What to Dismantle First

[Number19]

Help me out here with your suggestions. What I'd like is your short list, lets just say 3, of what you'd cut from the government first, if given the opportunity. Let's also put the Fed and the IRS out of bounds - we all want to see these eliminated. The object is to have a positive effect on the economy and/or minimum direct impact on daily lives.

On my short list I'd have 1) The Dept of Education; 2) EPA; 3) Homeland Security.

[ClayTrainor]

1) DEA

2) FDA

3) Homeland security

[Original_Intent]

I agree with your number 1 choice for sure: Getting rid of the Dept of Education is a huge step in killing the beast, because they lose the power of indoctrinating a huge percentage of each generation.

Homeland Security would probably be my second choice, can we include the BATF as part of this choice?

I would say Dept of Agriculture would be a big one for me because all the farm subsidies need to go.

[Sentient Void]

Hrmmm... apart from those two (Fed reserve and IRS?)?

1) Military Empire
2) All foreign Aid
3) Dept. of Homeland Security

Def wish i could do a longer list, though. ;)

[Slutter McGee]

1. Military Spending directly related to Europe. Let them pay for their own defense...Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world sure, but I say lets stop spending where we are obviously not needed first.

2. Dept. Agriculture. An easy one for me.

3. Dept. Education. Arguably the most unconstitutional of the departments...Make cuts in it first..and slowly dismatle it.

Sincerely,

Slutter McGee

[Number19]

1) DEA

2) FDA

3) Homeland securityDEA - no brainer, but it had kinda slipped my mind. Too many alphabet agencies

[Number19]

I agree with your number 1 choice for sure: Getting rid of the Dept of Education is a huge step in killing the beast, because they lose the power of indoctrinating a huge percentage of each generation.

Homeland Security would probably be my second choice, can we include the BATF as part of this choice?

I would say Dept of Agriculture would be a big one for me because all the farm subsidies need to go.Yes, Dept of Agriculture. Good

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

Help me out here with your suggestions. What I'd like is your short list, lets just say 3, of what you'd cut from the government first, if given the opportunity. Let's also put the Fed and the IRS out of bounds - we all want to see these eliminated. The object is to have a positive effect on the economy and/or minimum direct impact on daily lives.

On my short list I'd have 1) The Dept of Education; 2) EPA; 3) Homeland Security.

Ending the Fed & Income Tax would do that! I'm probably misinterpreting what you are saying...but, that looks clear to me.

1) Capital Gains Tax & all taxes on investments, dividends, and other such activities
2) All overseas Military Bases w/ a 90% cut of all military spending (This is me being my moderate pragmatic side here...I'll be fine with an initial 90% cut instead of 100%)
3) Social Security

I think its absurd you would put having a minimum impact on daily lives, because a free society is vastly different than the society today. Why would you want to keep it the same?

[Number19]

I'm going to add two more here I'm a little surprised didn't immediately come up: 1) Obama-care and 2) Financial reform

[Slutter McGee]

Ending the Fed & Income Tax would do that! I'm probably misinterpreting what you are saying...but, that looks clear to me.

1) Capital Gains Tax & all taxes on investments, dividends, and other such activities
2) All overseas Military Bases w/ a 90% cut of all military spending (This is me being my moderate pragmatic side here...I'll be fine with an initial 90% cut instead of 100%)
3) Social Security

I think its absurd you would put having a minimum impact on daily lives, because a free society is vastly different than the society today. Why would you want to keep it the same?

Unfortunately a 90% cut is not realistic nor pragmatic. We should be looking at a 20% cut in oversears military spending....and expand from there. Social Security...cant get rid of it. People have paid in, they deserve their money. Provide a plan to phase it out.

Sincerely,

Slutter McGee

[Number19]

Ending the Fed & Income Tax would do that! I'm probably misinterpreting what you are saying...but, that looks clear to me.

