Here’s What We Need From a Republican Leader
I’m a strong believer in the idea that if you can’t verbalize what it is you want in life, you’ll never really achieve it. Or in more positive terms, if you want to see change, have a plan.
As a lifelong conservative, I have been horrified by my recent inner glimpses of the Republican Party. It’s as if someone ripped the curtain away from the Magnificent Oz and all that’s really there is a shriveled, pitiful-looking white man with a bullhorn.
So, although I am not a politician nor an expert of any kind on policy, here is my personal wish list of what I want to see from Republican leaders — and if not from them, then perhaps from a third Party which does not yet exist.
I’m a GDI: A “God Damn Independent”
All my life, I have been an Independent with a strong conservative streak, or what my Dad calls a “GDI”, in other words, “a God damn Independent.” I have spoken out on behalf of farmers, ranchers, loggers, fishermen. I have voted mainly conservative and Republican. I voted for both Bush presidents, and for Governor Schwarzenegger (twice) when I lived in California. I never voted for a Clinton, which is not a mark of disrespect; it’s just that neither presented policies that reflected my priorities and my ideal outcomes for America.
In 2016, however, I did not vote for Donald Trump. I researched him first as I always do when it comes to presidential and gubernatorial candidates. In my estimation, he was a loser; a huckster without morals; a sad, pitifully pampered prima donna buoyed by financially conscripted family and followers. But I did vote mainly Republican down ticket, and I will be watching those politicians closely to see if they uphold my standards for a group that once billed itself as the Grand Old Party.
I watched as the Republican Party eschewed qualified and experienced candidates in favor of a lazy, uninformed political pasha. I guess they thought he would be a figurehead who could rally some harmless excitement and well-heeled donors to their cause. They chose to promote the one candidate among 17 who does not read, cannot spell, and cannot control his infantile impulses. They packed State Departments with egregious examples of fat-pocket cronyism and turned the USDA into a dumping ground for unqualified, low-level campaign workers.
I am sickened by it all, but I am not ready to give up on the few Republicans who have true conservative values and firm personal standards. I am even beginning to acquire a glimmer of hope that a third Party might arise that reflects the idealism yet pragmatism of conservative beliefs.
So, here is what I would like to see.
Economy: Trading Deficit
I’m going to jump right in with some comments on the trading deficit. “Deficit” is not the same as “debt”. Nor is a trading deficit the cause of our national debt. All it means is that we buy more in imports than we sell as exports. In some ways, a healthy import market benefits us all because it gives us plenty of variety to choose from, and the competition keeps prices low. But at some point, specifically in certain industries, low prices translate into an inability to compete, and loss of jobs.
I am aghast that the Republican Party supports the idea of ripping away entire multi-region trade deals in a fit of pique over the total numbers. Only 5 countries — Canada, China, Mexico, Japan and Germany (in that order) — account for over 50% of our trade. Of those, China presents the second largest and fastest-growing trade deficit. To just erase trade deals off the chalkboard not only offends and penalizes Canada and Mexico, with whom we have relatively stable and often decreasing deficits, it will also negatively affect all the specific industries that have robust trading surpluses, and which serve to keep our overall deficit lower than it could be.
I want a Republican leader who can identify the import markets that attract American consumers (like digital products from China) plus the export markets that are powerhouses (like aircraft production) and find ways to promote the growth of similar products, companies and industries here in the States.
Creating more jobs and keeping wages high means creating more opportunity and competition here in the U.S. — which means supporting more startups in technology and manufacturing, not propping up dying industries like coal or protecting behemoths like Boeing.
It also means facing the realities of trade. It’s a simple fact that other countries pay their workers a lot less. A LOT less. You can’t blame American companies for outsourcing or trying to make local wages globally competitive — that’s just a natural effect of the dog-eat-dog world of capitalism. There’s no point in playing Whack-a-Mole with the heads of individual CEOs. But there are ways to level the playing field — like imposing tariffs on parts and completed products coming into the US. This has been a bone of contention in NAFTA for some time, and I support the idea of raising the percentage of “made in America” components for companies who want to benefit from NAFTA. I also think we should impose tariffs on certain industries and countries where wages do not meet a global Fair Trade standard and who are guilty of operating sweatshops.
It’s important to keep in mind that being a powerful consumer of another nation’s goods creates a lot of economic and political leverage. So it doesn’t make sense to completely wipe out trading deficits. You want these countries to depend on you economically. At levels of top Republican leadership, I expect a model candidate to be able to say, “I would like to see these specific deficits turn around and decrease at [this] rate, and then hold at [this] level of deficit, for [these] reasons.”
