Common Sense is Missing From Our Congress
The way I see it, our government was formed on the principles of common sense. That common sense is missing from our Congress. It needs to be returned.

Today, the average American family demonstrates more common sense than does our U.S. Congress. We learned common sense by watching our parents, grandparents and the “ancient ones” go about their daily lives.

We are at a critical juncture in our history. Our national family is faced with serious challenges. That’s why we are in desperate need of a Congress that makes sense.
These are examples of the current Congress’s poor judgment over the last six years:

1. Providing large tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans in the face of large budget deficits shows a lack of common sense. Then, attempting to make those large tax breaks permanent in the face of huge budget deficits shows even less sense.
2. Putting trillions of dollars of debt on the back of our children and grandchildren is totally irresponsible.
3. Initiating a costly and unprovoked war in Iraq when the terror threat was in Afghanistan was simply foolish.
4. Misspending hundreds of billions of dollars in occupying Iraq shows a lack of common sense.
5. Getting caught in Iraq between religious groups that have fought each other for hundreds of years is a surprise only to those who ignore history.
6. Having a president who fails to fully denounce the use of torture on any prisoners threatens our own troops and freedoms.
7. Having a Congress that fails to fairly distribute the burdens and benefits of society among America’s families weakens our nation.
8. Allowing our leaders to exploit our fears makes us more vulnerable.
9. Failing to explore the reasons for our enemies’ hatred of us prevents us from understanding true threats to our country and strengthening our responses to those threats.
10. Failing to promote international exchanges of common citizens, and failing to build an enhanced Peace Corps, wastes real opportunities to fight terrorism.
11. Allowing our civil liberties to be eroded in the name of saving us from terror shows a frightening lack of common sense.

Here’s my plan for returning common sense to Congress:

1. The U.S. will bring our troops home from Iraq in six months — Iraq’s citizens will be on notice that it’s time for them to use common sense of their own to resolve their ethnic and religious differences.
2. The U.S. will complete the original mission against the terrorist threat — in Afghanistan.
3. Tax cuts for the wealthy will not be made permanent.
4. Congress will reinstate the pre-1994 rules that promoted a balanced budget.
5. Wasteful Congressional earmarks that allowed runaway pork-barrel spending will be eliminated.
6. Stop lobbyists from sneaking unfair tax breaks into legislation.
7. We will rein in the national debt and control our trade deficit.
8. I will support increased funding for the Peace Corps and other creative programs to promote mutual understanding of America among other peoples.
9. I will promote fair distribution of the burdens and benefits among American citizens.
10. I promise to always remind Congress of the common sense values that you use each day.

Common Sense is Missing From Our Congress
The way I see it, our government was formed on the principles of common sense. That common sense is missing from our Congress. It needs to be returned.

Today, the average American family demonstrates more common sense than does our U.S. Congress. We learned common sense by watching our parents, grandparents and the “ancient ones” go about their daily lives.

We are at a critical juncture in our history. Our national family is faced with serious challenges. That’s why we are in desperate need of a Congress that makes sense.
These are examples of the current Congress’s poor judgment over the last six years:

1. Providing large tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans in the face of large budget deficits shows a lack of common sense. Then, attempting to make those large tax breaks permanent in the face of huge budget deficits shows even less sense.
2. Putting trillions of dollars of debt on the back of our children and grandchildren is totally irresponsible.
3. Initiating a costly and unprovoked war in Iraq when the terror threat was in Afghanistan was simply foolish.
4. Misspending hundreds of billions of dollars in occupying Iraq shows a lack of common sense.
5. Getting caught in Iraq between religious groups that have fought each other for hundreds of years is a surprise only to those who ignore history.
6. Having a president who fails to fully denounce the use of torture on any prisoners threatens our own troops and freedoms.
7. Having a Congress that fails to fairly distribute the burdens and benefits of society among America’s families weakens our nation.
8. Allowing our leaders to exploit our fears makes us more vulnerable.
9. Failing to explore the reasons for our enemies’ hatred of us prevents us from understanding true threats to our country and strengthening our responses to those threats.
10. Failing to promote international exchanges of common citizens, and failing to build an enhanced Peace Corps, wastes real opportunities to fight terrorism.
11. Allowing our civil liberties to be eroded in the name of saving us from terror shows a frightening lack of common sense.

Here’s my plan for returning common sense to Congress:

1. The U.S. will bring our troops home from Iraq in six months — Iraq’s citizens will be on notice that it’s time for them to use common sense of their own to resolve their ethnic and religious differences.
2. The U.S. will complete the original mission against the terrorist threat — in Afghanistan.
3. Tax cuts for the wealthy will not be made permanent.
4. Congress will reinstate the pre-1994 rules that promoted a balanced budget.
5. Wasteful Congressional earmarks that allowed runaway pork-barrel spending will be eliminated.
6. Stop lobbyists from sneaking unfair tax breaks into legislation.
7. We will rein in the national debt and control our trade deficit.
8. I will support increased funding for the Peace Corps and other creative programs to promote mutual understanding of America among other peoples.
9. I will promote fair distribution of the burdens and benefits among American citizens.
10. I promise to always remind Congress of the common sense values that you use each day.