Domestic Policy
1. Social Security – Social Security is the elephant in the room no one talks about, it also the 800 pound gorilla that is eating everything in our kitchen. Along with Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security consumes the largest portion of the federal budget. This cost to the federal government must be reduced while retaining the level of benefits due to current and future generations.
a. The stock market is a varying market that has no place in providing assurance for future generations.
b. A 40 year plan should be adopted. Those just entering the work force and those with over 39 years remaining to retirement should have their funds dedicated to other sources. Those who have less than one year to retirement will have no change to their apportionment or benefits. Between 39 years and 1 year a slope of funding apportionment should be adopted. Wealth is generated not from the stock market but by investing in profitable investments. An investment must pay dividends – whether in the form of dividends, royalties, license or patent fees, copyright fees, rents or income from income trusts. The funds being contributed to the Social Security trust fund should be invested in these investments which pay a profit from day one.
2. Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy – The Federal Reserve shall be disbanded. Monies received as interest by the member banks of the Federal Reserve shall immediately be returned to the people of the United States by deposit into the United States Treasury. The US Mint shall print, coin and regulate all future monies of the United States. An audit of the Federal Reserve shall be conducted to ascertain the allocation of funds received from the TARP Program. (the Federal bailout). All said funds will be returned to the American people.
a. Gross Domestic Product – The GDP measures the wrong items. By measuring the mere exchange of goods and services we lose sight of the morals, ethics and humanity involved in each decision. There is no such thing as “it’s not personal, it’s just business”, everything is personal when it’s your job, your home, your paycheck or your family. We must initiate a dialogue that will create a real world index which measures a green world – educational status of our children and schools, volunteerism, preservation of farmlands, parks and natural areas, the number and degree of self sufficient communities and homes, innovation, entrepreneurship and new successful businesses. We must identify green paths to energy, dusting off old methods for new ideas, freeing the past to revitalize the future, issue patents and copyright on works and processes that work yet may operate beyond our simple understanding of today’s science. The success of America’s future depends on the foundations of the past, the institutions of today and the educational, entrepreneurial and innovative initiatives of the future. To stand idly by while other nations pass us in every conceivable measure is un-American. The future is ours to take, but we must grasp it today. Should we fail to act, should we fail to grasp, should we fail to hold on tightly, the world will pass us by and America herself will fall becoming just so much more dust in the dustbin of history.
3. Domestic Policy – We stand upon the threshold of tomorrow and we have a choice to make. We can choose destruction or we can choose life. That is the clearest and most realistic of all possibilities we face. There will be those who contend that this is wrong, that there is plenty of time, that there are numerous choices. But that is a delusion. There may be many variations within our choice, but our primary choices remain the same, choose destruction or choose life. In choosing death, all we must do is nothing. We are a train hurtling along such a path today and we are nearly out of track. To choose life means to change everything. As Winston Churchill once said, there will be “blood, sweat and tears.” We must shift from a consuming mentality to a prosuming mentality. We must shift from a credit economy to a savings economy. We must shift from instant gratification to delayed gratification. We must shift from a destructive ecology to a green ecology. To the greatest extent possible, each community and each home within that community must become self sufficient in its energy, food and water needs. We must develop ways of seeing the future that are different from the ways we have traveled in the past.
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