A Pledge to America

            Although the new Republican proposal “A Pledge to America” is built around the same idea as the 1994 outline “A Contract with America” it is also very different. The 2010 model is different from the 1994 model because it focuses more on economic issues than value-based issues. The first few pages of “A Pledge to America” discuss the Declaration of Independence in modern terms and also warn about the power of an unchecked executive branch. The document than lists four specific goals that they plan to achieve. The first goal is to extend the Bush tax cuts to both the middle class and the upper class. After that, they plan to lower spending to pre-stimulus levels. Thirdly, they plan to repeal the recent healthcare reform and replace it with common sense solutions. Some examples of a common sense solution are outlined as keeping the ban on pre-existing condition exclusions and also getting rid of the individual mandate. Lastly, they plan to reform Congress and restore trust by citing the constitutional authority of any proposed bill and by also reading aloud any proposed bill and to allow at least three days to pass before the bill can be voted on. Whether or not the Republicans will accomplish these goals is a big question and in my opinion they will not accomplish all of them. However, the Republicans and Democrats have compromised and plan to extend both Bush tax cuts and a vote on the extension is scheduled to take place in congress sometime next week, so it appears that the GOP will be able to cross that goal off their checklist. In regards to the lowering of spending levels, I don’t think that the Republicans will be able to accomplish this, because they do not outline any major cuts anywhere in the document. They only list small cuts that will have very little effect on the budget. Also, I believe that the Republicans will not be able to kill the healthcare bill because they do not have a majority in both houses. Lastly, in regards to reforming and restoring congress I think that this is just something the Republicans put in the pledge to make look good and is something they won’t actually do.