Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 19, 1993 TAG: 9303190509
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROSS PEROT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
DISTRUSTFUL AMERICA
AFTER going $4 trillion into debt, our elected leaders should have created Utopia.Great jobs for everyone. An expanding economy. Best schools in the world. No crime. No illegal drugs. World's finest health care.
Instead:
We have the most violent, crime-ridden society in the industrialized world.
Our public schools rank at the bottom of the industrialized world.
We have 5 percent of the world's population and 50 percent of the world's cocaine use.
Our roads, bridges and other infrastructure are in decay.
Our industrial base and job base are deteriorating. Our citizens are not at work in good jobs. Millions have no jobs. We ship entire industries overseas.
We spend and say it's not spending. We tax and say it's not taxing. Let's call a dog a dog.
Our country has been mismanaged. If we were a business, we would be bankrupt.
In short, we have the worst of both worlds - a $4 trillion debt and problems that will take huge expenditures to resolve.
Our financial situation is critical. We have added more than $130 billion to the national debt since the November election.
The annual increase in the national debt exceeds the cost to fight and win World War II.
The mood across America is one of frustration, apprehension and distrust. There is a serious lack of confidence in government.
The recent Tax and Budget Summit made us skeptical, even cynical, about being manipulated and misled by our elected servants. Go back and look at what our government told the American people at that summit.
That agreement was supposed to deal with the deficit and to bring federal spending under control.
It didn't.
In fact, spending was increased $1.83 for every dollar of new taxes.
The people are concerned that the federal government does not keep books, that financial records either do not exist or are wildly inaccurate.
They are convinced they are routinely given misleading, distorted numbers by their elected servants.
The average citizen is willing to sacrifice to fix America's problems, provided that the programs to do so are sound.
This time the American people must have all the facts:
They want details, not sound bites.
They absolutely do not want tax-and-spending programs first, with only the possibility of cuts and savings at a later time.
They want to see the whole plan laid out, and explained to them in detail, before it is passed into law.
They want an audited financial report each quarter to see whether or not we are on target. If not, why not.
They want a balanced-budget amendment as a condition for the tax increase, to assure that we do pay our bills and eliminate our debt.
They want the president to have the line-item veto.
They want to clean up the federal election process and eliminate the Electoral College.
For Congress to be able to attend to the business of our country, we must dramatically reduce the cost of political campaigns, and the need to spend so much time and energy raising money.
We must have a mechanism that allows Congress and the White House to listen to the people.
The people, the owners of this country, want a proper voice in their government.
They want a government that comes from them - not at them from Washington.
The American people cannot be expected to sacrifice when their elected servants continue to live in royal splendor.
All sacrifice should begin at the top - with our elected leaders.
This is what I told the Joint Committee on Congressional Reform earlier this month. Our representatives must eliminate all of the perks and practices that have caused the American people to lose confidence in Congress. The White House must do the same.
Corporate America is downsizing. The federal government must downsize. The White House and Congress must downsize.
People realize that there are 300 committees and subcommittees and a personal staff that has grown to 12,000 in Congress, with an additional 20,000 in support agencies.
The people want their representatives to trim down.
In addition, fairly or unfairly, the people feel that our government and some of our government officials are for sale.
To correct this, we must get rid of foreign lobbyists.
Elected, appointed and career federal officials must come to Washington to serve, not to cash in.
We must shut the revolving door that allows people to instantly move back and forth from being a government official or a member of Congress one day to a highly paid lobbyist the next.
We must reduce the role of domestic lobbyists to that of only providing information - but not, directly or indirectly, providing money, influence, trips or anything else that would cause the American people to lose confidence in their elected, appointed or career servants.
The highest priority is for government to lead by example to regain the trust and respect of the American people.
The following advice could be the standard for this:
The budget should be balanced.
The treasury should be refilled.
Public debt should be reduced.
The arrogance of public officials should be controlled.
These are not my words. Cicero spoke these words 2,000 years ago.
My personal view is that the American people elect fine citizens who come to Washington to serve but become trapped by a system that is flawed.
The end result is a system that produces gridlock and a $4 trillion debt.
The systems must be changed if our government is to function properly.
To do this the question that needs to be posed should be, "Is it right or wrong?" Not, "Is it legal or illegal?"
Ross Perot was an independent candidate for president in the 1992 election. This column was written by Perot based on his March 2 presentation to a House-Senate committee on congressional reform.
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