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Political Hay
Newt’s New Contract
As previewed at the last debate, he’s delivered a product “far bolder, far deeper, far more profound” than 1994’s Contract, not to mention 1980’s.
Last week, Newt Gingrich released his 21st Century Contract with America, composed of 10 specific legislative proposals he would enact if elected President. In the 1994 Congressional campaigns, Republicans not only rode Newt’s Contract with America proposals to Republican majorities in Congress. They maintained their House majority for 12 years, after Republicans had only held a House majority for 2 of the previous 74 years.
Newt’s 21st century contract is similarly a document on which the entire Republican Party can campaign next year, and win a generation of governing majorities.
Booming Recovery, Long Overdue
Gingrich pledges in his new contract to “Return to robust job creation with a bold set of tax cuts and regulatory reforms that will free American entrepreneurs to invest and hire, as well as by reforming the Federal Reserve.”
That includes a proposal for corporate tax reform, closing loopholes and reducing the federal rate from 35%, second highest in the developed world, all the way down to 12.5%. Ireland, long a poor, economically backward nation, adopted that rate in 1988 when it suffered the second lowest per capita income in the EU. The Irish rode the resulting boom over the next 20 years to the second highest per capita income in the EU. Jack Kemp used to advance this policy for America as well, noting that our own Treasury Department issued a study showing that Ireland raises more corporate tax revenues as a percent of GDP with this low rate than we do with our rate nearly 3 times as high.
Gingrich’s economic recovery plan would also abolish the capital gains tax, because “At a zero percent rate, hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments would pour into the United States to create new firms and build new factories.” By effectively double-taxing capital income, the capital gains levy discourages the venture capital that feeds start-ups and creates jobs. That is why 14 out of 30 OECD countries, plus China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and others, already enjoy zero capital gains taxes. Gingrich’s Contract would further eliminate double taxation by abolishing the death tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax.
Gingrich’s new contract also includes the proposal for an optional flat tax long advocated by Wall Street Journal senior economics writer Steve Moore. Gingrich explains:
All tax filers would be given the option to pay their income taxes subject to current income tax provisions or to pay under a lower single rate of taxation with limited deductions. A revenue neutral flat tax reform would save hundreds of billions of dollars in compliance costs each year and would eliminate the need for taxes on savings, dividends, and capital gains. A faster, flatter, fairer tax structure would be simple: tax returns could be done on a single page. Subtract from your income a standard deduction and deductions for charity and home ownership, multiply the result by a fixed single rate of taxation, and the process is over.
This is a complete answer to President Obama and Warren Buffett arguing that corporate CEOs should pay the same tax rate as their secretaries. Under a flat tax, they would. In my recent book America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb, I explain that with the resulting economic boom from these policies, on a dynamic basis the revenue neutral flat tax rate could be as low as 15% for all.
Gingrich adds, “To further empower job creators, we must get rid of regulations that prevent them from growing and hiring. This means taking decision-making power from bureaucrats who don’t know how job creation works.” That would include repealing the Dodd-Frank regulatory tsunami threatening to swamp the nation’s financial system, and replacing the Environmental Protection Agency with an Environmental Solutions Agency “that will operate on the premise that most environmental problems can and should be solved by states and local communities…and focus on incentives for new solutions, research and technologies.” Gingrich would also replace the National Labor Relations Board with “a new common sense organization for labor-management relations,” and reform the Food and Drug Administration to fast track wonder drug breakthroughs.
Gingrich provides for a complete Reagan style economic recovery plan by also proposing to fundamentally reform the Federal Reserve. Besides “a full-scale audit of Federal Reserve activities,” Gingrich proposes that “The Fed’s monetary policy discretion should be limited to following a price rule guiding the conduct of monetary policy. The Fed should monitor the signals provided by sensitive commodity prices with the goal of maintaining stable prices, thereby contributing to a stable dollar without inflation.” Among those sensitive commodity prices would be gold, providing a formal, legislatively mandated link to gold in monetary policy for the first time in 40 years.
Gingrich displays an understanding of the libertarian, Hayek-Von Mises, Austrian school of economics in writing in regard to monetary policy:
Artificial interest rates distort investment decisions all across the economy, resulting in a misallocation of productive resources that cannot be sustained over the long term. Eventually, artificially low interest rates lead to an economic bust and widespread job losses. Only when interest rates are no longer manipulated can businesses and entrepreneurs determine the right investments that can in turn lead to sustainable job creation throughout the economy.
