Why Ted remains my fave

Who else among the slate is proposing this?

“We should shrink the size and power of the federal government by every and any means possible. What does that mean? That means eliminating unnecessary or unconstitutional agencies.”
– Ted Cruz

I. FIVE FOR FREEDOM

Abolish the IRS, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A Cruz Administration will appoint heads of each of those agencies whose sole charge will be to wind them down and determine whether any programs need to be preserved.

1. Internal Revenue Services – end the political targeting, simplify the tax code, and abolish the IRS as we know it.
2. Department of Education – return education to those who know our students best: parents, teachers, local communities, and states. And block-grant education funding to the states.
3. Department of Energy – cut off the Washington Cartel, stop picking winners and losers, and unleash the energy renaissance.
4. Department of Commerce – close the “congressional cookie jar” and promote free-enterprise and free trade for every business.
5. Department of Housing and Urban Development – offer real solutions to lift people out of hardship, rather than trapping families in a cycle of poverty, and empower Americans by promoting the dignity of work and reforming programs such as Section 8 housing

II. TWENTY-FIVE FEDERAL “ABCs”Empower the people by reducing the alphabet soup of Agencies, Bureaus, Commissions, and other programs that prop up special interests, at the taxpayer’s expense. A Cruz Administration will identify all unnecessary programs – these 25 are merely a start:Eliminate the following Agencies, Bureaus, Commissions, and programs:

Appalachian Regional Commission

Climate Ready Water Utilities Initiative 

Climate Research Funding for the Office of Research and Development

Climate Resilience Evaluation Awareness Tool

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Corporation for Travel Promotion

Global Methane Initiative

Green Infrastructure Program

Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program

Legal Services Corporation

National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Humanities

New Starts Transit ProgramPacific Coastal Salmon Recovery FundPresidential ElectionCampaign FundRegulation of CO2 Emissions from Power Plants and all SourcesRegulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from VehiclesRenewable Fuel Standard Federal MandatesSaint Lawrence Seaway Development CorporationSugar SubsidiesTransportation Investment Generating Economic RecoveryUN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeUN Population FundUSDA Catfish Inspection Program

This morning's parlor game: how long before the first howl from the Freedom-Haters makes its way onto the radar screen? (I'd make it a drinking game, but I'm at the outset of my productive hours, and you probably are, too.)