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Baird proposes reforms, courts controversy in book

Congressman advocates dismantling of federal income tax, entitlements

By Kathie Durbin
Published: September 28, 2010, 12:00am

“Character, Politics and Responsibility: Restarting the Heart of the American Republic,” by U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, is available online at

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/character-politics-and-responsibility/9160981

No one ever accused Brian Baird of shying from controversy.

Last year the six-term Democratic congressman from Southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District startled some constituents when he proposed dismantling entitlement programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, as part of a sweeping reform of national health policy.

His support for the Bush administration’s 2007 Iraq troop surge cost him the allegiance of many loyal constituents. His health care town halls in the summer of 2009 drew the ire of Tea Party members (Baird was a reluctant supporter of the final health reform bill). His official congressional trips to exotic locales like the Galapagos Islands have drawn national media scrutiny.

"Character, Politics and Responsibility: Restarting the Heart of the American Republic," by U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, is available online at

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/character-politics-and-responsibility/9160981

Now Baird, who is leaving Congress at year’s end, has self-published a book, “Character, Politics and Responsibility: Restarting the Heart of the American Republic,” which proposes fundamentally reforming or dismantling institutions from Medicare and Medicaid to the Electoral College to the federal income tax.

He’d replace entitlements with needs-tested benefits for all Americans, regardless of age; replace the income tax with a national sales tax; issue national ID cards to help stem illegal immigration; and replace privately funded political campaigns with limited public financing.

In the book’s introduction, Baird said he wrote the manifesto over a four-year period in order “to tackle some of the most significant and daunting problems and propose actions that I think are necessary, regardless of any political calculus or consequences.”

“In the process,” he declared, “I will say things and recommend actions that I know will upset some of the most powerful interests in the country, including many people and groups that are and have been longtime friends and supporters.”

Baird calls for simultaneously addressing many broad goals, from reducing the federal deficit and the national debt to adopting a carbon tax and steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to ensuring “that our foreign policy and military engagements are consistent with our core values and truly in our national interest.”

“We must free ourselves from dependence on petroleum and petro dictators and not spill blood, ours or anyone else’s, to feed this dependency,” he writes.

While not expressly calling for a military draft, Baird says, “We must encourage all Americans to serve their country.”

On education, he advocates putting parents in charge of improving education and granting across-the-board pay increases for teachers and principals, accompanied by merit pay, the elimination of tenure, and the removal of teachers and administrators who are not up to the job.

On immigration, he proposes a three-tiered policy for those already living in the United States illegally: Deport or incarcerate criminals; deport those who have worked here without paying taxes; and allow those who have lived and worked here and paid taxes to continue working under a new legal status.

Baird, who has consistently outspent his Republican opponents, saves some of his harshest comments for the current system of political campaign fundraising.

“The single most important and beneficial reform for our nation would be a complete ban on candidates or elected officials raising or accepting campaign contributions or spending of personal funds on campaigns,” he writes. Limited public financing should be the only funding directly available to candidates, he says, and that funding should be available only for limited time periods.

“There should be an end to political gerrymandering of Congressional and legislative districts; the Electoral College should be replaced by direct vote for the Presidency; and we should consider adopting direct runoff voting,” he writes.

Baird reiterates his long-standing call to give members of Congress, the press and the public at least 72 hours to read legislation before it is voted on. He also calls for Congress to be in session for full five-day work weeks, with periodic recesses to visit their home districts.

Though he has not served in the Senate, Baird also calls for ending the notorious legislative holds that individual senators can impose on presidential appointments, limiting the use of the filibuster, and filling Senate vacancies by means other than partisan gubernatorial appointments.

He also proposes that the House of Representatives consider selecting a nonpartisan speaker, “to ensure that the people’s business gets done for the sake of the people, not politics.”

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