Weise announces formation of exploratory committee

My fan base is clamoring for me to challenge Congressman Todd Platts (R, PA-19) in the Republican primary next year. (Ok, one person suggested jokingly that I do this – that’s all it takes, there’s no stopping me now.)

The basis for my challenge is that Platts and other Washington Republicans have abandoned the core principles of American conservatism. In doing so, they have turned their backs on our founding fathers. My candidacy is an appeal to Todd Platts and all Republicans: come back home to America!

I have assembled a crack team of conservative intellectuals and policy wonks to help me craft position papers on the important issues of the day. Let’s begin with the hottest of hot topics: the debt ceiling.

Issue paper #1: the debt ceiling

I am astonished, appalled, and, frankly, saddened, that my friends in the Republican party have toyed so recklessly with the good credit of the United States. Tim Pawlenty, Paul Ryan, and Pat Toomey are among the Republicans who have argued that a brief default would be acceptable. But a default would be unconstitutional: the plain language of Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment states that “The validity of the public debt of the United States… shall not be questioned.” As Treasury secretary, founding father Alexander Hamilton insisted that the federal government assume and honor the debt that the states had run up under the Articles of Confederacy; indeed, under his leadership the federal government borrowed the money needed to pay off the debts of the states. Defaulting on the debt – indeed even threatening to default for political gain – is unpatriotic and un-American.

If I am elected, I will vote to honor America’s debts by authorizing an increase in the debt ceiling. I will support re-imposing the Gephardt Rule, under which budget resolutions authorized the Treasury to issue debt to cover the borrowing that they implied. I will fight for the conservative principles of small government, low taxes, and balanced budgets, but I will do so in the context of debate over the annual budget, not by holding hostage the good credit of the United States of America.

I will describe my proposals for restoring fiscal discipline to the budget in coming issue papers.