1) Capital Gains Tax & all taxes on investments, dividends, and other such activities
2) All overseas Military Bases w/ a 90% cut of all military spending (This is me being my moderate pragmatic side here...I'll be fine with an initial 90% cut instead of 100%)
3) Social Security

I think its absurd you would put having a minimum impact on daily lives, because a free society is vastly different than the society today. Why would you want to keep it the same?To your Capital Gains Tax, etc I would add cutting the corporate income tax to 10%,

[ClayTrainor]

To your Capital Gains Tax, etc I would add cutting the corporate income tax to 10%,

Why not 0%?

[phill4paul]

The military industrial complex.

Plain and simple. The easiest solution to uniting moderate Americans on either side and creating a majority. EVERYONE is tired of the bullshit.

I believe a third party could run with no other platform than saying they would end the wars and bring the troops home.

[low preference guy]

Why not 0%?

Why not get eliminate everything except the police, courts and military?

Even better, why not eliminate ALL government?

You guys look silly trying to outdo each other in your postings for radical overnight changes. It's reminiscent of prick waving.

[Anti Federalist]

Keeping strictly along the alphabet agency meme.

TSA

ATF

DEA

[South Park Fan]

Keeping strictly along the alphabet agency meme.

TSA

ATF

DEA

Perhaps we ought to eliminate every federal agency in alphabetical order?

[ClayTrainor]

Why not get eliminate everything except the police, court and military?

That wasn't part of my my question.



Even better, why not eliminate ALL government?


Neither was that.



You guys look silly trying to outdo each other in your postings for radical overnight changes. It's reminiscent of prick waving.

Oh noes. sorry for asking a a genuine question that came to mind when I read his post, sir.

[Anti Federalist]

Perhaps we ought to eliminate every federal agency in alphabetical order?

I like this idea.

CIA

FBI

NSA

[phill4paul]

You guys look silly trying to outdo each other in your postings for radical overnight changes. It's reminiscent of prick waving.

God blesses each of us in different ways. Don't feel intimidated.:D

[Anti Federalist]

People have paid in, they deserve their money. Provide a plan to phase it out.

LoL yeah, I got a plan.

Bankruptcy.

[Anti Federalist]

God blesses each of us in different ways. Don't feel intimidated.:D

<<<<<

"We'll make spears, as long as a man."

"Aye, aye, but, some men are longer than others."

:D

[Vessol]

Dept. of Education for sure, get children out of those brainwashing institutions.

However this would also be the hardest to cut. 99% of Americans love the shit out of any politician who talks about kids and giving more money for education.

[Number19]

Where I'm going with this is to have a loose coalition of Liberty Forest regulars, and come up with a basic agenda that we can all agree on, and start pressuring the new Congressional Tea Party Coalition to push on the Congress. There is a dozen or so in this initial founding group. After November, this group will swell in numbers and influence.

I'm tired of government always growing - under both Republicans and Democrats. We need a serious effort to actually start cutting government and making it smaller.

We don't need to hammer Washington with a heavy hand first thing out of the chute. But we need a sufficiently strong agenda to catch Washington's attention and to carry the message we mean business.

If enough of us think this has some merit, we have a bit more than 5 months to come up with an agenda - and a name to identify us.

I've always been partial to a variation on the old Sons of Liberty. I propose:

The Sons of Liberty - The Daughters of Freedom

[Number19]

Why not 0%?It's negotiable.

[low preference guy]

Where I'm going with this is to have a loose coalition of Liberty Forest regulars, and come up with a basic agenda that we can all agree on, and start pressuring the new Congressional Tea Party Coalition to push on the Congress.

Basic agenda? I would just take Rand Paul's. I put in bold my two favorites.

1. Term limits reform.
2. Balance the budget immediately and a balanced budget amendment. (applying this will force to dismantle a lot of things, even if you're not specific in advocating what you want to eliminate).
3. Have every Federal Contractor voluntarily agree to not lobby Congress before the Government agrees to hire them, if they are to be paid more than $1,000,000.
4. Enumerated Powers Act. Every piece of legislation should say where in the Constitution Congress gets its authority to pass it.
5. Waiting period for passing legislation. 1 day for 25 pages.
6. Audit The Fed.

7. (stretching it?) Repeal Federal minimum sentences for drug crimes and let local judges determine the proper punishment.

[PreDeadMan]

The entire Us Government system.

