Harlingen, Texas, March 24, 2009: The telephone rang again the other night. It was a caller from the Republican National Committee seeking a donation. My response was, “I don’t think I am a Republican any longer, because none of you even know what the GOP really believes.”
When our elected officials stopped thinking and acting like Republicans they were all on a downhill slide. They started acting like Democrats-Plus, or Socialist-Lites and they not only lost their conservative base, but they alienated the religious right of the party. With every big spending, pork barrel piece of legislation they put their name to, another core value party member dropped support.
A person would need to be brain-dead not to understand what happened to the GOP. When those holding office forgot their pledges to the voting public, they started losing and losing big. When Republican candidates proclaiming to be conservatives spewed out promises out-democrating the Democrats, their campaigns were fated to fail. So, the GOP crashed and burned.
There was only one true glory election for the Republican Party in modern times and that was in 1994. On September 27th of that year, all GOP candidates for the House of Representatives stood on the Capitol steps and signed their Contract with America.
Many of you may not remember the importance of that contract signed 15 years ago. It called for 8 Tenets and 10 Bills.
The Tenets were: First, it required that all laws applying to the American people also applied to Congress. Second, it called for a major independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud and abuse. Third, it cut the number of House committees and cut committee staff by one third. Fourth, it limited the terms of all committee chairs. Fifth, it banned proxy votes in committees. Sixth, it required committee meetings to be open to the public. Seventh, it required a three-fifths majority to pass a tax increase. Eighth, it guaranteed an honest accounting of our Federal budget by implementing zero base line budgeting.
The ten bills in the Contract with America called for: a balanced budget and tax limitation amendment, plus a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out of control Congress. There was an anti-crime bill and a truth in sentencing requirement.
The contract advocated a Personal Responsibility Act to discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy and to cut spending on welfare programs, including a two years and out provision along with a work requirement to promote individual responsibility.
Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening the rights of parents in their children’s education, stronger child pornography laws, and elderly dependent care tax credits were an important part of the Contract and its planned legislation.
Increased tax credits for children, ending the marriage tax penalty and creation of savings accounts to provide middle class tax relief were detailed.
An important provision of the Contract was that no American troops would ever be under United Nations command. It also restored essential parts of our national security funding to maintain our national defense.
For senior citizens, the Contract called for raising Social Security earnings limits, which had kept seniors out of the work force. It also called for the repeal of 1993 Social Security tax hikes. For small business there were capital gains cuts, incentive programs and a call for unfunded mandate reform.
Also included in the contract with America was a common sense legal reform act calling for loser pays legislation and reasonable limits on punitive damage awards. The final bill proposed a first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians.
These were all things the American public was hungry to hear and they acted on the contract by voting an election sweep of 54 seats in the House, with the GOP winning the majority for the first time in 40 years. The House went on to honor the Tenets of its Contract and it passed nine of the ten proposed bills. The vote involving term limits won a plurality, but required a two-thirds majority as a Constitutional Amendment, so it failed.
Granted, some of what was proposed in the Contract with America did not become law because the measures could not garner enough support in the Senate, but some important changes did become a reality.
What would those 54 seats won in 1994 do for the House today. If the Democrats lost 54 of the 254 seats they now hold, the Republicans would again have a 32 seat majority, Nancy Pelosi would step down from her position as Speaker of the House and some form of balance would be restored to a spend ourselves into oblivion government.
BUT…that is only if Republicans can face up to the shame they have brought upon themselves and their party by developing a new Contract that addresses the important issues of today. THEN…honoring their contract when elected. Those in office and those wishing to run for office need to remember that when conservative values and morality are the foundation of a person’s campaign they usually win, because in its heart of hearts America is basically conservative and moral. If those same conservative values and morality continue to be at the core of how those elected to office govern, they will keep their Party strong and the public proud of their elected leaders.
Semper Fidelis,
Thomas D. Segel
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