We, the citizens of the United States of America, call upon those seeking to represent us in public office to sign the Contract from America and by doing so commit to support each of its agenda items and advocate on behalf of individual liberty, limited government, and economic freedom.
1. Protect the Constitution
2. Reject Cap & Trade
3. Demand a Balanced Budget
4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform
5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington
6. End Runaway Government Spending
7. Defund, Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care
8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy
9. Stop the Pork
10. Stop the Tax Hikes
Tomorrow, House Republicans are launching a new initiative to “engage Americans across the country and give them a voice in creating a new agenda for Congress.” Called, “America Speaking Out,” the effort is led by Chief Deputy Whip, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Ryan Hecker, founder of the Contract from America initiative said, “I think it is great that House Republicans are listening to the people and borrowing from the tea party movement and the Contract from America project”
On April 15th, hundreds of local Tea Party and limited government groups around the country will join together to announce the launch of the “Contract from America,” a grassroots legislative blueprint for 2010 and beyond. Originally proposed by Ryan Hecker, a Houston Tea Party activist and National Coordinator for the initiative’s chief organizing group Tea Party Patriots, this project is intended to present a different kind of agenda for our federal lawmakers: unlike the Contract with America introduced in the 1990s, everyday citizens proposed and voted on every plank of the Contract from America.
The Contract from America serves as a clarion call for those who recognize the importance of free market principles, limited government, and individual liberty. It is the natural extension of a movement that began in the local communities and quickly spread across America in response to unprecedented government expansion, reckless spending, and a blatant disregard by our leaders of the nation’s founding principles.
During the past several months, hundreds of thousands of Americans have debated thousands of ideas to solve our nation’s most pressing problems. 454,331 votes were cast. It has been an open process and has provided a genuine opportunity to give voice to a broad cross section of concerned Americans.
Click here to view the text only version (perfect for cutting & pasting).
Show Your Support. Sign the Contract…
Echoing the Republican Revolution of 1994, Tea Party activists are crafting a document that expresses the beliefs, values and ideas on how to solve the country’s biggest problems. Tea Party activists, echoing the Republicans who took control of Congress in 1994, are crafting a document that expresses their beliefs, values and ideas on how to solve the country’s biggest problems. The Tea Party Movement will unveil the full “Contract from America” on April 15, Tax Day. But on Thursday, Tea Partiers released the top three planks of the platform, which were determined by an online vote.
The Tea Party Patriots, a national umbrella organization for hundreds of local tea party groups around the country, joined today with the National Taxpayers Union, FreedomWorks, and Americans for Tax Reform, three of the nation’s most prominent free-market advocacy groups, to announce the upcoming April 15 launch of the “Contract from America,” a grassroots legislative agenda for 2010 and beyond. Originally proposed by Ryan Hecker, a Houston Tea Party activist and National Coordinator for the project’s chief organizing group Tea Party Patriots, the Contract is a different kind of agenda for our federal lawmakers: unlike the Contract with America from the 1990s, every plank of the Contract from America was proposed and voted on by everyday citizens.
Affordable energy is literally fundamental to prosperity. High energy prices always contribute to economic slowdown. The whole point of cap-and-trade and other such schemes is to raise energy prices to discourage the use of fossil fuels. They therefore will have a significant negative effect on the economy. The European Union’s weak cap-and-trade scheme has cost European consumers over $130 billion since 2005, but has not yet contributed to any reduction in emissions. Analysis of various cap-and-trade schemes suggest that they will do little to avoid rising temperatures without China and other nations following suit, which they have consistently refused to agree to.
Cap and trade also has a significant regional effect, imposing new costs on states that produce and use energy intensively (for example, in manufacturing), while rewarding states that use less energy intensively (for example, by being service industry-based). This will essentially translate into a wealth transfer from interior states to coastal states.
Congressional efforts to introduce cap-and-trade schemes should therefore be opposed. Heavy-handed regulation by the EPA would also have the same, or worse, effect. Congress has the power to stop EPA imposing such harmful regulations and should do so.
~ Iain Murray, Competitive Enterprise Institute