Art Laffer, a central architect of Reaganomics, says regarding Gingrich’s economic recovery plan, “The combination of pro-growth tax reform, spending restraint, and sound money will restore robust economic growth with low unemployment and low inflation,” and praises “the powerful effect it will have on the future growth path of the United States economy.” Indeed, Gingrich has the formula for another generation long economic boom achieved by freeing a dynamic economy that is straining to break out of the bonds of Obamanomics.
Repeal and Replace Obamacare
About the Author
Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy at the Heartland Institute, General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and Senior Policy Advisor on Entitlements and Budget Policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (97) | Leave a comment
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Wayne| 10.5.11 @ 6:18AM
I know there are personal issues with Newt that turns many people off and he has done some foolish things like sitting on a couch with Pelosi supporting the global warming nonsense. But Newt is a thinker, a planner, a schemer. I would like to see him involved in putting the GOP platform together and hope he has a role in the next administration aimed at undoing the damage progressives have done to our economy and country.
Its the economy, but its also the lack of integrity. Both are critical in bringing back the greatness of America.
emilio lizardo, PhD| 10.5.11 @ 8:00AM
Newt. The Walking Dead of Georgia arent only on AMC. Whatever merits are to be found in any of his ideas are offset by the fact that he is non-viable politically, his career in public service is dead dead dead, but like a zombie he continues to walk the earth, his corpse animated by flack pieces like the above
RJ| 10.5.11 @ 9:41AM
Newt is "Bill Clinton's older Brother" and nothing more. As an idea person, place him in a room with a food and paper slot, perhaps a view of the capital. Note the "porcelain" look of his wife: this should be a clue for others to realize what this man is attracted toward. His new contract is right on the money, others should take it and run with it. Give him an emeritus position, a chair at a table, but not the presidency, nor sec. of state role.
USSAlabama| 10.5.11 @ 9:45AM
In the last election Newt made the mistake of not walking away from American Solutions to run for President.
That was his best chance, and with McCain being the one left standing, Newt would have won the nomination.
Would it have been enough against the Obama machine? We'll never know.
CW| 10.5.11 @ 1:35PM
You're a PhD???
Drunken Sailor| 10.5.11 @ 2:07PM
PHD = Piled, Higher, Deeper
Buck Ofama| 10.6.11 @ 2:41AM
Hey! I was going to use that interpretation! Damn it!
Well, how about PhD = Prick Handling Democrat?
faxmatter| 10.9.11 @ 1:19PM
I think he has a Ph.D. in Marxism or in a related area.
faxmatter| 10.9.11 @ 1:29PM
Sorry Dr. Lizard but if you were really a man of ideas you would understand that Newt's thoughts stand on their own independent of whether he is the Republican nominee and independent of any hatchet job that you or your ilk may vomit out from your putrifying souls. Speak of the walking dead will you.
david c| 10.5.11 @ 10:46AM
Good ideas from Newt. He has been destroyed by perception and will never recover to the peak he once enjoyed. Not sure if this is good or bad
The economy and Obama's stupidity is creating opportunity for conservatives of every kind. The economy cannot be fixed by legislative maneuvers. Demand is falling and the velocity of money is declining. Depression is the only possibility (short of war).
The real issue will be to keep the entitlements afloat without a robust economy. Printing money is the only answer. Baby boomers have reached their apex and are in a demand death spiral that will destroy the world economy.
Not sure if Newt or any politician knows this. The Fed chief knows there is a big problem and is perplexed that zero interest rates and the massive money supply growth is not affecting demand. He must have missed that week of econ 101 when they taught pushing on a string and how this will not spur demand.
TrueBlue| 10.5.11 @ 6:21PM
It was partially his own fault. He really is a fantastic ideas man, but he should stick to advisory roles.
Ms. Gingrich| 10.8.11 @ 8:18PM
So integrity is real important to you Wayne? You think newt is the one to supply leadership about integrity?
Texas Jayde| 10.5.11 @ 6:57AM
the answer is easy for me: anyone but obama...
emo| 10.5.11 @ 4:08PM
Too bad a plurality of voters wont agree with you come election day.
Drunken Sailor| 10.5.11 @ 4:57PM
To bad no one loves you.
Buck Ofama| 10.6.11 @ 2:42AM
Too bad you're still lapping up Ovomit's fluids. LOL.
Patrick| 10.5.11 @ 7:08AM
In the end, Newt always was and always will be a whore. If there's a lobby flashing money, he'll put out. That is, if he isn't dithering towards some new technocratic fad that all the trendy lefties are preaching.
I wouldn't trust this man to mow my lawn, let alone my paycheck.
