|
In the News
My GOP Wish List
A Republican agenda in five easy pieces.
BY NEWT GINGRICH
Thursday, December 26, 2002
There have been three great Republican victories
in my lifetime. In 1980, a campaign centered on strengthening defense,
cutting taxes and renewing faith in American civic culture produced
a landslide for Ronald Reagan. In 1994, the Contract with America
with its ideas of reforming welfare and balancing the budget produced
a 53-seat gain in the House that gave Republicans control for the
first time in 40 years. The outcome of the midterm elections this
year brought the third great triumph. But the work is far from done:
Follow-through on five major issues now will determine whether the
recent election gains translate into a real mandate for the GOP
in 2004.
National security is a much larger problem than most people realize.
We are in a war with reactionary Islam. The minimum price for our
continued dominant leadership role in the world is allocating 5%
of gross domestic product for defense, intelligence and the Foreign
Service. Foreign aid and homeland security add another 1%. In the
near term, we must invest in the creation of a British-style MI5
antiterrorist agency separate from the FBI as well as a new approach
to border security and an overhaul of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service.
Economic growth is central to maintaining defense and foreign policy.
But getting the wheels turning faster again needs decisive moves
that Congress has dithered over for too long. We need policies that
allow American jobs to modernize and compete with jobs in the world
market. We need further tax cuts--including the permanent abolition
of the death tax, a cut in the capital gains tax, ending the double
taxation of dividends, and the ability to expense capital investments
in one year. And we need a new guest-worker program, which helps
control the border by legalizing the flow of honest people who want
to work, play by the rules and pay taxes.
Health care will require the boldest leadership and will likely
face the heaviest demagoguery from the Democrats. The current system
tolerates two million hospital-induced illnesses and an estimated
44,000 to 98,000 deaths in hospitals from medical error each year.
Increases in health-care costs have caused more people to seek government
solutions. But now is a time to think clearly: A modernized health
system using information technology could improve quality while
actually lowering cost. But reforming health will work only if doctors
are able to allow others to learn from their mistakes without exposing
themselves to unreasonable lawsuits. Which brings me to my next
wish.
Litigation reform is essential to both long-term economic growth
and quality-focused health reform. The current model of predatory
trial lawyers using their wealth to launch even more financially
rewarding lawsuits is a downward spiral that sickens the entire
culture. In the area of health litigation, reformers are working
hard for transparency and cooperation in the systems, The burden
will be on the trial lawyers to argue that it is better that someone
dies so the family can sue than it is for doctors and hospitals
to share information that could save a life.
Scientific environmentalism offers a great opportunity for a healthier
environment through technology and entrepreneurship. Republicans
now have an opportunity to act for the environment through an alternative
to the dominant regulation-litigation, bureaucratic model. Sound
science, increased research budgets, and better technologies will
produce better environmental policy. If hydrogen fuel cells were
to receive the same subsidy as ethanol, the transition to hydrogen
in automobiles would move forward by at least five to eight years.
By building on the policy achievements starting with Mr. Reagan,
and by avoiding the public-relations errors that bedeviled my Contract,
Republicans have the opportunity to meet, and a leader capable of
meeting, these great challenges. If met, they will solidify a Republican
governing majority for a generation.
Mr. Gingrich, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute,
was speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999.
Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
