Issues

Decades of irresponsibility in Washington have taken a severe toll on the heart of the American economy. The current culture of politics is to choose power over doing the right thing for the American people. This choice has led to an allegiance to special interests, a campaign focus of negative personal attacks instead of policy, and an unwillingness to confront the critical issues that face our country.

Now is the time to begin the hard work of rebuilding America ourselves. We must focus on returning responsibility and accountability to government, creating the conditions under which our private-sector can thrive to create jobs, and securing our future prosperity from its current precarious position.

To do this, there are three main pillars to rebuild America: Responsibility, Growth, and Security.

I) RESPONSIBILITY
We must rebuild our approach to an accountable and responsible government.

We must return to responsible governance. As we look across our country and government it is clear that we have veered badly off course. Fiscally, our national debt and trade imbalance threatens the solvency of what we leave for our children. Legislatively, we have proceeded over an ambitious expansion of government programs without concern for accountability or effectiveness. Keeping reform at bay, we have an electoral process that does not reflect the will of the people but instead stifles competition to preserve those in power today.

1. Generational Responsibility: Our legacy to the next generation is slated to be $50T in debt. We must get our finances in order.
2. Private Sector Responsibility: “Trust, but verify”. We must properly regulate the financial sector so taxpayers never again pay for private enterprises’ reckless profit taking.
3. Electoral Responsibility: Elections are set up to not truly reflect the will of the people. We must make them fair and competitive again.
4. Legislative Responsibility: Gov’t lacks effectiveness because it is not held accountable.

II) GROWTH
We must rebuild a structurally sound economy that builds real things of value to put America back to work.

We must reignite the American economy on a path that provides sustainable jobs for our future security and produces goods the world needs. For too long we have been adrift and comfortable ceding production of vital goods to other countries. We were confident that our “creative financial instruments” and consumer debt could be the sustenance for our economy as borrowed to buy what the rest of the world made. It is clear now that this is not a viable way forward, and even as we still struggle our way out of our current deep hole, we must lay the seeds for tomorrow’s growth.

1. Economic Strategy: Gov’t has been truly negligent in creating an effective platform for American industry to compete in the world economy.
2. Educational Foundation: To move forward we must create the strongest educational framework in the world that solves for access and customization.
3. Profitable Immigration: We must welcome the immigration that is profitable for America– those that start companies, bring deep technical talent and create more American jobs.
4. Infrastructure: Create an infrastructure bank with a masterplan to allow for strategic investment.

III) SECURITY
We must rebuild our national security on a foundation of self-reliance.

We are secure when we can be self-reliant enough to defend our freedoms, safety, and our collective way of life. It is increasingly clear that years of neglect and poor decision making has left America’s future prosperity vulnerable. We have failed to adjust to the new physical security challenges prompted by technology and rising terrorist factions across the world. While simultaneously we have created a dangerous economic vulnerability through foreign control of our currency and the petroleum that fuels our nation. Today, the question of what it takes for America to be “safe and secure” is significantly more complex than looking at the size of our defense spending.

1. Financial Security: Dependence on foreign creditors limits our freedom and future security.
2. Energy Security: The fuel of our economy comes from the part of the world we are at war with.
3. Physical Security: Battle against non-nation state actors means war is an omnipresent state and we must prepare accordingly.

Rebuilding the core of our national greatness requires hard work. We must return Washington to a path of responsibility, create the conditions for the private sector to thrive, and secure our nation from the myriad of diverse threats that jeopardize our sustainable future. There are no silver bullets to solve these great challenges. However, it is well within our power to get America on track and leave America even stronger for the next generation. We must put aside divisive politics and our current focus on demagoguery to have the serious policy debates that will shape our future. Policy, not politics, will drive America’s future as we build on the tough decisions made in our nation’s history to secure our future, as our forefathers did for us. The path will no doubt be hard, but if our will for a better tomorrow is strong, we will succeed.