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:39PM
This is completely unfair and untrue. Newt has had some brilliant ideas, including the ones outlined here. When he was Speaker of the House, he did a phenomenal job, and kept Clinton in check, forcing him to move to the center. He's had his day as a politician, IMO, and him on a couch with San Fran Nan still sticks in my craw, but he has a lot to contribute. The above ideas should be embraced by every conservative in office or running for office.
Mimi| 10.7.11 @ 6:55PM
idalily.... Agree about his ideas being solid..I differ in that I believe if nominated he would be a strong effective President and Newt is now a very much reformed person....I'm proud that he became a Catholic convert....and evidently recieved forgivenes for his past.... I'm good with that....what God forgives, I do likewise!
His ideas are magnificent especially the Executive Orders to undo the Harm done to this country.
faxmatter| 10.9.11 @ 1:55PM
Well put idalily. Indeed, as Speaker after the Republican congressional landslide of 1994, Newt very nearly got a balanced budget amendment through Congress. He brought pressure for fiscal discipline and reforms of all sorts. He was more than an ideas man; he was a man of action who along with his fellow House Republicans were clearly serious about reform. He could not have been very concerned about special interests based on the burst of reform energy that he brought to Congress. Newt may not be my first choice for president, but he was and is a man with much to contribute.
POST American| 10.5.11 @ 7:15AM
-----EVEN putting aside Gingrich's long standing
role as advocate of EUGENICS and mass microchipping
of the population etc. -----OR his deliberate
flubbing of the illegal alien issues again and
again and again --
There he stood, at the very helm of American
congressional power, during the very heyday
of the NAFTA/ GATT Globalist RED China
set up, sellout and TREASON OP.
-----WE are now living through --the beginings--
of the aftermath.
--------------------CASE CLOSED------------------------
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 10.5.11 @ 9:30AM
ughhh... Your meds?
Dixie Pixie| 10.5.11 @ 12:02PM
Post American
Whatever that is.
In a world with very real and serious conspiracies such as the MSM manipulation of the political system to the Keynesian wreckage of the economy, why do you propose a near random set of ideas as a conspiracy?
No one can understand what you are talking about!
You need to use a clearly defined logical structure and observable facts to make your case!
Otherwise you are just a parody of the Liberal dreams of a classic right-wing nut-job.
PS...I loved the dryer analogy in the other post.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.5.11 @ 7:34AM
Peter,
So, between Newt and you and Paul Ryan, we have the expertise to design the needed changes and integrate them. Great!
I personally appreciate Newt's staying in the race to "shape the debate". He knows darned well he can't win the nomination and would be again torn to shreds in the general by hypocritical lefties.
I am seriously afraid though that our country has literally got to "hit the wall" before any of this can come into being.
Newt's fiction "One Minute After" (a stratospheric nuke), might be "the wall" though there are several more "walls"...energy interruption being one.
Thoughts?
TrueBlue| 10.5.11 @ 6:23PM
It may be fiction, but it's sadly easy to do as soon as there is a government hostile to us that has the means and wish to do so.
NedB| 10.5.11 @ 7:49AM
Gingrich is a great idea man. President? Not in this reality
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 10.5.11 @ 9:29AM
Yeah, and that Herman Cain guy.. I mean, he just doesn't have the support.. he can't bring in enough campaign donations to compete.. oh.. wait..
Margie| 10.5.11 @ 6:38PM
You may appreciate this. An interview with Herman Cain @ WSJ.
"When I say I have political experience, the people applaud. They applaud! They get it!"
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....rself.html
Margie| 10.5.11 @ 9:32PM
Oh rats. That should have read, "when I say I have NO political exp."
Mimi| 10.5.11 @ 7:51AM
Peter, another GREAT article, informative and helpful as always.
Newt is being judged too harshly for his personal past...when everyone knows he's changed...it is a PITY! His logic , intellect, experience and ability to to get things done could very well serve this country in our hour of extreme NEED!
He is and always will be considered a STATESMAN and PATRIOT....far more than the Democrats can offer...He "COULD" do RIGHT by us...His ideas are exciting.
I have not climbed on any-ones band-wagon...waiting to hear from people and experts like Peter Ferrara and others opinion ....I DO respect and admire the SPEAKER for his lifetime of writings, and work for this NATION....We could do very well by choosing him...DON;T COUNY HIM OUT!
Mimi| 10.5.11 @ 7:52AM
" COUNT"
CW| 10.5.11 @ 1:38PM
Hear, hear!!!!!
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:42PM
Exactly. Well said.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.5.11 @ 8:41AM
Mimi,
1.......2.....3.....4.....5 (smile)
KennesawJack| 10.5.11 @ 8:49AM
Ken, you have to admit, watching Newt on a debate stage with Obamarx would be worth the price of admission. It truly is a shame the man is unelectable but you are correct about his helping to shape the debate.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 10.5.11 @ 9:04AM
Newt would take him out to the woodshed..
