Reply #206: Here's newt's contract with america

[never cry wolf]

They won in '94 with these lies and have continued to spout them and the middle uninformed 40% continue to believe them, that is where the battle lies:

# FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
# SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
# THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
# FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
# FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
# SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
# SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
# EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

http://www.house.gov/house/Contract/CONTRACT.html

Those sure sound good to the masses, don't they?

September 22, 2004

Ten years ago, Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and the House Republican Caucus unveiled their so-called “Contract With America” – a sweeping promise of radical change that would occur under a Republican majority.

Today, after a decade of Republican rule, have they fulfilled their promises to the American people? Have they made our government more fiscally responsible, our economy stronger, or our government more accountable?

House Republicans should be sued by the American people for breach of Contract -- their own contract. Republicans have run the Peoples’ House for the benefit of the well-connected special interests, undercutting our economy, sacrificing our democratic traditions of open and fair debate, and mortgaging the future of our children through the worst fiscal mismanagement in history.

# Fiscal Irresponsibility. Republicans promised a series of laws to assure that Congress would “live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses.” But under Republican management, we have the worst deficits in American history, plunging the nation in years of red ink instead of the balanced budget produced by the Clinton Administration only 4 years ago! They’re right about one thing, though: thanks to irresponsible budget policies, our federal deficits do look too much like millions of families and businesses who are economically suffering under Republican policies.

# Failed Jobs Policies. The Contract With America promised “to create jobs enhance wages.” But Republican economic policies have resulted in multi-billion windfalls of tax cuts for the richest Americans, and economic hardship for the middle class: prolonged unemployment (with a cutoff in benefits), falling income, health care benefits priced out of reach for more than 40 million Americans, outsourcing jobs overseas, and a higher proportion of taxes paid by wage earners.

# Abusing Democracy. The Republican Contract promised that “committee meetings be open to the public.” But in fact, the all-important conference committees – where the final versions of legislation are drafted – are not only hidden from the public, but from Democratic Members of Congress, who represent nearly half our population! Overall, Republicans have sharply curtailed the rights of Democrats to openly participate in the legislative process by restricting the right to offer amendments, keeping close votes open for hours, and by intimidating Republicans who dared to vote their conscience.

Ten years later, it is clear that the House Republicans failed to deliver on their promises of fiscal responsibility, economic growth and government accountability.

http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/contract.html

http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/contractmain.html

They won because they made their radical policy sound good and mainstream toJohn and Jane Doe, 123 Main St. in Anysuburbia, USA. WE here all know their policies suck for the Does, but 70% of amurika doesn't because all they see is the rhetoric, that is what needs to be changed.

Repeat after me, "Culture of Corruption, Culture of Corruption"