My Economic Recovery Plan

I believe we a polishing a turd - a really huge, smelly elephant turd - when considering the Obama Economic Recovery Plan (OERP, which sounds a lot like vomiting). This country is fundamentally flawed in many ways, and before I get into my fixes for the economy and the country, we need to identify the reasons for this financial collapse:
1.) Personal irresonsibility - spending money we don't have, or making mistakes with the expectation that someone else will fix them
2.) Enabling "sloth" - government welfare programs that guarantee no pain to anyone, no matter how bad their personal decisions, with no expectations of getting off the government dole
3.) A "no one fails" mindset - all kids should get As, all kids should go to college, everyone should have a house, everyone should be able to buy what they want whenever they want it, etc. etc. - when no one fails, no one succeeds. When no one is a failure, no one can be considered excellent
4.) Dumbing-down the society - related to #3 - if we do not learn from history we are destined (or cursed) to repeat it
5.) Envy and class-warfare - the classes have been divided, and the producers in this society are demonized while the consumers are given the status sainthood
6.) Moral relativism - when there is no right and no wrong, anything goes - all bad behavior must be explained and understood, rather than discouraged or punished
7.) Feelings are valued higher than reason and rationality
8.) The Environmentalist Movement - protecting the environment in a reasonable way has been replaced with "people are evil and a blight" mindset, and the planet is somehow to be valued above everything else in its purest, untouched form - it has gone from good stewardship to worship
9.) Social Engineering and Manipulating Capitalism - Capitalism is a force of nature, it is natural law, and self-interest is a good thing (as opposed to selfishness, which is something else entirely) - government cannot tinker with this system in an effort to cleanse it of greed, selfishness, or to encourage what it considers "good behavior" and not expect that natural force to respond in ways unforeseen
10.) Lack of personal and economic freedom

Okay, that might be enough to generalize what got us into this mess. Now, to my fixes:

1. Return to the US Constitution. Any Federal program or department not granted authority in the Constitution would be immediately eliminated and turned back to the states to do with as they please. This would amount to massive cuts in the Federal Government, and an increase in local control over government - in other words, many of these programs and jobs would not disappear, they would just return to the state or local level where they belong. As another example of what this would mean, the "police actions" since the Korean War would no longer be Constitutional - the Congress is the only Federal body that has the authority to declare war - so Congress would have to decide if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are worthy, and if not, troops would be pulled home. Because the Federal Government is so far beyond its authority, and is essentially unconsitutional as it stands today, the ramifications of this fix could be discussed for some time, but to sum it up - the Federal Government would be lean and focused and within its constitutional authority, and all other powers would be delegated to the individual states to do with as they please.
2. Some results of #1 would be: elimination of federal welfare programs, phasing-out of Social Security and Medicare, elimination of many federal departments including most notably education, paying down the national debt.
3. Repeal the amendment to the Constitution allowing the federal government to confiscate money via income taxes. The income tax was originally instituted to wage a curent war, and was supposed to be abolished after the war was won (it was either the Civil War or WWI). The Federal Government is authorized to raise money via tariffs and levies - basically either tariffs on imports, or something closer to a national sales tax. The Federal Government has no business in knowing how much money you make, stealing it from you before it is in your hands to give to someone else, and manipulating your behavior via the tax code.
4. Everyone would pay taxes, rich and poor - everyone should have a stake in the Federal Government, and not just a stake in how much they receive in handouts. Today, 50% of the country does not pay income taxes. There is no way those people are going to vote for an efficient government - they are going to vote for whoever gives them the most money.
5. Remove all roadblocks to private industry. Beyond legitimate environmental concerns (such as air and water pollution that can travel across state boundaries) the Federal Government should not be placing restrictions on business and industry. Because of Environment regulations, it is impossible to get anything done in this country anymore - we can't build roads, or bridges, or drill for oil or mine for coal and steel, without jumping through a bunch of hoops and paying off a bunch of do-gooding environmentalist groups and causes. There is no way that we could build the Interstate system today. A new oil refinery hasn't been built in over 20 years in the country. We are stretching the capacity of our energy production to its limit, and we see brown-outs. This and many more examples are because we cannot get anything done at all in this country because of extreme environmentalism. If you want a true boost to the economy, we need to start making things again, and all efforts would be made to lower or eliminate restrictions to industry. THAT would put people to work, and the cost of doing business would be dramatically lessened.
6. The power of Unions will be lessened, because their government backing will evaporate. Workers have a right to Unionize, but if the private business wants to fire them all and hire non-Union workers, that is their right as well. As it currently stands, Unions expectations are unrealistic and create a situation where American businesses cannot compete. If the Unions did not have Big Government backing them, and the negiotiation table was level, perhaps more reasonable agreements will be adhered to, and we wouldn't have major companies going bankrupt because of past agreements, namely pensions, that put off the day of reckoning into the future.
7. Student loans would be targeted, if they even exist. We have a situation today where everyone goes to college, and for things that aren't marketable, primarily because the government gives them free money to do so. When your own money is not at stake, you make bad decisions. And when schools are dependent of government dollars to operate, they begin to compromise success for funding and social advancement. If you choose to become a history major, you are not guaranteed a job in that limited field. If you choose to become something marketable, such as an engineer, your investment will likely pay off. You do not need to go to college to succeed in this country - we need more entrepreneurs and less workers. We need more people who can make things or fix things than those who push papers around.
8. Public education will return to the states, where it belongs. If those schools want to lower standards, or socially engineer their students, that will be their decision, but each state will have to live with the consequences of either focusing on true success or the competing social advancement. States that do not strive for excellence will suffer the consequences in the marketplace, and will not be able to compete with states that do.
9. The Federal Reserve would be abolished, and a gold-standard (or some equivalent, perhaps energy) would back the US currency. Our economy is only as sound and stable as our currency, and the Federal Reserve has been reckless in tinkering with the money supply and economy through printing its fiat currency. Nixon took us off the gold standard with the understanding that money would be expanded and contracted as the economic grew and shrunk (Keynesian Economics), and government spending would be responsible and live within its means (not go into debt). As we have seen, we cannot trust government to be fiscally responsible, so the Federal Reserve - the enabler of bad fiscal policy - has to go and a sound currency needs to return. You need to have a solid foundation to take risks with your money and invest, and the volatile value of the dollar, and its coming hyperinflation, is the single greatest threat to our prosperity.
10. The Federal Government's first responsibility is to protect its people from foreign enemies, and to protect its borders. Just as I wouldn't tinker with the free market system, I would not tinker in international affairs. Free trade creates allies, and an exchange of both goods and ideas. I would focus on military strength, but would not use it unless the country was threatened. Nothing but the best and brightest would be allowed into our country. I would avoid entangling ourselves in international affairs and conflicts. I would remove the US from the United Nations, which is a worthless and corrupt agency, and focus on individual relations between sovereign nations. I would trade with free and democratic nations first, and totalitarian regimes would not be supported but would be penalized with high tariffs.

This "fix" on its face seems quite radical and extreme, but in reality it is just returning to the founding document of this country, the US Constitution, which delegates most powers and responsibilities to the individual states. It is the Unites STATES of America! The autonomous states were intended to be "laboratories of democracy" and could compete in the free market just as companies do, and the best system would arise from the competition. The only role of the Federal Government in the relations between the states would be to protect the free movement of people and goods across state borders.

You cannot have a free and prosperous society and country if the rules in the rulebook are continually changed and reinterpreted. Returning to the Constitution is the only thing that will save this great country from economic and political collapse.