American’s 15 Key Items We Want From Congress’s Next Session

          and the Next President of the United States of America    - 6/12/2008

                   Written by James Cox on behalf of the American People

     We Americans, being of sound mind and judgement, do hereby recommend the following common sense approach to government to get our country back no matter what party you are affiliated with. We feel it is your duty as Americans to take care of its citizens first and foremost by adhering to this agreement that is being downloaded on the internet and forwarded across America and signed as a petition in each area across this great land by your constituents. We do not want this changed in any way. We want this to be recognized, and acted upon, immediately after the election and your next session begins or sooner if possible. This should not take years to accomplish. This should not have lots of pork added to it. This should stand on it’s own merits and be voted upon. Lets get something done quickly as we do not have time to wait. Americans are sinking into poverty on a daily basis because of politics, world events, and other factors. Many of these factors are in your control and it is time that something is done about them. This can be voted on in as a whole or in increments but it needs to be addressed. If you have other bills pending and want to add this into them then that is fine but we want this acted upon immediately. My goal is to get this in to as many hands by July 4^th Indepence Day, as possible, and for all participants to fax their representative on that day.

Points of Action:

1)      Open up the 2000 acres of Alaska Wilderness for Oil – common sense response is that if the oil company’s have an accident then they will be required to clean it up 110%, better than what it was when they arrived. Establish 10 NEW NUCLEAR REACTORS in the next 10 years, put 1 on line per year, starting with the area which has the most need to take the pressure off of foreign oil by helping to produce electric so we can make a transition to electric cars and other sources of transportation.. Open up at least 20% NEW OFFSHORE OIL WELLS and UNCAP any closed wells that have been put on temporary shut down due to the war in order to help the Iraqi people. WE need our oil – NOT THEIRS. This is ridiculous. Make our oil available to us. If the oil companies mess up, then they can clean up with their billions of dollars worth of profits that they have made off of us over the years because of our protectionist policies that have enabled them to make money off of the American People at our expense. Open up at Least 5 NEW REFINERIES or ALLOW EXPANSION OF EXISTING ONES within the next 5 years. If we start pumping our oil now, we will not run out because the technology will be in place by the time we would run out because of the many items that will be taking oils place. More cost effective ways such as Wind, Solar, Geo-Thermal, Electric, Hybrid, Flex-Fuel, Propane, Hydrogen, etc. of which our government should establish Tax REBATES to any companies investing in this technology to bring this to the marketplace for the consumer just as we are mentioning in item (3) below for companies investing in themselves there would be 100% write offs for companies investing in this technology. Once it is in place then the government can make money on taxation. We need to move fast as our economy is depending upon it and our way of life. It is now time for us to start using our oil and stop using theirs. Taking these actions alone will send a clear message to our Arab friends that we mean business and the price of their oil will come down. Create an oil reserve of 20% for any oil removed from any government owned lands that are leased to oil companies, which stipulates that this 20% can only be sold to U.S. refineries to be used by consumers here in the United States and not be sold abroad. Also create a tax incentive for any oil sold by oil companies here in the United States to U.S. refineries. We need to keep our oil here and not sell it to the highest bidder.

2)      Deficit Reduction Act - One of the biggest ways to impact the price of oil is to STRENGTHEN THE U.S. DOLLAR. This should be higher up on the list but in the world of oil the thing that will get the most attention is the opening up of our fields and reserving some of our oil for ourselves, etc. This alone will get their attention. If we stop borrowing money from other countries and borrow from within our dollar will gain strength and one of the ways we can do this is to pay down the interest and eventually the principal by doing the following: ‘THE INTERNET DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT’ – what this act does is put a user fee on all United States based users of the internet of $6.00 per month per server such as AOL, or other providers. This would provide the government $6.00 for every household in America that was signed onto the internet for that family and that money would go directly to reducing the deficit. NOTHING else. The cost of us borrowing money is catching up to us. Just think if there are 600 million people in the United States and there are 300 million users of the internet, then 300 million x $6 x 12 months = A lot of money! It would not take long to pay off what we owe. There are too many people that make us wait in long lines at the post office (another place that displaced IRS workers could work if we can get a Flat Tax established! – see item #3), because they are making a living by selling things on E-BAY and they are paying E-BAY fees for using their services but many are not paying any taxes on what they are selling. It is high time the government does something about it. Since it is hard to keep track of who is who, this would be a simple way of doing it and the record keeping is already in place by the internet providers. They are already charging us on our cell phones, why not the internet but this tax could be going to something good and if we are paying a New Flat Income Tax it would not be that big of a deal anymore. Things are going to be a lot fairer and the price of gas should come down, as the dollar gets stronger. We also need to borrow money from American Entities – NOT foreign ones. It should be put up for bid to keep the interest down and most important it is of a national security interest for us to not be in debt to China or any other Communist Country. This was another idea that someone came up with and the American people never had a say in it. Just like selling our National Park Vendor systems, etc. to the Japanese. These type of things just cannot happen and should not be tolerated. Everyone is accountable to someone and we are all accountable to God. We sometimes forget who we are working for. As a member of Congress you work for the people of the United States. As a human being you work for God. It is great to try to help people, but we must help people in our country first and foremost and then reach out to others in need. Americans have always showed their generosity of our own accord when asked to do so. We do not need members of Congress to automatically assume we are going to do so at every juncture of life. Sometimes you go to far and now it is our turn.

