IF I WERE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT

        Yesterday’s post about RFK Jr. stimulated a lot of interesting fodder, spanning everything from “Joel you’re not very bright” to “Joel, this is good stuff.”  I just wanted to post about the event and what I saw and observed.  But the comments made me want to jump off the cliff about what I would commit to if running for president—it’s what I think embodies the American idea.

 1. Abolish every FEDERAL cabinet-level agency not prescribed in the Constitution:

                        USDA

                        FDA

                        HSUS

                        OSHA

                        FTC

                        SEC

                        Dept. of Education

                        Dept. of Energy

                        EEOC

                        EPA

                        FSIS (Food Inspection)

                        Dept. of Labor

                        Consumer Product Safety Commission

                        Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries

You get the drift—there are others, but I don’t want this to get long.  States and localities may pick up as much of this as they want to, or private voluntary entities.

2. Go back on the gold standard; require a balanced budget; phase out the FED

 3. Bring every American service member home; close all military bases on foreign soil; phase out of every foreign military treaty. Quit making friends of our enemies and enemies of our friends.

 4. Eliminate ALL foreign subsidies, all alleged relief, business stimulation, etc.

 5. Eliminate the IRS and go to a flat consumption tax with guaranteed cost of living allowance

 6. Phase out ALL domestic transfer payments:  Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, SNAP, crop insurance (farm subsidies), grants, ethanol

 7.  Legalize everything, from fentanyl to raw milk.  If two consenting parties want to transact business, enjoy. But if you hurt yourself, federal government won’t help you.  You own you. 

 8. Eliminate prisons.  Go to a Singapore caning program:  short and cheap. Restitution and ankle bracelets.

 9. Highways and infrastructure all go to use taxes:  mileage tax to pay for square footage of use on roads rather than gas tax; people don’t pay federal taxes for things they don’t use.

 10. Sell all federal owned property to pay off current debt and restore sound dollar value

Okay, that’s enough to take your breath away for one day.  I’m reminded that until Abraham Lincoln, the federal government was not something anybody thought much about on a day-to-day basis; today, it invades every nook and cranny of our lives.  Time to make it small again.

 What do you think?