All Roads Lead to Nashville

"All roads lead to Nashville, it's never far away..."

Such would be the theme of a proposed "Red State" Convention. The site would be Music City. The theme: "redefining or replacing the modern Republican Party."

The party has become too fractured. Maybe it's due to a base that wasn't around at the time of the party's inception. The origin and history of the GOP is not the subject of this post. Of greater concern is "where are we now and where are we going from here?"

It begins with defining an America that most of us want. It has nothing to do with party. Democrats as well as Independents would be welcomed, literally urged to attend the convention. The goal: "to finally undermine an order that has gradually and systematically stolen our country from us." It begins with a platform that includes the following 15 planks:

1)Term limits for Congressmen and Senators. Two, six-year terms for Senators. Six, two-year terms for Congressmen.
2)Repeal of the 17th Amendment
3)Actual ratification of the 16th amendment.(The amendment was never ratified by 3/4 of the states).
4)Elimination of all federal employees(non-military) from pension rolls. Elected officials would be included. They would pay into and receive Social Security like the rest of Americans. They would be given 401ks like the private sector. The overall Federal non-military wage would be made consistent with the current private sector average.(It is currently 60% higher)
5) Congressional pay would be cut in half, the jobs made part time.
6) Elimination of the Departments of Education, Energy and Commerce. E.P.A. would be returned to it's original focus, the staff reduced to 1975 levels.
7)Obamacare would be replaced with a "half-penny" national sales tax that would be used solely for the creation of a catastrophic fund. The fund would be only accessible if a claim reached $10,000. This would be done in conjunction with (a) the removing of location restrictions(allowing insurance companies to cross state lines) and the (b) implementation of "loser pays" tort reform.
8) Adoption of English as official language and accompanying measures as outlined in my book.
9)Instigation of a federal land sell-off to Americans. The revenues would be used to pay down the federal debt.
10) Full repeal of Dodd-Frank and all measures adopted since 2008.
11) Reduction of corporate income tax to 15%.
12) Elimination of Capital Gains tax for families making less than $500,000 per year
13) Elimination of Department of Homeland Security
14) Adoption of an immigration reform plan that would target young, well educated applicants, already fluent in English. Applicants from N.A.T.O. countries would be given a preference. Those in America through "no fault of their own" would be given a "probationary path" to citizenship.
15)Fully invigorating NASA with short and long term objectives for space exploration. An emphasis would be placed on public/private sector ventures that would include international partners.

The ideology behind all 15 measures is relatively simple: "To reduce the size, scope and cost of the federal government." Individual ingenuity would return to the forefront. A premium would once again be placed upon American immagination and creativity. A less menacing federal hand would spawn enhanced innovation.

Nashville symbolizes all of these ideals. Could we not think of a better city to begin our journey?

This isn't a Republican "wish list." A lot of Republicans would have problems with many of the measures. The question becomes, "are there sufficient Republicans willing to embrace them as a whole?"

Should the the answer be "80% of the party," it will then become a question of "how many" Democrats and Independents will move over. If not, then a "replacement party"(I call them "Jeffersonians" for illustrative purposes) will send the Republicans the way of the Whig party.

In actuality, all these positions epitomize the American Dream. Anyone wanting to share in the dream is welcomed. But, it is a frightening illusion for the status quot. Over time, they have constructed an American nobility. At stake is power and control. Losing that by reducing the size, scope and cost of government would be a direct flight ticket to their demise.