“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
— Thomas Paine
The vast majority of Americans (86%!) feel that Republicans and Democrats are more focused on fighting each other than on solving problems. Toxic tribalism has pushed us into black-and-white thinking – where one side is always right, and the other is always wrong. Consequently, our country ends up in a hopeless position of lose-lose gridlock, thwarting ANY viable solutions to our national challenges.
Here’s the good news: most of our problems are solvable… and pretty simple. We must, however, embrace a paradigm shift in recognizing and appreciating that both sides are (often) half right and half wrong. As such, we ‘simply’ need to meld the two ‘half rights’ together to create optimal, win-win, common sense solutions. This principle is nothing new. As Aristotle observed over 2300 years ago, “the answer often lies in the ‘golden mean’ between the two extremes.”
At the Thomas Paine Society, our mission is to research, design, and advocate such ‘golden mean’ solutions that will reunite Americans by putting ‘country over party.’
It’s time for solutions, not sides.
National Debt
It’s a mathematical certainty that we will go bankrupt unless we change our trajectory.
Over the last ten years, our national debt has more than doubled from $19 Trillion to $39 Trillion! (That first $19 Trillion took us 240 years to accumulate!) At the current trajectory, our economy will become insolvent and collapse in the next 10-20 years. As a result, not only will our entitlement programs be unable to pay their promised benefits, but we will also suffer the horrific consequences of exploding taxes, inflation, interest rates, and unemployment. As we approach the 100-year anniversary of the Great Depression, we are facing the threat of an even worse economic depression that would see the return of bread lines and families living on the street. The last Great Depression wiped out nearly 90% of the stock market’s value and took 25 years to recover. One-in-four were unemployed and over 9,000 banks failed, leaving millions of Americans penniless. Given how hyper-connected global markets are today, and our significantly higher debt-to-GDP ratio, a modern-day depression would put those statistics to shame. This is a reality we cannot afford, but also one that we can avoid if we act now.
The Solution
Congress must establish a ‘Simpson-Bowles’-like commission of nonpartisan experts, and appointed members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, to do an actuarial analysis to recalibrate all entitlement programs to become sustainable. (To leave them knowingly unsustainable is tantamount to a Ponzi scheme victimizing the younger generation.) For members that do not vote in favor and help pass the resulting suggestions of this bipartisan commission, there will be grave consequences. (Some suggestions of consequences include: halting campaign funding, prohibiting the congressperson from running for another term, reassigning them to a lesser committee, etc.)
Congress must enact a mandate that all annual budgets be limited to a ‘sustainable’ deficit of 2-3%. (Allowances only for recessions and emergency conditions.) All members of Congress must be required to stay in Washington until such a budget is passed, as is their duty to the American people.
Compensation for congressional members and staffers will be terminated, with no backpay, until such a qualified budget is passed. (Like the rest of us: do your job, or don’t get paid.)
Immigration
America has ended up with a broken immigration system that must be addressed.
We presently have over 14 million undocumented residents subject to neither the rights nor the responsibilities of American citizenship. Our politicians are wholly complicit in creating this dysfunctional shadow society by failing to address ANY effective reform measures over the last 40 years. The time has come to solve this predicament.
The Solution
Consistently secure the border under all future administrations. Without securing our border, our proposed solutions, or any meaningful legislation, becomes moot. This is paramount to solving our immigration crisis.
Establish a pathway for undocumented residents to gain citizenship. During the process of becoming a citizen, or staying in the US as a seasonal worker, the immigrant is considered documented, and therefore, legal.
All sufficiently employed undocumented immigrants with clean criminal records will have 3 options:
Apply for citizenship
Apply for seasonal work visas
Voluntary or assisted deportation from the United States
For those seeking options 1 or 2, individuals will be permitted to legally work and live in the United States until their applications are reviewed.
Those who can prove undocumented residency in the United States for at least 5 years will be given priority.
Any immigrant who chooses option 1 or 2 would be required to pay a fine, or restitution, of approximately $5,000.
Any person under options 1 or 2 will pay their fair share in taxes.
Finally, any immigrant going through these processes is not subject to federal benefits or entitlements.
Extend citizenship to law-abiding undocumented minors who have at least 3 years of enrollment in United States public schools (Dreamers).
Businesses and individuals will be severely fined for employing undocumented workers.
Reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and fund Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Ban sanctuary cities. After the implementation of the above list, the need for sanctuary cities would become obsolete. Therefore, all federal funding to states that continue to illegally fund sanctuary cities will be halted until such a ban takes place.
Inner-City Education
In America, every child should have an equal opportunity for a quality education.
America has made major progress over the last 150 years in restoring full and universal rights for black Americans. However, there remains one critical shortcoming that must be rectified. As a result of decades and decades of poverty-stricken economic conditions in our inner-city communities, the public education available to minority students has continued to be systemically inferior. The reality is that we have an un-American ‘separate and UNEQUAL’ public school system.
The truth is this: generations of innocent minority students have been denied the quality of education their suburban counterparts receive, robbing them of a fair shot at the American Dream. Moreover, when an entire generation of young people is failed by the system meant to prepare them, the consequences are predictable and devastating; deepening cycles of poverty, drug dependency, fractured households, incarceration, and welfare dependence.
In short, it is an outcome that both punishes the victimized innocent students and society as a whole. Given our history, this falls under the category of "we broke it; we need to fix it.
The Solution
Over the last several years, there have been multiple inner-city ‘charter-like school’ models that have demonstrated remarkable success. Using what has worked from these successful models, we have a responsibility to establish a nationwide system of these inner-city charter-like schools that would prioritize the most disadvantaged students – giving them an equal education and an equal opportunity to achieve the American Dream.
Expanding affordable access to technical schools, trade programs, and community colleges should be prioritized to ensure as many citizens as possible have opportunities to succeed and contribute to society (i.e., the Workforce Development Act). This can include, but is not limited to, increasing Pell Grant funding for these programs as well as any other parallel federal funding or grants that provide need-based aid.
Wealth Inequality
As the rich get richer, the rest of us are being left behind.
While the ultra-rich get richer, the rest of us struggle to make ends meet, let alone afford the escalating costs of housing, healthcare, groceries, and education. Over the last 5-6 years, the top 1% have increased their wealth by 50%! This inflated aggregate wealth now equals the combined wealth of the entire bottom 90%! This extreme and obscene inequality is corrosive to a democracy that is predicated upon the common good of its citizens.
The Solution
Enact an ‘Employee Fairness Doctrine’ that would incentivize companies (with a reduced corporate tax rate) to share a greater percent of compensation with their workforce - vis-à-vis upper management.
Reverse the recent Trump tax cuts on the highest income earners. Levy a 2-3% surtax on any income over $10 million, and 5% on income over $50 million.
Rectify the ‘step-up provision’ (a massive tax loophole for the ultra-wealthy) that permanently extinguishes hundreds of billions in capital gains tax revenue through inheritance conveyances.
Eliminate ‘carried interest’ and other loopholes for the wealthy created by lobbyists.
Levy a tax on unrealized capital gains above a certain threshold.
Raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hour, and have it increase annually at the inflation rate.
Lower middle-income tax rates by 2-3 percentage points.
“I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense.”
— Thomas Paine, Common Sense
Contact
Feel free to contact us with any questions, or to find out how you can help make a difference.
Email
tpsthinktank@gmail.com