Daniel Petry: 45 Steps to a Better America

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By Daniel Petry

Sweeping changes would go a long way to getting our country back on track

This country is at the type of fork in the road that will determine whether our republic survives. Or whether we become a jumble of balkanized states.

We are in trouble. The federal government as well as a number of state and local entities are dangerously close to going bankrupt. There is no money. Foreign buyers of our T-bills, the only financial tool we can use to support our profligate ways, are running for the hills — and even threatening to call the notes due.

Now, we can continue to enact piecemeal legislation that does nothing other than aggravate the situation, or we can step up and attack this head-on with the passage of laws and requirements that will positively impact the future of our children.

So let’s look at some common-sense — and painful — approaches to getting our country back on track. Back to the basics. There are simple solutions that, if taken in totality, will go a long way to solving this ongoing political and economic malaise. There is still time. We just need leadership, vision and the willingness to make unpopular and painful decisions.

Below I have listed a series of laws and proposals that will drive us away from the precipice of disaster we are facing as a result of more than 100 years of progressive policies.

I have tried to approach every situation, from crime and entitlements to illegal immigration. I’m sure you’ll find some degree of agreement with a few, if not all. So let me begin.

» A law that limits any member of the House of Representatives to only three terms and any senator to only two terms. Congress was never meant to be a permanent job, but a service to this country. Having a political class has done more harm to this nation than almost anything else.

» Repeal the 17th Amendment and return the Senate to the states, as per the original intent of the founders. Click here for a more in-depth look at this topic.

» A law that gives the president a line-item veto.

» Congressional pay would be set at three times the median income, indexing the salary and replacing the congressional pension with a standard 401(k) retirement plan. And if they force national health care down our throats, they will have to exist under that law as well as any law they pass.

» A law that states that a plaintiff’s lawyer will not receive any portion of a punitive award; the award would go only to the plaintiff. This law would limit the fees a plaintiff’s lawyer can receive to 30 times the amount the plaintiff receives. For example, if a plaintiff receives $10,000, the combined legal fees could not exceed $300,000.

» A law that states that if a plaintiff loses a case, both the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s attorney are required to equally split the legal expenses of the defendant and pay those expenses.

» A law that denies government funding to the American Civil Liberties Union.

» A law that allows religious activities on local, state and federal property (such as schools, libraries and municipal buildings).

» A law that states that as long as the federal government remains involved in the education system, the teaching of religion will be an elective in public schools.

» A law that the federal Department of Education will be eliminated and all educational authority will be returned to the states. It also would state that as long as the federal government remains involved in the education system, the bottom 3 percent of teachers in each school district will be removed each year. A graduated pay scale would be in place that pays the top 25 percent of teachers double what the bottom 25 percent earn. And students would receive vouchers to attend the school of their choice.

» A law that as long as the federal government is involved with state education systems, it’s mandatory that all elected officials send their children to the public school in the district in which they live.

» A law that as long as the federal government remains involved in the education system, all students must demonstrate mastery of the English language, at their grade level, before being allowed to enter the next grade in the public school system, and that those who can’t be required to complete an English immersion class.

» A law that states that those convicted of possessing drugs and are not willing to provide information that leads to the arrests of their suppliers will have their sentence increased by a factor of 10.

» A law that if you are a drug dealer and you sell to minors, your minimum sentence — with no option for parole — would be 20 years.

» A law that the president of the United States will be elected by popular vote, replacing the Electoral College.

» A law that government program budgets will be reduced 5 percent per year until it is 50 percent of what it is today. There will also be a hiring and pay freeze. There is no reason for federal employees to make an average of $70,000 while those who pay their salaries average only $46,000. Plus, the number of federal employees will be reduced 5 percent per year until that employment level is at 50 percent of today’s level.

» A strict sunshine law for all government programs. They must have a clearly established objective and an end date of no more than 10 years from the date of creation.

» A requirement that the national parks, highways, mail and licensing of the airwaves be privatized.

» A requirement that foreign aid to any nation, in any year, will be limited to a maximum of 10,000 times the median income ($460 million), and that will allow a country to receive funds for a maximum of two years in any five-year period, except those nations in a declared war with a foreign enemy or a genocidal situation. And no more than 10 countries will be allowed to receive foreign aid in any given year.

» A law that all government price and production controls will be eliminated, including the minimum wage. The minimum wage has done more damage to employment than it has to improve it.

» A balanced budget amendment, with exceptions only for periods of declared war, a declining annual GDP or in the event of a major natural disaster. And the banning of all earmarks from any legislation. It also would state that the federal budget will not have any item whose benefit is primarily for a single state (e.g., a bridge in Alaska or a levee in Louisiana).

» Dissolution of the Internal Revenue Service and replacement of the more than 70,000 pages of the current tax code with the FairTax as proposed by Rep. John Linder and Neal Boortz. The administrative staff of the IRS would be brought down, over five years, to 10 percent of what it is today.

