I think in concept we agree on a lot more of this than we disagree. I will say a lot of what is below can be bi-partisan, and not restricted to old school GOP or conservative. I'm not sure which of these are traditionally conservative, unless your argument is that liberals don't care about debt, deficits, or peace through strength. I wouldn't put #9 in either camp to be honest.
I think the only ones with which I take some issue are 5 and 7. On 5, our tax code is needlessly complicated, and the potential for a foot fault is quite easy. Biden's proposal on adding all of the extra agents was pitched saying it would not tax earners below $400k, which turned out to be false.
I think in this perfect world we're creating with a semi-balanced budget, real adjustments to entitlements, de-emphasizing nation building, and peace through strength, we can focus on a more simplified tax code that won't require such a large budget and need for audits. For now though, I'd be totally fine just funding the IRS to upgrade all their antiquated systems and help lines.
That thought on smaller government ties closely to point 7. I think there's more of a middle ground than what we currently have regarding the size of our government. I agree technology and other advancements have totally changed things, but if your position is that we can't meaningfully shrink the size of our government today while focusing on efficiencies we just have a fundamental disagreement. The volume of waste, fraud, and inefficiency in our government currently is legion. There are significant examples everywhere of government waste. And frankly when an organization reaches this size, inefficiencies, waste, and fraud are inevitably a by-product.
Anyway, like I said, we probably have more agreements than disagreements, and I appreciate your thoughtful reply. Have a good evening.