I’m also a big believer in breaking things down into achievable, concrete steps. I expect Republican leadership to be able to say, “If we want to turn the trade deficit around, let’s start with [this] industry and [this] country, and talk about ways to make this an opportunity for American companies and workers.” And then I want that leader to set a measurable goal, with maybe even a tracking website.
Economy: Personal Taxes
I don’t think anyone, Republican or Democrat, can argue that we have got to get our borrowing and debt under control. It’s alarming.
But before I get into reducing debt (because unfortunately, I don’t have too many good ideas there) I want to talk about tax breaks.
It’s discouraging that American personal taxes (income, Social Security, Medicare, state, local) can take 20% to 30% of a paycheck, even before health insurance and other fees. Sure, some other countries have it worse (or maybe they don’t, depending on how you factor it). But let’s face it, no matter how you cut it, it’s painful to kiss 30% of your hard-earned income goodbye, especially when wages have either been dropping, or not increasing fast enough to keep up with cost-of-living.
If you want more voters, the number one thing you can do is give them a little measurable relief on their personal taxes.
But you can’t expect to offer monolithic companies 15% off their corporate taxes while offering employees 0.5% off their paycheck bite, and not expect some pushback. No one believes in the trickle down effect. We’ve been led down that path before, and it’s bullshit. Besides, corporations (I owned one in the 1980s) get to write off practically everything under the sun anyway, and then they pass the remaining income through to their shareholders (who would also appreciate some relief on their personal taxes, so that’s kind of a win-win). You can promise lowering taxes until you’re blue in the face, but if you don’t provide immediate, measurable relief for voters, not just your wealthy donors … well you can see where that will end up next election.
I’m a big believer in luxury taxes. And I want to find a conservative leader who understands that.
I like the current system of wage/earning levels, so that people who have lower incomes get to keep more, while people at the upper levels of earning, who can clearly afford a luxury lifestyle, are expected to pay more. Maybe that’s not fair, but I can pretty much guarantee that most people earning at that level are probably playing with a bent deck anyway. So, karma.
What I don’t like is that the American tax system, both federal and state, heavily charges ordinary citizens for the things they need most, i.e. their household incomes and expenditures (sales tax). Some states still charge sales tax on food.
I would like to see sales tax as a general category completely eliminated for all purchases under a certain amount. In other words, only hard goods over, say, $200 for a single item would generate a tax, and then it could be 10–12%. Or even 15%, like a restaurant gratuity. And I would like to see that rule applied to many utilities and businesses that supply necessary household goods and services — like natural gas, electricity, water, telecomm — as well. So for instance, if your utility bill was under $200 for the month, all those pesky “sneaker fees” and taxes would be waived.
On the other hand, I support taxes on things that are obviously bad for your health, or contribute to landfills or pollutions — so taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, some plastics, disposables, paint, electronics, etc. are fine by me.
Now, some people might say that these are liberal ideas. I don’t think they are. The whole point of being “conservative” is to conserve. And that means protecting and conserving our household incomes for what we need most, promoting healthy trade opportunities, creating a healthy economy, advocating conservation of American resources, and protecting our land and water.
Economy: Big Business vs Big Box Republicans
The way I see it, there are two types of Republicans. There are Republicans who wear cashmere and merino wool, and fly on private or charter jets. And there are people like me, who buy rubber boots at Farm Supply.
The general idea of drastically cutting corporate taxes sounds good on the face of it. Supposedly that will generate huge savings that will flow like a river into increased facilities with shiny new jobs, with plenty to also trickle like a chittering brook into the pockets of employees. And anything that makes corporations happy generally makes the stock market happy. But for all their analyses and teacup projections, there are plenty of major stock investors who react like giddy girls to the latest market gossip, so I would never take trends in the stock market as a validation of a long term economic plan.
My problem with the corporate-tax-slashing plan is that after all the business deductions, even a huge reduction in taxes isn’t going to really amount to much, compared with the major costs of doing business in America. Like transportation, for starters. I suspect that instead of being an offer to Big Business, what’s really happening is that Big Business is offering their favored politicians a pat on the back, and saying, “We’ll make a big brouhaha about tax slashing so you’ll look good for your base. Meanwhile, you won’t really be offering us that much in hard dollars, but you can make up for that by easing up on fuel prices. And giving us sweet chairs at the King’s table.”
These are the deals that Big Business Republicans are negotiating with our leaders. Meanwhile, those of us who shop at Big Box stores — who are farmers, loggers, employees, small business owners — we keep waiting for real tax relief at our table. We wait for jobs and opportunities that Republicans have promised for decades. And we will continue to wait, unless we get smart about the types of Republicans that we vote into office.
