Here's what I wish I were hearing candidates running for president saying this year:
"My approach to leading this nation from our current crises and into sustainable prosperity is three-fold. First, I will focus on foreign policy and freeing us from dangerous entanglements around the globe. Second, I will focus on an energy policy that will both promote American energy independence and prepare the nation to use fewer non-renewable resources. And third, I will focus on the specific areas of bureaucracy, policy and regulation that inhibit growth of jobs in the private sector and will encourage Congress to review and revise legislation that does the same.
"Our foreign policy will be made with only these purposes in view: To promote the sovereignty and security of the United States of America. I will not entertain treaties or organizations whose objectives or views are contrary to those two principles. Arms reduction treaties which give advantage to another nation or which may embolden an enemy will not be considered. Participation in conclaves or summits which have as a purpose to debase one nation in order to yield a perceived benefit to another is out of the question. The sovereign debt of the United States of America must not be sold to our enemies. We must not put ourselves in a subordinate or indentured position relative to those nations whose ideals are antithetical to the American Ideal. Our relationships with other nations will be conducted with the express goal of defending the Constitution and the Nation from all destructive forces.
"Our energy policy is closely related to our foreign policy. In order to be free to be an actor, and not simply a reactor, on the international stage, we must be free from dependence on others. We must be free from financial dependence, and we must be free from energy dependence. The United States of America has tremendous natural advantages, including access to unimaginable reserves of natural resources such as oil, coal, water, sun, wind and timber. The mineral deposits found on our soil are among the richest and most diverse of any nation in the world. We will exploit the oil and natural gas reserves we have by using extraction techniques which minimize both the surface footprint of the operations and the impact to water, air and wildlife. While doing this, we will develop the technologies required to efficiently and effectively capture wind and solar energy, as well as develop the next generation of safer, cleaner, scaleable nuclear energy. We will pursue this with the same intensity and zeal that those before us enjoyed while racing to the moon. Energy research will be based on science, and not be driven by environmental, political or other agendas. Funding for this research will be modest, but adequate. Private companies will not have access to research money, but will have access to technology developed in government labs. We will, by 2025, be a country that imports less than 2% of the energy it consumes.
"Since 1787 the size and scope of federal government has steadily outgrown the constraints placed on it by the Constitution. In many cases federal agencies and departments have no foundation in anthing remotely resembling the Constitution. During my administration the Department of Justice, assisted by the Supreme Court, will review each federal agency and assess the Constitutional mandate for its existence. Agencies and organizations found to have no Constitutional basis will be dissolved at the end of the fiscal year in which their baselessness was discovered. At the same time, the Department of Treasury will be assisted by the Government Accountability Office in evaluating the programs and budgets of those agencies clearly authorized by the Constitution. They will identify expenditures that are misaligned with either the mission of the agency or the mandate of the Constitution and will recommend both structural and financial adjustments. Where multiple agencies perform similar or identical duties, redundancies will be eliminated. In four years I will have reduced the budget of the executive branch of the United States government 50%. The United States of America will no longer borrow its 'operating capital.' Where federal agencies have imposed regulations on business and industry, the Department of Treasury will assess the adverse impact of those regulations, as well as weigh the real benefit to society of each. Those regulations found to be unreasonable, unconscionable or unfounded in the Constitution will be removed. Where regulations, though burdensome, exist but are beneficial to society or national security, the reason for not removing them will be clearly and plainly articulated by the heads of those agencies. By the end of my first term, American business will be unshackled and America will indeed be 'open for business.'
"This is my plan and my platform. I thank you for your support in 2012."
"My approach to leading this nation from our current crises and into sustainable prosperity is three-fold. First, I will focus on foreign policy and freeing us from dangerous entanglements around the globe. Second, I will focus on an energy policy that will both promote American energy independence and prepare the nation to use fewer non-renewable resources. And third, I will focus on the specific areas of bureaucracy, policy and regulation that inhibit growth of jobs in the private sector and will encourage Congress to review and revise legislation that does the same.
"Our foreign policy will be made with only these purposes in view: To promote the sovereignty and security of the United States of America. I will not entertain treaties or organizations whose objectives or views are contrary to those two principles. Arms reduction treaties which give advantage to another nation or which may embolden an enemy will not be considered. Participation in conclaves or summits which have as a purpose to debase one nation in order to yield a perceived benefit to another is out of the question. The sovereign debt of the United States of America must not be sold to our enemies. We must not put ourselves in a subordinate or indentured position relative to those nations whose ideals are antithetical to the American Ideal. Our relationships with other nations will be conducted with the express goal of defending the Constitution and the Nation from all destructive forces.
"Our energy policy is closely related to our foreign policy. In order to be free to be an actor, and not simply a reactor, on the international stage, we must be free from dependence on others. We must be free from financial dependence, and we must be free from energy dependence. The United States of America has tremendous natural advantages, including access to unimaginable reserves of natural resources such as oil, coal, water, sun, wind and timber. The mineral deposits found on our soil are among the richest and most diverse of any nation in the world. We will exploit the oil and natural gas reserves we have by using extraction techniques which minimize both the surface footprint of the operations and the impact to water, air and wildlife. While doing this, we will develop the technologies required to efficiently and effectively capture wind and solar energy, as well as develop the next generation of safer, cleaner, scaleable nuclear energy. We will pursue this with the same intensity and zeal that those before us enjoyed while racing to the moon. Energy research will be based on science, and not be driven by environmental, political or other agendas. Funding for this research will be modest, but adequate. Private companies will not have access to research money, but will have access to technology developed in government labs. We will, by 2025, be a country that imports less than 2% of the energy it consumes.
"Since 1787 the size and scope of federal government has steadily outgrown the constraints placed on it by the Constitution. In many cases federal agencies and departments have no foundation in anthing remotely resembling the Constitution. During my administration the Department of Justice, assisted by the Supreme Court, will review each federal agency and assess the Constitutional mandate for its existence. Agencies and organizations found to have no Constitutional basis will be dissolved at the end of the fiscal year in which their baselessness was discovered. At the same time, the Department of Treasury will be assisted by the Government Accountability Office in evaluating the programs and budgets of those agencies clearly authorized by the Constitution. They will identify expenditures that are misaligned with either the mission of the agency or the mandate of the Constitution and will recommend both structural and financial adjustments. Where multiple agencies perform similar or identical duties, redundancies will be eliminated. In four years I will have reduced the budget of the executive branch of the United States government 50%. The United States of America will no longer borrow its 'operating capital.' Where federal agencies have imposed regulations on business and industry, the Department of Treasury will assess the adverse impact of those regulations, as well as weigh the real benefit to society of each. Those regulations found to be unreasonable, unconscionable or unfounded in the Constitution will be removed. Where regulations, though burdensome, exist but are beneficial to society or national security, the reason for not removing them will be clearly and plainly articulated by the heads of those agencies. By the end of my first term, American business will be unshackled and America will indeed be 'open for business.'
"This is my plan and my platform. I thank you for your support in 2012."
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