KennesawJack| 10.5.11 @ 9:47AM
Newt would open a very large can of whupp-ass, to be sure.
CW| 10.5.11 @ 1:39PM
Oh yes he would!!
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:44PM
To tell the truth, I'm not sure he'd be unelectable. Depends on how far Obama falls by the time of the primaries, and how well Newt articulates the above ideas to the people. With the MSM in the tank for Obama, it won't be easy.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 10.5.11 @ 9:19AM
Seriously, who here really thinks Newt isn't electable?
That's all I ever hear from Conservatives, but nobody out there has better ideas or a better command of the facts. Newt has a damn good plan here.
I still like Herman, but if you're seriously telling me that Obama could beat him by bringing up his personal life while Newt wails on his record with hard data to back it up, then lets just agree to disagree.
I think Ronald McDonald could beat Obama. Not having a president at all is better than having Obama as president.
And let me also say that I'm very impressed by the republican candidates. There are quite a few on that stage that don't give me the feeling like I have to settle for them like I had to settle for McCain.
So Republicans/Conservatives, please, quit all the whining and lets send a guy to beat the snot out of Obama. A guy who is unafraid to take it to him.
W| 10.5.11 @ 10:40AM
If Newt's personal life, which I assume is the divorces, is an issue, then Obama's personal life must be an issue. The Rep candidate and moderators should ask Obama:
1. Did you know Ayers and Dohrn were involved in bombings in the 1970's, never repented, and Ayers wrote an introduction to Sirhan's book,(Sirhan killed Robert Kennedy).
Knowing that, why did you hold campaign fundraisers in Ayers' house. What kind of message does this send?
2. You attended Rev Wright's church for 20 years and listened to his attacks on the USA, white people, Jews, and others.
Why did you sit through these for 20 years if you disagreed?
What kind of message does this send that you attended these sermons for 20 years?
McCain refused to use these issues, and in fact, criticized supporters who referred to Obama as Barak Hussein Obama, which Obama uses.
Hopefully the next candidate is smarter than McCain and wants to win.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 10.5.11 @ 1:04PM
Amen Brother. Hopefully Chris Wallace will take it to him in the Fox Debate.
Solo| 10.5.11 @ 8:24PM
I agree with "PhilTheCapitalistPig" completely!
Newt is the best "ideas" man in the republican field. He's innovative, intelligent, well spoken and highly qualified both as a scholar and a statesman.
Sure....he's made some bad associations in the last few years but...if he could actually implement his plans as stated, I'd be willing to overlook those.
We could do worse than Newt Gingrich as President......and we have.
IzeHavitt| 10.5.11 @ 11:06PM
Amen to that!!! The idea that Newt is unelectable against Obama is utter nonsense. There is no one who has better prepared himself for the gargantuan task of righting this ship of state. So he sits on a couch with Nancy Pelosi? So what!!! Compare that to the monumental stupidity of the current administration that we witness every day. There is no contest as to who is a genuine statesman and who most certainly is not. And oh, it would be such a treat to have Newt debate Obama.
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:45PM
Well said.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 10.5.11 @ 9:28AM
Anybody else get kind of excited after reading this?
KennesawJack| 10.5.11 @ 9:44AM
Phil, I would vote for Newt in a heartbeat but I'm afraid you underestimate the American voters' capacity to be duped. I was watching Haley Barber on C-Span yesterday talking about the upcoming election and he pointed out the likelihood that by the time we know who our nominee is, probably by March, the nominee will be out of cash. In what Barber calls the "interegnum", the period of time between then and the Convention, the Obamarx followers will spend, according to Barber, upwards of 300 million dollars in a blitzkrieg to thoroughly disqualify our nominee. If that is the case, and Barber knows of what he speaks, then giving the Obamarx followers a Republican nominee with the baggage Newt has is just asking for trouble. That is too much time and too much money to allow them to move the debate from policy to personality and the aforementioned American voter will buy it lock, stock, and barrel. Is he the best person for the job? In my mind, unequivocably, yes. In this instance, I truly believe he would prove to be unelectable.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 10.5.11 @ 1:03PM
You make good points. Hopefully, Americans will donate to our nominee at that time to help counteract this. Unfortunately, we can't pass legislation to launder money into our campaign like Obama does.. lol
Anthony| 10.5.11 @ 9:41AM
Sorry Newt, Any Contract with America that does not include TERM LIMITS, and truly means to impliment it, not just words on paper to look good, is a non starter.
