BEFORE YOU VOTE LOCALLY REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016

• R E P U B L I C A N P L A T F O R M 2 0 1 6 •
Government Reform
H H H H H
Making Government Work for the People
Founding Father and Constitution Framer
James Wilson declared that in America, “the
people are the masters of government,” but that
in other countries, “the government is master
of the people.” We pledge to make government
work for the people, rather than the other way
around. Much of what the federal government
does can be improved, much should be replaced,
and much needs to be done away with or returned
to the states. It is long past time for just tinkering
around the edges of a bloated and unresponsive
bureaucratic state. Its poorly managed programs,
some begun generations ago, are ill-suited to meet
present needs and future requirements. Its credit
card budgets impose massive indebtedness on
every American today and on children yet unborn.
The more it intrudes into every aspect of American
life the more it alienates the citizens who work,
pay taxes, and wonder what has happened to the
country they love. We agree with Thomas Jefferson
that “[t]he multiplication of public offices, increase
of expense beyond income, growth and entailment
of a public debt, are indications soliciting the
employment of the pruning knife.”
Balancing the Budget
The federal fiscal burden threatens the
security, liberty, and independence of our nation.
The current Administration’s refusal to work with
Republicans took our national debt from $10 trillion
to nearly $19 trillion today. Left unchecked, it will
hit $30 trillion by 2026. At the same time, the
Administration’s policies systematically crippled
economic growth and job creation, driving up
government costs and driving down revenues.
When Congressional Republicans tried to reverse
course, the Administration manufactured fiscal
crises — phony government shutdowns — to
demand excessive spending. The Administration’s
demands have focused on significantly expanding
government spending and benefits for its preferred
groups, paid for through loans that our children and
grandchildren will have to pay. This is the path to
bankrupting the next generation.
The Republican path to fiscal sanity and
economic expansion begins with a constitutional
requirement for a federal balanced budget. We
will fight for Congress to adopt, and for the states
to ratify, a Balanced Budget Amendment which
imposes a cap limiting spending to the appropriate
historical average percentage of our nation’s gross
domestic product while requiring a super-majority
for any tax increase, with exceptions only for war
or legitimate emergencies. Only a constitutional
safeguard such as this can prevent deficits from
mounting to government default.
Republican budgets will prioritize thrift over
extravagance and put taxpayers first. We support
the following test: Is a particular expenditure within
the constitutional scope of the federal government?
If not, stop it. Has it been effective in the past and
is it still absolutely necessary? If not, end it. Is it so
important as to justify borrowing, especially foreign
borrowing, to fund it? If not, kill it.
Preserving Medicare and Medicaid
More than 100 million Americans depend on
Medicare or Medicaid for their healthcare; with
our population aging, that number will increase. To
preserve Medicare and Medicaid, the financing of
these important programs must be brought under
control before they consume most of the federal
budget, including national defense. The good news
is that it can be done, and it can be done without
endangering the elderly and the needy who depend
on those programs. We intend to save Medicare by
modernizing it, empowering its participants, and
putting it on a secure financial footing. We will
preserve the promise of Medicaid as well by making
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