GOVERNMENT'S NEW MINIMALIST MISSION

[what we need...]

With the unsustainable growth of government, there is an immediate need to rebuild from the ground up -- on a much smaller scale and with a new mission: Keep us safe and leave us alone, say Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins, former Treasury Department officials.

A set of minimalist guidelines may be useful:

> Tell voters the truth about the high cost of taxes weighed against the often low benefit of spending and force Congress to adhere to a cost-benefit budget procedure, conducted in the open with full public notice and voter participation.

> Give everyone a "tax cut dividend" when spending reduction targets are met -- and send them a bill for additional taxes when spending goes up; government will shrink, the economy will grow and, with a large base of prosperity, America will always have plenty of money with which to meet any crisis.

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