The GOP’s ‘Pledge to America’; Update: White House Responds
**Written by Doug Powers
From Connie Hair at Human Events:
House GOP leaders are set to release their “Pledge to America” at an event in Virginia on Thursday, offering a bold set of proposals for a new governing agenda.
The document offers a pledge from Republicans on issues ranging from a GOP blueprint to reform congressional corruption to unleashing job creators by cutting taxes and reducing the debt burden on future generations by cutting government spending, according to a copy of the document obtained Wednesday by Human Events.
The pledge also commits House Republicans to a full repeal of Obamacare.
The “Pledge to America” in PDF is here. Give it a read and see what you think. I love it, provided the words jump off the paper and into reality at some point soon. Sure, signing off on political pledges is a little like ordering X-Ray glasses from a comic book — you just know it’s not going to be nearly as good as advertised — but I like the GOP’s effort so far. However, it’s a real shame that the Constitution has to be re-branded once in a while — I kind of like the original.
The Pledge is somewhat similar to Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America, which worked wonders… for a while — until a few deals were reached, a couple compromises were made, and a number of handshakes across the aisle, pats on the back, and Republicans who caved in like third world mine shafts caused things to slip back to right where they were, and then some.
If a pledge can be drawn up for elected Republicans to sign pledging that they pledge to stick to the original pledge for more than a hundred days, that would be a pledge that would help sell this particular pledge.
There are mistakes in the new pledge, however — such as with the Obamacare flowchart. This is way to over-simplified:
Doug Ross has an in-depth and somewhat skeptical analysis of the GOP’s pledge.
Update: The White House has responded to the GOP Pledge and they don’t like it one bit — which means there’s some good stuff in there.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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I’ve seen the GOP pledge things before….
Looking around for a dead possum, so that I can lick its’ a@@ and get the taste out of my mouth.
(This is a comment I just posted at Riehl World View.)
Now that I’ve read the Pledge, it’s not merely a bullet-point plan. It’s much more. It is a powerful indictment of our current government that has seized power it is not entitled to in the constitution. The gist of the pledge is a bold statement to restore constitutional government to the original intent of the founders.
It reads like many of the early American founding documents, like the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. It’s not quite Thomas Paine but I can’t recall seeing anything like this written in my lifetime other than Mark Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny”. The preamble introduces the bullet points in an “among these are the following but not limited to…” manner and like the ancient documents, you don’t have to be a lawyer to understand the spirit and intent.
The bullet points are extensive but not comprehensive. But because of the clear intent embodied in the preamble and throughout, it is clear what is intended even if the shopping list is not complete. For instance, we all know what “limited” and “constitutional” government means so if important items are missing from the bullet points, and I don’t really see any, they are implied and can be brought into play later. This will be a very difficult document to weasel out of later which is the most important thing of all.
I would be interested in finding out who wrote this. It doesn’t have the elegance or poetic touch of Jefferson or Paine but it is very good.
The problem with Newt’s “Contract with America” is that it only promised to bring a specific list of bills to a floor vote. That’s not what Newt was telling us when he was selling it to us in the 1994 elections but that was the weasel out afterwards.
What was particularly infuriating about the “Contract” was that once the various bills were brought to the floor, the Republican House then voted against most of them. I can still recall Newt explaining that they only promised to bring a vote on the items, not to pass them.
This is different. It will take a lot of weaseling to escape the obligation this pledge imposes on those who sign on.
A pledge like that is kinda meaningless without being just a little more specific. Or are they really declaring war on Social Security, Medicare, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, etc.?
I liked the fact that they specifically mention the Tenth Amendment. The Tenth has been walked over and abused so much that people simply expect the Federal Government to handle everything. Look no further than Katrina for proof of that. The federal government uses funding as a source of control in a way that was never intended.
It’s too long and wordy. Let’s face it…for the people it needs to win over, it needs to be very clear and concise. There needs to be a one or two-page version, so that even the casual voter can figure it out.
Exactly. Our constitution doesn’t specify all of our rights but makes it clear that those that are not specifically assigned to the federal or state governments are all ours. That is much more important that 50 thousand amendments. The Pledge is written like that.
