William Haupt III: We need a new contract with America
“Until someone is prepared to lay out the systemic problem, we will simply go through cycles of finding corruption, finding a scapegoat, and eliminating the scapegoat.” – Newt Gingrich Bill Clinton’s first term in office marked the beginning of the Republican Revolution. His promise to reform health care was soundly defeated. His executive order lifting the ban against gays in the military failed to energize leftist activists. And a barrage of political and personal scandals plagued the Clintons during his first term. The most deleterious scandal was that Clinton illegally profited from a back door involvement in a failed savings and loan on the Whitewater River in Arkansas. But none was more injurious to Clinton than the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA created a common market for goods, services, and investments with Canada and Mexico. U.S. workers were forced to compete with global competition for jobs that hurt their standard of living and threatened their future. This ill-fated agreement angered the unions and labor-friendly Democrats who needed union support. And America turned to the GOP to right the sinking ship. Prior to 1994, Democrats controlled the House for 40 consecutive years, with a coalition of liberals in the north and east with southern blue-dogs. Since Democrats held the House for 58 of the last 62 years and the Senate for 34 out of 40 years, they had no fear of Republicans in the 1994 midterms. According to the University of Colorado’s Paul Teske, both Bill and Hillary Clinton were easy campaign targets for the GOP. From Hillary Clinton’s failed health care bill to numerous corruption cases in Congress and Bill Clinton’s foray into NAFTA, America was ripe for the GOP revolution. “Every revolution seems impossible at the beginning, and after it happens, it was inevitable.” – Bill Ayers It was obvious America needed a change. Liberal Democrats in the north and the good-ol-boy-left in the south had dictated Congressional policy for almost five decades – which wasn’t working. They were about to be reminded that the “political pendulum always swings both ways if it is balanced.” The late senator Bob Dole reminded Republicans that they had been the minority in Congress for so long that they had forgotten how to take charge and govern. He said in order to win, they needed a platform that had national appeal with universal solutions for all Americans, not just Republicans. In an effort to unite Americans under a common goal, six weeks before the 1994 midterm elections, House Reps. Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey introduced a “Contract with America.” As ballots were cast, this not only gave Republicans control of Congress, it would also save the Clinton presidency. The Contract with America was a legislative agenda by the Republican Party for all of America. It detailed the actions the GOP promised to take – if they became the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in four decades. This was a true bipartisan effort to solve major problems confronting our nation. “We are in a struggle over whether or not we are going to save America.” – Newt Gingrich The contract’s text included eight reforms the GOP promised to enact and ten bills they committed to bring to the floor if they took over the House. It included issues that had been polled during the first years of the Clinton administration that 60% of the American voters collectively wanted remedied. The text of the proposed bills included in the Contract was released before the election. They represented significant changes in federal policy that included a balanced budget requirement and tax cuts for businesses, families, and seniors. It also included term limits, reforms to Social Security, and tort and welfare reform. It avoided controversial matters such as abortion and school prayer. Gingrich purposely excluded how these bills and policies would be enacted and what they would cost. He did not want to distort his goals. He knew these issues concerned voters, and they wanted them fixed. And if he didn’t deliver, it would cost him his job. He only wanted to impress voters that if the GOP took over Congress, they would make changes in government that all of America wanted. Lou Cannon of the Washington Post wrote, “Democrats attacked the plan as extreme and radical, and its solutions would make America worse.” They claimed that a balanced budget, tax cuts, and welfare reform would hurt the poor and do irreparable damage to institutions that had been in place for decades.” Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan protested, “This contract is a ‘hit job’ on Americans!” Although the liberal media and the polls minimized the importance of “The Contract with America,” Election Day 1994 proved fatal for Democrats. According to Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, Gingrich was responsible for the “Republican Revolution,” with the GOP easily taking control of the House and the Senate. They also won 12 governorships and took control in 20 state legislatures. As predicted, many of the elements of Gingrich’s “contract” that passed in Congress were vetoed by Clinton, and the ones that he signed did not radically change America as the left had predicted. Although the proposed balanced budget Constitutional Amendment failed to pass, Newt Gingrich and the Republicans led the crusade to end 30 years of federal red ink and balanced the budget. Joe Biden’s regressive “contract for our nation” was to turn America into a progressive Shangri la, with no strings attached. He promised to redistribute wealth from the rich with punishing new taxes. He vowed to stop drilling for oil, increase welfare, pay people not to work, and to open our borders. “I promise that all increased spending on federal programs will be paid for by the rich.” – Joe Biden Last election, the liberal media convinced America to buy into Biden’s “contract with America” and take out Donald Trump. We are now energy dependent on rogue nations with record-high inflation, a broken supply chain, a labor shortage, and have security issues due
