Let me start this rant off by saying I think the Republicans should have kept this under wraps for a while. I honestly think it takes the pressure of the democrats for their job performance since 2006. But maybe that’s just me.

Here are the highlights of the “Pledge to America” released from the Republican party:

The Choice underneath each point is my edits. It’s the CHOICE that must be made to pull the lever for the Democrats:

ECONOMY:
# A move to “permanently stop all job-killing tax hikes.”

Democrat Choice: Increase job killing taxes

# A plan to award small businesses a tax reduction of 20 percent of business income.

Democrat Choice: Punish small business with tax increases and other regulation that kills jobs. (Record is ongoing since 2006)

# Reining-in of government “red tape.”

Democrat Choice: Increase regulation “Red Tape” by passing more laws and union friendly mandates

# A repeal of “job-killing business mandates.” This specifically refers to a provision in the health care law that requires businesses to report to the IRS any transaction over $600. Small businesses argue the requirement is cumbersome.

Democrat Choice: Keeping all aspects of the obamacare package which is killing jobs and keeping our economy from recovering.

GOVERNMENT SPENDING:
# An immediate reduction in all federal spending and a cancellation of all unspent stimulus money.- A cut in government spending to pre-stimulus and “bailout” levels.

Democrat Choice: Spend more money, increase government spending in the hopes that we can spend our way out of this mess that was left for Obama by a Republican president and a Democrat congress.

# The imposition of a “hard cap” on discretionary spending, meaning the government can’t go above a certain level.

Democrat Choice: Removal of any cap in spending and letting Government control continue as is.

# A request to hold weekly votes on spending cuts.

Democrat Choice: No vote on spending cuts, no cuts, let the POTUS spend whatever he wants.

# “End TARP once and for all.” That’s a reference to the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which Congress approved to assist banks and financial institutions with liquidity in the fall of 2008.

Democrat Choice: Keep TARP, bail out whoever is too big to fail.

# Demand a net hiring freeze of all “non-security” federal workers

Democrat Choice: Hire more federal workers, the tax payers pick up the tab.

GOVERNMENT REFORM:
# A requirement that all bills lay over for 72 hours in the House before being voted on.
Democrat Choice: Nobody in the public needs to see a bill before congress votes. Just pass it or block it we trust you.

# The mandate that all lawmakers writing legislation must include a clause in the measure demonstrating that the bill would be “Constitutional” if enacted.

Democrat Choice: The constitution doesn’t matter, if congress thinks it will help the nation, we trust you to know whats best that’s why you got elected.

# An effort to prevent non-related bills from being packaged together.

Democrat Choice: Package anything you need package in order to pass something you think is important.

HEALTH CARE:
# A move to “repeal and replace” the health care reform law and instead approve medical liability reform legislation.

Democrat Choice: Keep the ObamaCare law as is don’t mess with it at all.

# A call to make the “Hyde Amendment” permanent. The Hyde Amendment is named after the late-Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL). Congress reauthorizes the Hyde Amendment every year. It builds a firewall that ensures that federal dollars are not used for abortion services.
Democrat Choice: All tax payers should fund abortion. Repeal the hyde amendment.

NATIONAL SECURITY:
# A requirement that all troop funding bills be “clean.” In other words, that legislation must be free of any extraneous issues.

Democrat Choice: Attaching other bills to the defense bill allows them to pass, this process should continue.

# The demand that terrorism suspects be kept off U.S. soil.

Democrat Choice: Any person in the world should be allowed the freedoms we have in America. Our laws should apply to everyone regardless of crime.

# A call to impose sanctions against Iran unless certain security conditions are not met.

Democrat Choice: Iran is not a threat to anyone, leave them alone or reach out in friendship and try to start a dialog.

These are the choices. There are huge differences between the parties and this just brings them out in the open. Perhaps it’s a good thing. We’ll see.