philosophy
Return to Common Sense
July 16, 2010
Section:
Domestic - Philosophy
“Limit the federal government to those duties specifically
enumerated in the Constitution, and let the states compete on merit”
Philosophy
(Background, Issues, Objectives):
Constitution established a federal
government of limited powers, enumerated in Article I, section 8.
- Establish justice (courts)
- Insure domestic tranquility (punishing crimes).
- Provide for common defense (maintain armed services).
- Secure the blessings of liberty.
- The Commerce clause “The Congress shall have
Power...To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several
States, and with the Indian Tribes...” has been used to subsume
almost any human activity.
States rights reaffirmed by 9th
and 10th Amendments to the Constitution
- People grant specific enumerated powers to the Federal government,
thus limiting Federal power.
- Each state has its own government, and can create its own laws.
- No state may enter any treaty, alliance, or confederation on is own.
- Each state is free to tax
- Each state is free to spend
Anglo-American foundations of society are:
- God created man.
- Sanctity of life.
- Enduring morality and virtue.
- Family.
- Religion.
- Individuality.
- Property.
- Custom.
- Law.
- Community.
- Order.
- Freedom.
- Prosperity.
- Recognition of man’s fallen nature.
Federal
spending is the third-largest item in the federal budget after Social Security
and defense.
·
Aid
to the states increased from $286 billion in 2000 to an estimated $449 billion
in 2007.
·
The
number of state aid programs soared from 463 in 1990, to 653 in 2000, to 814 by
2006.
Principles:
Unless Constitution specifically grants
power to the Federal government, the states may legislate
their own laws.
- Inter-state wealth redistribution (transfer payments) is not a
valid purpose for any program.
Government programs must be self
sustaining.
- Programs periodically examined for effectiveness.
- Favored industry support is not a valid purpose for any program.
- Analysis must have macroeconomic view, undistracted by short term
or individual industry impacts
Conservative approach to social
problems:
- A preference for limited government.
- A desire to means-test or otherwise target government benefits.
- A concern about the behavioral consequences of assistance.
- A deference to mediating institutions.
- Respect for private choice, often in the form of markets.
- Humility bred from disappointing experiences and the likelihood of
unintended consequences.
Recommendations:
Limit size and intrusion of government.
- Enforce federalism principle with the 9th
and 10th Amendments to the Constitution.
o Interpret Commerce Clause restrictively to return governmental
power to the States.
- Use Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART) to evaluate program
effectiveness
- Use Commission on the Accountability and Review of Federal Agencies
(CARFA) Act to terminate federal programs.
- Lower taxes to reflect government downsizing.
Downsize government, with particular emphasis on unsustainable
entitlement spending:
- Privatize entitlement programs into personal accounts:
o
Medicare (325B) - Privatize
into Personal Health Savings Accounts.
o
Social Security - Privatize
into personal accounts.
- Devolve entitlement programs back to the states:
o
Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
($62B)
o Medicaid ($186B)
o SCHIP.
o State Payment for Family Support ($4,142M).
o Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
($18,099M)
- Abolish Cabinet departments not covered under enumerated powers
(see individual issue sections):
o
Department of Agriculture ($142.0
billion annually).
o
Department of Commerce ($16.7
billion annually).
§
Abolish
business subsidies should be abolished, including technology subsidies,
handouts to fishermen, and minority business aid ($1.2 billion).
§
Eliminate
economic development funding ($469 million).
§
Terminate
the International Trade Administration ($389 million).
o
Department of Education ($106.9
billion annually).
o
Department of Energy ($38.2
billion annually).
o
Department of Housing and Urban
Development ($62.5 billion annually).
o
Department of Interior.
o
Department of Labor.
o
Department of Transportation
($90.9 billion annually).
§
Eliminate
the Federal Highway Administration ($51.8 billion annually).
§
Eliminate
the Federal Transit Administration ($15.5 billion annually).
§
Privatize
air traffic control and end airport grants ($14.2 billion annually)
- Privatize activities that could be performed better as a standalone
businesses:
o
Privatize the Postal Service ($8.1B).
o Privatize Amtrak ($2.53 billion annually).
o
Privatize federal electricity utilities
§
Privatize Tennessee Valley Authority ($8.5B)
§ Privatize Power Marketing
Administrations ($788M).
- Privatize infrastructure activities that could be performed better
by the private sector:
o
Privatize FAA Facilities (Air Traffic Control) &
Equipment ($2.9B).
o
Privatize highways.
o
Privatize the nation’s airports, while ending
federal subsidies.
o
Privatize the nation’s seaports.
o
Privatize Army Corps of Engineers ($4.9B).
§
Dams ($10.0B).
§
Energy Facilities ($10.0B).
- Privatize activities that could be performed better by the private
sector:
o
Export-Import Bank.
o
Federal National Mortgage Association
(Fannie Mae), ($6.5 B).
o
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation
(Freddie Mac), ($6.5 B).
o
Geographic Survey ($.5B).
o
Global Positioning Service ($7.0B).
o
Government National Mortgage Association
(Ginnie Mae).
o
Government Printing Office.
o
Legal Services Corporation ($350 M).
o
NASA ($15.7B).
o
National Weather Service ($2.3B).
o
Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.
o
Retirement Insurance, including Social
Security (527B).
o
Risk Management Agency ($3.4B).
o
St. Lawrence Seaway.
o
Transportation Security Agency ($2.7B).
o
USDA Agricultural Research Centers ($4.0B).
