My Citizen Mandate to the 112th Congress

Citizen Mandate

Steve Elliott of Grassfire Nation has developed a tool, which would allow someone to communicate to Congress, and especially the presumed Speaker of the House John Boehner, exactly what the average conservative, Christian and Tea Party participant expects from the new Congress. He calls it a “Citizen Mandate.” You can find this tool here. 

November 2^nd was merely the beginning step to setting our government straight. There needs to be much effort ard work on the part of every citizen patriot between now and the next Presidential election.

Grassfire Nation’s tool allows you to customize your concerns and is the first step in holding the new Congress accountable. I urge you to strongly consider utilizing it. It is free. However, if you want to send a fax to a number of Representatives, then the tool also allows you to do that.

In response to the major G.O.P. gains at the polls, I am issuing my personal "Citizen Mandate" to the newly elected 112th Congress to outline my top priorities for the coming months. Therefore, my particular mandate includes the following:

My CITIZEN MANDATE on government run healthcare:

• I am calling for ObamaCare to be REPEALED and REPLACED with market friendly reforms that do not add any unconstitutional mandates or burdens on the American people or business
  

My CITIZEN MANDATE on illegal immigration:

• Border security must be increased and those in our country illegally should be punished to the full extent of the law and deported.

My CITIZEN MANDATE on the federal debt:

• The federal debt is a serious problem but the answer is not higher taxes. Instead, we must cap spending and grow the economy.

My CITIZEN MANDATE on government spending:

• Government spending is out of control and should be limited by law or Constitutional Amendment to no more than 20% of the prior year's Gross Domestic Product.

My CITIZEN MANDATE on TARP and other government bailouts:

• Federal bailouts of the private sector such as the TARP program must be stopped immediately and any unspent funds returned to the taxpayers.

My CITIZEN MANDATE on taxes:

• I oppose any and all new taxes and want the Bush Tax Cuts made permanent

My CITIZEN MANDATE on government takeover of industry:

• The federal government should cease and desist its socialistic takeover of industry and return companies like General Motors, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to the private sector.

My CITIZEN MANDATE on welfare and entitlement programs:

• Social welfare and entitlement programs are undermining the long term solvency of our nation and must first be capped and then reduced. 

(Although not requested in using the Citizen Mandate Tool, beyond the most important issue of concern to me, I have placed the following issues in order of importance to me. I would like to see Congress act on these issue, which they have failed to consistently do under either Republican or Democratic leadership.) The issues I believe are important for the new Congress to address:

• (#1)   No taxpayer-funded abortions in any federal legislation or programs. (This means de-funding of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Americ and all similar funding. Currently this obscene organization receives  1/3 of a billion dollars from government! Put a stop to all Pro-Death Embryonic Stem Cell Research Life is the single most important right identified in the Founding documents of this nation. Life is the most basic of rights given by Almighty God and not by any temporal state.)
• (#2)   Repealing ObamaCare. (This is a deficit increasing, big government scheme to control the health of American citizens, it has little to do with improving healthcare quality or costs. It is one of the gravest tragedies perpetrated on America, ever.)
• (#3)   Securing our borders and stopping illegal immigration. (The new conservative members of both houses of Congress will need to contend with both the country club liberal Republicans like John McCain as well as Democratic leaders Reid and Pelosi. One of the first battles will be the DREAM Act. The 111^th lame duck session will attempt to pass this amnesty in disguise bill.)
• (#4)   Strengthening our defense against radical Islam's war against the West.  (The current government policy of ignoring Islamo-terrorism and appeasing that enemy must stop. We must acknowledge the enemy and readjust our Homeland Security and other federal agencies to profile those most likely to be America’s enemies, not grandmothers!)
• (#5)  Reducing the deficit and government spending.  (We must take dramatic, sacrificial across-the-board reductions in all areas of government. We must prepare a balanced budget sooner, not later. We must start by de-funding the unnecessary and wasteful programs such as the Department of Education, the EPA, funding the United Nations, funding Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment of the Arts, etc. We must go to a zero based budget approach, where every program and agency is questioned for the need of its continued existence. Congress should squelch all calls to give any pay increases to federal workers, instead there should be a review of all salaries with possible reductions for those made since the President took office if found to be excessive. Congress should freeze wages their wages and the wages of all government workers. This will be difficult, but necessary if we are ever to get the National Debt and our Deficit under control. Let’s start now!)
• (#6)   Maintaining the tax cuts for all Americans.  (Make the Bush tax cuts permanent.)
• (#7)   Halt the advance of the homosexual agenda.  (This is not included on the Grassfire Nation’s list of key issues, but it should be. It is on my list. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT)” should not be repeal. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) should be strengthened, not done away with. Employer Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) should be scrapped once and for all. All pro-homosexual policies throughout government should be rooted out and curtailed.)

The above seven issues are inter-related and they are a balanced mix of social, fiscal, and foreign affairs, which are of concern to many Christians, Conservatives and Tea Party Participants.

The following issues will be taken care of as Congress deals with the seven key issues identified above:

• (#8)    Safeguarding individual liberties of citizens
• (#9)    Restoring limited government under the Constitution
• (#10)  Limiting the size and scope of government
• (#11)  Stopping the war on small business
• (#12)  Stopping the Socialist push to remake our nation