As anyone who reads these threads knows, I don’t trust these guys. But they are giving a lot of rope to hang them with later. And in writing. There won’t be any “depends on what the meaning of “is” is” weaseling. If they fear our anger today, just try weaseling out of this one.
The Pledge is a big, fat, fail. Like Dave the Libertarian said, it’s too long and wordy. The Pledge should be a single page of specific promises like the Contract with America, with a 21-page SUPPORTING document. If I can’t hand a single page copy to an undecided or independent voter, it’s not worth the trouble. It’s bloated, just like everything else that comes out of Congress.
Another thing to remember is that these weasels were planning on coasting into November without committing to anything. Because of the Tea Party, they “took the risk” of publishing this pledge. I think it was riskier to stick to their original weasel strategy. Now they will have a rope around their necks and guns point to their heads and the ones holding the guns and trap door release are very angry already.
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice….well, you get it. I’m from Missouri. Show Me.
Actually, I think they have shown me in the past and that’s why I don’t believe them now.
Sorry, I’m leaning more toward Erickson’s take at RedState,Perhaps the Most Ridiculous Thing to Come Out of Washington Since George McClellan
First the timing – rolling this out right after the Murkowsky meltdown, and that after the Rove-rage. Demonstrate entrenched business as usual party politics – then immediately tell folks you’re the ones to change it?
Even assuming a majority in the House, it is doubtful they could really make this happen to any significant degree. The GOP lacks the leadership, credibility and continuity to pull it off.
And…will the RINO GOP faction really embrace a solid conservative agenda? One can hope, but I have my doubts.
Is “medical liability reform” the same as tort reform? It sounds like it.
I’ll believe it when I see it. The trial lawyers are gonna be pissed.
Doug, that screen-cap of Newt is nauseating…
One thing I know for sure is that obama does not understand this document. He doesn’t understand what all this talk is about the “Constitution” and stuff like that.
obama: “Doesn’t the President get to do whatever he wants?”
Tea Party: “Uh, NO!”
Swede,
Could it be that this to distract from the entrenched incumbency issue you mention? Could it be a welcome back message to those disappointed by the Murkowsky/Castle situations? Could it also be a way to back the RINOs into a conservative corner?
Sure it’s risky, but big risks bring big rewards.
Term limits? ummmmm…..Don’t see it.
If the Pledge had been only one page, it would have been criticized for being too simplistic and easy to wiggle out of. When you get into the bullet points, it is clear that there were compromises by committee. Or between Boehner and the Cantor/Hensarling faction that was insisting on a Pledge.
I wish they were pledging to roll back the size of government to at least 2006 to repudiate the Bush legacy. Stopping at 2008 just positions Hillary to claim that the GOP is just trying to return to a failed Bush legacy.
But we are not going to get a one-page pledge and this is good enough to work with. It’s not whether we believe they will honor it but that we have anything at all to work with. This is very specific, can be improved as we proceed and the last thing they need is to piss us off one more time if they want to win in 2012.
What’s the risk?
Sure – could be. Remains to be seen. Is there genuine party unity around this – or is it window dressing to woo the Tea Party before the election? I hate to be skeptical, but I think there’s reason for a healthy dose of it. These are for the most part the same guys that were hardly fiscal conservatives when they had the majority and the White House. Time will tell.
They’ve been working on this thing since February, and IMAO should have rolled it out months ago. My guess is they couldn’t wait any longer with the election so close – and the fiasco is an unfortunate circumstance timing wise.
Hmmm. If they have to name the Constitutional foundation for something, I’d hope someone in the GOP would quickly make the cast that the power is defined in the Preamble. If that happens, we can perhaps get to the long past due debate of how all this entitlement spending is taking the liberty from our posterity and giving it to other generations. Seems each generation should pay it’s own way, not unduly rely upon future generations for their well being.
I disagree. The shorter time between the roll-out and the election means a significantly less amount of time for the left to coordinate any response to it through the media, and less distractions from it’s message.
Rolling it out now means normal people can read it without being distracted by the constant attacks from the left and drive-by media that would have resulted from it coming out a few months ago.
…it also gives a much shorter time for the left to claim a better message of their own.
They are still tied up trying to pass things that were shot down months ago.
