What no Democrat or Republican will admit needs to be done or how to do it!
In listening to the latest back and forth from both sides with the Democrats lying and the GOP responding, it is obvious that neither side of this equation is willing or equipped to put forth the plan that we need to stop the progressive socialist utopian destruction of America. I have shown that since the "Great Society" legislation of 1965 the government has grown 464.4% from 411 federal agencies and offices to 1909 federal agencies and offices while the population from the 1960 census to 2010 census shows a population growth from 179,323,175 to 308,745,538. or 45.36%.That is a growth differential of 409% yes our government has grown more than 4 1/2 times larger than it was in 1965 to perform the new duties it took away from the states. The federal government over the last 47 years under the umbrella of that legislation and the massive federal government build up has added more than 100,000 new laws and federal regulations to enforce it and its subsequent socialist utopian programs with only one intended net effect, keep the ruling classes ruling while subjugating our rights and freedoms. And to implement and manage them they created a vast departmental bureaucracy to control it and us that has been choking the life from this Republic. This massive federal bureaucracy must either be reduced or completely phased out or we will never recover completely and we will be forced to watch as we become the very thing they want us to be, subjects of a socialist Marxist state. ("we already are")
The 1500 agencies and offices that have been created since then have been adding trillions to the cost of government and are now so fiscally insolvent that we currently borrow 40 cents on every dollar just to pay their bills.
In 1965 the federal debt was $317,273,898,983.64. That's billion with a B.
Today it is 15,728,863,898,758.00 that's trillion with a T.
Yes that is correct while our population has grown by 45% our debt per person has grown by 500%! Our debt thanks to the unchecked and unregulated growth of our federal government is 25 times more per man, woman and child even with the offset of the population growth. That is a staggering number almost 16 trillion dollars in less than 50 years with the democrats running the show for 40 of them. The debt burden in 1965 for every man, woman and child was less than $2000, it is now $50,108.00 or 25 times more than it was before their legislation started us down the path to the progressive socialist utopian nightmare we are now living in.
There are other factors as well like the fact that it now costs business' more in regulatory expenses than their tax burden. In 2010 the tax burden to business' in both state and local taxes was 1.4 trillion dollars, the cost of compliance of federal regulations was 1.75 trillion. Yes we as Americans now absorb the expense of 3 TRILLION DOLLARS of pass thru costs from business' in America with 80% being federal tax and regulatory based.
The Federal Register is the document that compiles all the federal rules and regulations that businesses are required to comply with. As of 2010 the Federal Register was 81,405 pages long. Federal regulations serve as a hidden tax on the economy. Costs imposed by regulation do not end up on any Federal budget, nor do they add to the national deficit. However, 81,405 pages of regulations strain the economy by creating huge costs that business are obligated to meet.
To fix the problem we must start down sizing and eliminating multiple agencies and departments to match our population growth and actual regulatory needs not the political infrastructure created by the Democrats to enforce their socialist agenda onto America.
I would start by eliminating the departments of Education, Energy,Environmental Protection, Transportation, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Labor, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development and the General Services Administration and pass their operations and funding back to the states with the states keeping the tax funding they now send to Washington to be wasted and abused. I have identified these 10 agencies because they have all demonstrated extreme fiscal malfeasance and since their inception have all had a negative effect on every single area where they have imposed themselves. Since the Dept. of Ed. H.S. graduation rates and over all science and math scores are down over 40%, since the dept. of energy the cost of energy has increased 326% while the reduction in domestic energy production of all types has decreased by 29%. I can continue this fact based performance evaluation for several thousand pages but it would only re-enforce their incompetence.
I would downsize all other agencies and offices that are not deemed necessary to carry out the Constitutional Responsibilities as defined by the Federalist papers to be necessary for the functioning of the government. I would eliminate the base line budgeting mechanisms and roll back spending to 2000 levels and then introduce a balanced budget amendment that only allows budgetary increases to match stated inflation based on preceding years inflation numbers.
All federal regulations enacted that have not been voted on by both houses and the POTUS will be suspended until reviewed for their cause and effect and any that can and should be the purview of the states shall be returned to the states for individual consideration and enforcement or annulment. All future federal regulations must pass house over sight and be deemed necessary by the states affected by them.
End Presidential Executive orders and czars, all "cabinet posts" will be vetted and approved by both houses with majority vote rules in effect.
Now no where in this have I stated that Social Security or Medicare and Medicaid have to be eliminated or changed but they should be removed from their federal bureaucratic oversight and re-instituted as stand alone departments with both state and federal oversight shared and administered. Their fiscal mismanagement and the use of the sequestered funds being diverted to the general fund must not go unpunished and must be monitored by outside auditing agencies that are directly answerable to the voter, that is why state run auditors responsible for all of the accounting is necessary. Also an immediate return of all of the funds diverted from Social Security and the guilty parties forced to make restitution, even their heirs and beneficiaries should be held responsible just like any other fiduciary would be.
As the title indicated fixing what's broke in our government will take the effort of every American who believes in the Republic and the Constitution and its return to Rule of Law from rule of man. Until we elect citizen statesmen in lieu of career politicians who are not part of the ruling class that is destroying us as the current 2 party system is, solutions based on the facts will not be presented and our decline will continue.
In Freedom,
Dr. Keith C. Westbrook Ph.D.
President Conservative Party Florida