3)      Establish a Flat Tax on everyone of 17% for individuals and corporations, eliminating the loop holes that corporations seem to find, also individuals would have much more money to spend and put back into the economy and the rich would be paying what they should be or giving back instead of hoarding it. Level the playing field. Give a tax break to any company that keeps at least 50% of its manufacturing base here in the United States of America. We realize that components sometimes have to be made elsewhere to help supplement the wages of the workers we keep here in the United States but rewards need to be given to the companies that are trying to keep those jobs here. Under the FLAT TAX PLAN the IRS would be greatly reduced thus saving the government a huge amount of un-necessary payroll expenses and streamlining our government. Some of these displaced workers could be put to work in Homeland Security at airports, Border Patrol - especially at our ports where we need to be inspecting every container coming into this country. That is where a security breach is going to occur. Currently only 5% of containers are being inspected. What if something gets through? We could also put these former IRS people to work as social workers making inspections to get people off of welfare that do not belong on the welfare rolls.

            Give tax breaks to companies or individuals that are doing the following things:

a)      re-invest in their companies by adding onto their buildings, building a new building, or for first time home buyers or persons adding onto existing homes that are not in the business of buying and selling homes.

b)      buying new or re-furbished equipment (not just used – it would have to be re-furbished to get a tax break. Essentially when this work is done and money is put back into the economy then people or companies would be rewarded for doing so. 

c)      Also we should give tax breaks to companies or individuals who have energy savings devices installed in their homes or places of business by investing in alternative energy such as solar, geo thermal, wind, etc. Any time this is installed then you get a 100% write off on these items towards your tax bill just as you do above for construction. There would be no carry over for any tax so if you overspend in any given year the government would not owe you. You would have to budget your spending accordingly. 

d)     Individuals or Companies also would get a tax break for education and if you had more than one child or worker going to college at the same time then there could be an exception for a carryover on your taxes. This would also help on government programs that help train workers who loose their jobs, thus saving the government money.  

               e) We also need to give tax breaks to anyone giving to charitable organizations such as  churches, etc.

4)       Immigration Law - get the Immigrants that are here back on the payrolls by giving them a path to legal status. Give them a work Visa that would require them to sign up and acknowledge that they are here in this country. Require them to work for 5 years without getting credit for the social security number that we give them as their penalty for being here illegally. This would get them paying back into the system as they were before the crackdown. We know they were paying in before into bogus social security numbers and the government never said anything about it but collected the money into the general fund until it became an election issue. We Americans did not get off the boat yesterday! It is time we did the right thing and start collecting this money to shore up the Social Security System. These people are our next generation to help our current generation retire. Let’s not screw it up. Once they sign up then we can use the laws in place for any new people wanting to come here. We can also use technology to create a virtual fence and put displaced IRS workers on border patrol or as part of this system as monitors, much like people that work for ADT, etc. The fence will not work as they will just dig under it or go around it, unless it is over rough terrain.

5)      End the War Decisively – DO NOT CUT AND RUN - Let’s finish what we started in Iraq by reducing our troops as the Iraqi’s can take care of themselves. Let’s get our money’s worth. We do not want another Vietnam. This cut and run policy will lead to instability and bloodshed in the region and that is not good. Future policy should be limited action, using air power as much as possible with the latest technologies including drone technology whereas the pilot can fly the plane from a safe place out of the war zone. Also I think that if any country in the region is supplying weapons or troops to de-stabilize our efforts then we must provide a swift military response to this action. You must kill a snake by cutting off its head. If we had done this in Vietnam, we would have won. We would bomb the trail the weapons were being delivered on, but never the source. When Libya was interfering with us, Reagan took action and that was the end of the conflict. We must not be afraid to take action. Israel does it every day and they are one of the smallest countries in the world. If we are doing right then God will stand behind us. We are trying to help the people of Iraq. If the people of the region that do not want us there then they should step in and help to negotiate a peace, not use their influence to de-stabilize. Instead they would rather funnel weapons and insurgents to stir up the pot. A swift military response may make them change their minds about continuing in this manner. If we can trace weapons or bombs to them then we need to bomb the plant that is making them. Take the source out. We need to do this in all future military operations. Get in, get out, and take military actions to stay on target and keep our goals in sight. We have gotten bogged down in trying to make everyone happy and this never works. 

6)      Give the President the POWER of the LINE ITEM VETO. This would allow our lawmakers to get things that need to get done much quicker than they are now and get people to come together and compromise on what is really important. Wasteful spending has got to go. Pet projects have got to go. We cannot afford it any longer. There has to be a new way of doing things in Washington. We are so close to a depression it is ridiculous.  This time we are going to bring the world down with us. We must make changes now, not over 1-2 terms because of Washington politics.