Going into their elections, what message will they have that will be as strong as this one?
I honestly hope you guys are right – but I think you can understand the skepticism. Talk is cheap – especially in Washington these days.
I never read it so I can’t say what it’s worth is.
I do understand the skepticism, particularly how quickly the Contract with America was watered down and forgotten.
Hopefully Gingrich wasn’t too involved in this, and doesn’t come out arrogantly claiming this as his own in order to run for President.
It really doesn’t matter what the House pledges if they can’t get anything to the floor of the Senate. 51 seats is a MUST.
Work with State and Local Officials to Enforce Our Immigration Laws: The problem of illegal immigration and Mexican drug cartels engaged in an increasingly violent conflict means we need all hands on deck to address this challenge. We will reaffirm the authority of state and local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of all federal immigration laws.
It’s too bad they still don’t get it. The problem is not illegal immigration it is MASS immigration. I guess they have no problem in the US becoming a third world nation.
It would have been nice to see their position on free trade.
I wonder if it is simply destined to be the GOP’s Lie to America?
When they admit the course change they (as a Party) chartered for the U.S. under Bush, then I might begin to believe them. So far, they’re just playing the innocent lil’ me, blame Obama/Pelosi/Redi card.
I didn’t say I wasn’t skeptical. The GOP has let me down too many times to be optimistic.
I’m going to take it at face value and hope for the best, knowing that business as usual will probably win the day.
It really only needs a couple of sentences:
“We understand that we work for the American people, not the other way around. So, we pledge that, hencforth, we will listen to the American people and will never again ram an unpopular bill down their throats and demand they just shut up and accept it.”
I personally don’t see anything binding in this pledge. Do you really see a Lindsey Graham or Snow/Collins adhering to such a pledge?
My prediction is that in 6 months this document will have gone the way of the Edsel.
Yeah, all those Massachusetts liberals moving to other states and bringing their failed govt programs with them.
A point of fiction that needs correcting. Newt’s contract did little it was the gun guys and the AW Ban that brought down the the House. Even BJ Clinton acknowledged it, when he said in a speech the AW Ban cost him 56 House seats.
Newt showed up as an after thought …
Which may explain why 1994 petered out quickly.
11B at #26
I agree. Why no mention of building the wall? And what happened to the money appropriated to build it?
I would have suspended my skepticism if they had included wall-building and term limits in their pledge.
Frankly, I see the pledge as a desperate attempt to save the seats of entrenched RINOs.
Vote ‘em all out!
If this pledge takes up more than one square, Sheryl Crow will be pissed!
I’m waiting for the part where McShame looks into the camera, while shaking the hand of Harry Reid and saying, “We must reach across the aisle and work with our fellow Americans.” /sarc
Horse puckey.
I’ll settle for just pledging to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States – and actually abiding by that.
Errah now we have finally have both docs from the two political parties, the Pledge and Mao little red book! Can we expect a document from the most important group in Washington, The Lobbyist before the election??!!
They should add:
Abolish all Departments of Whatever.
Make lobbying a Federal offense.
Forbid Congress to sit for more than two months a year.
Politicians promise the people the world, but very seldom deliver. Actions speak louder then words. I would really be impressed if I didn’t know better. Remember the “Contract with America” they started out doing the right thing and then it was business as usual.
Well seems decent. I would have liked to see an immediate across the board reduction of government employees, 10-20%. I would have liked to see a commitment to reduce federal spending immediately by at least 10%-15%; and THAT THERE BE NO INCREASE IN FEDERAL SPENDING FROM THE PRIOR YEAR FOR AT LEAST 10 YEARS. And what about the 800 pound gorilla in the room: entitlement spending? Those programs, medicare, medicaid are going to have to be reformed somehow or it will swallow up our budget soon. Same on social securit, and SSDI. At this point it is going to be necessary to either cut benefits, or raise the retirement age.
We should each print the pledge out, correct everything we don’t like in red and send a copy to every GOP member. Here’s mine:
cross everything and rewrite:
close the borders,
stop lying to us
reduce taxes
stop lying to us
reduce government spending
stop lying to us
get the hell out of the health care business
stop lying to us
Have I missed anything?