» A requirement that if Congress doesn’t change to a consumption tax, an indexed Corporate Minimum Tax (CMT) of at least 15 percent, similar to the personal Alternative Minimum Tax — requiring profitable corporations to pay at least that amount (as a percent of revenue), independent of expenses, deductions and overseas activities — should be in place.

» A law that all government-supported medical expenses should be capped, except for military personnel, in any five-year period for any one person, to 25 times the median income (about $1 million).

» A law that if you are convicted as a rapist or child molester, you will either be sentenced to life in prison or receive the death penalty.

» A requirement that the worst 3 percent of judges are removed each year, determined by the number of decisions overturned by a higher court. This will protect this nation against those judges who are actively legislating from the bench, and those who show a consistent tendency to rule based on political or personal preference rather than written law.

» The Constitution and the laws of the United States are the sole guidelines in writing decisions. Applying the standards of international behavior are banned.

» A further requirement in existing laws that there will be a maximum time line for all criminal cases, ensuring that court proceedings begin within three months, end within one year, that appeals extend no more than two years through the highest court possible, and that both the defense and prosecution adhere to the time line with penalty of contempt of court charges and license revocation if they do not. This includes death penalty cases.

» A requirement that all types of welfare payments, excluding Social Security and Medicare, need to be capped to less than 3 percent of federal tax receipts each year. And that a person or family can receive welfare for a maximum of 24 months or less in any five-year period.

» A law that states that a prisoner who is serving either a life sentence or is on death row should receive only limited medical care, that provides comforting medication and basic repair (e.g. broken bones).

» The unfunded Social Security mandates are going to be a huge contributing factor in the destruction of this nation’s finances. The retirement age needs to be changed to 70 immediately, and index the eligibility age for those younger than 50 to life expectancy minus five years. Retirement payments to the wealthy, or those whose children are wealthy, should be reduced by at least 50 percent. Wealthy is defined as $5 million in assets.

» Individuals younger than age 40 should be allowed to invest a percentage of their Social Security retirement benefits in an option of their choice, including mutual funds, bond funds and index funds.

» A law that people who have entered this country illegally will never receive Social Security or other government benefits. This law also establishes English as the national language, and requires its exclusive use in all public institutions and on all public material. Multilingual government documents are banned.

» A law that establishes a Guest Worker Program that allows noncitizens to work in the United States. If you are an illegal and you are caught, you would be immediately deported.

» A law that limits the number of immigrants who can become citizens in any single year to 1 percent or less of the population (that would be about 3 million immigrants this year). Anchor babies are no longer allowed to automatically establish a family’s citizenship.

» A law that declares that an illegal does not have any of the rights granted to citizens of our country, other than the right to humane treatment. Employers who are found to be employing illegals, not including guest workers, would be fined 3 percent or more of their gross income.

» If you want a fast track to citizenship, an immigrant would be granted citizenship if they serve in the military for six years, but the number of immigrants using this route would be restricted to no more than 10 percent of military personnel.

» A law that says the preservation of human life and personal property shall take precedence over the welfare of any plant or animal regardless of its status as protected or endangered.

» A law that all citizens have the right to bear arms, and no locality can restrict that right. Every citizen would be allowed to carry a concealed weapon, assuming they can demonstrate basic firearm competence, but excluding those who have been convicted of a felony or deemed to be mentally incompetent. On the other hand, any person committing a felonious act, while possessing a weapon, would receive a lifetime prison term.

» A law that allows the U.S. military to control our borders and prevent illegal immigration. Foreign deployment, other than for a war, would be limited to one division, for a maximum of three years, in any country with which we are not at war.

» A law that removes all federal restrictions on drilling for oil in every state as well as along the U.S. coastline. As well as the funding of a massive initiative to fund nuclear power plants development with expedited Environmental Protection Agency authorizations taking no more than 12 months.

» The elimination of the EPA over a period of 5 years with assets and control going back to the individual states.

» A law that requires that foreign aid contributions be limited to match the average contributions of the leading countries in the world in absolute dollars: Britain ($4.9 billion), Germany ($5.3 billion), France ($5.5 billion), China ($0), Russia ($0), Australia ($1 billion), Canada ($1 billion) and Japan ($9.9 billion), or take the average of the above, which would be about $3.5 billion per year.

» A law that requires any final legislation be available for public review at least seven days before the vote.

» A law that requires elected officials to certify, under penalty of perjury, that they have personally read the final version of a bill — in its entirety — before being allowed to vote for the bill. All legislation should be limited to one subject.

— Santa Barbara resident Daniel Petry is the CEO and founding partner of Petry Direct Inc., a 20-year-old management firm that specializes in content production and marketing management. He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, class of 1976, and received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado.

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