A checklist for our next president

Candidates: it shouldn't need to come to this

By Tom Kovach

(NOTE: This column was already written before I read the humorous checklist by Chuck Norris in the Monday edition of WorldNetDaily.)

This is becoming a truly strange presidential election cycle. First, in the off-season elections, a president sitting during time of war lost control of both houses of Congress. Then, as soon as those elections were over, an entire crop of presidential candidates began to spring up — a year early. Then, the front-runner in some polls was a man that had not even announced his candidacy. As if that were not strange enough, the candidates from the opposition party seem to all be competing on a platform of, "Which of us can destroy America the fastest?" In the last few days, one topic for some political pundits is which candidate might win — based solely upon the physical appearance of the candidate's wife! Has our population been drinking in Jonestown?

Lest some of my recent political commentaries be misunderstood, let me say it (again) plainly. I have nothing against Fred Thompson. I simply disagree with all the media fawning about him being the best man for the White House, especially when most such comments are based upon his portrayals of fictional characters in the movies. (And, of course, with the decisions that he would likely make as a member of the globalist Council on Foreign Relations.) But, no candidate deserves to have such comments made about a spouse. (Unless, of course, that candidate's spouse is declared to be a 'co-president'.)

So, what's a candidate to do? I'm so glad you asked.

The voice of the average voter is ignored by policy wonks and media strategists, who form a barrier between the public and the candidates. Unless a candidate came from an average background, it is hard for them to relate to the average voter. (So, why do voters keep on electing candidates from elitist backgrounds? That is another topic....) To help the crop of out-of-touch candidates get back down to the business of focusing upon America and her citizens, I have developed a checklist.

Any candidate that promises to fulfill the items on this checklist gets my vote. Any candidate that refuses gets nothing. That is so simple that even a wealthy lawyer running for office could understand it.

1. Establish a set of goals (not a date!) for the end of American intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. (And, if you discover that it is already "mission accomplished," then tell the Iraqi government that — after our troops are on the airplanes headed home.)
   
   
2. Secure our national borders — all of them. This will probably require the use of military force. That's OK. If you follow Item 1, then there will be plenty of troops available. The overall military budget will go down, and troop morale will go up. (Hey, that might get somebody re-elected....)
   
   
3. Obey the Constitution! That rule might seem simple, especially since taking an oath to do that is the first act that a president does in office. But, if the next president actually does it, that will undo the damage created by the last three presidents!
   
   
4. In the process of obeying the Constitution, eliminate agencies and programs that are not authorized by that wonderful document. If you do, the budget will almost balance itself.
   
   
5. Don't make many promises. But, keep the ones that you do make. (I practice this in my personal life, and so do most of the people that I spend time with.)
   
   
6. Free the wrongly-imprisoned Border Patrol agents. (And, please do it before attending the Inaugural Ball. That will send a signal to all government agencies.) While the ink is still drying on the presidential pardon, fire the judge and the prosecutors that handled the case. (Better yet, put them in the cells being vacated by the agents. On what charge? Treason, for giving aid and comfort to our enemies by working to weaken our national borders!)
   
   
7. Rebuild our over-committed and under-supported military. (Politicians have demanded "more with less." But, given that less than 25 percent of our Congress has ever served in the military, how dare they make those demands?) If we doubled the size of our military tomorrow, it would still be less than half the size that it was at the end of the Vietnam War.
   
   
8. Stop all immigration until our borders are secure, and all of the illegal aliens have been deported. (America has repelled invasions before — in 1815, 1848, and 1945.) And, while you're at it, Mr. Next President, how about removing the terrorist training camps that are within our own borders?
   
   
9. Tell the tree huggers to shut up! Conservatives breathe the same air and drink the same water. We care for the environment, too! (The environmental conservation movement was started by a conservative: President Theodore Roosevelt.) But, we are paying outrageous prices for petroleum products because our domestic drilling and refining capacities have been artificially suppressed by unrealistic regulations. Drilling is an industrial lifeblood issue. Refining is not only a lifeblood issue, but also a national security issue. The oil companies would get back to work if the tree huggers were put in their place.
   
   
10. Overhaul the tax system. (You could give newly-unemployed IRS agents the option to go to work for ICE, which will be so busy deporting illegal aliens that they will need more trained agents.) Eliminate the loopholes, and charge everyone the same low rate. If only ten percent is enough money for God, then how dare the government ask for more than that?
    
    
11. Fulfill our national promises to our veterans. When people have just come back from fighting for their country, don't tell them that they have just been "downsized," or that their entire unit has been deactivated, or that there is "no such thing" as Gulf War Syndrome, etc. And, keep in mind that some of our best and brightest were left behind. (Declassified KGB records have proven that American POWs were transferred to Siberia during the wars in Korea and Vietnam. Americans have also disappeared in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.) If America is looking for a fight, then a noble goal would be the rescue and/or accounting of all POWs and MIAs. That sure beats a war with the nebulous and open-ended goal of making a Middle Eastern country look and think more like the United States.
    
    
12. By the way, that promise thing in Item 5 applies to our national policies as well as to our president. Don't promise the world that we will take care of them, because we will not — nor should we.
    
    

I don't care how straight a candidate's teeth are, nor how stylish their hair looks, nor how pretty the wife is. I don't care if the candidate was born with the "golden pipes" that produce a resonant "real radio-announcer voice." I don't care how the candidate looks or speaks. I only care about what the candidate says, and whether they can back it up with action. Does such a candidate even exist? America is looking for a leader, not a cover girl nor a poster boy. No one should need to tell an entire of field of presidential candidates how to be an American; but, apparently, someone does. To become president in the next election, simply follow this checklist.

© Tom Kovach