Ma, I’m gonna make you a write-in candidate.
The libs have purposely made a tangled mess, repeal everything enacted since they’ve been in charge and then examine each program individually when they squeal for the public’s money and then review every dollar spent. Period.
Not one more penny for the race and grievance business.
QUESTION FOR OBAMA: If the American people are so happy with Obama-care why do you have to go out again and convince us that we should want it?
Exactly.
As my late father told me decades ago, be suspicious when someone is trying hard to sell you (on) something; if it is so damn great, why do they have to hard-sell it to you?
the timing of the release of this has given fuel to the dying embers of the Demonuts trying to keep control. They are already hitting the news programs very hard, pointing out the GOP flaws, etc.
Watch out, is all I’m saying.
I’ll believe it when I see it. Specifically when I see it repealed without being replaced with something just as bad.
It boils down to this: we don’t trust our politicians no matter what they pledge. Is there any “contact” or “pledge” they could have produced that would have left us feeling jubilant? No! We don’t trust these POS!
But we forced the GOP out of their intended glide pattern and into putting something in writing that captures the spirit and many of the specific points that we are clamoring for. We now a new hammer to hit them over the head with and they forged it.
No it doesn’t. They are pushing “repeal and replace”. But they are also invoking the tenth amendment which is what the states are suing over. So the “replace” part better mean tort reform and interstate competition and no government option.
Ultimately, the pledge is only as good as the men and women who are elected to office. Benedict Arnold and Barack Obama made a few pledges too and we know how those worked out. A weasel is a weasel and only time will tell.
The pledge could have been shorter and more direct. But, 21 pages is still better than 2,000.
I will vote for at least one Republican in November (because I believe him to be a CONSERVATIVE) but I am pledging nothing regarding the 2012 election until I see if the “weasel quotient” in the GOP “leadership” improves or not this time around…
Does that 10-20% (you said “across the board”) include military personnel?
If that’s the case you can go ahead and pencil Obummer in for another term.
Gingrich is a lying scumbag and if he had anything to do with this it isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Any conservative that would sit on a couch with pelosi and lecture us about the evils of climate change is either stupid or a political whore trying to score some political points with the left. I
believeknow it’s the latter. He is an establishment republican and he and his ilk are what is wrong with the republican party. If he or other establishment types are involved in this it’s worthless.I agree that the Republican “Pledge” is too long and that with their history, hard to believe in.
Take a look at Doug Ross’ column, linked above, end of this article, for a refreshing alternative.
Until Obeyme is ousted… I’m just sayin’.
Also, I’d like Congressional pay rates tied to the budget:
Balance the Budget – modest raise
Budget Surplus – good raise
Budget Deficit – pay is cut by same percentage
Thanks, RedDog! (#42) Hope you live in Georgia.
No, and thanks for pointing that out. But I would like to see a massive redeployment of out troops out of Europe, and South Korea. It’s time these countries paid to defend themselves. We are too spread out in too many parts of the world protecting Countries that need to look after their own defense. I would have liked to see that in the Pledge as well.
I felt that way too. Too many words for the media and liberals to twist, and perhaps too long for the “marginally interested” voter, better known as “independents”, who will decide this election.
Guys, it’s just a step. A step in a “better” direction, a step away from this administration’s pathway, and Yes, a sales tactic, a means of saying; “We’re different from the current DC clowns”, We’re the Circus D’Soliel Clown troupe.
Let me disagree with #59, slightly. The November election isn’t R versus D this time, therefore it won’t be solely Independents deciding this one. A huge percentage of the engaged electorate understand the current situation and it does transcend the usual political affiliations.
The WH response is mere boiler plate. It is what they always say to everything the GOP proposes. I doubt anyone spent any time on it. They just pressed the “repeat” button.
On September 23rd, 2010 at 10:51 am,
We cannot win unless we have solid support from independent voters. Right now, according to polls, indies have left Obama in droves, and that is good for R’s. So I disagree with you. Even though repubs will be out in force in the voting booths, indies will decide most of these contests.
