Tea Partiers to unveil Contract from America tomorrow

[bobbyw24]

Tea Partiers to unveil Contract from America tomorrow
By Mike Riggs | Published: 04/14/10 at 10:52 AM


From Alex Pappas, who has (finally!) returned from his Alabama pilgrimage:

At tomorrow’s Tax Day rally in Washington DC, the Tea Party Contract from America will formally be unveiled — and creator Ryan Hecker sent me this morning the top ten planks that will be announced:

* Protect the Constitution

* Reject Cap and Trade

* Demand a Balanced Budget

* Enact Fundamental Tax Reform

* Restore Fiscal Responsibility and Constitutionally Limited Government

* End Runaway Government Spending

* Defund, Repeal, and Replace Government-run Health Care

* Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy

* Stop the Pork

* Stop the Tax Hikes

As The Daily Caller has reported, the contract is a list of Tea Party priorities originated at the grassroots level that lawmakers will be asked to sign. Nearly a half a million Tea Partiers voted, Hecker said.

“This project is intended to present a different kind of agenda for our federal lawmakers: unlike the Contract with America introduced in the 1990s, everyday citizens proposed and voted on every plank of the Contract from America,” said Hecker, a Houston Tea Party activist and National Coordinator for the initiative’s chief organizing group Tea Party Patriots.

More information about each plank, including its full description and the name of the activist who first proposed it, is available at the Contract from America’s website

www.contractfromamerica.org.


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/14/tea-partiers-to-unveil-contract-from-america-tomorrow/#ixzz0l6W9iiV7


http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/14/tea-partiers-to-unveil-contract-from-america-tomorrow/

[Elwar]

I'm pleasantly surprised by all of these.

I like it.

[RforRevolution]

At least there's no neo-con lines on foreign interventionism.

[gls]

If the first (and fifth) plank are followed the rest are quite redundant. Still I suppose it is nice to see an absense of language promoting the wars/empire and/or government-enforced moral crusading -- areas in which many Tea Partiers tend to make glaring exceptions in their opposition to big government. I guess silence on these matters is the best we can hope for. I would also like to see the Tea Party come out against such gross violations of our Constitutional civil liberties such as the "PATRIOT ACT" and the widespread NSA warrantless wiretapping. One can dream.

[EN81]

I was initially very skeptical about it, but turned out positively surprised. There is in fact not a single reference to religion in this contract, nor is there any advocacy of socially conservative policies. The contract is 100 % focused on individual liberty, limited government, and economic freedom. A very positive development, if you ask me. I fully support it.

[muh_roads]

stop the pork is stupid. the rest are fine.

we need MORE earmarks as long as the income tax exists so we can see where the money goes and keep it away from the executive.

[awake]

The Tea Party is the GOP's back door into power again.

[pcosmar]

add plank #11
End the Fed.

[nate895]

I like it in principle, it is just too broad to actually go anywhere politically. What the tea parties need to do is write up some legislation drafts and get candidates to agree to at least 9/10 of them. They can then release some specific legislation that will support each one of these contract points, and an enforcement mechanism in case the GOP gets the majority and decides they won't act. Then the Tea Parties can be justified in breaking with the GOP and becoming their own little "party within a party."

[jkr]

RAP > cfa

[TheBlackPeterSchiff]

Can we sue the government if they violate the terms of the contract?

[nate895]

Can we sue the government if they violate the terms of the contract?

The Constitution is a contract they've been violating for hundreds of years. Sadly, when you have to sue the government through the same government, it doesn't really work out.

[pcosmar]

The Constitution is a contract they've been violating for hundreds of years. Sadly, when you have to sue the government through the same government, it doesn't really work out.

QFT

How did that last "Contract with America" work out?
:(
:mad:

[Chieppa1]

I don't trust this for a minute. No mention of foreign policy changes. And repel and replace? Replace with what?

[gls]

I don't trust this for a minute. No mention of foreign policy changes. And repel and replace? Replace with what?

True. Also, I don't know what "Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy" is supposed to mean, but it hardly seems compatible with limited government.

[Brett]

Not very ambitious. "Demand a Balanced Budget" instead of "Constitutional amendment" and "Enact Fundamental Tax Reform" not "Abolish the IRS, replace with nothing".

[QueenB4Liberty]

add plank #11
End the Fed.

or #12, end the federal government! ;)

[Elwar]

You guys should actually go to the website, each point is explained.

The "balance the budget" states a goal to pass a balanced budget amendment with 66% majority requirement for any tax increases.

"Enact Fundamental Tax reform" requires them to drop the IRC and replace it with something with less words than the Constitution.

"Pass all of the above energy" is about getting rid of regulations on all energy.