7)      Retirement Policies - Congress Retirement Policy - the members of Congress would have to serve at least 20 years in order to get a retirement with full vested benefits. Not one term. This is America, it is time that members of Congress start living within their means like the rest of us Americans do. When you loose your job you may have to get another one. **Presidential Retirement Policy -once a President is out of office he will continue to get half his pay and full benefits as if he were still in office; however he will no longer get to use any of the United States Airplanes or Helicopters unless he wants to pay for them at his or her expense. Most every President has no problems making money after they retire. No retired Presidents or retired or current members of Congress will be allowed to travel to foreign countries in any official capacity without the permission of the current administration other than for humanitarian purposes and that will be at their own expense unless approved by the current administration. These trips by rival political parties to try to negotiate other deals behind the opposing parties backs that has been demonstrated during this current administration’s term is ridiculous and has cost the American taxpayers money and we demand a stop to it. There is no free ride once you make it to the government.

8)       Trade Deficit Duty - impose a 15% duty on all items coming into the United States to offset our Trade    Deficit. Only remove this duty to countries that reciprocate with our country by allowing us to sell our goods and services in their country. It does not have to be the same goods or services obviously but has to be of the same economic impact as what they are sending into our country. They must feel as much pain as we are or it is an unfair agreement. We are tired of Congress making agreements that only benefit the other party. Our kids could trade blocks in pre-school much better and come out on the winning end of the deal. Let’s do trade deals that benefit Americans for a change not the countries we are trading with!

9)       Corporate Accountability – if corporations file bankruptcy then their needs to be a look back period of which the government can look back and make the executives accountable for the bankruptcy if they have received extra ordinary compensation or exit plans, etc. that should be given back in such cases.

10) We want the Estate Tax Break to be Permanent and not come back after 2010. We have paid enough taxes over the years while we are living. Let’s not do it in death too. 

11)  Let Prescription drugs from Canada come into the United States. If they are good enough for the Canadians then they are good enough for us. As long as they are made by the same companies here in the United States. Let the price controls come down.

12)  Provide Medical Savings Accounts Plans to all Americans that want to participate. Provide a Government Funded Medical Savings Account Plan to qualified children and elderly people that do not have insurance.

13)  The Government should distribute seeds for people to plant their own gardens whether it would be in their back yard or on their terrace in their apartment. This should be as part of a ‘Go Green’ effort to help put more Oxygen into the environment and to create more food sources since the Bio-diesel fuel has created food shortages across the world. Also we need to invest in other types of substitutes for oils in foods besides corn oils so that the ethanol and bio-diesel fuels will not drive the price up of those ingredients in foods. This can be a joint effort with this item of interest.

14)  Keep Lobby Money Out of Washington. We want our government back and not the government of Special Interest Groups that get what they want for the highest price. This is not what our founding fathers wanted. If you can’t get rid of them, then put a limit on it; especially during elections.

15) Frivolous Lawsuits need to be stopped. One way to do this is if a person sues someone and loses then they not only pay for their own attorney but the opposing parties. This should be the law. This would stop over half of all lawsuits and open up the courts to important matters and ultimately keep what we pay for products down with lower costs to insurance, etc.

These are points that we as American Citizens feel should be addressed and put into action. Below you will find a petition of names of people in the area. Your constituents. Once each person has reached his or her capacity of influence this will be forwarded to their representative either by fax or mail. We hope you listen to our voice. 

THE BEST THING THAT OUR GOVERNMENT CAN DO TO KEEP INFLATION DOWN, INTEREST RATES DOWN, AND BANKRUPTCIES DOWN, IS TO DO WHAT IS BEST FOR AMERICA – GIVE US OUR DIGNITY BACK – GIVE US OUR JOBS BACK. AMERICA IS ABOUT BUILDING THINGS AND NOT TEARING THEM DOWN AND FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS WE HAVE BEEN MOVING THINGS OUT OF THIS COUNTRY. IT IS HIGH TIME WE START BRINGING THEM BACK AND REWARDING THE COMPANIES THAT ARE DOING SO. PLEASE GIVE US OUR JOBS BACK. WE NEED THEM. WE CAN STILL HELP OTHERS ACROSS THE PLANET BUT WE NEED TO HELP PEOPLE AT HOME HERE TOO. PLEASE HEAR OUR MESSAGE AND TAKE ACTION.

Thanks – THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA       

Please collect as many signatures as possible and look up your representative using the web site at the bottom of the petition list to find their fax number. This is the best way as e-mail will not allow you to send the entire petition and points of concern. Remember to fax your representative on July 4^th Indepence Day.               

Name                                 Address                                Zip Code

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Make more pages if you want to and then fax or e-mail to the following.

To access the appropriate how to write your representative information go to the following web sites:  

www.house.gov/

https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml              

James Cox is the author of this work and it is not to be altered in any way except to make more room for more signatures on the petition. To find out more about James Cox you can visit his company web site at www.moserleather.com