The Candidates Speech

I stand here asking for the majority of you to vote for me, with all of my promises and all of my flaws, this November.  I am asking you to cast your mark by my name not because my opponent can be easily abused by a TV commercial or a reporter trying to make his own name, but because I have something to offer this nation.  More than “he can’t”, I offer “I will”.  And here is what I will do for you:

I will admit we have failed you as a party and as a Congress.  Falling far from the Tree of Our Fathers we have landed in the middle of an endless contest of misplaced and dishonest rhetoric.  We are apples rotting on the ground at the foot of that Great Tree and feeding our own roots with rotten cores.  We have asked you to vote for us for decades under the promise of many things: smaller government, lower taxes, right to life, personal freedom, strong global reputation, and last but not the least, we are still the greatest hope of freedom on this planet.  We have lied.

For fifty-four years, we have added to the size of government and exploded our national debt.  We didn’t do it alone, but we did nothing to stop it.  We lose site of the fact that, outside of our recent expenditure levels, the GOP has set all the spending records.  I fear that we are not the party of reduced spending; we are the party of reduced Democratic Spending.  I promise to bring $100 Million dollars in proposed spending cuts to the floor each month for one year.  They will be debated and they may be defeated, but I will bring them none the less.  Further, I will not ask for reductions to spending in any area of social security or Medicaid until we eliminate all of the “waste” and “fraud” we always talk about.  We made promises, we will not break them.  However, once the waste is significantly reduced, these programs will be revisited.

I will ask for legislation requiring each member of Congress to sign an ethics statement upon entering office.  Any person suspected of unethical behavior will be immediately reviewed under private, non-disclosed committee, and if found substantiated enough to request further investigation that member will be put on unpaid leave with suspension of all voting rights and privileges of the Congress until they are cleared.  If not, they will be removed from office and replaced.  No more promises to drain the swamp, the swamp will be legislated.

I will ask that each candidate or Congressmen take an oath subject to criminal prosecution that all statements made in ads, speeches, floor debates and written letters and books, are fully true.  Lying will no longer be permitted.

All corporate donations to campaigns will be public.  Donations may be used to support campaigns, but PACs may not create or market ads for any politician.  A politician can support their own positions, period.

I will submit legislation that allows the government to spend only 90% of the average private (tax) and public (debt) revenues for the last three years until the debt of this nation is less than 50% of GDP.  Once that measure is reached, 95%.  At no time will we place less that 2.5% of our revenue into a “rainy day” fund and rebuild our national coffers.

If a private industry fails, it will not be bailed out.  Neither will the regulatory bodies charged with the responsibility to oversee that industry.  If any one company is considered too big to fail, it will either be nationalized with a 7/8ths vote of the Senate and House and a 50% vote of the American people, or it will be allowed to die.  If we are going to support it with taxpayer dollars, it will become ours.  Any company that is bailed out will be split and sold to private investors within two years – as a whole unit or in pieces.  I am not sure what automotive inventions we buried when we bailed out the entire industry, but I am sure that we continued to prop up a business model that has failed twice in 20 years.  If todays approach was similarly employed in the prior recessions as it was today, we would not have HP, Apple, Microsoft, General Electric, Proctor & Gamble.  Think of today if we didn’t let the railroads die.  Would we have lightweight automotive cars if the Steel Industry was forced to survive in its old ways?  Economics is blind; companies are forward looking and stewards of our communities.  Blind companies should fail.

No company will be allowed to legally pay bonuses to any employee in any amount if the promised obligations of that company are not met.  Pensions that are unfunded or underfunded are unmet obligations.  The government will add no more citizens to its pension bailout fund.  If you wish to make million dollar bonuses you are free to do so as long as your promises are met.  If you don’t want to offer pensions, don’t.  See who works for you.  The market will decide.

I believe that your property is yours and yours alone.  I will not vote for any law or bill, or support any concept of eminent domain.

I will not disband or eliminate Mandated Health Care.  We will reform it.  All pieces of legislation are adjusted, as this will be.  I will not watch a person die on the streets because we didn’t grant them a hospital room.  I will also not watch a person who disregards basic health practices receive state of the art health care at my expense.  Basic health care is a need (if not a right) of our citizens and they must find a way to fund their own insurance.  Catastrophic care is a privilege.

I will introduce legislation to consider our borders a primary area of accountability for our military.  Our national sidelines will be protected by the same people and equipment as the Afghanistan and Iraq nations.  If you decide to sneak across our border, you are subject to meeting your maker, whoever that may be, at the defense of our country.  If you want in, use the door, we will greet you and guide you.

Illegal immigration is illegal.  Those who hire illegal immigrants will be penalized to the point of business failure.  Illegal immigrants will be fined, removed from this country if guilty of a crime, or placed into a process that provides them the path to citizenship.  If the people of this country wish to curb immigration they are spitting on their own pasts and heritage.  Immigration will be handled more effectively if our own citizens did the work the immigrants are doing.  Until you are willing to do that, they are essential to our economy.  If you wish to sit at home on the government dime and eat that summer corn but aren’t willing to pick it from the fields, then someone else will do it.

I will introduce legislation to provide for a consumption tax.  If you don’t want taxed, save your money.  If you spend it, we will take a fair amount to provide for our government.  The IRS will no longer need your tax return at the end of the year.  In this regard, even illegal immigrants will pay taxes.  Taxes will be capped, by law, unless times of war dictate a need.

As for times of war, I will introduce legislation that requires a surcharge on everything we buy of 10%.  Gone are the days that men die in trenches whilst we sit on our butts watching Jersey Boys and arguing about Tiger Woods.  Our men and women give more than you can imagine.  You will give where you will feel it the most, out of your wallet.

Our soldiers will not be cast aside upon return from active duty.  Any soldier on active duty will be provided health care for the remainder of their life.  They were willing to give it up at a moment’s notice.  We will provide for the rest of their moments.  If you think that’s a good deal, go serve in a forward zone.

No one on welfare or public assistance will be allowed to remain “unemployed”.  If you cannot find work, work will be provided to you at the Human Services building every Monday.  Bring your work boots and gloves, our streets need cleaned.

You may carry a gun, anywhere.  If you use it illegally, you will go to jail for life if you're lucky.  You might just get shot in the process.

Your rights and freedom from police, search and seizure, detention and interrogation, of any sort will be protected above all else.  If you are found guilty of a crime, however, you will have none.

Your freedom of speech is protected.  If you wish to rant about gay soldiers, you may.  You may not however, express your rights at the funeral of the soldier, as the rights of his family are not subordinate to yours.  Hold your protest in a public fashion instead of a private ceremony.  Trust me, you will be heard.

I dont care what you in your house, who you do it with, or how you do it and hence I wont govern it.  However, in my house, you will respect my beliefs.  In public, do what you want.  If I dont like it, I won't got there.  If you don't like what I do, go somewhere else.

I’m sure I have more.  Next time.