[Koz]

Unfortunately a 90% cut is not realistic nor pragmatic. We should be looking at a 20% cut in oversears military spending....and expand from there. Social Security...cant get rid of it. People have paid in, they deserve their money. Provide a plan to phase it out.

Sincerely,

Slutter McGee

The money has already been spent. Deserve's got nothing to do with it.

[Number19]

Basic agenda? I would just take Rand Paul's. I put in bold my two favorites.

1. Term limits reform.
2. Balance the budget immediately and a balanced budget amendment.
3. Have every Federal Contractor voluntarily agree to not lobby Congress before the Government agrees to hire them, if they are to be paid more than $1,000,000.
4. Enumerated Powers Act. Every piece of legislation should say where in the Constitution Congress gets its authority to pass it.
5. Waiting period for passing legislation. 1 day for 25 pages.
6. Audit The Fed.

7. (stretching it?) Repeal minimum sentences for drug crimes and let local judges determine the proper punishment.It's easy to say balance the budget immediately. We has a $1.5T deficit. I want to lay out the nuts and bolts of where we are going to cut.

Republicans are saying it can't be all spending cuts; we're also going to have to raise taxes. This is particularly true in order to fund Obama-care.

[low preference guy]

It's easy to say balance the budget immediately. We has a $1.5T deficit. I want to lay out the nuts and bolts of where we are going to cut.

Start will all foreign aid.

If that is rejected, all foreign aid except Israel's. It's a start.

[phill4paul]

Number19 I believe it will be the war machine that will unite those on the left and right.
Liberals love it from the humanitarian aspect and conservatives are coming around to the economic aspect of it.
I think in the coming elections, if played well, this single issue could be used to unite.

[phill4paul]

<<<<<

"We'll make spears, as long as a man."

"Aye, aye, but, some men are longer than others."

:D

Frikken Braveheart quotes. I just caught it on the tube yesterday or that one would have went over my head. You kill me man.:D

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

Where I'm going with this is to have a loose coalition of Liberty Forest regulars, and come up with a basic agenda that we can all agree on, and start pressuring the new Congressional Tea Party Coalition to push on the Congress. There is a dozen or so in this initial founding group. After November, this group will swell in numbers and influence.

I'm tired of government always growing - under both Republicans and Democrats. We need a serious effort to actually start cutting government and making it smaller.

We don't need to hammer Washington with a heavy hand first thing out of the chute. But we need a sufficiently strong agenda to catch Washington's attention and to carry the message we mean business.

If enough of us think this has some merit, we have a bit more than 5 months to come up with an agenda - and a name to identify us.

I've always been partial to a variation on the old Sons of Liberty. I propose:

The Sons of Liberty - The Daughters of Freedom

Please do not use that name, you do it no justice. The Sons of Liberty did not lobby congress. They actively resisted and fought the tyrannical Government.

[heavenlyboy34]

The standing army should be dismantled ASAP. It's a HUGE waste of money and time.

[JacksonianBME]

1) Homeland Security
2) Foreign aid, wasteful defense spending. basically any unneeded, useless spending related to foreign policy
3) Dept. of Education
4) Corporate and Income Tax
5) Obamacare, HMOs. Move towards more market mechanisms for healthcare. For example, have individuals choose health ins. companies instead being assigned to one by default because of their employer.

I think the above could be done in the first term of a presidency without too much shock to the status quo of the statists and those who are unknowingly statists. I think it will take a decade to convince people to get rid of anything beyond the above. Although, I would say that the Department of Commerce is not needed and certainly has not contributed to the economic growth that it mentions in its mission.

[phill4paul]

The standing army should be dismantled ASAP. It's a HUGE waste of money and time.

Yeah and it so easy. Just don't vote funds for it. Like it "recommends" is the prudent course of action in the Constitution.

Of course when was the last time that funds weren't provided? As "recommended" in the Constitution to curtail an imperialistic nation.

[Anti Federalist]

Frikken Braveheart quotes. I just caught it on the tube yesterday or that one would have went over my head. You kill me man.:D

"Ach, I should have remembered the stones!"