Economy: Equality for Entrepreneurs
I want to find a Republican leader who will say, “If corporations get a tax cut to 15%, then so will every family LLC and individual Schedule C business owner in America.”
I don’t believe most people say to themselves, “I just want to be an employee for the rest of my life. I want to be told what to do, be employed or not, and accept compensation at the whim of my employer.” I think nearly everyone dreams of being a business owner themselves, or at least having an independent gig on the side.
America is supposed to be the land of the free, a place for opportunity. And yet, I don’t see either major Party doing much in support of small family businesses and entrepreneurs.
Instead we hear a lot of hand wringing about, “The workers, oh, the workers.” Well, we don’t necessarily want to be workers the rest of our lives. Sure, jobs are great — but there are plenty of jobs available. Even here in my home county where unemployment is 17.1% there are employers constantly advertising jobs. You may have to get stinky, cold and wet, and you will have to pass drug testing and perhaps get certified in some basic skills, but you can make decent to really good money if you’ve got the balls to do the work.
Please, Republicans, leave the populist “forgotten man and woman” rhetoric to the Democrats and the socialistic “we will create jobs out of thin air” promises to dreamy liberals.
We don’t need Government to create jobs for us. We can create our own.
One of the things that annoys me most about the current Republican Party is that it harps constantly on jobs and regulations, but provides absolutely no relief or support to small businesses, who do not enjoy the same economies of scale as utilities, chain stores, and titans of industry. A regulation that is a pinch for Wal-Mart can strangle a mom-and-pop store.
All the tax incentives, tax cuts and regulatory relief go to industry giants.
Imagine a country where the only vehicles allowed on the road are government-owned or private-sector owned semi-trailers. There are no individual vehicles, no carpools, no SUV’s. The freeways are desolate wastelands except for government-approved vehicles carrying their “workers”. When it comes to conducting business in America, this is the vision of the Republican Party today.
Jobs and upward wage pressure occur in booming cities with a multitude of booming industries. These booms create a rich tapestry of support businesses, from taxi drivers to window washers to restaurants. It is the tapestry that creates jobs, good wages, and competition for workers — not the individual corporations. Without support businesses, all you’ve got is a company town — and we know how that scenario always ends up for workers.
America’s wealth comes from individual wealth. The more successful entrepreneurs America generates, the wealthier we as a country will be.
Economy: Reducing Debt
My family will be the first to tell you I’m not known for my financial planning abilities.
A debt of $20 trillion, which is expected to rise to $25 trillion in 10 years, is pretty alarming even for someone with my spendthrift habits. However, I recommend a fine series of articles on Forbes by economist Mike Patton, which helps put the scenario in perspective. Here are links to two of his articles:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2014/09/29/the-seven-most-indebted-nations/#74301efd69ec
Still, perspective is one thing, and runaway debt is another. Conservatives have always promised to initiate controls on spending. And yet the current Republican leadership is advocating both deep tax cuts and billions of spending on infrastructure proposals, which are at this time completely nebulous and apparently up for grabs to any crony contractor with a need to dump cement or Chinese steel on the market.
Meanwhile, states and counties continue to court residential and commercial building in notoriously disaster-prone areas. If there have been any discussions with states about controlling growth in areas that cost the federal government billions in clean up and rescue, the public is not hearing much about that. Nor are we hearing anything from Republicans about increasing FEMA budgets for future catastrophes. Whether one is a believer in climate change or not, continued construction in geologically and meteorologically hostile zones should be curtailed, in my opinion, by placing pressure on states, banks and the real estate industry in repeatedly hit areas in the form of aggressive taxes and mandatory insurance for any new construction.
According to this chart, provided by the nonprofit Just Facts, social programs are the runaway contributor to national debt, at over 60% of the total. Military spending has dropped precipitously, and public order and safety are a tiny portion of spending.
All of these realities are in direct contradiction to what Republicans have traditionally promised for nearly 50 years — less government spending and intrusion, more support for the military, and stronger support for first responders and public safety.
This is clearly a place where fat can and should be trimmed, and part of that fat redistributed to public safety and the military. I would love to find a Republican leader capable of doing a deep dive into America’s social programs and finding out where the waste really is. Health care aside (for the moment), it is clear these extreme trends have been in place for nearly 70 years, and Republicans have not addressed nor appreciably reined in these trends in all that time. And now they’re threatening the patient with an axe, when an intelligently-wielded scalpel has always been the answer.
