The TX GOP

Last year I outlined the platform of my candidacy for the position of President of the United States of America.

Recently the Texas GOP has released their 2010 State Republican Party Platform, which by reports I’m reading is very similar to their 2008 Platform.

In the interests of full disclosure many of you know I am a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. My voting the past few years has tended towards Independent candidates who have aligned closer to my beliefs, but in the grand scheme of donkeys and elephants I tend to vote for more Democrats than Republicans. The reason is that I value social issues higher than economic issues. It’s also helped that the Republican party of the past 30 years has gone off the deep end. Going from a long held position of small government and balanced budgets to two of the largest spending administrations in history (Reagan and Bush 43).

With that being said, I have voted for Republicans who don’t seem to be total wackjobs. In fact many Republicans I know are reasonable people with well thought out positions; but there is a special place in my heart for those on the fringes. And a great example of this is the Texas Republican. No other set of right wingers have that unique mix of belligerence, homophobia, presumptuousness, and weaponry. Let’s compare their platform to mine.

Abortion
Might as well start with a biggie. I support the right of a woman to chose, especially when her health is at risk. In an ideal world there would be no abortions, but they will always exist in this world and we must ensure they are done properly and with compassion.
The TX GOP has a slightly different view. They have an entire section of their platform titled “Protecting Innocent Human Life” which has a very pure solemn ring to it; but how does one define life? Well I’m glad you asked, “All innocent human life must be respected and safeguarded from fertilization to natural death; therefore, the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.” Along those lines they would like to see an amendment to the US Constitution to have the 14th Amendment apply to unborn children. Funny how the TX GOP values a single fertilized cell more than a gay adult, but we’ll get to that later. Basically the TX GOP wants to make sure as few abortions occur as possible. I’m surprised they don’t go so far as to outright say all abortions should be banned, but I’m not sure what else would be the goal of “We are resolute regarding the reversal of Roe v. Wade.” Let’s just say we differ slightly on this topic… for example I’m not in favor the state providing the option of a “Choose Life” license plate.

Afghanistan-Iraq-Iran-War on Terror
Surprisingly our positions on this topic are not all that far apart. Aside from the reasons we are involved in these messes, we both agree that the US needs to see it through, and that Iran should not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. However, I would look to close the prison in Gitmo (by actually putting all detainees on trial) while it seems the TX GOP is fine with the status quo in Cuba.

Cuba
Speaking of Cuba, I support engaging Cuba to incent them to make reforms and to lay the groundwork for post-Castro Cuba. The TX GOP simply states: “We support the continuation of the embargo against Cuba until democracy is restored.” Surprisingly they support all Cuban refugees emigrating to the US.

Economy
While we may quibble on some of the details of the economy (I’m not so sold on incentives to have people give more money to faith based charities) overall we agree that spending should be lowered, the budget should be balanced, and Social Security should not be used to fund anything besides Social Security.

Education
This topic is somewhat mixed. I agree that we need to invest in schools, No Child Left Behind has not worked, the need to have competent teachers, and use corporal punishment. But after that we start to diverge. I like the idea of teaching the principles of MLK and that we should recognize and celebrate the contributions of all regardless of color and endorse a collective American identity… but they also state that MLK was a Republican. It’s pretty obvious that MLK didn’t subscribe to either political party and for one or the other to co-opt his name for political gain is shameful. Beyond that the TX GOP is really in favor student sponsored prayer in schools and getting parental consent before going near any topic like sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Lastly they also want Intelligent Design taught in schools. How about you let educators decide how/what to teach and keep your personal beliefs out of it? If you want your children to consider Intelligent Design you are more than welcome to teach them about it at home… how’s that?

Energy
The TX GOP is pretty brief on this one, but even since the disaster in the Gulf they support “an immediate end to the deep water drilling moratorium in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico”… yeah, good luck with that position if the oil spill in the Gulf drifts west instead of east. I believe that the government needs to take a more active position in forcing the US to start considering alternate energies. Of course there’s no money in electric cars right now, but without a mandate we’ll wait until the market forces our hands (a true oil crisis) instead of getting out in front of it. Government should use gentle steering and let the economic engine do all the work.

Environment
Not surprisingly the TX GOP is mostly concerned with property rights, water rights, and mineral rights. Not much to say otherwise.

Free trade
On one hand they support free trade with Columbia, but on the other hand they rant about pulling out of all free trade agreements. ???

Guns
We couldn’t disagree more on this topic. I support registration of all firearms, they reject any monitoring of gun ownership. I would repeal conceal and carry, they oppose “gun free zones”. Of course they also support the establishment of a “volunteer Constitutional State Militia.” I have no idea what that means, but I don’t like the sounds of it. Ask folks in Michigan how that works for them.

