Wanted -- A New Bottle ....

Well, I started to watch the Capitol Hill Prom Night when Obama made his appearance to try to start his reelection campaign. Because that’s what it was. But then I fell asleep but it was all on my DVR this morning.

Anyway Obama fulfilled his constitutional duty and gave his report on the state of the union last night and, if I had been he, this would have been mine.

We're in deep trouble.

You know why. Our debt has passed $14 trillion, and yet our current spending plans will make that worse. The U.S. debt will reach Greek levels in just 10 years.

But do not despair. If we make reasonable cuts to that which government spends, our economy can grow us out of our debt. Cutting doesn't just make economic sense, it is also the moral thing to do. Henry David Thoreau had it right when he "accepted the motto ... that government is best which governs least."

So what should we get rid of?

We start by closing the Department of Education, which did not educate one child since its creation. That saves $100 billion a year. Education ought to be in the free market. It's insane to take money from states only to launder it through Washington and then return it to states.

Next, we should close the Department of Housing and Urban Development: $41 billion. We had plenty of housing in America before a department was created. Let's get government out of that business.

Then we eliminate the Commerce Department: $9 billion. A government that can't count the votes accurately should not try to negotiate trade. Trade should be free. Free trade creates prosperity. And since trade should be free, we should eliminate all corporate welfare and all subsidies. That means: agriculture subsidies, green energy subsidies, ethanol subsidies and subsidies for public broadcasting. None of these is needed.

Let’s sell Amtrak! Taxpayers will save money, and riders will get better service. Why is government in the transportation business? Let's have private companies compete to run the trains.

Now for the biggest cuts. Republicans propose to cut discretionary nonmilitary spending. Good. But why stop there? That's only 15 percent of our budget. We must cut more. That means cutting Medicare, Social Security and the military.

I know. Medicare and Social Security are popular, but they are unsustainable. We must privatize Social Security and slowly replace Medicare with vouchers.

And that brings me to Obamacare. The only way to cut costs and still have medical innovation is to free the market. So I propose that we repeal Obamacare immediately. Then we must do more: We must repeal all government interference in the medical and insurance industries, including licensing. All that impedes competition.

Now, military spending. Do you recall what candidate Obama said about the war in Iraq?

"I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don't be confused."

But I am confused. We're two years past 2009, but we still have 48,000 troops in Iraq. We must shrink the military's mission to truly national defense. That means pulling our troops out of Germany, Japan, Italy and dozens of other countries. America cannot and should not try to police the entire world. We can't afford it, and it's not right.

Those cuts will put America on the road to solvency. But that's not enough. We also need economic growth.

Our growth has stalled because millions of pages of regulations make businesses too fearful to invest. Entrepreneurs don't know what the rules -- or taxes -- will be tomorrow. This discourages hiring.

All destructive laws must go. I again propose the Stossel Rule: For every new law passed, we must repeal two old ones.

We need to progress to an America that cherishes individual freedom. That means a government limited by the Constitution, one that protects our shores and our persons but otherwise stays out of our way. We should take seriously the words of another president, Thomas Jefferson, and embrace "a wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned -- this is the sum of good government."

That's my State of the Union address.

We are 14 Trillion in debt and yet Obama wanted to talk about salmon and Tunisia and Sputnik and high-speed trains 25 years from now that nobody will ride. Sure those things work in European countries and Japan. But those countries don’t go from sea to shining sea, 3000 miles apart.

And if we want to ensure that we provide Americans with high-speed Internet access equivalent to South Korea why not pay for it by pulling our 50,000 troops out.

And, while we’re on that subject, just think how much we could save by withdrawing our military presence from Europe. Of course, that might mean that those sophisticated Europeans have to provide their own umbrella at the expense of cutting their welfare programs but …. Life’s a Bitch.

Perhaps my premature retirement last night was partially due to the fact that I played my word game. I counted 13 iterations of “Investment” and 8 of “Civility”.

14-year old Oban would be nice but you’d still get a warm welcome if it’s just a 12.