Raymond Buranello

Raymond T. Buranello (born November 26, 1950) is a Libertarian who put together a package of proposed reforms used in his 2002 U.S. senate campaign that May Be used by other politicians at will. The package is designed to eliminate most of what Buranello thought was detrimental to the nation: political corruption, unconstitutional laws and pervasive government at all levels.

The major points are:
#Repeal of the 16th and 17th Amendments

1. Time, not just term limits for government service at high levels
2. Elimination of Federal income tax, all property taxes and estate taxes
3. Creation of a fourth branch of government in Citizens Committees
4. Sunsetting of all non-constitutional level laws on some cycle of perhaps 10-20 years.

Repeal of the 16th Amendment would end the federal income tax. Only approximately 34% (figure ca. 2000, but changes over time) of federal revenue comes from this tax, but complying with its ever-changing provisions is so costly it has been estimated that the government makes no net gain on the tax on incomes below $50,000. Without a federal income tax, the states could raise their own taxes and escape the current heavy federal control: the federal government directly taxes state citizens and then releases some of the monies back to the states with strong federal control. States have no direct representation in Washington now due to the 17th Amendment which mandated popular, rather than state legislature, election of senators. State legislature selection was the original plan for a balance of powers between national and local levels. State selection of senators, perhaps with public approval, would re-balance federal and state power.

Total time limits for elected and appointed high government officials would PReVENT the creation of an elite of professional politicians. Lifelong politicians can insulate themselves from their own current decisions by setting their own compensation and perquisites without public review and often exempt themselves and government agents from various onerous laws in direct violation of the 14th Amendment, which mandates equal protection under the law. Short term citizen legislators would be far more likely to act with restraint as they would be returning to the private sector and would have to deal with the consequences of their own actions.

Property and income taxes burden productivity, as opposed to sales, excise and use taxes which burden consumption. Without federal income tax, states could still have income taxes but local citizen input would be more effective at influencing them and their operation than at the federal level.

Presently there is no direct control of government by the people. Theoretically there is the ballot box, but elections are relatively rare events and not all officials who influence public policy are elected, such as Supreme Court Justices, Cabinet officials, and many others. The remedy here is to have a system of Citizen's Committees operating not unlike the jury system where members would be selected from the general public. The Committees could not pass law or raise tax revenue. Their function would be to review the actions of all public servents under their purview and decide if the actions appeared to be unconstitutional. If so, they would be enpowered to nullify laws and discharge government officials whether elected, appointed or hired. Their power would arise from the requirement that they sign off on appropriate budgets. If their efforts were thwarted they could merely refuse to sign necessary budgets.

Finally, a method is to be used to eliminate the numerous laws, many unconstitutional by their very subject matter, that have been passed. Fighting laws on an individual basis would be prohibitively expensive. With strong law sunsetting, all laws except the constitution itself would have to be debated and passed again by legislatures. This would help focus attention on truly important law and discourage frivolous law. Also, law making power could not be delegated to bureaucrats - all laws would have to be passed by persons responsible to the electoral process.

Buranello's 2002 senate campaign was in Delaware for the LPD (Libertarian Party Delaware). Buranello and candidates from the Republican, Independent and Natural Law parties lost to the Democratic incumbent, Joseph Biden.