Some social programs are necessary, some are worthy, and some nearly support themselves through fundraising and usage fees. As a conservative, I don’t want to see social support discontinued or even slashed. I just want to see it curtailed and matched by similar upward trends in national defense and public safety.
American Health Care
I was never a fan of the Affordable Health Care Act. For 13 years, I co-owned a three-office insurance and risk management agency. When the ACA was first put forth, I shook my head in dismay, and I warned anyone who would listen (which was primarily my dog) that it was ill-planned and hastily executed. There was nowhere near enough industry input, and I saw that as a disaster-in-progress right there. Also, the idea of penalizing people for not joining the pool within a narrow time window was anathema to me.
But, it happened. And millions of people have benefited from it, although many have been hurt as well.
As a conservative here’s where I stand on the issue now. ACA was poorly thought out and poorly executed, without enough industry input. But Republicans and conservatives did not protest hard enough at the time, and now it’s a done deal. The U.S. Government has made a promise to millions of people and reneging on that promise is not, in my book, honorable nor a conservative value.
The whole idea of conservatism is to be cautious. To study issues with an eye toward cost vs. benefit. To make wise decisions. Hastily repealing ACA is a foolish, irresponsible, and petty move.
Furthermore, the chaos this partisan bickering and hydrant marking is causing in the insurance marketplace is creating problems that will persist for decades to come. Do we really think that privately owned insurance companies have to do this? Get real. Most insurance companies are part of larger consortiums that include various types of banking and financial services. If insurance no longer pencils out in a particular market, they will simply sell out, close their doors, and concentrate on other financial services. The longer Republicans tweet about “repeal and replace” the faster we move toward the private insurance industry losing all interest in participating — and the sooner we’ll end up with no choice but government insurance for all, instead of a free (but managed) market that true conservatives prefer.
There are many things about ACA that need a serious overhaul, and there are many things that are worthy of being saved. I’m looking for Republican leaders who acknowledge that, and whose personal standards match those of true conservativism, which dictates cautious but determined momentum toward creating a better program.
There needs to be much more input from an engaged council of insurance executives and commissioners. I would have recommended a combination of test pools prior to launching a full scale ACA. I still believe it’s not too late to talk to the industry and find ways to create a hybrid free market system. It might not last forever, but it would definitely inform our choices going forward.
Security
You would think with all their emphasis on law and order, that national security would be a big issue for the current crop of Republicans, but clearly it is not.
A wall? Seriously? So like, planes and boats would also have to go through this “big, beautiful wall”? I can’t even take this ridiculous soapbox cartoon seriously.
Allow me to segue for a moment here. In the 1970s I was teaching school on the Canadian border, and I learned at the time, directly from US Border Patrol, that they did much of their recruiting from the hottest Mexican border spots. There were more drugs, more guns, and more human trafficking coming in from Canada than Mexico. And conversely, into Canada from northwestern U.S. seaports. The Border Patrol needed their best and bravest on the Canadian border. The operators there were far more sophisticated than Mexican coyotes, and many were white supremacist motorcycle gangs. Instead of open vistas of desert, these gangs used logging roads hidden in dense forests and the cover of hundreds of islands in the Washington State and British Columbia archipelagos. The Border Patrol and anyone in the Pacific Northwest Coast Guard will tell you that’s a fact of life, yet you won’t find it reflected in statistics, because most of these criminals don’t get caught. (And, as a side note, you never want to mess with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the Coast Guard. They are both totally bad ass.)
Meanwhile, what is happening with real security concerns in the U.S.? Damn little, apparently.
Conservatives, you need to read Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon, by Kim Zetter, and Ted Koppel’s book Lights Out: A CyberAttack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath. Both address our important infrastructure vulnerabilities.
Once you have read these books, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that the urgent question right now is: Who is protecting our vulnerable power grids and important digital infrastructures? Our power grids are vulnerable. Our dams. Our trains. Our telecom industry. Our nuclear plants. These books outline in scary detail exactly how an attack would happen, and even more damning, they describe in great detail exactly how breaches have already occurred in many parts of the world, including the U.S. And they also lay out in painful detail how woefully unprepared we are for such attacks.
(Caution: don’t read them at bedtime. They set me off on a frenzy of reading prepper books.)
Who is protecting our food supply? What is being done to ensure that the foods coming into our country are actually coming from the stated country of origin? Who is testing food products from China and other countries notoriously lacking in standards and hygiene, to ensure they don’t contain pollutants, unapproved chemicals, and biohazards? The USDA was stretched as thin as sausage casing before 2016 — now many positions are still vacant, and those that are filled have gone to golf caddies, cabana attendants, scented candle makers and other assorted Republican campaign assistants who are completely unqualified and untrained for their positions.
