Lance Beaty: It Is Time For Real Leadership

Editor’s note: This guest commentary was provided by Lance Beaty, principal with Beaty Capital Group Inc., a closely held Fort Smith-based investment group primarily focused on real estate investments in tertiary markets in the central U.S.

The Republicans are basking in a victory that gives them clear control of the House and Senate, and they are making an effort to define the sweeping win as a clear mandate from the people. The Democrats are in turn finding ways to explain how this loss was a win and that this was a message to the Republicans to compromise with the President.

Of course none of this is true.

The actual message from the people was simply that they no longer believe the President and his party. In fact, there is no mandate for Republican ideas because the Republican victory was not based on ideas. Their message was simply that they are opposed to the things that Barack Obama is for and support the things that Barack Obama opposes. It proved a simple and demonstrably effective strategy.

However, setting post-election puffery aside the mission of getting the country back on track still must be done. If Republicans are interested in sustaining their gains in many state capitols and winning the White House in 2016, much work has to be done in a very short time. If the Republican Party is to have a future, they must act. If they remain the anti-Obama party, they will fail at the polls in 2016 and the country will continue to move headlong toward the abyss of becoming a failed experiment.

The debate between the parties for the last 50 years has been only about the speed at which we hurtle toward that abyss. It is time to change directions.

Step one for Republicans is to acknowledge (at least to themselves) that there is no mandate. There is great distrust of government, great frustration with a President and a Party that offered the good life (based on false assurances and unworkable theories), and a general dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party. None of this is a mandate. People voted against Democrats, not for Republicans.

Going forward, the Republicans must move from slogans to actions. They must give people a reason to vote for them. They must take responsibility for their part in creating the mess. Much of the out-of-control regulation of the financial sector, of business and of labor, regulations that stifle the startup and growth of business, the development of natural resources, the creation of new jobs and the access to investment capital are enforced by agencies created by Republican Presidents with Republican Congresses.

The vast growth of entitlement spending and absurd federal deficits are not inventions of Barack Obama and the Democrats. They are continuations of policies of George W. Bush and the Republicans. The outrageous trampling of the 4th amendment by the NSA, DHS, FBI, IRS, BLM (and any additional three letter federal agencies the reader would care to add) and the conversion of our civil law enforcement into militarized units of government are not inventions of Barack Obama and the Democrats. They are continuations of policies of George W. Bush and the Republicans before him.

Change is hard. It means taking risk. It means admitting you may have been wrong about some things. It means alienating lobbyists who bring you funds to run for office. It means possibly losing your great post-elective office job at a powerful D.C. law or consulting firm. In short, it means being responsible and exercising leadership. We need leadership to create an environment that promotes economic growth, protects the country, maintains U.S. strength abroad, and protects the rights of citizens.

Some areas to start this leadership include federalism and regulatory reform. Regulation by unelected bureaucrats must end. Congress must pass laws reforming or removing regulations in major areas such as finance, environment health and safety, and public lands. Old regulations should be replaced by laws and new agencies that have no direct enforcement power within 48 months – in other words, enact irrevocable legislation sunsetting the current agencies and regulations to force replacement legislation.

Enforcement of these new laws will be through states and the federal court system. There will not be unregulated, unchecked administrative judges. No administrative judges or secret courts may approve actions that violate the privacy of citizens. A search warrant is required to obtain your private information.

Following are other areas with broad changes needed:

• Social Security and Veterans
The system is unsustainable. It must be modified. Current recipients will be held harmless because the nation honors its commitments and provides meaningful cost-of-living adjustments (COLA). If you are older than 45, you should have the option of staying in or cashing out. If under 45 years, you get a check – with interest – and may invest the proceeds in qualified private retirement funds.

Our Veterans Affairs system needs to be overhauled. We must take care of our veterans. Period.

• The Affordable Care Act
This is another unsustainable plan full of broken and unfulfillable promises. The mandatory requirements must be eliminated. States may keep their pools if they want – that’s a state issue.

Health insurance can be sold across state lines like car insurance. There are many reasonable solutions and methods that would allow for repeal without creating chaos. Many of the problems with the health care system are the result of previous government fixes that came with promises. We should back away from many of those “fixes” and move toward reforms that match real world practicalities rather than serve the interests of politicians and lobbyists.

• Taxes
The Internal Revenue Service is out of control and too corrupt/broken to fix. We need a new agency with limited powers, and direct oversight by Congress AND state legislatures.

We need flat tax brackets (10%, 15%, 20%) that allow you to deduct certain actual expenses. The corporate tax rate should be 7.5% with repatriation of offshore money allowed at the corporate rate.

• Energy
The changes above may have the added benefit of deregulating much of the energy market and create rapid economic growth. The energy market should be an open market with no subsidies or special government support offered to any sector or energy company. States may mandate renewable portfolios but should do so with no subsidies.

• Immigration
We must seal/control the borders. It may require deadly force and other forms of drastic action to restore order along our border with Mexico.

We should provide amnesty for those here more than 10 years. If you are here legally and have been in the U.S. more than 10 years, have no criminal convictions (of any sort including misdemeanors) you have 90 days to report yourself and apply for a permanent work visa. You will be given an opportunity to pay a fine and apply for citizenship or you may leave the country and take your possessions with you with no prosecution or forfeiture.

If you are here illegally and have been in the U.S. less than 10 years, you have 90 days to leave and take your possessions with you with no prosecution or forfeiture and no impact on your ability to apply for legal entry.

A new simplified temporary work visa system should be put in place that allows guest workers to enter the U.S. and allows easy and effective tracking of those workers while in the country. Illegal entry or overstaying a visa will be made a federal felony, punishable by six years imprisonment, forfeitures of illegally obtained assets and subsequent deportation.

• Foreign Policy
Foreign aid must end. This is not really a major expense, but we can’t afford it and buying friends never works. With international relations, we shouldn’t pick winners and losers. We will stay out of your affairs, and you damn well better stay out of ours. It’s good to be our friend and very, very bad to be our enemy.

U.S. troop deployment overseas must be reduced. Europe and Asia must learn to defend themselves. Our armed forces are weakened from war and neglect. We must rebuild. Our ground intelligence assets should be radically increased.

Our special forces should be better, bigger. With respect to terrorism, we must remember that this is war. We will find you and kill you, and those who helped you.

Of course Congress can’t act alone, but some of these ideas could be passed with veto-proof majorities. The real question is, will the new Republican Congress do anything meaningful? From this point in history it is hard to say, but if they continue the same course they too will deserve to be thrown out.

I wish I could tell you I was optimistic. But I am not. I am now 51 years old with three grandchildren making their way into the world. I can no longer hold my tongue. Frankly, I am almost driven to action.