Republican Tim D'Annunzio, whose own poll shows him leading the GOP race in the 8th Congressional District, has laid out a platform that calls for abolishing much of the federal government. D'Annunzio outlined his plan in a posting today on his personal blog called "Christ's War." It's headlined "The Shaking, continued (Isaiah 9:5)." He calls it a "four year plan for the revitalization" of the federal government.
"Abolish the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services,
Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Interior,
Transportation, Treasury, and Home Land Security. Any duties remaining that are Constitutional should be rolled into other Departments."Social Security and Medicare should be cut into fifty proportionate parts and given to the control of the states. All promises should be kept at a percentage proportionate to the individual’s age compared to the retirement age. The new System should be based on individuals preparing for and providing for their own retirement and health care.
"A private safety net system should be encouraged for those
who fall through any possible cracks in this system. (Church)Implement the FairTax, repeal the Sixteenth Amendment and abolish the IRS. The original rate to be revenue neutral is 23% but the goal should be to reach a limit of 10% within ten years. Any future revisions that result in tax increases must be passed with a super Majority in both the House and Senate."
40 comments:
You forgot to provide a link to the previously mentioned blog.
http://christswar.blogspot.com/
I like how Tim decided to one up Stalin's Five year with his own Four year plan to reform government. Maybe he can pull a Mel Gibson and start his own church with all that body armor money after he loses this congressional run.
He makes some good points. Federal Gov't IS to big. I bet he will end up winning and people are CRAVING change, less gov't, less spending, lower taxes. All the Federal Gov't is doing is STEALING people's money to give to their own interests.
I like him!
I hope this moron succeeds in eliminating his own job.
This is one of the more sensible things Mr. D'Annunzio has said. I challenge anyone who disagrees with Mr. D'Annunzio to cite the exact language in the Constitution authorizing these bloated bureaucracies. Keep in mind that the 10th Amendment explicitly limits the federal government to enumerated powers.
I don't like the stress on religion, but many of those departments do not need to exist, such as the Fed Dept of Education. Reagan all but abolished it in the '80s, since education is controlled at the state level.
Constitutional arguments aside, I challenge anyone to find a reasonable democrat, independent, or non-religious voter that the type of rhetoric appearing on his blog appeals to. This kind of talk may work in the primary but never in the general election.
4:18 - nice namecalling. How about identifying the exact language in the Constitution that authorizes a federal department of education? And explain how the US survived for 203 years without one.
I'd love to abolish half of the federal government too but this guy sounds like a fruitcake.
I'd bet a few bucks the Observer endorses him in the Republican primary because they know their good Dem. buddy Larry Kissell would trounce him in the general election.
Chris, why do you want to put "constitutional issues aside"? Members of Congress take an oath to uphold the Constitution, not to give "freebies" to their constituents.
4:26 - More namecalling? Lovely.
In response to an earlier commenter:
Article I, Section 8: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States"
It's obvious that Mr. D'Annunzio doesn't know anything about the Federal government, elimination of those departments would be catastrophic to our nation. And even if we did that, it would still take years and years to eliminate the deficit keeping the current tax structure in place. Simply unworkable.
The problem I have with people who cite the Constitution as the grounds to eliminate departments or justify their views (as if the Constitution was written perfectly in itself) is if there should be no deviation from what our founding fathers "intended", then why do we have 27 Admendents to the Constitution. In addition, I think we have to recognize that the Constitution was written with that particular present day in mind and only the ideas of what the future may bring, but our founding fathers had no way to predict some of the real world problems that our country is faced with today.
That's my whole point. As you said, "members of Congress" take an oath to uphold the constitution. D'Annunzio is never going to be elected a "member" of Congress because of everything else on his blog so his rhetoric on the constitutionality or lack thereof of certain institutions is meaningless.
Some guy called Timmy a fruitcake, I think he's got the right idea. 50 years of repression maybe? It would be enough to drive most people crazy especially a guy like this. The Observer loves writing about this guy while ignoring the issues in the race because the other candidates actually talk about ideas. Tim talks out of his butt.
Where in the constitution does it mention political parties, Republican or Democrat? Where in the constitution does it talk about filibusters? Where in the constitution does it talk about "executive privilege?" Where in the constitution does it talk about private ownership of guns? Where in the constitution does it talk about free enterprise or a corporate right to free speech? Where in the constitution does the president get the right to make war?