:D

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

Legal Tender
Federal Reserve
Strip the power to borrow or coin money from all levels of government.

[James Madison]

1. The Federal Reserve
2. The Federal Reserve
3. The Federal Reserve

[libertybrewcity]

Perhaps we ought to eliminate every federal agency in alphabetical order?

Just to get an idea of the impact this will have. Here is a list of every federal agency AND most or all of the bureaus and organizations within each of these agencies. I am for phasing out most if not eventually all of them, but many of these are intertwined in the lives of many, many tens of millions of people.

One thing for sure is we could all have some fun with a red pen and the full list!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_agencies

Behold, the Department of Education:

Office of the Secretary (OS)
National Office of Assessment
Educational Testing Service (Contract)
Aspen Institute
Commission of No Child Left Behind
NCLB Office
Title One Office
Office of Communications and Outreach (OCO)
Office of the General Counsel (OGC)
Office of Inspector General
Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs (OLCA)
Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)


Department of Education Structure
Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII)
Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Office of Management
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development
Budget Service
Risk Management Service
Chief Operating Officer of the Department of Education|Chief Operating Officer
Office of the Under Secretary (OUS)
Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE)
Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE)
Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA)
President's Advisory Board on Tribal Colleges and Universities (WHITCU)
President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (WHIHBCU)
Office of the Deputy Secretary (ODS)
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)
Office of Migrant Education
President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans
Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA)
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)
Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (OSDFS)
Office of Innovation and Improvement
Associated federal organizations
Advisory Councils and Committees
National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB)
National Institute for Literacy (NIFL)
Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE)
Federally aided organizations
American Printing House for the Blind
Gallaudet University
Howard University
National Technical Institute for the Deaf

[JacksonianBME]

Just to get an idea of the impact this will have. Here is a list of every federal agency AND most or all of the bureaus and organizations within each of these agencies. I am for phasing out most if not eventually all of them, but many of these are intertwined in the lives of many, many tens of millions of people.

One thing for sure is we could all have some fun with a red pen and the full list!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_agencies

Behold, the Department of Education:

Holy S***, I say lets get rid of that before the Fed.

[Slutter McGee]

The money has already been spent. Deserve's got nothing to do with it.

You can't just end it. It is politically unatainable. A system has been created in which people have been forced to be dependent on the state. These unfunded liabilities should be paid out if at all possible.

Sincerely,

Slutter McGee

[Original_Intent]

I agree with your number 1 choice for sure: Getting rid of the Dept of Education is a huge step in killing the beast, because they lose the power of indoctrinating a huge percentage of each generation.

Homeland Security would probably be my second choice, can we include the BATF as part of this choice?

I would say Dept of Agriculture would be a big one for me because all the farm subsidies need to go.

I changed my mind. End the Fed first. Stop the counterfeiting and most everything else will die of necessity. (although technically "the Fed" is not a government agency so it doesn't really qualify.)

[Number19]

Two more that crossed my mind today : Dept of Energy and the Dept of Transportation.

Thanks for the response. I noticed that Malkusm started a thread today which ties into this one, Pick an Agency, Any Agency ( http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=254572 ) and I suggest any further response be posted there.

One final one which I saw posted there is HUD.

[Carole]

Federal Reserve

Department of Education

Terminate all taxpayer sudsidies-including lobbying. :D

[freshjiva]

I don't even need 3 tries. Here's what I'd like to see:

1) Pure gold standard
2) Cut taxes across the board


Sound money and low taxes. These two would solve 99% of our woes. Short and sweet.

[ChaosControl]

Yeah Department of Education being abolished would be a massive improvement for education which is one of the most important things to society, so I will go with that being #1.

[KramerDSP]

Ron Paul himself on his plan:

"My Plan for a Freedom President" (http://www.yaliberty.org/yar/plan-for-a-freedom-president)

[Athan]

Fda
atf
fema

[tpreitzel]

Personally, I'm beginning to think the POTUS should be dismantled first so the Obama clan can fund their own damn vacations. It's pretty obvious now that Presidents and their families view the White House as means to live lavishly at the expense of the taxpayers. Sickening ....