Republican Party's "Pledge to America"

In order to keep riding the wave of anger over the current situation in the American economy, the Republican party, also known as the GOP, has written a new Pledge to America. In this Pledge, they outline their goals, and define the policies they believe will bring the United States out of its current funk. The Pledge has been heavily reviewed. 

The Pledge is a backward-looking document. It suggests the same policies that got the United States into the situation it is today. Critical reviews of the document are correct. The Republican party is suggesting that we can have a free lunch. We cannot. We cannot cut taxes, and at the same time cut the deficit, by only cutting spending in a few small government agencies. The Pledge for America makes clear that the Republican Party has no intention of dealing with the huge entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, Veterans benefits), or defense. Together, these programs are most of the federal budget, and are the programs any real deficit hawk would need to deal with, if they had any credibility. Page numbers in the remainder of the post refer to the pages in the Pledge.

The beginning of the document makes clear that the Republican party is trying to emulate the Tea Party by harking back to the "founders" (page 3)--who were obviously of one mind about everything. One reason this document was written is because the Republican party is scared of the Tea Party. Instead of fighting them, they are trying to co-opt their views, even if Republican party incumbents are exactly the sort of elected officials whom the Tea Party despise.

The Republican party also suggest that the current government is making decisions without consent of the people (page 3). Whether or not you agree with the Obama administration, President Obama was elected with one of the clearest majorities since Reagan. In republican democracy, which is the political system of the United States, elected representatives of the people are elected make decisions in the name of the people who elected them for a term of office. This is an extreme position. Many liberals and centrists disliked the decisions the Bush administration made during its 8 years in office. Yet nobody claimed the Bush administration was governing without consent (at least not beyond saying so from their sofas), even when its approval rating was at rock-bottom.

There are some good things in the Pledge; it is bound to be so in a document so large. A 20% tax break on small businesses is suggested (page 6).

On page 6 the Pledge refers to the Obama administration's takeover of healthcare. This needs correction. The Healthcare Reform bill essentially saved the healthcare industry from getting taken over by the government. The healthcare reform bill actually ensures that health insurance companies will provide healthcare for the foreseeable future--not the government.

That was just the foreword. It is divided in to 6 sections:

• Plan to Create Jobs, End Economic Uncertainty, and Make America More Competitive
• A Plan to Stop Out-of-Control Spending and Reduce the Size of Government
• A Plan to Repeal and Replace the Government Takeover of Healthcare
• A Plan to Reform Congress and Restore Trust
• A Plan to Keep Our Nation Secure at Home and Abroad
• Checks and Balances

Further posts will look at each of these sections in detail.

One thing you might notice missing from the Pledge to America is any suggestion of how to reform, remake, or differently regulate the American financial services and banking system to avoid any future financial crisis and its associated economic collapse. It is almost as if we are not in a recession or recession-like situation. Some in the Republican party have even had the audacity to claim that government regulation caused the financial crisis. Yet obviously, it was the complete lack of regulation and oversight that allowed mortgage-backed credit default swaps to permeate the entire economy. This is a glaring omission from the Pledge. It is illustrative of the real level of effort the Republican party will put into solving the structural issues in our economy and public sector. The financial crisis is why everyone is out of work. The financial crisis is why the Bush administration created the $700 billion TARP. The aftermath is why the Obama administration created the $700 billion Stimulus bill. Without tackling this issue in a concerted fashion this problem will occur again. Republican party intransigence is why the financial reform bill passed almost solely by the Democrats was so watered down.

While the Republican party has chosen to lay out a plan that will do nothing to solve America's problems, the Democratic party has chosen not to lay out a distinct legislative plan on how to tackle those same problems. It is unfortunate that there is more electioneering and politicking than decision-making and leadership going on in the Congress today.

Want to read the Pledge to America in its entirety? Go to the Republican party's Pledge to America website at pledge.gop.gov; it is a PDF.