4:32 - Your two statements are contradictory. First you claim that the existence of 27 amendments proves that the original Constitution wasn't perfect. Then you state that the Framers wrote the Constitution for their own times.
Well, the amendment process obviously allows for the Constitution to be updated. And none of those 27 amendments sanction a federal role in education or in many of the other bureaucracies that Mr. D'Annunzio proposes eliminating.
4:29:
"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated." - Thomas Jefferson
"With respect to the two words “general welfare,” I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite onjavascript:void(0)e subject to particular exceptions." - James Madison
Let me ask you this - if the "general welfare" clause is all-encompassing, then what is the point of listing powers at all? Why not just have a Constitution that says "Congress can do whatever it damn well pleases"?
Let's hope the 8th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives doesn't get included in the list of offices to be abolished!
David P. McKnight
He has my vote. It looks like he has actually read the constitution and plans to uphold his oath, unlike most in office today.
Please, GOP endorse this guy! It would make my day.
...And on the 8th day God created people like Tim, specifically for the amusmement of the rest of us.
Should this diaper stain somehow make it to the GE he will get trounced by Larry Kissell, who will carry the all-important Normal People vote.
Seriously, if he hates America to the point of wanting to abolish most vital federal institutions, he should leave. Somalia would be the perfect place--low taxes, small government, and lots and lots of guns!
I have fought too hard defending America as a US Army Officer to let it be destroyed by a waste of reproductive material like this individual.
Steve
Steve, with your attitude I'm surprised you weren't KIA by your own men.
What will happen to all the "red" states? You know, those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder...the ones that receive funding from the Federal govt. that far exceeds the amount of tax monies they generate.
Actually, the Constitution pretty clearly calls for a Treasury Department in as much as the government is to coin currency and protect it.
And I am sick to death -- 20 solid years of it now -- of national retail sales tax fans pretending that a 20+% tax does not require an IRS to police and enforce it.
Look around -- states without income taxes still have revenue depts. which spend a great deal of energy and effort enforcing and collecting 6-7-8% retail sales taxes.
Sounds like Tim needs to stop listening to talk radio at 2am.
"elimination of those departments would be catastrophic to our nation." - SERIOUSLY? You could eliminate ALL of them and the ONLY people who would notice are the people who "work" there. GEEZ. And you call D'Anninzio a "fruitcake"!
Yeah Rebecca, There is no doubt. You eliminate all those departments and you WILL notice it. And you go can join D'Annunzio in his fruit salad!
Everybody should go read this guy's blog.
Seriously.
Another hypocrite running for a "government" job while complaining about the same government and trying to abolish it.
Yes, lets have complete anarchy. The one with the biggest gun or the most hired guns wins and controls everyone else.
Good. Let's get started by getting ride of most of the DOD. We spend more on militarism that the rest of the world combined. We could cut almost a half-trillion dollars a year from military spending and still outspend the next biggest spending two to one. The Pentagon is the biggest pork barrel the world has ever seen.
I say we need to look at the other GOP candidates in this race!
My veteran's group is sponsoring buses to get out the vote for him ala ACORN. We will not let this great nation be "Fundamentally Transformed" by Marxists. We fought against Marxists way too many times to let this happen.
I hope the Observer keeps up the "hit jobs", they are generating votes for him.
Anon 5:26, we've been thinking the same thing at my post, as well.
We all swore an oath to protect the constitution against enemies foreign and DOMESTIC. We never forgot our oath and will uphold it again this November, peacefully.
JAT said...
"Actually, the Constitution pretty clearly calls for a Treasury Department in as much as the government is to coin currency and protect it."
It does nothing of the sort. It specifically vests the power to create currency in Congress, not in some executive branch department.
Here's just one example of how stupid this guy is. He names departments responsible for food safety.
Tainted meat, salmonella spinach. YUMMY. I just hope this clown wins the primary.
The fact that you think a government agency should be responsible for keeping you safe makes you the idiot. Benjamin Franklin said those that would trade liberty for safety deserve neither. That is true for you. Enjoy your chains, may they rest lightly on you.
This whole guy's life has been one of sucking at government teats.
What a f-cking hypocrite!
How has he spent his whole life sucking at the teet of governement? Seems like he spent part of his life fighting for your right to free speech. Now I must go put up some D'Annunzio signs and reserve busses for election day. I might find some time to shoot some rounds at the range later. You should join me if you aren't too scared.
True Conservative. Respectable Candidate. Retired Colonel. Lou Huddleston.
www.votehuddleston.com
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