Time for a Pragmatic Third Party

It is evident that this country is in trouble, this did not happen overnight and cannot be corrected by the choices we have available in either the Democratic or Republican parties.  It is time now that the silent pragmatic Americans that voices are ignored and are discounted by the political pundits and the main stream media to form a third party platform. This would be a platform that relies on a common sense approach to issues that confront this great country. A common sense party would follow the founding fathers advice in that a sensible pragmatic approach is applied in dealing with the peoples business
 Today’s political environment is a distortion of what was envisioned by the founders and is ineffective in so many ways. Politicians today for the most part are almost always millionaires or lawyers or shortly become millionaires after taking office. Our Government was not envisioned to be elitist in nature but was to be made up of average americans that would serve one or two terms and then return home. Lobbyists and special interest groups control much of the political agenda to the detriment of the issues that they promote. Most political decisions seem to run against the grain of what the majority of Americans believe in. We who believe in a third party know that there are compromises that can address the issues and solve today’s problems using a pragmatic common sense approach. We are not simply sheep that can be lead by rhetoric or sound bites; we are instead the spirit of this country that knows that our problems can be solved and that these solutions should be well thought out without bias.

So what would this new party’s platform include listed below are the issues and pragmatic solutions that can address them.

Energy and Global Warming

Today we borrow money from China to pay for Oil from the Middle East and South America. Americans are suffering from record high energy costs at the pump and at home. Energy costs have effects on every aspect of American life it costs more to move goods and services, food prices are affected when we use our crops to produce ethanol and the average Americans paycheck is diluted by the high costs of energy. In Alaska in the Anwar region there are over 14 billion barrels of oil and 34 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. These resources belong to we the people of the United States of America and this party wants it recovered. Environmental special interested groups and congress are preventing exploration of these resources. They claim environmental impact in this 1.5 million acre reserve. But they are misguided and only two thousand acres would be used for exploration. The Interior Secretary Gale Norton stated in 2003 in regards to the environmental impact of exploration the following quote: “With American ingenuity and new technologies, we can protect the tundra and wildlife on the Northern Coastal Plain. Protections with bipartisan congressional and administration support include the following: mandated ice roads and runways to protect habitat; strict analysis of each proposed exploration side to avoid sensitive springs, streams, rivers and wetlands; removal of all facilities, structures and equipment and reclamation of all lands effected; and exploration only in the winter to protect breeding, spawning and wildlife migration patterns," 

 So what would it mean to start production in Anwar and why do 75% of Alaskans believe production should start? Just the congressional approval for production alone would lower world wide oil prices as OPEC and others would lower prices in order to start to be competitive with the estimated new supplies coming from Anwar. An estimated 500,000 to 750,000 new jobs would be created. The Federal Government would realize billions of dollars of new revenue every year from leases, bids and royalties from Natural Gas and Crude oil production. The Government could then invest 25% of this revenue in paying down the 11.5 trillion dollar national debt, 25% to pay back the Social Security fund and the remaining 50% in Nuclear Power Plants that could be used to produce Hydrogen gas to help our country and the world to move to an clean energy hydrogen based infrastructure from the current polluting carbon based infrastructure. In addition our dependence on oil purchased from countries that depend on our dollars to aid and abet extremists would end, forcing these countries to reexamine their policies. This is the pragmatic common sense approach to energy and the environment that this third party believes in. www.anwr.org

Education

We are in a education crisis in our country today our children are not receiving a quality education and Americans are paying more and more property taxes for schools that do not work. Part of the problem is the lack of parental involvement in the school systems and part is the school system itself.  Students today have no respect for the teachers or institutions they attend this is due in part of the total lack of discipline in our schools today. That is why this party believes in a hard line approach in public schools we want school uniforms, stronger rules and penalties for students that miss behave and take away from the students that are trying to learn. This lack of discipline goes to the awful school violence we have seen in our school system in years of late. This party strongly favors school choice approaches such as charter schools and school vouchers that empower parents to take control of their children's education, in accordance with the parents' values. We believe that we must break the government monopoly on public education and the hold that Teachers union has on the quality of education our children receive.

Immigration

On immigration we believe that America’s immigration policy should encourage legal immigration to be maintained and illegal immigration to be curtailed. This policy should be enforced through existing laws.
We think that it is a travesty when those who have abided by the law and become citizens through the proper means are considered no different than those who have not. America citizenship is not for sale at any price and we are not fooled by those who say you simply have to pay a fine and back taxes to remain in this country. We realize that the bigger issue here really involves the Social Security System some believe unless we allow a huge number of immigrants then who will pay for the Social security benefits the baby boomers will receive. If we start extending all the privileges of life and citizenship to people who are not citizens and who are not here legally, then we will be breaking down our own laws.
And in breaking down our own laws, we can be assure that we will be creating a situation that will eventually damage our economy, damage our ability to deliver social services. We also believe that English should be the official language of America if we were to immigrate to another country we would at least have the decency to learn that country’s language.  We are not however without compassion and believe we should work with countries like Mexico to grow their economy so that they can offer more to their people and thus lessen the reasons that illegal immigrants come here for. We want to secure our borders first using technological and physical fencing in combination and increase our numbers of border control agents. Illegal immigrants should return to their home country and reapply for work visas or citizenship.

Military  

We believe that in order to have a strong military that you have to have a strong economy. In today’s turbulent times it is essential that America remain the only superpower in the world.  Peace through strength is our model we do not believe in pre-emptive military action unless it is essential in protecting the lives of Americans. We believe that a strong military that aids in maintaining world peace and protecting our friends and allies is essential in the goal of finally establishing a world peace.

Economy and Taxes

We Believe that Government should adopt the Balanced Budget Amendment. In addition a pay as you go strategy should be adopted, if you can't pay for a program don't propose it. In addition we support the line item veto and the end to earmarking. We believe in the Fair tax: 

The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment.

The FairTax Act (HR 25, S 1025) is nonpartisan legislation. It abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax  administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities.

The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system. http://www.fairtax.org/  And no more borrowing from the social security fund as this should be exempt from Government plundering. We believe in means testing for any entitlements such as food stamps, medicare, medicaid and any other entitlement program. For more information on the flat tax check out the link below: http://www.fairtax.org/

Summary

In short this party’s platform would include being against judicial activism and for strict constitutionalists as Supreme Court nominees. We believe in term limits, a balance budget, a line item veto we are against earmarks and pork barrel spending if you can’t pay for it don’t buy it is our motto. We believe in smaller federal government and more power at the state government. We believe in free market principles and trade agreements that level the field for American enterprise. We still believe if given the chance and a fair playing field Americans can produce the highest quality goods and services the world has ever seen. Who are the people that believe in these principles?  We are neither exclusively black or white, male or female, young or old, democratic or republican we are the pragmatists of America we want intelligent decisions on issues and solutions that are devoid of special interest or lobbying efforts, we are the spirit that drives this country. 

It is time for a change and that change can only be realized through a new political party that applies a common sense approach to solving this country’s problems. We don’t see our Country’s issues as problems but as opportunities for improvement.

Help us by submitting ideas for the platform. Go to blog or the join page to submit your ideas or comments.

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