Five Points

Congressman Pat McHenry said the time has come for Republicans to embrace Reaganesque ideas, concepts so big and all-embracing he calls them "Newtonian".

What are these big ideas? McHenry says a free market reform of healthcare and education, making both of them tax free. "If it's really a priority, then show it," he said. Tax reform should be a primary goal, and should begin by abolishing the tax code effective December 31, 2010, when the Bush tax cuts revert back to Clinton-era levels. He called for the Secretary of Education to cut fifty checks a year, block grants to the states, then go home, work completed. (This is closer to a Constitutional role of the federal government in education, anyway.) Judiciary reform should take the form of term limits for federal judges and redistricting after every census, just like the legislature. Finally, he called for "a 21st Century Manhattan Project" to eliminate the dependence on foreign energy -- again, as a free market, incentive-driven endeavor. He suggested a $1 billion prize for energy innovation.