About the Book

In this impassioned and stirring call to action, Walker shows us how “we the people” can come together to ensure a brighter future for our country and our children.

Social Security

  • Strengthen the Social Security benefit for those near the poverty level
  • Reduce the relative Social Security benefit for middle and upper income persons, which would ensure that benefits are better targeted to those in need.
  •  Gradually raise the normal and early retirement eligibility ages and automatically index them thereafter to future increases in life expectancy.
  • Raise the amount of wages and self-employment earnings subject to the Social Security tax (e.g., to $150,000)
  • Require supplemental savings accounts.  An additional 2 or 3 percent payroll deduction would go into an individual account for each worker, where they could choose from several professionally managed investment options.

Comprehensive Healthcare Reform

  • Impose a budget on what the federal government can spend on health care each year.  America is the only major industrialized nation that doesn't have one. 
  • Move away from fee-for-service payment systems and jury trials for medical malpractice suits.
  • Establish treatment standards based on sound clinical evidence of what works and what doesn’t, including end of life care. 
  • Better target tax preferences for employer provided and paid health care.

Medicare and Medicaid

  • The government needs to require more competitive bidding for Medicare and Medicaid and other federal health programs.
  • To bring in more revenue, Medicare should simply charge more to those of us who can afford to pay more. We pay for hospitalization insurance (Medicare Part A) through payroll taxes during our working lives, but doctor payments (Part B) and prescription drug benefits (Part D) are voluntary. Those who are better off should pay higher premiums than they do today
  • Maintain Medicaid for the poor, indigent and consider expanding it to cover certain near-poor families and individuals.

Tax Reform

  • Simplify the tax system according to the Reagan model: Keep the rates as low as possible, broaden the tax base by cutting preferences, and make the rules easier for us to comply with and for the IRS to enforce.
  • Get rid of or reform the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) so that it applies only to the country’s richest households, as it was originally intended to do.
  • Impose a progressive consumption tax possibly targeted for health care. More than a hundred countries have adopted the value-added tax (VAT), which is easy to administer, and deducted automatically in every transaction.  A consumption tax encourages savings over conspicuous consumption.
  • Make sure that the tax system is competitive and equitable while generating enough revenue to pay the government’s bills and deliver on the promises it intends to keep.

America's International Deficits

  • Cut the current account deficit to roughly 3 percent of GDP by enforcing tougher rules to prevent unfair currency manipulation, to regulate multinational corporations that answer to no government, and to stop protectionism. Our trading partners should not have unfettered access to our markets while they keep us out of theirs, or while they condone exploitative labor practices and damage the environment.
  • In the global production chain, America must remain the place that comes up with the new ideas, leading the way in the next round of information, telecommunications, alternative energy sources, and biotechnology. We can do this by educating our future workforce, opening our university doors to international students, and helping small businesses capitalize on their export opportunities.
  • Reduce reliance on foreign lenders by getting control of government deficits and increasing domestic savings rates.

The Pentagon and Defense Transformation

  • The Pentagon should integrate planning and budget process for the various services, putting together a common schedule of weapons and other needs along with funding priorities designed to address credible threats in an affordable and sustainable manner.
  • Cut back or eliminate production of weapons systems that represent individual service wants, but not our true national and threat and risk based needs.
  • Base service members’ pay and benefits on their skills and the risks they actually incur - a combat infantry sergeant at the front should not get the same benefits as a supply sergeant in the homeland who is never put at any real risk.

Political Reforms

  • Change the Congressional re-districting process to achieve more competitive races and a more representative House of Representatives.
  • Reform campaign finance rules to require that a super-majority of campaign contributions come from individuals who are eligible to vote for the candidate.
  • Impose 12-18 year term limits on Senate and House members in order to prevent entrenchment and facilitate a transformational reform.