The New Republican Agenda

Approved for immediate release March 26, 2013

What is our federal government’s National Objective? Would it surprise you to learn that we don’t have one?

Whether in business or government, whenever there are large problems to solve or great opportunities to go after, most people understand that the chances for success are greatly enhanced when the participants share a common objective. Working from a formalized objective allows the stakeholders to actively contribute to the planning and execution necessary to achieve the desired results. A well communicated and closely followed objective is crucial for maintaining focus and reining in the scope creep that invariably occurs when those with alternate objectives and differing priorities develop clever ways to influence decisions and divert resources. If detours from the primary mission are not thwarted quickly then the mission becomes obscured and subservient to the multitude of parochial priorities that are allowed to take hold.

As the challenges that our nation faces grow in size and complexity, the greater becomes the importance of a widely shared and closely followed National Objective. As basic to our national success as a National Objective may be in these critical times, neither political party has presented their vision for a federal government national objective. Recognizing this fundamental failure of leadership from both Parties, the Republican Party presents our National Objective.

National Objective:

Continuously improve the standard of living of all Americans.

That’s it! That’s as complicated as our federal government’s national objective needs to be. Just think of what we could accomplish as a nation if all Americans and every elected official were fully committed to this simple yet powerful perpetual goal.

 

Formalizing a Republican Party National Objective will serve four purposes.

First it will help the Party sustain a consistent focus as we engage in a constructive dialogue with all Americans to develop policy recommendations that are designed expressly to achieve our National Objective.

Second, it will brand the Republican Party with the public and will provide us with the foundation we need to explain how our public policy proposals interrelate and how they will work in unison to achieve our national objective at the individual as well as the national level.

Third, it will serve to help prioritize and apply constant pressure on those opportunities that portend the greatest impact on our national objective while also allowing our nation to address separately those issues that may be vitally important but often serve as emotional wedge issues strategically designed to divide our nation and impede progress on our nation’s most pressing problems.

And finally, and perhaps most importantly, a shared national objective will unite our divided nation along a common set of enduring solutions designed to resolve our most pressing problems.

To be clear, there is considerable difference between agreeing upon a National Objective and agreeing to the public policies that are intended to best achieve that objective. But nonetheless, the first step is for our nation to agree to a single National Objective.

With a National Objective in hand, we can engage in a respectful debate of how best to achieve our goal. At the start of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented a one word national objective that the American people roundly accepted and wholeheartedly supported – “Win!” The economic challenges facing our nation today may be no less important.

Job Policy:
Republican Values: The most effective way for an individual to improve their standard of living as well as increase their sense of worth and well being is through a job. The best way for our economy to grow and generate jobs is through a vibrant private sector offering goods and services that people want at prices they can afford with enough profit to warrant their continued offering.

The objective of the Republican Party Job Policies is to help the private sector maximize the quantity, quality and sustainability of U.S. based private sector jobs. For a detailed discussion of our Job Policy, please read our position paper entitled “Jobs and the Job Burden”.

Safety Net Policy:

Republican Values: The Republican Party supports a socially responsible, closely coordinated, efficiently administered and economically viable Social Safety Net that
Does not negatively impact our nation’s ability to generate U.S. based private sector jobs
Does not hide the costs of the safety Net by passing them on to future generations
Rewards work, independence and self-improvement

Healthcare Policy:Republican Values: Allow the free market system to work up to a point of catastrophic need. Employer sponsored healthcare significantly increases the cost of U.S. based labor and costs Americans their jobs. Our policy will replace employer sponsored health insurance and all government sponsored healthcare programs, except Medicare, with the two-tiered, private to public health coverage, provided by the American Catastrophic Health Insurance plan. ACHI is a high-deductible health insurance plan in which the annual deductible amount is based on individual or household income. Once the deductible has been met, the ACHI plan funds all medically necessary care and is financed by the Safety Net Tax.

For more policy discussions, please see America's Get Well Plan.