A new era has arrived with President-elect Donald Trump. The success of his administration depends on the ability to tackle key issues. They include:
•Enacting tax cuts for middle class Americans and tax code simplification. While business tax cuts may improve corporate decisions to stay in America, entrepreneurs and small business owners must become a top priority. Those who have been most hurt under the current capitalist system are middle class Americans;
•Reducing and eventually eliminating the $19 trillion-plus national debt;
•Striving for global “peace” and the halting of regional and worldwide conflicts; following 2008/2012 presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul’s call for non-interventionism is a necessity. End the influence of neoconservative philosophy aimed at endless wars;
•Resolving the Palestinian-Israeli issue, which has been cited as a very significant concern causing a very unstable Middle East; a two-state solution must be pursued;
•Rolling back and eventually terminating American foreign aid to all current recipients; halting the flow of military aid including lethal weapons of destruction;
•Re-examining relationships with America’s allies and elevating the values of non-violence and human rights as the key for such designated friendship;
•Re-examining America’s drone program, which authorizes targeted assassinations of suspected terrorists in various parts of the world. Killing innocent civilians (children included) and rescuers (including medical personnel) by unmanned drone attacks has resulted in blowback and the creation of young terrorists. This destructive policy must end;
•Respecting the legal process and habeas corpus by ending certain provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which allows the U.S. military to unlawfully detain American citizens on suspicion only and without charge or trial. This is a complete abrogation of constitutional principles;
•Rolling back the powers of the National Security Agency to prevent the overzealous collection of metadata on all citizens at the expense of the right to privacy. There should be further protection of “whistleblowers,” who have put the principles of the U.S. Constitution first, and who have exposed the Government’s violation of such principles at the expense of liberty and freedom.
In America, we can only have prosperity by pioneering a path of peace, not war. Trillions and trillions of dollars have gone to wars with inevitable destruction to other nation-states and their citizens as well as the killing of thousands of American military troops. Without peace, we cannot have liberty or prosperity. If a Trump presidency keeps these big picture issues in mind, America will be great again.
Deborah K. Smarth
PUBLISHED IN DAILY RECORD https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/opinion/letters/2016/11/16/trump-make-america-great/93927686/