Leading By Example

Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) attended Tuesday’s Bloggers Briefing to discuss the failure of the Obama administration to maintain the global leadership responsibilities of the United States.

“When the United States of America leads, the world is a better place,” said Rep. Jordan. “You cannot lead militarily; you cannot lead diplomatically, if you first don’t lead economically. Right now this administration is doing everything wrong in every major policy area, making it difficult for us to be the economic leader of the world, and therefore difficult to lead in other ways.”

Rep. Jordan, who is the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, criticized the Energy Department loan guarantee program for giving taxpayer money to energy companies with abysmal credit ratings.  “You cannot be the leading economy in the world if you don’t have readily available energy at affordable costs,” said Jordan.  “It’s the lynchpin, it’s critical.”

Jordan went on to attack the current personal and corporate tax codes as being “broken and stupid” and advocated the complete restructuring of the tax system.  He also called for less business regulations while stressing the importance of returning to a strong dollar.

The congressman made the crucial point that it is absolutely necessary to cut spending if the country’s GDP is to be higher than the national debt.  “We’re going broke. We’re going to have to cut spending. Every family understands this. Every village, every township, every county, every city, every business, every state understands. The only entity that doesn’t seem to get the message is the one that has the 16 trillion dollar debt: the federal government.”

The Ohio representative concluded with the reminder that for real and positive change to occur in the United States, citizens need to play an active role in solving the current governmental crises. “Americans have always risen to the occasion, and I’m confident we can do it again.”

Richard Thompson is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.

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