Health care
The TX GOP of course rejects “Obamacare” out of hand, without any specifics. They do support more transparency and choice for consumers… so they aren’t totally nuts on this topic.

Homeland security
We more or less agree that security is of the utmost importance. There aren’t specifics on how to make this happen. They spent 87 words on Homeland Security, but 205 on the right to bear arms and 1162 on abortion.

Immigration
My more conservative colors will show here as I fully support the securing of our borders and ports. I support stopping the flow of immigrants, drugs, and guns (going from US to Mexico) across our southern border. There will be significant economic impacts to securing the border, but the impacts of current state justify that option in my opinion. As for immigration as a larger issue, I again agree with the TX GOP in their quoting of Teddy Roosevelt:
America is a country of immigrants, we should insist that any immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself/herself to the United States. He/she shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else. This is predicated upon the fact that the person is in every facet an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance. Anyone who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t American at all. We have room but for one flag, the American Flag. We have room for but one language here and that is the English language. We have room for but one sole loyalty and that is loyalty to the American people.
(Teddy Roosevelt, 1907)

Social Security
Another topic I more or less agree with the TX GOP on. While it cannot happen overnight I support the phase out of Social Security and prevention of government of using the existing money to fund other items.

Stem cell research
Pretty standard boilerplate stuff from the TX GOP on this, and I agree with some of it; such as not creating embryos for the sole purpose of research… I’m a little queasy on that. But there is one line in their statement I have to share: “We encourage the adoption of existing embryos.”
Wha?? I suppose is they believe that life starts at conception that means you can adopt an embryo. In my humble opinion the embryo belongs who whomever it came from, and it’s up to them on what to do with it… put it up for adoption (??? that just sounds so absurd but I’ll go with it), have it destroyed, or donate to research. What is it about the combination of egg and sperm that gets the TX GOP so worked up?

Taxes
The TX GOP is hardcore on Taxes: “We recommend a national sales tax (which does not include a Value Added Tax) to replace all other Federal taxes once the I.R.S. is abolished and the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is repealed.”
I’m no expert on taxation, but I do know that some level of taxes are needed and I don’t know if an income tax (revised to get rid of the current confusing system) or a national sales tax is that answer, but if we go with a national sales tax can we mandate that all pricing must include the tax? I hate buying something for 99 cents and then going to the register and having to pay $1.06 for it.

LGBT issues
I saved the “best” one for last. I put best in quotation marks because this is where the GOP across the country loses me completely (as if their harsh stance on abortion wasn’t enough) and shows their homophobic and hateful colors.
As my own platform states, I am not in favor of gay “marriage”, I’m in favor of government getting out of the marriage business altogether. Marriages are the business of the Church, not government, and the Church can marry whomever they want. For legal purposes the government should recognize the Civil Union of two people; and I don’t care if they are two men, two women, or a woman and a man (or a transgendered person of any type). I support adoption of children by gay couples; I support gays in the military. Essentially I don’t see any valid reason to limit the rights of anyone based on their sexual preference. As long as you are a consenting adult, have fun! However, the TX GOP feels a little differently on this one.
As I run down their “STRENGTHENING FAMILIES, PROTECTING LIFE AND PROMOTING HEALTH” section here are my reactions…
There is no assault on marriage by judicial activists (and by the way, funny how if a judge changes a law to something a homophobe agrees with it’s not judicial activism). And can someone explain to me why the government should define marriage as between a “natural man and a natural woman”? I suppose the word ‘natural’ is in there to cover the transgendered. But why is this a problem? Here’s why; found under the heading “Homosexuality”:
“We believe that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans.”
Ok, but *why* do they believe that homosexuality tears at the fabric of society? Because they believe the homosexuals are deviants who prey on children, spread disease, and just plain make them feel uncomfortable. How narrow minded these horrible little people are. Their fear and insecurities do not give them the right to persecute those who are different. They are reminiscent of the Nazis. And to have the gall to hide behind their Christian religion is appalling. What would Jesus think of them? He would forgive them for they know not what they do; but He would not agree with them.
As if that isn’t enough…
“Marriage Licenses – We support legislation that would make it a felony to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for such.”
That’s right; if you were to marry two people of the same sex you would have committed a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year. You could lose your right to vote, own a gun (although I suppose the TX GOP would be ok without you owning a gun in this case), or run for public office.
The TX GOP also wants to get rid of all pornography and make sodomy a crime. … … Ok, it’s one thing to go after the gays… but making sodomy a crime is just ludicrous!
I beseech the Republican Party… please kick out the hateful religious wackjob bigots! This dictatorship of morality is no different than the radical Islamic mullahs who keep parts of the world under authoritarian regimes.

Now more than ever is why we need an alternate party who believes in smaller less intrusive government, but one that isn’t run by fear and hate. In closing I leave the Republican Party of Texas with this…