A Dozen Things Washington Would Fix (If it Wasn't Broken)

Washington is broken. The political interests control what happens instead of the needs and desires of the American people. This gridlock can still be fixed with a program of reasonable solutions that have widespread support among Americans. Instead of fighting over who will lead an ineffective House of Representatives, why not have a government proposing and analyzing solutions to problems like Social Security, Medicare and the tax system? This book offers concrete solutions to more than a dozen important issues.

Washington is broken. The political interests control what happens instead of the needs and desires of the American people. This gridlock can still be fixed with a program of reasonable solutions that have widespread support among Americans. Instead of fighting over who will lead an ineffective House of Representatives, why not have a government proposing and analyzing solutions to problems like Social Security, Medicare and the tax system? This book offers concrete solutions to more than a dozen important issues. Inside are specific proposals for making Social Security last forever without any cut to existing benefits. America has 4.3 million citizens living in its territories and the District of Columbia who pay taxes, are drafted and volunteer to defend America but who cannot vote in federal elections. They deserve representation. Americans support age and term limits. The book has a plan to get there. Immigration and Medicare are all discussed in terms of what Americans regularly want when asked by polling companies. We should have a tax system that ends its present millionaire welfare exemptions and deductions. We also should update our age-old laws on gambling, marijuana, and abortion with provisions that reflect this century, not the last. Right now, one federal judge chosen by a plaintiff can issue a national injunction to block major federal programs for the entire country. This is too much power for a judge picked precisely because of their views on the topic. Even if Congress saves the Social Security program, we need a better system of retirement plans to supplement Social Security. Educational debt relief is necessary to free the next generation from debts imposed by a system tilted against them by prior statutes and regulations. We need a better method of budgeting at the federal level to avoid budgeting by crisis in favor of real planning. Finally, the book has specific suggestions for ending the federal Superfund program, fixing the Postal System and adopting specific gun safety regulations already endorsed by a majority of Americans. It is an ambitious list but we have fallen behind with the lack of solutions from several recent administrations and a Congress that prefers to cast blame instead of solving problems.

Raymond Reott grew up in a modest home in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania with parents who fortunately saw the value in education. Ray is a1977 graduate of Georgetown University's College of Arts and Sciences. He then got a law degree from the University of Chicago where he served on the Law Review. After clerking for year for Judge Richard Cudahy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, he joined a Jenner & Block, a large Chicago law firm. Over time he became a partner and turned his litigation practice into a long career in environmental law. In 2002, Ray left Jenner to start his own firm specializing in environmental matters where he practices at the present. As part of that practice, he also has worked for over ten years in an of counsel capacity for Barack, Ferrazzano, Kirchbaum & Nagelberg LLP. For over twenty years, he was the editor of the Environmental Law Newsletter for the Illinois State Bar Association. Ray lives quietly in Chicago, travels frequently to Brookline Massachusetts to help care for his twin grandsons, is a serious board game player and is an avid but bad golfer.