Putting America's House in Order: The Nation as a Family

Advocating even tougher measures than Newt Gingrich's ""Contract With America,"" this plainspoken, forceful manifesto calls for a bipartisan effort to eliminate the federal deficit and downsize government. Abshire, former assistant secretary of state and U.S. ambassador to NATO, and freelance journalist Brower recommend eliminating a plethora of congressional committees as well as instituting two-year budgets to replace the current one-year fiscal cycle. Instead of a specific tax break for families, they propose an Unlimited Savings Allowance involving an exemption on all new personal savings and investment, with taxes deferred until the monies are spent. Other elements of their blueprint are the creation of a high-level commission to impose binding fiscal parameters on Medicare; deregulation of industrial and environmental spheres; school choice; and employer-sponsored, paid apprenticeships as an alternative to federal job retraining programs for welfare recipients. The authors' overall emphasis is on devolving government activities away from the federal level down to states and communities, through block grants, privatizing of services and streamlining. 25,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Apr.)