You professional pols in Washington have almost destroyed this great country. You all need to go, and we need American citizens to once again take control of their own lives!!!
Washington is the problem!!!!
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 10.5.11 @ 1:07PM
Ever thrown out the baby with the bath water? Don't miss the big picture here.
emo| 10.5.11 @ 4:09PM
CA has term limits for its legislatures. How is that working out?
Anthony| 10.5.11 @ 7:40PM
emo, Part and parcel of my support for term limits is the hope that ordinary Americans will step up and perform their duties as citizen legislators, once it is shown that these folks actually matter and can make a difference.
Both you and Phil are the ones missing the big picture here. Washington is a pit of corruption that the professional pols have turned into their personal playground.
Simply because CA has term limits and has not solved its problem is not an indication that term limits do not work.
It does require people to become active and take an interest. Term limits is not a panecea. There is no Nirvana, no paradise. Human nature being what it is will always find a way to corrupt that which is good.
All I propose is to allow the establishment to be less entrenched and allow others to step up and do what is right. If they continue to do the work of those they replaced, well, that's just the way humans are.
At least term limits give people a chance to step up and do what is right, as opposed to what is neeeded to be re-elected.
PattyMor| 10.5.11 @ 10:09AM
While Newt has some great ideas, I wouldn't want him for President. Can you truly trust a guy that would do a global warming commercial with Miss Nancy? No way, no how, never. So he's about 80% good ideas and 20% flake. Not good enough with the budget the way it is. And the Dems would drag out his affairs to use against him. Remember no tactic is too low for them.
David T| 10.5.11 @ 10:18AM
Newt is the smartest guy in the room and he has more high-level government experience than anyone running, including Obama. He's had his problems but, like the wise man he truly is, he's learned from them. The GOP would make a serious mistake if it refused to take him seriously as the best overall candidate to unseat Obama.
Michael Tomlinson| 10.5.11 @ 10:21AM
Newt is still the smartest guy in the room and unlike moderate Romney's and fork tongued Cain's regressive tax on working families and the middle class (he keeps saying one thing and then denying he said it like his opposition to killing terrorist Anwar Alwalaki or the gay soldier. . .) Newt's proposal is conservative. The problem is Newt. He's embraced global warming and was by far too friendly with Hillary Clinton. He should have run in 2008 when we needed a real conservative in the race.
As PhiltheCapitalistPig noted Obama is a one term failure (all those who thought he'd be reelected like Peggy Noonan were morons). The key is do we have a moderate (Romney), a forked tongue chameleon (Cain) or a conservative (Perry) carry our banner in 2012?
Every candidate has problems, but I'm sticking with the proven conservative with a record of success in governing and creating prosperity despite the Obamanation.
Bumr50| 10.5.11 @ 11:12AM
Cain's a "forked-tongue chameleon" now? Just because he answered a question poorly?
Who else do we know that can't answer questions? Or when confronted with problems from his past, doubles down on his Big Government policies as a "matter of the heart"?
I like both Cain and Perry, but enough with the hard-ass "Perry or no one" line from the Perrywinkles. He's got a lot more warts to answer for than Cain. And simply replying to every question by prefacing "In Texas..." isn't going to cut it with non-Texans. He's like an Aggie Yakov Smirnoff.
Margie| 10.5.11 @ 5:48PM
There's not one doubt in my mind that Herman Cain can create prosperity, as he understands and knows how to and HAS been successful in running a business, and has helped other businesses to succeed as well.
Jeff Perren | 10.5.11 @ 10:33AM
Lots of complicated plans when what is needed is really simple and can be summed up in a few words: "Get out of the way!"
To be more concrete, phase out SS and Medicare, repeal the Wagner Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, and Dodd-Frank, etc. Repeal the 16th Amendment.
Eliminate the Federal Reserve, HHS, DoE, Dept of Ed, and other non-authorized agencies.
In short, return to the U.S. Constitution's form of limited government. Nothing created by and for the Federal Govt in the past 100 years has done any good for the American citizenry and has done much harm.
martin j smith| 10.5.11 @ 10:35AM
I have had ambivalent feelings about Newt largely due to his moves towards the Socialists in recent years. But, looking at his new "contract" here is the problem: First Republicans will have to have a United and super-majority in Congress to get anything done and if not will be sabotaged without end by the Socialists. Thus, we need someone who can talk directly to the voters and be smart enough to outmaneuver the Socialists. That means they cannot look at the Socialists as " friendly allies" but as adversaries that must be outflanked. This does not sound like a RINO. This is more like a Conservative. Can New fill that role ? I wonder. If not he the who ?
