A CONSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE TO THE 2006 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS - Part V

“Keeping America competitive begins with keeping our economy growing. And our economy grows when Americans have more of their own money to spend, save, and invest. In the last five years, the tax relief you passed has left $880 billion in the hands of American workers, investors, small businesses, and families -- and they have used it to help produce more than four years of uninterrupted economic growth. Yet the tax relief is set to expire in the next few years. If we do nothing, American families will face a massive tax increase they do not expect and will not welcome.”

But our government is so far in debt that we will have trouble seeing daylight for decades. What are we getting for the privilege of carrying this degree of debt? Do we have better roads across our nation? Are our bridges in better shape? Does our communication technologies reach into the deep rural areas? Do our levees prevent disasters? Do we have alternative fuels and energy resources? Are our oldest nuclear power plants in any better shape? Do the locks on our rivers function any better? Are our health care centers better equipped to handle disasters? Do we have a national health care initiative? Is education any cheaper? What exactly have we purchased with our tax cuts, our investment of billions in places outside of the US, our efforts to implement democracy outside of our borders?

“Keeping America competitive requires us to be good stewards of tax dollars. Every year of my presidency, we've reduced the growth of non-security discretionary spending, and last year you passed bills that cut this spending. This year my budget will cut it again, and reduce or eliminate more than 140 programs that are performing poorly or not fulfilling essential priorities. By passing these reforms, we will save the American taxpayer another $14 billion next year, and stay on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009.”

We’re all for saving and cutting back on unnecessary spending. But what about making sure government works well? What about making sure defense contractors adhere to contracts, don’t gouge our governmental purchases, and making sure that government is working for the “general welfare”? Remember the Preamble of the Constitution? It calls for the government to do that for our own citizens BEFORE doing it for others.

“I am pleased that members of Congress are working on earmark reform, because the federal budget has too many special interest projects. And we can tackle this problem together, if you pass the line-item veto.”

Wow! If we can combine that with campaign reform, soft money reform, and new laws that send those that take bribes or commit major frauds against the people of United States to prison for longer than a few years, we might just have a government that has the potential for doing good for our people. We may even find that such reforms encourage more qualified, and more honest, people to run for office. Perhaps we might even find a wider range of perspectives heard within the Beltway?

“We must also confront the larger challenge of mandatory spending, or entitlements. This year, the first of about 78 million baby boomers turn 60, including two of my Dad's favorite people -- me and President Clinton. This milestone is more than a personal crisis—it is a national challenge. The retirement of the baby boom generation will put unprecedented strains on the federal government. By 2030, spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone will be almost 60 percent of the entire federal budget. And that will present future Congresses with impossible choices -- staggering tax increases, immense deficits, or deep cuts in every category of spending.”

Can we start with eliminating mandatory spending efforts that are not supported by direct tax dollars? Let’s take another look at NCLB and the lack of federal funding for that mandatory spending initiative. It’s not that NCLB is a bad idea, it’s just a bad implementation of the idea and a lack of funding for a law that affects every family in the nation. The bottom line is that we baby boomers paid into the system with the promise that it would be there when we retired. We were not given the choice. We have had our retirement age adjusted to allow for some refinancing. But it has been our federal government that has mismanaged the trust fund all these decades. Most of the mismanagement has occurred under the direction of presidents of the conservative persuasion… Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, and another Bush. During all that time we had only two Democratic presidents and have had a predominantly Republican-controlled congress. How do we explain this reality?

“Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security–yet the rising cost of entitlements is a problem that is not going away. And every year we fail to act, the situation gets worse.”

Too late.

“So tonight, I ask you to join me in creating a commission to examine the full impact of baby boom retirements on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This commission should include members of Congress of both parties, and offer bipartisan solutions. We need to put aside partisan politics and work together and get this problem solved.“

Why don’t we cut the salaries of all members of congress, the president, the vice president, the cabinet and all federal appointees? While we’re at it, why don’t we cut their expense accounts, and limit their sessions to 6 months out of the year? Maybe eliminating the pork-barrel earmarks would be a step in the right direction, but limiting how the House and Senate can attach amendments to a bill would do even better.

“Keeping America competitive requires us to open more markets for all that Americans make and grow. One out of every five factory jobs in America is related to global trade, and we want people everywhere to buy American. With open markets and a level playing field, no one can out-produce or out-compete the American worker. Keeping America competitive requires an immigration system that upholds our laws, reflects our values, and serves the interests of our economy. Our nation needs orderly and secure borders. To meet this goal, we must have stronger immigration enforcement and border protection. And we must have a rational, humane guest worker program that rejects amnesty, allows temporary jobs for people who seek them legally, and reduces smuggling and crime at the border.”

Hey, something that is actually in keeping with sound principles of government and human decency. Maybe the hour we spent watching and listening to our president BS us wasn’t a total waste.

“Keeping America competitive requires affordable health care. Our government has a responsibility to provide health care for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility. For all Americans -- for all Americans, we must confront the rising cost of care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and help people afford the insurance coverage they need.”

There are ways to control health care costs, but none of them involve the plans the Republican leadership would approve or pass through congress. We could develop some not-for-profit alternatives for drug and vaccine research and license the developments to companies willing to produce medicines and vaccines at a reasonable cost.

We could empower Medicaid, Medicare, the VA and the military to negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical suppliers. We could reform the FDA rules regarding importation/re-importation with reliable foreign suppliers. We could develop health care co-operatives that are also training centers for nurses and doctors.

We could take some positive steps to end the nation-wide nursing shortage and stop importing nurses from foreign countries. We could fund more medical scholarships so that we are not “importing” so many doctors from foreign medical schools. We could reform the HMO laws so patients actually receive high quality care and prevention. We could actually develop a national health insurance plan where employers, employees and the government contribute a share and insurance is provided for everyone.