The Reform Party of the USA philosophy
The Reform Party of the USA (RPUSA) seeks to put controls on government without changing the substructure very much. They want to negate NAFTA and GATT trade agreements after renegotiating new trade agreements based on competitive parity regarding wages and working conditions. They believe that term limits on politicians is necessary. They seek to protect the current Social Security administration for those already participating but, also to initiate a new system for entrance to the job market based on personal and private savings and investments. They wish to pay down the debt and end deficit spending. The central theme of the RPUSA is to downsize government and control spending and taxation.
David Remer
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REFORM PARTY OF THE USA Platform
1. We shall seek to reform our electoral, lobbying and campaign practices to ensure that our elected government officials and our candidates owe their allegiance and remain accountable to the people whom they are elected to serve rather than other influence-seeking agencies.
2. We shall require ethical conduct by all our government officials with respect to the acceptance of rewards from special interests seeking to influence government during or following their terms of public service.
3. The positions of our Party on all issues will be chosen in accordance with the best interests of our country, its’ people and its future generations without regard for partisan or personal advantage.
4. The foundation of our Party is the activity of grassroots citizen volunteers. The Reform Party will make our candidates, party officials and elected officials accountable to our grassroots members who are their principal support. Our Party is open to participation by all who wish to join us to work toward our goals.
5. We shall restore integrity, accountability and fiscal responsibility to government and its leadership.
6. We, the members of the Reform Party, celebrate our heritage of individual liberty, recognizing that one of our greatest strengths is our diversity; and we will foster tolerance of the customs, beliefs, and private actions of all persons which do not infringe upon the rights of others.
7. Moreover, we strive to unite all Americans in spirit and in purpose.
8. The Reform Party believes in a Balanced Tailored Trade program that promotes the economic interests and welfare of all our citizens while safeguarding domestic production.
We shall enact economic and fiscal policies that require fiscal responsibility and accountability from our government.
The Federal government shall be managed within its means, and will not continually run budget deficits.
1. Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment.
2. Pay down the Federal Debt until the principal balance is zero and American taxpayers no longer have to pay interest on the debt.
3. Use any budget surpluses generated to pay down the debt, they should not be used to fund tax reductions nor to fund new programs.
4. Eliminate programs that are wasteful, outdated or that do not serve an important national goal.
5. End corporate welfare and special interest subsidies.
6. Manage mandatory spending programs and government-sponsored enterprises so that they are self-funding.
7. Review all programs on a regular basis and always make trust fund reports.
8. Remove all trust fund balances from the budget deficit calculations, so that the true size of the federal deficit is made clear to the American people.
Targeted Action Budget Planks
The economic projecting functions of the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office should be merged into the General Accounting Office (GAO). This new division of the GAO will then be solely responsible for producing the economic assumptions necessary for budget deliberations between Congress and the President. The GAO staff charged with this responsibility should be permanent employees, while the director should be a presidential appointee subject to confirmation by the Senate.
A ten-year plan to disband the Department of Housing and Urban Development should be adopted that is linked to a revenue guarantee program for municipalities. The plan should require a binding commitment on the part of cities to restructure local systems of revenue raising to promote employment-creation and the construction and rehabilitation of the city's housing and business infrastructure.
The mission of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) should be confined to promoting Arts Districts within Federal Enterprise Zones. NEA grants for any uses other than the development of infrastructure, such as performance halls and artists markets, should be discontinued.
The Appalachian Regional Commission should be abolished, but its current level of funding should be retained and transferred into Community Development Block Grant accounts for a period of ten years to bolster the revitalization of America's inner-cities.
Social Service Block Grants should be merged into Community Development Block Grants to reduce the cost of administering the grants and to enhance the capacity of taxpayers to scrutinize their usage.
The Tennessee Valley Authority should be privatized, after which consideration should be given as to the most efficient way to privatize the regional Power Marketing Administrations.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting should be subsidized at a rate equal to 25% of its budget for the previous fiscal year, so that it does not become too reliant on corporate sponsorship and in turn compromise its news coverage.
We shall return fiscal integrity to trust funds such as Social Security, Medicare, government retirements and all programs dealing with future obligations to individual citizens.
Social Security
1. Fulfill the promises and obligations of the old system and ensure that current retirees' benefits are not reduced.
2. Phase out the old pay-as-you-go system, and create a new system of private accounts using federally-supervised, individually-controlled investment options.
3. Maintain a safety net which insures a minimum pension to those who have met the requirements.
4. Require all new entrants to the labor force to join the new system. Those under the current system may join voluntarily.
5. Insure the long term solvency of the social security program by forbidding the use of FICA tax revenues for discretionary spending. Social Security Trust Fund surpluses maybe used to establish individually controlled savings accounts.