- Sell off excess federal assets:
o
Strategic Petroleum Reserve (232M).
o
Excess electromagnetic spectrum ($150B).
o
Commodity lands (Forest Service, BLM) ($160B).
o
Government buildings and lands ($10.B).
- Privatize federal insurance programs since the government has no
Constitutional role providing or guaranteeing insurance coverage:
o
Crop Insurance.
o
National Flood Insurance.
o
Property Insurance.
o
Terrorism Risk Insurance (TRIA).
o
Windstorm Insurance.
- Devolve local programs back to the states:
o Child
Care Entitlement Grants ($2.7B).
o Child
Care & Development Grants ($2.1B).
o Community
Oriented Policing Services ($575M).
o Community
Service Grants ($631M)
o Environmental
Protection Agency ($3.6B).
o Federal
Transit Administration ($8.4B).
o Foster
Care & Adoption Grants ($6.5B).
o Head
Start ($6.8B).
o Social
Service Grants ($1.8B).
- Terminate corporate welfare and other mis-targeted programs:
o Administration
on Aging ($1.4B).
o Agricultural
Marketing Service ($1.2B).
o Assisted
Housing Programs ($601M).
o Bureau
of Reclamation ($1.2B)
o Employment
and Training Administration ($5.2B).
o Farm Service Agency ($26.2B).
o Fossil
Energy and Clean Coal ($615M).
o Homeless
Assistance Grants ($1.3B).
o Low Income Housing Assistance ($22.9B).
o Low
Income Home Energy Assistance ($2.1B).
o Small
Business Administration ($3.0B).
o Substance
Abuse & Mental Health ($3.2B).
o Trade
Adjustment Assistance ($1.1B).
- Terminate failed, outdated, and irrelevant
programs:
o Agency for International Development ($3.7B).
o Bureau
of Indian Affairs ($2.4B).
o Corporation
for Public Broadcasting ($466M).
o Economic
Development Administration ($392M).
o Energy
Conservation ($874M).
o Energy
Supply ($820M).
o Maritime
Administration ($411M).
o National
Endowment for the Arts & Humanities ($254M).
o Rural
Development ($1.0B).
o United Nations ($362M).
- Consolidate duplicative and contradictory
programs:
o At-risk
youth.
o Disabled.
o Early
childhood development.
o Economic
development.
o Homeless
assistance.
o International
education.
o Safe
water.
- Terminate programs, rather than trimming them or phasing
them out.
Sell off excess federal assets:
- Excess
electromagnetic spectrum ($150B).
- Commodity lands
(Forest Service, BLM) ($160B).
- Government
buildings and lands ($10.B).
Subsidize building Internet of the
future across U.S.A. to provide universal wireless broadband access.
- Ban Internet access services taxes (federal, state, and local).
- Limit video franchising regulation.
References:
United
States Constitution, 1789.
“Can
Government Be Reinvented?” by Larry Reynolds, dated January 1994,
published in the Management Review.
“Liberty
and Tyranny” by Mark R. Levin published by Threshold Editions, 2009.
Congressional Testimony before Subcommittee on
Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations by Roger Pilon,
published by Cato Institute on http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-fd720.html .
“The Corporate
Welfare Budget Bigger Than Ever” by Stephen Slivinski,
dated October 10, 2001, published by The Cato Institute on http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-415es.html .
“A
Strategy to Eliminate Wasteful Federal Spending” by Sam Brownback,
dated October 16, 2003, published by Heritage Foundation on http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/HL806.cfm .
“How to
Get Federal Spending Under Control” by Brian M. Riedl,
dated March 5, 2004, published by Heritage Foundation on http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg1733.cfm .
“Downsizing
the Federal Government” by Chris Edwards, dated
“
“Waterfront
Welfare for Developers” by Froma Harrop, dated
“You
Might be a Constitutionalist If…” by Chuck Baldwin, dated
“Reagan
Was Right: We’re Overgoverned” by
John Andrews, dated
“Whatever
happened to Federalism?” by Gary J. Andres, dated
“A Moral Case Against Big Government: How
Government Shapes the Character, Vision, and Virtue of Citizens” by Ryan Messmore, dated February 2007, published on The Heritage
Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Thought/fp9.cfm .
“The
Enlightenment: Anglo-American (Genesis) vs. Franco-Germanic
(Anti-Genesis)” by Linda Kimball, dated
“Federal
Aid to the States – Historical Cause of Government Growth and Bureaucracy”
by Chris Edwards, dated May 22, 2007, published by Cato Institute at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8246 .
“My
Neighbor’s Keeper? Rethinking Responsibility and the Role of Government” by Ryan Messmore,
dated August 2, 2007, published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Religion/bg2058.cfm .
“Restoring
the American Social Contract” by Stuart M. Butler, dated July 26,
2007, published by Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Family/hl1039.cfm .
“Social Welfare Conservatism” by
Douglas J. Besharov, dated January 9, 2008, published
by American Enterprise Institute at http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.27338/pub_detail.asp .
“Taking
Liberties” by Jonah Goldberg dated
“Put
the ‘
“Great
ideas: unintended consequences” by Henry Lamb dated
“The
Supreme Court and the Commerce Clause” by Thomas Brewton dated July
15, 2009 published by Thomas Brewton at http://www.thomasbrewton.com/index.php/weblog/the_supreme_court_and_the_commerce_clause/ .
“’ObamaCare:’ What does the Constitution have to
say?” by Chelsea Schilling dated August 14, 2009 published by World
Net Daily at http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106694 .
