In the 1990's, the condition of America's two party political system had deteriorated almost to the point where it is today. The Clinton administration and the Democratic controlled Congress were hard at work aggressively pursuing the implementation of universal health coverage otherwise known as Hilliary-Care. Shortly before the 1994 election, a small group of concerned conservatives of the House of Representatives banded together and created a document that pledged major political reform. The pledge was conditional on their party being elected and taking control as the majority party. The Contract with America was overwhelmingly received by the public. The Contact with America ushered in a conservative revolution.

The Contract with America was a document created and released by the Republican Party six weeks before the 1994 Congressional election campaign. The Contract was a list of action items that the Republican Party promised to under take if they were elected to the majority in the 1994 election. The Contract included 8 major reforms, but avoided the two controversial issues of abortion and school prayer. The content of the Contract with America appeared to contain over 50 percent of the text of Ronald Reagan's State of the Union Address in 1985. Many of the ideas included in the Contract were conceived by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

The Contract was seen as being revolutionary in both detail and commitment. The contract offered to bring specific legislation for a vote within their first 100 days. The contact represented the views of the conservative element of the Republican Party on issues of such as shrinking the size of government, lowering taxes and increasing entrepreneurial activity. The contract also offered both tort and welfare reform.

The results of the 1994 election were dramatic and ushered in a tremendous landslide victory for the Republican Party. Voter turn out for the Republicans in 1994 increased by almost nine million as compared to the previous off-year election, while the Democratic Party voter turn out saw a decrease of one million voters. The almost ten million vote swing resulted in the Republican Party picking up 54 seats in the House. The Republican Party had become the majority for the first time in 40 years. The Contract was seen as a major triumph for the American conservative movement.

As pledged in the Contract, on the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority began their work reforming Congress. The reforms were purposely aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government. The contract proposed the following rule changes:

• FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress
• SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse
• THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third
• FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs
• FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee
• SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public
• SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase
• EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting

In addition to the procedural changes proposed in the Contract, the Republicans also promised to introduce additional reforms within their first 100 days. Acting as the majority party, they began to propose the policy reforms that were outlined in the contract. The text of the ten (10) proposed bills was included in the Contract and released to the public prior to the 1994 election. These proposals were not merely governmental reforms, but offered significant changes to government policy. Some of these policy changes included providing individual and business tax cuts, term limits for all legislators, social security, tort reform and welfare reform.

The conservative Republicans in the House were successful in keeping their promise. They brought all ten of the proposed Bills to a vote in the U.S. House during their first 100 days. Nine of the ten bills were passed by the House. Unfortunately, the only bill that did not pass was Term Limits. The bill did receive a plurality vote, but failed to receive the required two-thirds majority. The bill failed due to the resistance of the Democratic minority. The following is a list of the results of the Contract with America:

• Imposed Term Limits on Committee Chairmen.

• Imposed Term Limits on the Office of Speaker.

• Legislative staff’s were cut including in the Speaker's office. Reduced committee sizes and many unnecessary perks were eliminated.

• Congress was forced to live under the same laws as the rest of the nation. (OSHA, disabilities, and workplace laws)

• A big six accounting firm audited the U.S. House's finances.

• Had a Balanced Budget for the first time in a generation.

• The line-item veto passed and was signed into law.

• Eventually after an overriding a Presidential veto, taxes were cut for the first time in 17 years. Included were cuts in the capital gains tax, a $500 per child tax credit and new tax credits for tuition to college and voc-tech schools.

• Military spending was increased for the first time in over 10 years including the funding for a national missile defense.

The Contract with America resulted in years of economic prosperity. During the years following the conservative resolution, the Republican Party began to lose their way. For several years, the Party has exhibited NO restraint or political courage. Pork barrel spending and waste has abounded. Our conservative beliefs have been hijacked by the views of moderate (McCann) and liberal (Snow) elements of the party. The attitude of the Party has become “well let’s just get along”. Friend, you can not “just get along” or “appease” liberalism. Liberalism must be contained and defeated. Liberalism is defeated by taking action which starts in the arena of ideas. Both of our political parties have been asleep at the wheel. They have NOT been listening or paying much attention to the conservative resistance to the socialist policies of the current administration. The Contract of America was birthed in the arena of ideas. The question now becomes, is it NOW time for another conservative revolution?

Below are a few items that might be presented in a NEW Contract with America:

• Adopt Congressional Term Limits
• Implement the Fair Tax
• Legislation shall contain NO unrelated amendments
• Reform the Department of Education and Add School Voucher system
• Pass Nationwide Medical Malpractice Tort Reform
• Implement English the Official Language of the United States
• Congress Shall Not Exempt Themselves from Any Bills Passed by Them
• Implement Interstate Health Insurance Competition
• Drill, Drill, Drill Domestically for Oil
• No Lifetime Salary and Benefits for Congress
• Promote Free Market Capitalism
• Balanced Budget Amendment
• Repeal All "Cap and Trade" Laws
• De-fund All Activist Groups such as ACORN
• Strongly Enforce All Existing Immigration Laws
• Salaries Set for Congress Must be Approved by a Vote in the General Election
• Register for Voting only with Proper ID and in Person
• Make U.S. Flag Burning a Capital Crime
• Require Congressmen to sign an affidavit signifying they have personally READ the entire piece of legislation that is up for vote