Recently, a pollster from the Rasmussen company, Mark Mitchell, visited with President Trump to share some realities. He was blunt: we need a new “Contract for America” to show voters that Republicans understand their problems.
According to Mitchell, only one in four Americans thinks their children will be better off than they are. He calls this “The death of the American dream.” In short, “people think the capitalist system has failed them.” His solution isn’t novel. It’s been tried before. Indeed, the last time was in 1994 when the Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, proposed the Contract with America.” On day one, Gingrich promised the following:
- Require all laws that apply to the rest of the country to also apply to Congress.
- Select a significant, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud, or abuse.
- Cut the number of House committees and cut committee staff by one-third.
- Limit the terms of all committee chairs.
- Ban the casting of proxy votes in committee.
- Require committee meetings to be open to the public.
- Require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase.
- Guarantee an honest accounting of the federal budget by implementing zero-based budgeting.
The specific legislative areas covered the following.
Fiscal Responsibility Act: An amendment to the Constitution that would require a balanced budget unless sanctioned by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress. It passed in the House and failed in the Senate.
Taking Back Our Streets Act: An anti-crime package that included stronger truth-in-sentencing and other provisions.
Personal Responsibility Act: An act to discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by reforming and cutting cash welfare and related programs. This would be achieved by prohibiting welfare to mothers under 18 years of age, denying increased Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) for additional children while on welfare, and enacting a two-year-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility.
American Dream Restoration Act: An act to create a $500-per-child tax credit, add a tax credit for couples who pay more taxes in aggregate if they are married than if they were single, and create American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle-class tax relief.
National Security Restoration Act: An act to prevent U.S. troops from serving under United Nations command unless the president determines it is necessary, and to help establish guidelines for the voluntary integration of former Warsaw Pact nations into NATO.
Common Sense Legal Reform Act: An act to institute “loser pays” laws, limits on punitive damages, and limit product liability laws to prevent frivolous litigation.
Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act: A package of measures for small-business incentives: capital-gains cuts and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, regulatory flexibility, and elimination of unfunded mandates.
Citizen Legislature Act: An amendment to the Constitution that would have imposed 12-year term limits on members of Congress (i.e., six terms for representatives, two terms for senators).
Other Provisions: Also proposed was a Family Reinforcement Act (tax incentives for adoption, strengthening the powers of parents in their children’s education, stronger child pornography laws, and elderly dependent care tax credit) and a Senior Citizens Fairness Act to raise the Social Security earnings limit, repeal tax hikes on Social Security benefits, and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance.
Some of these have passed in subsequent years in one form or another. Others, like needed term limits, have been blocked by careerists in Congress. Taken together, these ideas should inform the Administration and the GOP in Congress to shape a “250th Declaration for America” to coincide with the 4 July 2026 anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
What should be included as constitutional amendments?
- Term limits as proposed above. (Return to society and live under the same laws you pass for everyone else.)
- A six-year “one and done” Presidential term. (Get in, get it done, and get gone.)
- A native-born requirement to serve in federal offices. (The foreign-born influence tends to push against founding principles.)
Other reforms.
- Judicial reform to rein in rogue Federal judges. (Stop acting like legislators.)
- A Flat Tax. (No exceptions. Get “skin in the game.”)
- A Nuclear Power construction mandate. (It’s true “clean energy.)
- Elimination of any program without evident roots in the US Constitution. (Imagine that.)
In truth, Congress won’t have the stomach to do any of this. But at a minimum, it should state clearly what is needed in a new contract, including:
- Lower taxes.
- Real measures to reduce the national debt.
- End birthright citizenship.
- Rein in judges.
Sadly, none of this will pass the Senate. It’s horribly deadlocked. A villain here is the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance any legislation. That debilitating rule acts like the “Grinch who stole Christmas,” when we need a “Gingrich who won” the 1994 midterms. Merry Christmas.
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