William Haupt III: Nancy Pelosi’s home district is a progressive nightmare
“Nancy Pelosi’s district in California has rapidly become one of the worst anywhere in the U.S. when it comes to the homeless and crime. It has gotten so bad, so fast.” – Donald Trump In the 1960s, America’s boomers rebelled against authority and the Vietnam War. They pursued sexual liberation, experimental drugs, communal living, and civil rights. This counterculture lived by the motto “sex, drugs, rock and roll.” In 1967, thousands of hippies and flower children made their way to Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco for what was billed as the “Summer of Love” – and many never left. Haight-Ashbury soon eroded into an enclave for dropouts, addicts, and the homeless. In the late 1970s, the area was targeted for gentrification, and investors began cleaning it up. By 1990, Haight-Ashbury was among San Francisco’s most affluent and expensive neighborhoods. But today, it is home to tent cities with trash-ridden streets ravaged with violent crime, and it is a Mecca for drug users and sellers. Conditions are worse than slums in almost every other U.S. city. How can the most expensive place to live in America also be one of the worst places to live in the U.S.A.? While San Francisco has been the most progressive city in America for years, this liberal utopia has not always been a harbor for addicts, the homeless, criminals, and social derelicts. “It’s an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco.” – Oscar Wilde In the 1960s, liberal strategist Phillip Burton saw the potential of growing the Democratic Party by pandering to the hippies, minorities, and gays. With their support, he was elected to the U.S. House in 1964, where he served until his death in 1983. His wife Sala Burton held this seat until 1987. In a special election, Nancy Pelosi seized this coveted progressive prize in 1987 and won’t give it up. With the election of far-left liberal Gov. Jerry Brown in 2010, San Francisco became a progressive paradise. In 2014, Brown financed Prop 57, which helped free thousands of California inmates from prison. Voters also approved Prop 47, which reduced most nonviolent crimes, including theft under $950 to misdemeanors. Both were pushed by Lt Governor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco district attorney George Gascón, the San Francisco Democratic Party, and the Harvey Milk LGBT Club. In 2016, voters approved Prop 64, giving municipalities the power to ban or sell weed. But many cities and counties did not react. A 2011 federal court had ruled that local governments trying to regulate the sale of weed would violate federal law. But it was welcomed by all San Franciscans. By 2019, the deregulation of crime, release of thousands of inmates, legalization of cannabis, and declaring California a sanctuary state enabled new Gov Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, to clone the entire state of California into a progressive twin sister of San Francisco. San Francisco has declared the NRA a “domestic terrorist organization,” banned fast-food joints that include toys in children’s meals, outlawed plastic bags and straws, raised the minimum wage from $9.79 to $15.59 an hour, and refuses to prosecute anyone for nonviolent crimes. While these policies appeal to the far left, they also encourage the homeless and derelicts to venture up north. How bad are things in San Francisco? According to a KGO news report, in 2011, the Bay City spent $157 million on the homeless. By 2016, it was up to $242 million. In the 2021 budget proposal, it is now over $364 million. The consensus estimates the homeless population is at least 17,500. “As mayor of San Francisco, I witnessed its greatest cultural and social transition.” – Gavin Newsom Progressives insist the stark contrast in wealth and poverty is the result of the failure of capitalism to provide for the needy. But while politicians preach “compassion,” their policies have resulted in record-high levels of homelessness, drug addiction, and a rapid increase in violent felonious crime. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the city’s policies have created an “influx of about 450 homeless people a year who migrate to places like the Tenderloin District. This is a sanctuary for people hiding out from the law who do not want the government to know where they are living. In reaction to the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests and riots, along with outrage by activists against police, San Francisco elected progressive Chesa Boudin as district attorney of San Francisco in 2020. He was endorsed by Angela Davis, Bernie Sanders, and Ibram X. Kendi. Boudin, the adopted son of radicals Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, quickly reduced the use of cash bail and restrained the power of the police. He quit prosecuting misdemeanors. He then did the unthinkable and started charging police officers with felonies who used force during arrests. “I will move away from the draconian, tough-on-crime, three-strike super-rhetoric hype.” – Chesa Boudin According to Stop Crime, the Bay City is experiencing a dramatic increase in serious crime under Boudin. Burglaries are up 42%, and homicides have increased 30% compared to the previous year. Motor vehicle thefts have risen by 71%, and arsons have jumped over 35% since he became DA. Recently, a local ABC News reporter witnessed a shoplifter sweeping entire shelves of products into garbage bags inside a Walgreens. He mounted a bike and rode past a security guard out the door. Other retail stores are reporting the same problems in every neighborhood in San Francisco. “This rise in crime is a result of Chesa Boudin’s soft-crime policies.” – Frank Noto, Victim’s Rights It’s been said that “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” All good intentions of Prop 47 and Prop 57 have been undone by Chesa Boudin’s leftist extremism, pandering to criminals, and punishing the police for doing their job. What’s happening in San Francisco is proof of how quickly perjured progressive idealism can turn an economically prosperous city into a living hell on earth. It is hard
