Unite....and Conquer

I've been thinking a lot about how to get the federal government under control. So much bureaucracy is not going to be easy to unwind, but I have a few ideas.

First off, what should the Executive branch look like? What departments are truly necessary for the things that a national government should concern itself with? What about:

1. Defense - It used to be called the Department of War. That's a good [re-] start. Homeland Security should be part of it's purview, not a bunch of bureaucrats that manage our transportation system and their supporting unions.

2. Commerce - There needs to be a return to PROMOTING commerce as opposed to regulating it, which is all the Commerce Department does nowadays. I could spend a few months in the Commerce Department and streamline their reporting mandates in a way that PROMOTED commerce. The existing efforts stifle it. It's a pet peeve of mine.

3. Treasury - The Treasury Department needs to manage the finances of our national government and not anything else. How in the hell did we get to a point where the Treasury Department is managing our entire economy? This has to stop! I could go on and on about all the ridiculous federal bureaucracies that fall under this department (FNMA and FHMC come to mind) and need to go.

4. Foreign Affairs - I think that the State Department needs to go in its present form. What we really need is a department to manage our foreign affairs. It should operate within the dictates of our national interests, not as a cabal of bureaucrats that patronize left-wing dictatorships. If a foreign country is all-in for capitalism, we should be all-in for supporting them. Why waste time and resources on a country that doesn't support our national interests in a market-based economy?

Anyway, I hope you get my drift. Re-establish priorities and put them in place. Once you've done that, staff the departments in a way to further the goals of that department.

Unions are not welcome. They should be abolished from any form of government. There should be absolutely no negotiating on this point. Working for any level of government is a service to your country, your state or your local jurisdiction. Unions do not have a place in this service. They are anathema to our Constitution.

Once you've established the proper departments of the Executive branch and staffed them to the level needed to perform their functions (within their established budgets), cut the rest free. This may displace thousands of governments workers, but they really need to be in the private sector anyway.

Freeze all government pensions that are not part of the surviving structure. They get what they get, as of their termination date. Why should they be treated any differently than private sector employees?

Now, you'll notice that I have not talked about entitlements. There's a reason for that. As of [name your date], they cease to continue. Notice that I didn't say "cease to exist". There are far too many citizens of this great country that accepted the "New Deal" and planned accordingly. They should NOT be penalized. Anyone over the age of 65 years old needs to be "grand-fathered". Anyone younger than that needs to have their contributions to Social Security transferred to an account that THEY control.

Going forward, there is no Medicare or Social Security, as we know it. What is in its place is a actuary-based system that weans people off the government dole and places them in a privatized system. I have the utmost confidence that our free enterprise system will find a way to assist them, albeit at a price.

So, who is positioned to lead this charge?

I can only think of one, and her name is Sarah Palin.

Who is the one that espouses all that is the free market? Who is the one to focus our attention on the roots of our society? Who is the one that "gets it" and opposes the ruling elite? Who is the one that speaks to our values and stands opposed to a mosque at Ground Zero? Who is the one to stand up for our Christian beliefs? Who is the one that stands willing to battle a progressive ideology? Who is the only one committed to unite us in conquering our socialist foes?

Who amongst us hails from Alaska, the last bastion of rugged individualism?