My campaign platform …

No one’s asked me to run. And if asked, I would decline. 

Plus, I wouldn’t stand a chance of a snowball in Hell. Especially with this campaign platform:

Eliminate all personal and business tax credits, subsidies, deductions, and exemptions. It’s time to stop letting politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists, and special interest groups decide winners and losers. There’s also no reason to incent people or businesses to do what they would do anyway without the credits and subsidies; if these are the only reason they do something, it probably doesn’t make sense anyway.

NOTE: This would also affect all the high-tax states and localities – their residents would no longer be allowed to deduct any state or local taxes (including property taxes) from their income to lower their Federal tax burden. There’s no reason why the rest of the country should be subsidizing state and local governments who cannot keep their spending under control. Expect people who can to vote with their feet and move to lower-tax areas; those who can’t pick up and move will pressure their politicians to restrain spending and cut taxes.       

Tax everybody on whatever they earn at the same rate, but just once.  I suggest a flat 10% income tax on everybody. That means a 10% tax on interest, capital gains, dividends, salaries, bonuses – in short, every form of income, whether that’s cash or in the form of allowances and perks, regardless of where it comes from. That means eliminating the corporate income tax entirely because we’ll still get the taxes when profits are distributed in the form of dividends, when stock is cashed out, or in salaries and bonuses. 

Decertify government employee unions. There’s no rational reason for these to exist. The government doesn’t take advantage of them making a union necessary to protect their rights and safety.  Quite the contrary – the government works for them and their unions work to amass political power to exact more from the taxpayers and elect politicians who keep enlarging government. If we can’t legally decertify, pass a law in Congress to make it illegal for any government-funded entity to collect union dues from any of its employees’ paychecks without that employee’s express consent which must be granted every year. Same effect. 

Reduce the size and scope of government. Not sometime in the future, but right now.  Among others, eliminate the following Departments and agencies:

Department of Education – Let the states decide how to run and fund their schools; reallocate budget – and the savings from closing this department and firing all its employees – to block grants to the states to use however they see fit to raise education standards locally.  

HUD – Another waste of taxpayer money; fire all the employees and redistribute its budget in block grants to the states.  State and local officials have a better understanding of what needs to be done on the ground where they are than bureaucrats in DC in their ivory towers. 

HHS – The home of political and social agendas without end.  This is really where the poverty-industrial complex thrives.  Split out the FDA and the CDC – which are useful and necessary, and send the rest packing. Medicare belongs somewhere else where it’s not a never-ending political football.   

Department of Agriculture – Believe it or not, this is where the SNAP (food stamps) program resides. It’s also where a handful of huge agribusinesses have most of the control over price supports, protection from imports, and other things that – contrary to what they’d like you to believe – do little to help consumers, but do a lot to enrich themselves. The agribusinesses that control the Ag Department keep prices artificially high and use taxpayer dollars to market their food products abroad. Food safety from here really belongs in the FDA; the rest of what the DOA does – like issuing guidelines on what to eat -- is inconsequential. 

Department of Energy – This is a department that only exists for political, not practical, reasons. Until the 1970s it didn’t even exist. It shouldn’t now. Cancel all the “green” energy contracts and loan guarantees – if something makes economic sense as a viable alternative energy source someone or some business will use their own money to make it a reality. Until then, stop the corporate welfare to agribusiness conglomerates turning food into low-quality fuel, to foreign wind-turbine manufacturers, and to non-competitive solar-panel makers.

Export-Import Bank -- True corporate welfare in its purest and most crass form. Why are we giving low-interest loans to countries like China to help Boeing and GE sell more of their stuff there?  

FNMA and FHLMC (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) – Because a bad investment is still a bad investment regardless of how politically correct it might be. If private investors aren’t willing to underwrite something without government guarantees then it’s likely a bad investment. Dumping these two won’t be easy, but it’s likely parts of each can be sold off piecemeal before the government takes a huge haircut on what’s left.

Reduce the size of the IRS.  Because everyone will be paying a flat 10% of whatever income they receive from wherever it comes, and there are no longer any tax credits, subsidies, deductions or exemptions, there will be a lot less for IRS to manage and supervise. We can probably lose about 65-70% of the current staff. 

Replace the entire welfare system of entitlements, grants, and conditional handouts.  Give the poor cash to equalize what they earn to bring a family of four up to 2X the poverty level.  Then let them decide how to use it to feed their families, pay their bills, afford housing, get phone and broadband service, and lift themselves out of poverty. Stop making all their decisions for them.  The smart ones will use the cash to get ahead; the stupid ones will be content to stay right where they are, which means nothing will change anyway, except we won’t be paying for a lot of expensive middlemen to micromanage what’s a fairly simple proposition.  And yes, the cash they receive would be taxable. 

Make a national identity card with biometrics mandatory. Every citizen must have a national identity card with biometrics to conclusively identify them.  It will be free to get one, but impossible to board a plane, buy liquor or cigarettes, or vote, without one. It will be the ultimate ID, issued only to people who can prove they are U.S. citizens by producing either a birth certificate or U.S. passport. There will be no exceptions – no acceptance of any other forms of identification to get one. The penalty for counterfeiting or altering a national identity card will be automatic deportation at the perpetrator’s expense. 

Secure our borders.  Anyone caught crossing our borders illegally should be deported immediately, regardless of age, race, or country of origin.  Anyone who facilitates someone crossing our border illegally, or harbors someone who has, should be subject to arrest.  Visitors who intentionally overstay their visas should be subject to arrest and immediate deportation at their expense to their country of origin. The money we save by closing useless government departments and agencies should be redirected in part to increasing the number and quality of border and customs agents.

Illegal immigrants already here.  There are only two options:  Round them all up and deport up to 12 million people, which isn’t possible; or accept they are here and make them either become citizens or get out, which is what we will end up doing anyway. So let’s just get it over with.  If they want to become citizens they have to speak English and have a minimum 5-year history of paying taxes and no criminal record when they apply.  If they haven’t been here 5 years, or are children, they have a conditional permit to stay that expires for adults in 5 years, or if they are children when they are 21. That’s it.  Get with the program or get out.  Forget about the fines and penalties; those aren’t going to happen. Ever. 

Reform the Social Security Administration.  For entirely too long politicians have been robbing it blind to pay for pet programs that have absolutely nothing to do with the program’s original purpose. Now the only way to keep Social Security solvent for those who really need it in years to come is to remove employee contribution caps, institute means testing for benefits, and eliminate fraud such as bogus disability claims, benefits to non-citizens, and benefits still being sent to dead people. None of that will be popular but all will be necessary. 

Enact serious campaign finance reform. First, eliminate any government financing of political campaigns, candidates, conventions, etc.  Next, curtail the power of PACs and 501c organizations by stripping them of nonprofit status and any tax exemptions and requiring anyone who contributes to any campaign, political party or advocacy group to be immediately fully and publicly disclosed as to the name of the donor and the amount contributed. Tax all political contributions over $2000 at the rate of 100%; and since there would no longer be any tax credits, deductions, or exemptions for anything (see above) this would be real money. 

Enact the California Plan nationwide for Presidential primaries. All primaries across the nation on one day with no party affiliations required of registered voters, who could then vote for one candidate from any party at that time. If no candidate gets more than 45% of the total, there’s a run off between the top four vote getters. Top two vote-getters from that face off in the general election, regardless of party. Done.       

Think I have a chance? 

Didn’t think so.