Who Knows?| 10.5.11 @ 11:47AM
Great ideas, again, from Newt.
And, then there is the status quo, or the vested interest, or those who ALREADY have their hands on the levers of power.
Once the toothpaste is squeezed out of the tube, does anyone REALLY think even a brilliant idea man like Gingrich can get it back in?
Consider the following written in 1966---
“Applied science may be considered as the game of order-verses-chance (or order-verses-randomness), especially in the domain of cybernetics—the science of AUTOMATIC (my caps) control. By means of scientific prediction and its technical applications, we are trying to gain maximum control over our surroundings and ourselves. In medicine, communications, industrial production, transportation, finance, commerce, housing, education, psychiatry, criminology, and law we are trying to make foolproof systems, to get rid of the possibility of mistakes. The more powerful technology becomes, the more urgent the need for such controls, as in the safety precautions taken for a jet aircraft, and, most interesting of all, the consultations between technicians of the Atomic Powers to be sure that no one can press the Button by mistake. The use of powerful instruments, with their vast potentialities for changing man and his environment, requires MORE AND MORE LEGISLATION (my caps), licensing, and policing, and thus more and more complex procedures for inspection and keeping of records. Great universities, for example, have vice-presidents in charge of relations with the government and large staffs of secretaries to keep up with the mountains of paper-work involved. At times the paper-work, recording what has been done, seems to become more important than what it records. Students’ records in the registrar’s office are often kept in safes and vaults, but not so the books of the library---unless extremely rare or dangerous. So, too, the administration building becomes the largest and most impressive structure on the campus, and faculty members find that more and more of their time for teaching and research must be devoted to committee meetings and form-filling to take care of the mere mechanics of running the institution.
For the same reasons, it is ever more difficult to operate a small business which cannot afford to take care of the financial and legal red-tape which the simplest enterprises must now respect.”
From “The Book” by Alan W. Watts, 1966, pages 36-37
I especially like the listing, “medicine, communications, industrial production, transportation, finance, commerce, housing, education, psychiatry, criminology, and law”.
These days of 2011, FORTY-FIVE years after this book was written, here we are fighting over Obamacare = medicine; all things to do with the Internet = communication; Fannie-Freddie= housing; failing schools = education; the collapse of Lehman Brothers = finance; and permeating the whole human endeavor to bring ORDER is the LAW.
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
We're doomed| 10.6.11 @ 1:52PM
Right.
And when you challenge a university administrator (Vice President in Charge of Falderall) as to the wisdom and misplaced focus of all this (not to mention artifically raising tuition costs as you must pay salary for all the univ. bureaucrats), the sage university admistrator looks down his nose in disdain.
So it is in hospitals. Ditto for health care facitilies (retirement homes) for the elderly. Same for the Dept. of Defense and all its satellite operations, bureacracy to the hilt with no ties whatsoever to honest, day-to-day military/weaponry defense.
The status quo is regluations, tomes of laws, staffs of lawyers 8 feet thick. Those who defense this? They defend it all as if protecting Fort Knox's gold.
And nobody ever really has the temerity to undo it.
Just as we know: 80% of US Federal government employees vote Democrat in Novembers because they're scared pantless that one day a GOP or conservative candidate would actually axe 20% of government.
Kelly Staples| 10.5.11 @ 1:00PM
Sarah - coming to a primary near you very soon. . .
Paul from SA| 10.5.11 @ 5:46PM
When? For me the window is closed. Well, I'll give her one more week. If she is not present at the next debate, she is disqualified.
Solo| 10.5.11 @ 8:29PM
You can forget Sarah. She stated today on a talk radio program that she will not be running for the nomination. Or so it is being reported.
I like Sarah and would love to call her my President but..I applaud her decision. This is not her time. It will come, I think, but.....not yet.
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:49PM
Uh, no. She's not running. Thank God. I think she'd split the party.
Mike| 10.5.11 @ 1:49PM
As I watch the debates I have no doubt that Newt is the smartest and most articulate candidate on the stage. If given the oppotunity to debate in the general election; Newt's resume and command of the issues will prove just how bush league Obama is.
CW| 10.5.11 @ 1:58PM
Totally!!
Margie| 10.5.11 @ 5:45PM
I can imagine Obama cowering at the thought of having to debate Newt.
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:49PM
Newt would kick his ass all the way back to Indonesia.
Margie| 10.6.11 @ 2:50PM
For suuuure.
NoMoBO| 10.7.11 @ 5:57PM
I have visions of Obama cowering in a corner in the fetal position, drooling and sucking his thumb after Newt gets through with him.
