Ben Shapiro presents the perfect antidote to the media’s non-varying narrative that defines, ad nauseam, the Republican Party in a negative light, by way of nine top options that communicate inescapably a proposed Republican agenda.

Crafting a cogent Republican policy agenda without the normal administrative infighting and delay must now take center stage to stave off an endgame that begins with crippling American insolvency and cultural dissimilation.  This must be coupled with a specific national search to glean from our newest batch of winners the next U.S. president and, perhaps more importantly, at minimum, a weekly public relations end run around the news, academia, and entertainment complexes to implement GOP goals. 

Shapiro proposes national legislation to block amnesty, secure the U.S. borders, budget individual federal programs, repeal Obamacare, fund the Defense Department, withdraw selective United Nations support, sanction anti-Israel terrorism, dismantle Common Core, and greenlight the Keystone Pipeline.

To successfully rebrand the GOP, state legislatures must back up Shapiro’s national platform with  legislation that mirrors the nine targets.  Democrats have proven masterful in adhering to conspicuous talking points that reverberate throughout classroom, television, and office discourse.  As a counter-measure, Republicans must coordinate legislative action at every level of American government, down to the smallest rural community’s one-room schoolhouse to underscore what must be an unmistakable message. 

With Shapiro’s template in mind, here are the top nine legislative operational goals, in his order, for Republicans in the North Carolina Legislature:
 
Defund Public Benefits for Illegal Aliens.  Individual states woo illegal immigrants with social and economic support merely to add to Democratic voter rolls.  Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution are individual states required to provide economic support for non-U.S. citizens; apparently one abhorrent Supreme Court decision continues to hold state taxpayers hostage without recourse until insolvency shuts down our border states.  North Carolina must specifically identify and immediately defund any and all economic benefits currently doled out to illegal immigrants and defund the umbilically attached agencies accordingly.  With the exception of emergency health care services, illegal aliens should receive absolutely no state-funded benefits if the American way of life as an economic superpower is to remain intact.
 
Bill the Federal Government for Incarceration of Illegal Aliens and Ensure That Republican Washington Purseholders Pay the States Back.  Apparently no one remembers that the federal government’s job is to secure U.S. borders.  North Carolina should separate illegal immigrants for incarceration from the general inmate population and charge any and all costs related to the detainment and temporary holding of illegal aliens to the U.S. government.  Furthermore, restitution made to victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens should be likewise charged to the federal behemoth.   Let Congress make these funds available for reimbursement to the states, an additional benefit being that Americans will begin to know the true costs of this hostile invasion.
 
Budget the Government in Piecemeal Fashion.  While Congress would individually fund each subsection of the government, following  Shapiro’s plan to force Obama to personally approve or veto every single one of those bills, North Carolina can review every state program on an individual basis to allow for public input on program efficacy as well as ultimate justification from agencies on all expenditures.
 
Create 100 County Hospitals.  Health care was a top voting priority for North Carolinians in the midterm elections.  Restore the balance to the American federal system by getting the federal government out of health care altogether.  Medicare, not Obamacare, with its commensurate price-setting, third-party administrators, paperwork, and fraud, was the beginning of the decline of the American health care system, and in any event, it will be bankrupt in twelve years.  Providing access to health care for all citizens in need, emergencies will be covered and sensible, and catastrophic policies can once again be sold openly in the insurance marketplace.

Uphold 2^nd Amendment Rights.  Why must Americans now beg for the permission to own a gun?  A basic requirement of government is security – at home as well as abroad.  The 2^nd Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms.  Gun permitting restrictions and reporting requirements need to be lifted so North Carolinians can provide, without obstruction, for their own self-defense.
 
Withdraw Funding from the University of North Carolina System.  Spending millions of taxpayer dollars to prop up university programs that offer credit for classes that do not even meet is an insult to the citizenry who work to fund the revered university system – most whose sons and daughters do not themselves have access to subsidized higher education.  The GOP legislature should without delay withdraw select funding from the 17 campuses of the University of North Carolina system where programs do not meet the instructional goals of the state, thus paralleling Shapiro’s United Nations approach.
 
Restore English Language Arts Requirements in K-12.  Under the guise of "World Literature," the great body of British and American literature of the past five centuries is now being systematically subverted with glee in the way of translated texts by Middle Eastern, African, and European authors that include graphic novels and pure and undisguised political propaganda.  Anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-American sentiment is seeping daily into the public-school classroom while grammar, writing skills, reading comprehension in English, rhetoric, American superiority, and critical thinking take a backseat to socialist indoctrination.  Mandate four years of high school English instruction, and make these classes count.
 
Authorize Local Control for K-12 Curriculum.  Common Core plagues the North Carolina public schools.  Teachers do not know what to teach, and students do not know what is expected.  It is a nightmare.  North Carolina does not need a renamed and dumbed down version of this same absurd approach to K-12 education.  After setting up serious and contemplative guidelines for high school graduation, the legislature can then free up local school districts to select the curriculum that best matches their respective students’ needs.  In other words, let parents decide.  This is hardly a novel concept, and it will help immediately do away with the last 50 years of non-accountability from the U.S.  educational system.  Further, there should be a legal prohibition against forwarding any student data whatsoever to the federal government, with or without a parental consent or opt-out clause.

Greenlight Oil and Gas Exploration across the Board.  Energy independence for the U.S. should be a top goal, as it is closely aligned with national security and long-term economic growth.  North Carolina can be a leader in promoting the energy industry with streamlined regulatory approval processes and the proliferation of a mix of sources to include fracking, nuclear, and renewable energy.

Republicans must eschew "comprehensive" legislation.  Shapiro’s ten-page maximum sounds like a wonderful start for the GOP.  Let it be known that Republicans enact legislation after thoughtful deliberation in succinct fashion.  This frightening tendency to use the naïve and dangerous socialist brush to fix all societal health, immigration, education, and environmental ills by way of omnibus pieces of unreadable legislation threatens our very democratic core. 

As Shapiro notes, there are many worthy legislative proposals for the GOP to pursue.  His bottom line, oft repeated in various forms by political pundits since Obama’s re-election, bears repeating once more: if Republicans blow this opportunity to draw a contrast with the Democratic Party, they will have failed dramatically. 

Republicans for the first time since Reagan should actually act like winners.

Dr. Marguerite Creel teaches public administration at UNC School of Government.  She is the former political science coordinator for Peace College in downtown Raleigh, NC.