Let's sue the Republicans for Breach-Of-Contract

Back in 1994, I supported the core of Newt Gingrich's Contract WithAmerica. The Contract promised:

• Accountability: The government is too big and spends too much, and Congress and unelected bureaucrats have become so entrenched to be unresponsive to the public they are supposed to serve. The GOP contract restores accountability to government.
• Responsibility: Bigger government and more federal programs usurp personal responsibility from families and individuals. The GOP contract restores a proper balance between government and personal responsibility.
• Opportunity: The American Dream is out of the reach of too many families because of burdensome government regulations and harsh tax laws. The GOP contract restores the American dream.

Voters across the country accepted the Contract, and gave Republicans the congressional majority they hold today.

But the Republicans have gone back on their word, and the results, particularly under this administration, are the antithesis of the promises:

• Upward mobility is being choked off by dead-end jobs and the higher costs of colleges brought on by the huge tax cuts. [Waking Up From the American Dream]
• While this administration lost more jobs than any since Hoover, Federal government employment has risen during the same period.
• Former Rep. Newt Gingrich, House speaker from 1995 to 1999, had pledged in 1992: "I am committed to hunting down every appropriation that we can find that is some politician taking care of himself." About the same time, other House Republicans said that "the American people are tired of paying tax dollars for congressional pork" and "a pig is a pig even if he lives at home." but today we see Republicans Indulging in Pork Along With Power [LA Times 12/08/2003] to an unprecedented extent.
• The promised "balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress" has become the worst deficit and highest spending in the history of the nation [Washington Times 12/08/2003].

The Republican Contract With America included "The American Dream Restoration Act" but if the American Dream lives, it must live in Shanghai and Bombay. Manufacturing jobs have been moved to China, and now India is getting, at an accelerating pace, white collar and professional jobs: call centers, software, IT consulting, chip design, financial analysis, industrial engineering, analytics, drug research, etc.

Article Author: Hal Pawluk

Visit Hal Pawluk's author page — Hal Pawluk's Blog