CW| 10.5.11 @ 1:52PM
Newt Gingrich is the man to change the course that this country is currently heading in. He has the brilliance of mind and depth of knowledge to usher in a new era of prosperity. I really wish people would give him more credit and support. He's got my vote. I'd hate to make the mistake of not voting for him. What if he really is the guy we deserve as a nation folks? Measure a person on their intelligence and experience, especially someone who is vying for the most important institution of our government. Let's be intellectually honest with ourselves for intelligence sake. Just some food for thought.
Mike| 10.5.11 @ 2:18PM
Unfortunately, I think too many Republicans/Conservatives are looking for our version of Obama - a rockstar candidate. We are looking for someone with flash (willing to overlook substance). I think that is a loosing strategy against Democrats. They will always win the flash contest.
We need to pick the smartest candidate with the best ideas. There is no way Obama will win if we pick the right person who can make the race about ideas
Dave| 10.5.11 @ 2:30PM
OMG!
I am so sick of Newt and his moronic contracts.
Newt - do yourself, us, and America a huge favor and shut up already! You're an idiot!
CW| 10.5.11 @ 2:44PM
You're an idiot!!
Paul from SA| 10.5.11 @ 5:45PM
What's moronic about it?
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:50PM
Ok, fine. You think it's "moronic." Why?
Mazzuchelli| 10.5.11 @ 3:53PM
Went and saw Newt & Callista a couple of weeks ago. After their documentary, City on a Hill, American Exceptionalism, he took questions for over an hour and then stayed, signed books, gave autographs and continued to speak with everyone. He is one brilliant individual. Callista does indeed bear an eerie resemblance to Cindy McCain but she's had no work done and is intellectual enough to sustain Newt's ideas. They are a partnership. At the least, we need him in a cabinet post. I'm interest in some of the negative posters elaborating on their disdain. Why, for example, do you consider him a whore? I was dismayed by the climate change sofa moment but never considered him unprincipled as a result. The lack of serious reporting on that issue allowed it to steamroll to the point it was difficult getting to the bottom of the story. Thank God for blogs.
emo| 10.5.11 @ 4:06PM
Prediction: Obama wins easily adn carries every state he carried in 2008 with the addition of GA, AZ maybe MO a nd MT
I have never seen such a pathetic group than the current GOP primary candidates. They have all, without exception, thrown away Reagan's 11th commandment and have spent all their time attacking one another rather than Obama.
The GOP will nominate someone who is unacceptable to the base or unacceptable to the general electorate. Either another McCain or another O'Donnell/Angle.
Rush said even Elmer Fudd could beat Obama. Well Elmer Fudd isnt running.
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:51PM
Oh, look. Emo bashing Republicans. I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.
Mertsj| 10.7.11 @ 8:28PM
Call me when you wake up.
Margie| 10.5.11 @ 5:43PM
What if... it's Newt's time? He's mellowed. I like his way, I appreciate his intelligence, I've always said he's brilliant, and not the kind of brilliant that applies to people like Clinton or Obummer~ because unlike them, Newt's ideas are great.
I'd vote for him gladly. I'll vote for whoever the Republican nominee is, as always.
Consider the alternative!
emo| 10.5.11 @ 5:53PM
""Consider the alternative!""
I have, that is why it's Obama's to lose
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:53PM
I'd vote for him. I'd vote for a ham sandwich. Thankfully, Newt is way smarter than a ham sandwich. In fact, I think he's the most brilliant thinker of all the candidates. I'm still leaning toward Cain, but I love all the ideas Newt put forward here.
Drunken Sailor| 10.6.11 @ 8:49AM
A Cain/Newt ticket? Would love to see them debate a Obama/Biden ticket.
Paul from SA| 10.5.11 @ 5:43PM
Why is nobody providing a simple, readable list of the 10 items on one page like the original Contact with America? Why isn't the GOP establishment talking about this? Why so little news? What on earth has happened to the GOP insiders? Are they afraid if people see the list, they'll abandon Romney?
Newt will not win. His calling is to be on stage to slice and dice liberals with his incredible, vast knowledge and intelligence.
idalily| 10.5.11 @ 11:56PM
That is exactly what they fear. That Romney will be abandoned. Why the Republican establishment likes him so much is beyond me. I can't STAND the man. But I'll vote for him if I must. Anything to get that POS we have now out of the White House.
Naturalborn Texicanette| 10.5.11 @ 7:23PM
I like Newt. He is by far the man with the "savy" quotient. He is extremely intelligent, a true conservative, fiscally knowledgeable and an "idea" man/problem solver.
I feel he would be someone who could help pull us out of the morass that is the Obama cesspool of a government.