6. Prohibit politicians from including Social Security Trust Fund surpluses in unified budget calculations.
7. Educate the American public about Social Security reform to ensure the public understands the issues before enacting any reform.
8. Develop a personal savings account plan such as the Hickman/Orlando Social Security Reform Act.
Medicare/Medicaid
1. Reduce medical care inflation through pilot-testing of market-based reforms including managed care, medical savings accounts and creation and regulation of private insurance.
2. End subsidies for the health care of the wealthy.
Government Retirement
1. Bring federal government retirements and benefits in line with private sector.
General Principles
1. Remove all trust funds from the budget and demand an individual accounting.
1. We shall create a new tax system.
2. The new system shall be fair and simple.
3. The new system shall raise the money needed to pay the nation's constitutionally legitimate bills.
4. Analyze, model, and publicly debate the best options. All options should be considered, including tariffs, value-added taxes, and taxes on income, sales, assets, gasoline, and financial transactions.
5. Allow voters to provide input on the new system.
6. Any future tax increases under the new system must be approved by the people in the next federal election, in order to impose discipline on spending
7. Any tax law that benefits a discrete minority shall be subject to strict scrutiny and shall become law only if a compelling interest can be demonstrated.
POLITICAL REFORM
We shall require the highest ethical conduct by all of our government officials.
1. Limit gifts, favors and outside sources of income while in office and after leaving.
2. Proven unethical behavior must require a recall vote by the constituents.
3. All legislation shall be read by the appropriate officials before debates or votes are cast.
4. All bills will address one issue only.
We shall seek to increase citizen participation in political office.
1. Request candidate pledge to limit their term of office, regardless of the current laws.
2. Institute Term Limits on the House of 3 terms (6 years).
3. Institute Term Limits on the Senate of 2 terms (12 years).
We shall reform our electoral, lobbying and campaign practices to ensure that our elected officials owe their allegiance to the people whom they are elected to serve.
1. Vigorously enforce all present campaign finance laws.
2. We will work with Congress to change the composition of the Federal Elections Commission to include independent and non-partisan representation.
3. Campaigns should include free and equal access to the media resources for all qualified candidates.
4. TV and radio stations will allocate sufficient time for candidate forums which includes all qualified candidates, or presidential candidates that qualify for matching funds.
5. Political Action Committees (PACS) should be outlawed.
The goals of U.S. trade policies must be to eliminate the U.S. trade deficits which have made the U.S. the world's largest debtor nation and to preserve the capability of the U.S. to manufacture those products which are vital to her economic and military well being.
1. Foreign companies selling goods in the U.S. which are manufactured in countries with which we have large trade deficits must pay compensating U.S. taxes.
2. The U.S. industrial policy will maintain domestic sources for all vital military and non-military products procured by the U.S. government.
3. Foreign companies whose governments subsidize their exports to the U.S. will pay compensating U.S. taxes on good imported to the U.S. for sale.
4. Our trade agreements should promote reciprocity.
Provide a Balanced, Tailored, Trade program that promotes the economic interests and welfare of all our citizens. Safeguards domestic production of vital military resources and equipment, ensures entry of goods which comply with our environmental and product safety standards, provides markets for our domestic small businesses while safeguarding our system of checks and balances.
THE PROGRAM
1. Eliminate the large trade deficits that have made us the world's largest debtor nation. Countries conducting unfair trade practices must be required to provide compensating benefits to the U.S. on the import of those products.
2. Withdraw from the WTO and develop tailored trade agreements with other nations according to the practices and performance of those countries.
3. Nullify the incentive to relocate manufacturing to low wage regions around the world where the market is the U.S. consumer.
4. Maintain the ability to manufacture or stockpile all products vital to our national security.
5. Advocate a "Buy America" policy that patronizes American made goods. Articles may carry the label "Made in the U.S.A." only when they meet strict requirements for materials content, processing, assembly and packaging. All imported products, including food, are required to bear a label stating Country of Origin.
6. Safeguard American employment and labor standards and uphold our ban on the import of the products of child and slave labor.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF CONGRESS
1. Establish and enforce requirements for our trade agreements that safeguard the American employment and labor standards, consumer health and safety, and environmental protection while preserving a favorable environment for our small and large businesses.
2. Periodically review and report to the people, the performance of U.S. trade with respect to the criteria defined above.
3. Terminate or require the renegotiation of agreements, remove MFN status, or require penalties where these criteria have not been met.
4. Restore the full Constitutional authority of Congress to regulate commerce and thus deter the use of special trade concessions as a tool for diplomacy.
5. All International trade agreements that would abridge U.S. laws shall only be considered under the Treaty Provision of the U.S. Constitution requiring a 2/3 vote of the Senate.
