free and have the ability and the dignity to determine their own destiny.

Whenever the agenda of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to institute a new governing agenda and set a different course.

These first principles were proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, enshrined in the Constitution, and have endured through hard sacrifice and commitment by generations of Americans. In a self-governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent.

An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down long-standing laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people.

An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.

Rising joblessness, crushing debt, and a polarizing political environment are fraying the bonds among our people and blurring our sense of national purpose.

Like free peoples of the past, our citizens refuse to accommodate a government that believes it can replace the will of the people with its own. The American people are speaking out, demanding that we realign our country’s compass with its founding principles and apply those principles to solve our common problems for the common good.

The need for urgent action to repair our economy and reclaim our government for the people cannot be overstated.

With this document, we pledge to dedicate ourselves to the task of reconnecting our highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values our nation was founded on, the principles we stand for, and the priorities of our people. This is our Pledge to America.

Pretty good stuff, eh?  Kind of has a familiar ring to it, don't you think?  Here's a link to a PDF of the pledge.  I'd encourage all conservatives to read  and familiarize themselves with it's contents, because you know that the Democrats will hit the ground spinning hard, negatively, about it starting today; trying to integrate it into their mid-term themes about "returning to the Boooooooooooooosh! policies" and "Faux news is teh SUXXOR!11!1!".

But that will be pretty hard to do, at least effectively, on their part.  Because, unlike the "Contract with America" of 1994 fame, this agenda doesn't descend into wonkery and minutia in a way that loses everyday voters as well as provide well defined targets.  Instead, this document speaks broadly about cutting spending, and adhering  more closely to Constitutional priciples.  Some of the key points, as summarized by CBS:

Jobs:

- Stop job-killing tax hikes

- Allow small businesses to take a tax deduction equal to 20 percent of their income

- Require congressional approval for any new federal regulation that would add to the deficit

- Repeal small business mandates in the new health care law.

Cutting Spending:

- Repeal and Replace health care

- Roll back non-discretionary spending to 2008 levels before TARP and stimulus (will save $100 billion in first year alone)

- Establish strict budget caps to limit federal spending going forward

- Cancel all future TARP payments and reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Reforming Congress:

- Will require that every bill have a citation of constitutional authority

- Give members at least 3 days to read bills before a vote

Defense:

- Provide resources to troops

- Fund missile defense

- Enforce sanctions in Iran

That sounds pretty good to me; how about you?  I realize that there are many on the right who will be critical of this pledge since it doesn't incorporate, point-for-point, Paul Ryan's "Roadmap for America's Future".  My reply to them would be that detailed legislative agenda is something to take up and debate in Congress after the mid-terms; I have no doubt that it can advance on it's merits alone.

But this pledge is more "broad brush" than Mr. Ryan's detailed plan, and easier for a layperson or heretofore "low-information" voter to ingest and get behind.  In fact, there are many provisions that the Tea-Party folks will recognize from their own agenda.  And while there will be some on the right and left that will view that as the "establishment RINO Rethugs! trying to co-opt the pure-as-driven-snow Tea party", I personally dismiss that as an excessively cynical, and somewhat paranoid, point of view.

This pledge is about reining in, and reducing the size of, a runaway Federal government.  It is about returning to Constitutional principles.  It's about ceasing the hoodwinking of the people and thwarting their will; I'm especially impressed by the part about stopping the practice of attaching unpopular legislation to important, unrelated, bills in order to "force" representatives to vote for the frivolous in order to get the necessary.  And there'll be no more multi-thousand-page, unread, "we won't know what's in it until we pass it" bills either.  It's long on fiscal policy and constitutional principles.  In fact, the only thing conspicuously absent, by the usual GOP standards, are any social agenda issues; no abortion talk, or gay marriage, or any of the Social conservative agenda items that the Democrats use as wedge issues to divide us.

I'm pretty excited about it myself (I know, that sounds geeky-may be also) and would urge all to get to know it.  Not only to defend it during the 2010 campaign, but in order to hold the elected Republicans to their pledge after November 2.

(H/T Ace)

Rocketman