Don't however, like his personal problems. Am not sure he can overcome the mistakes of his past. However, I hope he has at last found peace and happiness in his new marriage.
Paul| 10.5.11 @ 7:34PM
Thanks for the laugh. Outside of Ron Paul there is not a thing libertarian about anyone running for president. The only time Newt likes Austrian economics is if he sticks his finger in the wind and hears that is what some people in the tea party want.
Frosty| 10.5.11 @ 9:31PM
Newt....have to give him some credit for creative and sometimes bold thinking. That's as far as it goes, however. No problem if a new administration consults him for some ideas but Newt blew it when he came out with guns blazing in '94, getting all our conservative hopes up, and then absolutely folding under the pressure of the lib press and lib politicians. I see him as a guy with some good ideas but unable to handle the hailstorm trying to implement them would create.
Empty Words(?)| 10.6.11 @ 1:37PM
Yes, I remember. I remember sitting in the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives watching as about 240 (quite a few because it is usually only handfuls) congressmen were below discussing, shuffling papers.
Dick Armey and Newt below right in the center of things. Seated near me in the gallery were well dressed young men with "Armey's Army" buttons on.
Those young men were excited. They looked serious, sober, and very hopeful for a future. They looked full of energy and resolve.
It would be interesting to gather those dozen young men today -- men now undoubtedly in their late 40's -- and ask: "Well? Did the Gingrich/Armey plan, promises, and hype ever amount to...to much of anything?"
POST American| 10.5.11 @ 11:12PM
-----------------BOTTOMLESS LINE-------------------
------CON-trolled Opposition FULL-spectrum------
------------------------ALERT!---------------------------
As we isten to Roseanne being examined
yesterday by ALEX JONES. ( Jones makes
her look like an idiot)
Earlier, the Rockefellow FAKE 'Left' OP
unpacking the MAO jackets on Wall Street,
ALLLL presided over by the Rockefeller-esque
eyes of mega-millionaire Michael Moore.
AND meanwhile, not a word about
the gargantuan Globalist-RED China
sellout and TREASON OP.
NOT ONE.
Even as the economy crumbles and
that GE flawed reactor sourced world
DEPOP OP Fukishima fallout over us
all.
BTW ---we hear the fallout combines 'nicely'
with those CHEM-trails, GM foods,
and in your rectum worshipping system,
with its Rock--eF--L--O meds.
---------------KEEP A GOIN' KIDDIES!
Gross| 10.7.11 @ 3:02PM
EPA replaced with state-run groups...so what happens when companies in PA start dumping crap that flows into rivers and gunks up the Cheasapeake bay here in MD? Is that just our problem?
There needs to be a Federal level of control over this.
Mertsj| 10.7.11 @ 8:30PM
Congratulations. Exactly the type of thinking that got us where we are. Insanity anyone?
htaft| 10.7.11 @ 3:24PM
Any good idea should be used, regardless of where it comes from, to address the serious problems that confront us. The source should be acknowledged so that people evaluating you are not misled, thinking this is your own creativity (keeps expectations about the future in perspective). Interested in term limits ? Don't attempt to limit terms, for a lot of reasons, simply remove all the perks that accrue with time in office. Modest pay, no benefits. Force people to go back to the private sector to pay for a higher standard of living and an adequate retirement nest egg. The honor of public service will still be there, but the rewards are purely aesthetic. Very much like uncompensated service on a local Board (like Y, Churches, and charities). Not complicated.
Tea Party Jim| 10.7.11 @ 3:51PM
Isn't it neat to have such a qualified selection of candidates for the Repub nomination? It's too bad some of them have to lose. Maybe the winner will incorporate the "losers" into his cabinet. I could just see Milt as Secretary of HHS, Herman as Secretary of Commerce, Huntsman as Secretary of State, John Bolton back at the UN (wouldn't that be a blast!), and Michelle running the Repub Party (Sarah as second-in-command). That leaves (practically) Perry and Gingrich. My vote would be for Newt at the top, Santorum for VP and Perry to run Defense/Homeland Security. Strength in all positions! What a great group! Christie can step in in 2020!
Alan P| 10.7.11 @ 6:35PM
Newt Gingrich is by far the best candidate we want to debate Obama. Gingrich is 100% substance and is untouchable on the issues. What could Obama do to Gingrich on live TV, bring up his past wives? I doubt it. Gingrich is also the only candidate who is running as the leader of a huge movement that has massive citizen involvement - the other candidates are all just running to be president. I think people are waking up to the fact that no one really cares about his personal baggage - he's also the only one on the stage who can actually take on the media...and win.