THE ROLE OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
1. Continually review our trade negotiations and performance to ensure that they remain within the policy boundaries established by the Congress.
2. Develop a strong corps of professional trade negotiators who agree to a life time ban on serving as a lobbyist for any domestic or foreign interest.
3. Negotiate new tailored trade agreements by entering into bilateral negotiations with existing trading partners to replace GATT, NAFTA and other agreements which violate our criteria. Specifically, the agreement to replace NAFTA must require and be indexed to meaningful improvements in the working standards and wages of Mexican workers and the enforcement of environmental protection measures.
The Reform Party of the United States is committed to a foreign policy based on the principles of consistency, decisiveness, and accountability. We insist on a foreign policy that is proactive rather than reactive, and whose primary purpose is to enhance our country's national security.
We shall promote an independent, non partisan dialogue to carefully examine and take action on the crucial educational issues that have become dangerously politicized and bureaucratized in the hands of government and the two party system.
1. While federal, state and local governments may each have an appropriate role to play in the education system, for instance to ensure equal access to education for all children, the control over education must be returned to the people.
2. Convene a panel of experts to produce a 'statement of impact' of various options (for example, vouchers, educational savings accounts and charter schools) on the public school system.
3. Americans must have accurate information on these options before changes are made to the public school system that educates 90% of our children.
We shall support reform of the health care system that returns control of the system to its patients.
1. We must return the individual's right to control their own medical and health decisions.
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
We must leave our environment to future generations better than previous generations left it to us. We must promote uses of our environment that can be sustained without diminishing the quality of our environment, without diminishing biodiversity and without diminishing the capacity of our resources to steadily yield human benefits. We support measures that:
1. Promote knowledge of and respect for our natural environment;
2. Preserve an integrated network of natural areas to preserve our natural heritage and to accommodate compatible human use;
3. Encourage practices and promote the development and use of technologies most beneficial and least harmful to our environment; and
4. Steadily improve the quality of our air, water and earth.
RESOLUTION TO ABOLISH THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION (FEC)
Motivation:
The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) consists of six commissioners, appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. Three are Democrats and three are Republicans. Not surprisingly the commissioners have ignored the abused of the two major parties, including the gross abuses by the 1996 Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns. However, the FEC has gone after independents with a vengeance. In 1996 Commission lawyers worked overtime to keep Ross Perot out of the Presidential Debates even though the Commission's own regulations mandated his inclusion.
As it is by now painfully obvious that the career politicians and the bureaucrats they appoint cannot be counted on to regulate themselves,
The Reform Party resolves that:
1. Abolish the FEC and repeal the statues creating its enforcement powers.
2. Refer violations of existing campaign contributions and spending limitations to the Justice Department for prosecution if indicated.
3. Establish a non-governmental body to administer existing public funding programs according to objective criteria and to take responsibility for developing a new campaign finance system (in consultation with the broadest possible spectrum of the American people) which is free of partisan control and biases of the present system.
RESOLUTION ON IMMIGRATION POLICY REFORM
Motivation:
We recognize the continuing contributions to our country of the foreign immigrants who have come to the United States with the desire and ability to become Americans. However, serious flaws in the immigration policy of the United States have led to both a surfeit of family members of U.S. residents legally entitled to admission and a steadily increasing foreign born population. Liberalized immigration rules have produced a backlog of foreign relatives entitled to apply for admission that will require several years to eliminate even at elevated admission rates. In addition, faulty temporary worker programs, such as the H-1B program, have allowed U.S. companies to hire foreign workers at reduced wages to replace U.S. workers.
Therefore we resolve that:
1. Permanent Immigrant Programs: The United States shall reduce and control the rate of admission of legal permanent immigrants into the U.S. to the levels of the 1995 recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform.
2. Temporary Foreign Worker Programs: Temporary foreign worker programs to supply U.S. labor shortfalls shall be changed to ensure that U.S. workers are not displaced nor are the salary levels reduced by the abuse of these programs. Strong penalties must be applied to U.S. companies violating these conditions. In all cases, local taxes shall be paid for the immigrant's health insurance, worker's compensation, emergency benefits and education by the employers.
3. Illegal Immigration: A sharply increasing illegal foreign-born population has been caused by the economic distress of our neighbors and the widespread employment available in the United States to illegal immigrants. The employment of these workers has led directly to the reduction of the real wages and the displacement of native U.S. workers in some fields. Therefore we resolve that in order to control the rapidly increasing population of U.S. residents who are undocumented immigrants, the U.S. shall:
1. Adopt laws which are practical, enforceable and provide strong penalties for companies employing illegal workers in the U.S. Guest worker programs which do not displace U.S. workers and which pay compensating taxes to local communities and bonded worker return provisions shall be created to supply critical labor shortfalls.
