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Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

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Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#71

Why does this post show up as flagged, but there's no vouch button which I normally see for flagged posts? I voted for Hillary, but this post shouldn't be flagged.

The vouch button appears when a story is flagged to the extent that it's killed, but [flagged] can appear before then. Since vouches saved this one and it's on the front page, we've removed the [flagged] label. Edit: and now the upvotes have countered the flags.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#72

"All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered “extreme vetting.” " I visit the US every year to see friends. Some of whom are Arab-American. I'm seriously worried that I'm going to find myself on the receiving end of 'extreme vetting'.

Free colonoscopy though.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#73
post #32

There's a lot of really scary stuff in there: - Cancel payments to U.N. climate change projects - Remove two existing regulations for every new regulation - Drastic tax cuts - Massive immigration changes

The hiring freeze for federal employees is concerning as well.

One of the major issues is that we've had several hiring freezes in the US civil service in recent decades. It causes a bathtub effect. You do reduce the workforce through attrition, but eventually you have to hire again and hire almost exclusively junior people (You lose a great deal of institutional knowledge (particularly critical for civil service which has many long running programs (for various reasons both good and bad)). Contractors don't really suffice in this regard because they (the employees, not necessarily the companies) tend to move much more frequently. It's going to be a problem.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#74
post #48

He's calling executive actions unconstitutional. Let's hope he sticks to that.

Doesn't he mean executive orders? I believe those are considered law, while executive actions are simply directional.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/11/20/365467914/...

EDIT: Never mind, he said ...cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#75
post #6

Whatever you think about Trump or the policies in that document, it's clearer and more concise than anything I've seen from an elected official.

And what are the repercussions if he does NOT achieve all these within the first 100 days? Will he step down? Come up with yet another plan? Contracts usually stipulate this as well.

[Edit: And the downvote brigade strikes - for merely asking a genuine question. I guess this is an indication of the sort of thing that we can expect 'top down' from now on... Stay silent, never question, just obey the mandates... sigh]

[Edit2: And now plenty of upvotes in support after my last edit, as well as useful replies - thank you for restoring my faith in democracy and the fact the people are willing to discuss and deliberate policies in a fair and rational manner.]

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#76
post #31

I'm worried about 18F/USDS/etc. because of the freeze on federal hiring. Partly I have friends there, but mostly, those organizations need to exist if government is going to be effective. They're getting things done, and they're also taking business away from government contractors who don't get things done (i.e., saving significant taxpayer money).

This happened during the Reagan administration. The money doesn't disappear, it just moves elsewhere.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#77
post #32

There's a lot of really scary stuff in there: - Cancel payments to U.N. climate change projects - Remove two existing regulations for every new regulation - Drastic tax cuts - Massive immigration changes

- Cancel UN climate payments, use money instead on America water and environmental issues. Sounds good to me. Let China and India clean up their own mess, while we clean up our messes.

- Yes. Too many regulations by unelected bureaucrats. Sounds good to me. I'd rather have one clear and meaningful regulation than two "up for random interpretation."

- Yes. Tax cuts for all working people. Let people decide what to do with their own money (spend, save, donate, etc.). The bigger the government, the smaller the individual.

- Massive immigration changes? Not really. The pamphlet seems to enforce existing laws regarding criminal illegals.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#78
post #48

He's calling executive actions unconstitutional. Let's hope he sticks to that.

Not exactly. He's just saying he will reverse those Executive Orders which are considered unconstitutional by many (at least many of those who voted for him in my community).

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#79

Some of this sounds great - term limits on congress, a measure to reduce the revolving door effect of government officials going into lobbying. Some of it sounds ridiculous - for every new federal regulation, 2 existing regulations must be eliminated. How is that considered feasible by any rational person? It might sound great if you don't think too hard about it. The scariest things for me are the backing out of cli…

Who knows how many outdated regulations are still on the books?

It seems the thing to do would be hire interns to start scouring for every "A married woman shall not chop down a birchwood tree on the day of her wedding while wearing her bridal gown" style law.

If this idea persisted for 50 years maybe they'd have to start repealing actual relevant regulations.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#80

Some of this sounds great - term limits on congress, a measure to reduce the revolving door effect of government officials going into lobbying. Some of it sounds ridiculous - for every new federal regulation, 2 existing regulations must be eliminated. How is that considered feasible by any rational person? It might sound great if you don't think too hard about it. The scariest things for me are the backing out of cli…

> How is that considered feasible by any rational person?

It's something that sounds simple and good to someone who not only isn't aware of the details of what it would mean in practice, but also isn't aware of their own inability to understand the details and nuance, or that there are details and nuance. It was a Dunning-Kruger election.

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