The republicans better know that if they treat their pledges like the Bush republican majority treated it’s campaign rhetoric, they will be swept aside in 2012. America’s great unwashed are mad as hell and not going to take business as usual anymore. SAY WHAT YOU BELEIVE, AND DO WHAT YOU SAY, BECAUSE THE DAYS OF YOU TELLING US WHAT YOU THINK WE WANT TO HEAR, AND THEN DOING NOTHING ARE OVER. HOPE AND CHANGE LASTED 2 YEARS, IF YOU WELCH ON YOUR PLEDGE, IT WON’T TAKE THAT LONG BEFORE YOU SEE THE PITCHFORKS IN THE STREETS.
Don’t tell me what your going to do
DO IT. DO IT YESTERDAY DO IT TODAY,
there are no Annie’s in politics that jig is up.
am not impressed it took them so many pages to say what the Constitution said in so few.
Let’s not cut the teeth or the tail, just the ‘fat.’
We can afford to cut the overhead:
1) There are too many Deputy Assistant Vice Sub-Undersecretaries — along with all their horseholders, flunkies and dogwashers — in every government agency
2) Get rid of the ‘feel good’ cr@p — such as a month honoring each and every minority group or issue — that has someone with a real job responsible for making it happen and leaving that real job vacant to attend or coordinate all of the meetings, promotional hoopla, pep rallies, etc, etc, etc.
That’s it? “We promise to undo Obama’s spending and institute our own” is not the conservatism I was expecting.
Get back to me when someone promises to take the level of federal spending back to 1864. Medicare, Medicaid, social security, every social program, every bureaucratic position, and every single handout instituted since the civil war needs to be scrapped. The income and corporate taxes should be abolished and replaced with an across the board sales tax that has no exceptions and no exclusions.
The republican plan will only delay the federal government default by a few years.
sbw999, I’m not saying ignore Independents, I am saying that a larger portion of the electorate will be voting against incumbents, Obamaites, RINOs than most “Talking Heads” and Political Strategist anticipate. This election transends politics as usual.
On September 23rd, 2010 at 10:29 am, sbw999 said:
Me too. And I’d like to see the Blackwater / Halliburton type contracts eliminated. Our military should be self-contained – able to build and maintain their own facilities and operations.
Amen!
I would like to see a Republican stand against the “Ground Zero Mosque” which is really a rabat…
Just more lies from liberals, again showing their reliance on the utter stupidity of their lemmings in the media and in the population. Will they EVER take responsibility for the bursting housing bubble? Will they EVER acknowledge that spending far in excess of what we bring in in tax revenues, leads only to bankruptcy. Will they ever ADMIT that destroying our capitalist system is their primary goal??Do these people ever NOT LIE?
In the end we on the conservative side need to keep in mind this is a start, a good start, so we hope. Since it took 80 years of the liberals to get the country n the position we are in now. One step at a time, as we keep an eagle eye on the elected. I ask you, do we really have a choice other than…?
Nope. However, it is now totally obvious that they are lying. They don’t like being confronted with the truth either.
Another good sign, Bozo the VP just guaranteed Democrats will maintain control of both House and Senate in November.
Giggle.
If we want things no provided for in the Constitution we should amend it, not ignore it. What else will get ignored when it becomes inconvenient?
Oooo a “pledge” from the Retardicans.
This “pledge”,I’m sure, holds about as much truth and value, as if it came from a bunch of progressive communists masquerading as politicians.
Oh wait.
Sadly, the drooling masses will buy into it 100%
If the TV tells them about it, it must be true.
The TEA Party may state itself as not being a political group, which is just fine. But we need one like them badly.
November is coming quickly, and the Democrats (read: Progressives) and the Republicans (read: Progressives) are each putting on their best “we’re here for the people” faces, because the noise from the real Americans is getting loud enough it might wake up the brainwashed fools watching the tube every night for the past decade or so.
If people really can pull off the vote in November, which I personally doubt will happen, then as soon as it is over, we need to start hammering on doing the exact same thing again in four years, no matter what good comes out of change this time around.
The politician swine need a harsh reminder that *WE* are their employers, and no amount of haggling, promising, or pledging will change that.
If we switch things over in November, and then let them slide four years from now, they will just be reassured that if they tell the right lies, they can keep their careers. They need to be shown otherwise.