The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Federal Receipts As The Inverse Of Liberty

Posted on | March 3, 2010 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

American Thinker has the graph:

Your Liberty, Sucked Into DC

I’d like to revisit a few ideas from last June for attacking the systemic problems within Congress:

  • Every Congress must win approval from two thirds of the state legislatures in the 18th month of the Congress, or none of the members of the Congress are permitted to run for re-election for their current seat. Obviate the prisoners dilemma of voters, who, under the current rules, are inclined to build seniority by re-electing nitwits.
  • All committee assignments in the Congress shall be randomized. Sequential assignments to a given seat disallowed. Bring fresh eyes to problems. The certainty of turning over the job to an unknown pair of eyes motivates integrity.
  • Strike Amendment 16. Congress decides a budget. Bills the states. States failing to deliver have a sales tax to make up the difference applied. The Federal government is disallowed deficit spending except in case of declared war.

To that old list I’d add killing the Federal Reserve, as it has among other accomplishments, demolished the value of the dollar in its ~100 years of autocratic, contra-Constitutional control over the dollar.

Sarah Palin was great on Leno, and energy security is certainly necessary for the country, but monetary security would seem even more so.  Hopefully George Will shall put that on his list of topics for advising her.

Update: I’m having trouble tracking down a link to where I read that Sarah Palin was retaining George Will as an advisor, so take the previous paragraph with a grain of salt.

Category: Congress, End The Fed

Comments

10 Responses to “Federal Receipts As The Inverse Of Liberty”

  1. No Hammer No Sickle
    March 4th, 2010 @ 12:48 am

    I love these ideas. The second idea regarding committee assignments is especially brilliant and imminently doable in the short term.

    The income tax has been abused and misused for far too long. The 30,000 (probably more) pages of tax code are a millstone around the neck of our economy.

  2. No Hammer No Sickle
    March 3rd, 2010 @ 7:48 pm

    I love these ideas. The second idea regarding committee assignments is especially brilliant and imminently doable in the short term.

    The income tax has been abused and misused for far too long. The 30,000 (probably more) pages of tax code are a millstone around the neck of our economy.

  3. chuck cross
    March 4th, 2010 @ 1:07 am

    Can’t help but ding the tip jar occasionally when I hear “killing the federal reserve” in a blogpost.

    You know when we invest using preferred securities, we don’t need the federal reserve to tell us what sort of return we’re going to require for taking on a risk. We offer a term sheet to the company who needs capital, and they say “YEA” or “NAY” — whoa be the banks having to do the same when they underwrite debt, or even when we purchase debt. Determine your own damn cost of credit instead of using some stupid benchmark set by a bunch of wonktards.

  4. chuck cross
    March 3rd, 2010 @ 8:07 pm

    Can’t help but ding the tip jar occasionally when I hear “killing the federal reserve” in a blogpost.

    You know when we invest using preferred securities, we don’t need the federal reserve to tell us what sort of return we’re going to require for taking on a risk. We offer a term sheet to the company who needs capital, and they say “YEA” or “NAY” — whoa be the banks having to do the same when they underwrite debt, or even when we purchase debt. Determine your own damn cost of credit instead of using some stupid benchmark set by a bunch of wonktards.

  5. rod stanton
    March 4th, 2010 @ 2:11 am

    Smitty
    Great!
    I did no know that Will was advising Sarah. That for all readers of THE ROAD is bad news! Will is referred to on almost every page in the middle of the book by th C word. If you have not followed Will he backed every “Nanny State” law proposed by GWB but the last TARP; which he was flip floppy on. The C word was not communist but collectivist. Will does not support the Bill of Rights.He does not believe in personal initiative and responsibility,
    Ergo he is bad for Sarah.
    Rod
    Cerritos, Cal

  6. rod stanton
    March 3rd, 2010 @ 9:11 pm

    Smitty
    Great!
    I did no know that Will was advising Sarah. That for all readers of THE ROAD is bad news! Will is referred to on almost every page in the middle of the book by th C word. If you have not followed Will he backed every “Nanny State” law proposed by GWB but the last TARP; which he was flip floppy on. The C word was not communist but collectivist. Will does not support the Bill of Rights.He does not believe in personal initiative and responsibility,
    Ergo he is bad for Sarah.
    Rod
    Cerritos, Cal

  7. Jim
    March 4th, 2010 @ 3:36 am

    Looking at that graph, I can’t help but think of global warming. But the chart above shows a real impending disaster.

  8. Jim
    March 3rd, 2010 @ 10:36 pm

    Looking at that graph, I can’t help but think of global warming. But the chart above shows a real impending disaster.

  9. The Dead Hand
    March 4th, 2010 @ 5:00 pm

    If I were a state governor, I would bar the Feds from collecting personal or corporate income tax in my state, and invite them to bill my state instead.

    If Hairy Pelosi doesn’t like it, she can send in the friggin’ Army.

  10. The Dead Hand
    March 4th, 2010 @ 12:00 pm

    If I were a state governor, I would bar the Feds from collecting personal or corporate income tax in my state, and invite them to bill my state instead.

    If Hairy Pelosi doesn’t like it, she can send in the friggin’ Army.