2. Restructure the NAFTA to provide labor standards, environmental and living conditions in the Border area Maquiladoras which will allow Mexican workers to make a decent living in Mexico.
RESOLUTION FOR VOTING REPRESENTATION FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Whereas, for the last two centuries there has been no voting representation for the District of Columbia in Congress;
Whereas, this lack of congressional representation for American citizens living in the nation's capitol is a direct denial of the right to vote, violates equal protection under the law and the principle of no taxation without representation;
Whereas, the right of the people to vote in no way conflicts with Congress' ability to exercise control over the federal interests in the District of Columbia;
Therefore, be it resolved that the National Reform Party supports a legislative initiative in Congress that would enfranchise District of Columbia residents either directly, in the state of Maryland or Virginia, or by some other mechanism.
THE REFORM PARTY HEREBY ESTABLISHES A CONSTITUTIONAL, PROTECTIONIST TRADE POLICY TO CREATE TRADE SURPLUSES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
1. Repeal NAFTA (Unconstitutional)
2. Withdraw from the World Trade Organization (Unconstitutional)
3. No Fast Track (Unconstitutional)
4. Impose "Equalizing Tariffs" that equalizes production cost burdens (labor wages, regulations, taxes, and political mandates) between the United States and our trading partners to establish fair trade and a level playing field.
5. Advocate a "Buy American" policy that patronizes American made goods produced by American owned companies with a high percentage of domestic parts content to keep profits and jobs within our sovereign borders.
6. Disallow imports that do not conform to US Environmental, Health, and Safety standards.
7. Repeal MFN for China
8. Withdraw from GATT
THE REFORM PARTY HEREBY ENDORSES A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS.
Motivation
The Reform Party holds out to the American people the only real prospect of a vehicle for the pursuit of their political hopes. The candidates and policies of the Republican and Democratic parties are determined by a powerful few through the control of campaign funding, party organizations, government commissions and media access. The voice of the people is not heard there.
We will show the American people that we are not just another partisan group seeking power for its own rewards. We will ensure that our party processes remain responsive to our grass roots members who are our basic support and main resource. Only by making certain that the procedures of our Party organizations are both democratic and inclusive can we preserve our base and grow our support.
The Reform Party therefore resolves:
1. Elections of party representatives and the selection of candidates for elective office shall be based on the votes of party members guided by the principles of one person-one vote.
2. Equal privilege, as Party members will be extended to all that join our party and endorse our principles.
THE PRESIDENTIAL FAIR DEBATE BILL (H.R. 4310)
Written by Party members Dale Welch Barlow and Mary Clare Wohlford submitted to the House of Representatives by Congressman James Traficant D-Ohio on July 22, 1998.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 22, 1998, Mr. Traficant introduced the following bill, which was referred to the Committee on House Oversight.
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to permit a corporation or labor organization to expend or donate funds for staging public debates between presidential candidates only if the organization staging the debate invites each candidate who is eligible for matching payments from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund and qualified for the ballot in a number of States such that the candidate is eligible to receive the minimum number of electoral votes necessary for election.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REQUIREMENTS FOR ORGANIZATIONS STAGING PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES.
a) CANDIDATES REQUIRED TO BE INVITED – Section 316 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441b) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
b) Not withstanding any other provision of this section, a corporation or labor organization may directly or indirectly expend or donate funds for staging a public debate between candidates for election for President, but only if the person staging the debate invites each candidate who is eligible for matching payments under Chapter 95 or 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and qualified for the ballot in a number of States such that the Candidate is eligible to receive not fewer than the minimum number of electoral votes necessary for election.
c) EFFECTIVE DATE- The amendment made by the subsection (a) shall apply with respect to elections occurring after the date of the enactment of this Act.
BE IT RESOLVED THAT: The members of the Reform Party endorse this legislation and hope for its enactment.
ESTABLISHES RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF WORKING AMERICANS.
We hereby support the right of unions to freely organize and collectively bargain without harassment from the employer and its agents.
We support the right of unions to legally strike without the fear of temporary or permanent replacement workers.
We oppose the efforts of corporations to relocate the manufacturing of goods offshore to compete directly with American workers.
We stand for the promotion of high value added jobs.
We oppose any Trade agreement or treaty that undermines the ability of American workers to compete with foreign workers on a level playing field. We, therefore, oppose the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Most Favored Nation Status (MFN) for China, Fast Track Legislation, the Multilateral Agreements on Investments (MAI), and the Caribbean-Basin Initiative (CBI).
This resolution will reinforce our support for Organized Labor.
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