Frank Luntz wrote an informative article in WaPo last Sunday. The GOP leadership would do well to study it. Democrats who stubbornly cling to the idea that we the great unwashed are too stupid and ungrateful to appreciate all they've done
Americans' agenda is simple. In broad terms, they want the government to spur job growth, but not by subsidizing more government jobs with taxpayer dollars. They want Washington to balance the budget and reverse the growing influence of government on daily life. They want the government to encourage success, allow failure, punish those who break the law - and then get out of the way. (WaPo - Frank Luntz)Based upon his extensive polling, he has identified five issues that each enjoy a minimum of 60% public support. He also points out that these are tea party issues, so it looks like its not such a fringe movement after all...
(1) Balance the budget as quickly as possible through meaningful spending reductions, a hard spending cap and a constitutional amendment so that it never gets unbalanced again.
(2) Eliminate all earmarks until the budget is balanced, then require a two-thirds vote by Congress for future earmark legislation.
(3) Keep taxes down by requiring supermajorities for increases, and eventually enact tax reform with a simple, low, fair rate that drastically reduces the length of the IRS code.
(4) Create a blue-ribbon task force that engages in a complete, line-by-line forensic audit of federal agencies and programs to end waste and reduce red tape and bureaucracy.
(5) And require Congress to provide specific constitutional authorization for every bill it passes so that the government stays within the boundaries imagined by the founders.
Progressives will never go along with this. Take away government, you take away their power to control us, their reason for being, their ability to get elected by handing out taxpayer-funded goodies. This is why they obstinately refuse to see the facts: To do so would destroy their world.
Let's Roll, America!