Who is taking steps to ensure election security? As a conservative, I have no interest in some arcane war against imaginary voters. If you must pursue that, fine; but I consider it a waste of time and funds. I want to see nuts-and-bolts security at the ballot box. I want Republican leaders to explain to me exactly how ballot boxes will be secured in 2018 and beyond.
I am a firm believer in the First Amendment and our right to a free press. However, I do support the recent subpoenas of social media platforms, most notably Facebook. If Russian companies, or any foreign entity for that matter, are purchasing advertising on social media to influence American politics (or religion, or social issues) I believe American citizens have the right to know.
Foreign Policy
I won’t presume to dictate what I think should happen in the myriad corners of the world. Foreign policy is far too complicated. But I will say this: if we’re going to bomb a country, or send aid to a country, I want to know why, and I want to know why well ahead of time. Conservatives like me do not appreciate it when U.S. presidents shoot from the hip.
In the days after 9/11, everyone was angry and there was much talk of war. But I thought to myself, “All these people so eager to punch back now will be feeling very differently if we do go to war with the Middle East and we’re still there two years from now.” And sure enough, the same small town “patriots” who were caught up in the raging afterburn of 9/11 were the first to criticize George W. Bush later for not finding weapons of mass destruction.
I believe that every presidential candidate, and most certainly the White House, should maintain a White House Wiki describing their intentions and foreign policies for each region and country. I want to see at least one full page outlining the administration’s intentions and goals for each important region.
These policies could be updated as events transpire and situations change, either through news updates on the relevant pages, or via a Policy Blog. In this age of digital accessibility there is absolutely no excuse for not having a clear foreign policy wiki. And I believe this should be mandated by Congress.
I believe that gubernatorial candidates and governors should also have clearly defined, publicly available white papers outlining their domestic policies and detailing their policies as respects foreign trading partners for their state.
Social Issues
Conservatives almost universally want less government control, less government interference, and less government spending on social programs in situations where states and communities could better serve their people.
As a conservative, I believe that it is the duty of government to step in to protect civil rights when it must. And that it is neither the prerogative nor the right of government to dictate, judge and control personal choices. That is an unnecessary and unconstitutional intrusion into our personal and civil rights. It is a fine line to walk, and the choices the Department of Justice must make are not always easy.
But some things are dead simple. Roe vs. Wade has stood the test of time. Civilians should not be forced to sit, stand or sing when the national anthem is played. Your biological plumbing is no one’s damn business. (I myself have used the men’s bathroom on many a desperate occasion.)
Ethics
As a conservative, I want clear, measured reform when it is required; economic progress; fairness and equality; protection of our American interests, assets, and most importantly, our people.
I do not want to see sneaky, underhanded moves and the undermining of important principles and protections. I want to see Congressional bills vetted by the Congressional Budget Office. I want to see all government employees and heads of state abiding by Office of Congressional Ethics rules.
Conservatives respect rules and exceed expectations.
Fierce Protection of Constitutional Rights
First Amendment: We have a Constitutional right to free speech and a free press.
First and Fourteenth Amendments: We have a right to worship as we please, but without inflicting actions arising from our beliefs onto others. That means vampirists may not bite other people. Evangelicals cannot force a woman to bear a child she does want. If you are open to the public and providing services to the public, you may not discriminate among members of the public based on your own personal beliefs or preferences.
As a conservative, I will only vote for Republican leaders who respect these rights at all times.
Second Amendment: The right to bear arms is not a carte blanche right to put the lives of many at risk.
The Second Amendment reads, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The word ‘infringed’ means ‘not transgressed’. But it also means, ‘not advanced beyond the usual limit.’ Our Founding Fathers were being very precise when they used that word.
I’m tired of seeing Republicans stir the pot every time a Democrat is in office and discussions come around to gun control. I grew up in a rural area in a gun-toting family and I believe that not every knucklehead should have the right to buy or own a gun — particularly not a semi-automatic weapon.
That does not make me a liberal. In fact, I would say that people who want everyone to own a gun regardless of criminal record, mental health, registration or skill are the liberals. Completely open gun ownership without any common sense regulation is a very open, generous, carte blanche, unregulated, and yes, liberal agenda. You may not be a Democrat, but if you want completely open and unregulated access to weapons … well, that is, technically, as liberal a stance as anyone can find.
This is yet another area where associating with Republicans does not necessarily align with being conservative.
In Conclusion
Dear Republican leader, if you are out there, please let me know.
