Trump's "Contract with the American Voter"

by Stephen Lendman

Duopoly rule in America mocks democratic governance - wealth, power and privilege alone served. Monied interests decide things, not voters, disenfranchised without their knowledge, their rights, needs and welfare ignored.

Trump and Clinton represent dirty business as usual, yet a defining difference separates them. Her leadership threatens world peace, stability and security like no other presidential aspirant in US history.

Trump prefers making money to waging endless wars. He'd rather cooperate with Russia in combating ISIS than confront a super-power matching America's nuclear might.

In late October, he presented his 28-point "Contract with the American Voter." Promises are one thing, delivering another, and elements of his plan raise serious concerns. 

Make your own judgment. Here's what he proposed:

1. A Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.

2. A hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce the federal workforce through attrition -exempting military, public safety, and public health personnel.

3. Eliminate two federal regulations for every new one.

4. Institute a five year-ban on White House and congressional officials becoming lobbyists after leaving government service.

5. Create a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.

6. Institute a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.

7. Renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205.

8. Withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

9. Direct the Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator.

10. Direct the Secretary of Commerce and US Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers, and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately.

11. Lift restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars worth of jobs-producing US energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal (sic).

12. Lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward.

12. Cancel billions in payments to UN climate change programs, and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure.

14. Rescind every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama.

15. Replace Justice Scalia with one of the 20 judges who'll uphold and defend the US Constitution.

16. Cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities.

17. Remove millions of illegal immigrants from the country, and cancel visas to foreign countries that won't take them back.

18. Suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.

19. Work with Congress on a Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act. An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs through massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting restrictions on American energy. 

The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. 

The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate.

20. Work with Congress on a End The Offshoring Act. Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate to other countries and ship their products back to the US tax-free.

21. Work with Congress on a American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral.

22. Work with Congress on a School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kids to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. 

Ends common core. Bring education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make two and four-year college more affordable.

23. Work with Congress on a Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. 

Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA. There are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications.

24. Work with Congress on a Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act. Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-site childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families.

25. Work with Congress on an End Illegal Immigration Act. Fully funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for its full cost. 

Establish a two-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the US after a previous deportation, and a five-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations.  

Reform visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.

26. Work with Congress on a Restoring Community Safety Act. Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police. 

Increase resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars.

27. Work with Congress on a Restoring National Security Act. Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment.

Provide Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice. Protect our vital infrastructure from cyberattack. 

Establish new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values.

28. Work with Congress on a Clean up Corruption in Washington Act. Enact new ethics reforms to drain the swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.

A Final Comment

Presidents propose. Congress and federal courts dispose. Yet presidents exercise executive order power - despite no constitutional provision authorizing it.

Article II requires presidents to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Every president since George Washington used executive orders in various ways.

Congress and federal courts can override them, subject to a presidential veto. Significant rulings were authorized by this practice.

During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended habeas rights under the Constitution's Suspension Clause, stating "the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion and invasion the public safety may require it."

Two executive orders comprised his Emancipation Proclamation. During WW II, Franklin Roosevelt established internment camps for Japanese citizens, using executive order power.

Dwight Eisenhower put Arkansas National Guard forces under federal control to enforce Little Rock desegregation. Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson used executive orders for affirmative action and equal employment opportunity actions.

Presidents have enormous power to act on their own - including extrajudicially attacking other nations, flagrantly violating international and constitutional law.

The greatest risk of a Hillary administration is confronting Russia belligerently, perhaps with nuclear weapons - maybe China and Iran to follow, a doomsday scenario if launched.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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