But wait, there's more! They also want to ban all pornography and have the FCC shut down broadcasters who run certain types of programming and advertising. No more viagra ads for you, my morally upstanding fellow citizens. Just burn your copy of the Constitution and replace it with a Bible.
At this point, with the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution in shreds you'd think they were done, but we haven't even gotten to the part about "Protecting Innocent Human Life." Of course, I expect any Republican platform to be more or less pro-life and I've resigned myself to that fact, but in the ongoing celebration of religious fanaticism, they go on for almost two pages in an effort to redefine the ultimate expression of anti-abortion zealotry. The reason they go to such lengths is clearly that they don't think calling for an outright ban on abortion is feasible. Instead their goal is to sort of nibble it to death.
Along the way they want to ban any form of assisted suicide, as many forms of abortion as they can, any funding for abortion clinics, all forms of fetal tissue harvesting, stem cell research, human cloning, RU486, the 'morning after' pill and even surrogate motherhood and adoption of unborn embryos. The other main thrust of their strategy is to have the state propagandize abortion to death, by requiring parental notification, providing extensive information on abortion alternatives and fetal pain to abortion clinic customers, much of this supported with state funds. Then they want to make doctors who perform abortions liable to suit for malpractice by patients who have second thoughts and they want to make them potentially liable for criminal prosecution.
Some of the rest of this section isn't so bad. The moralistic movement does at least go hand in hand with a strong belief in parental rights, and that's represented in several resolutions protecting parental rights and privacy from the state. The section also seems to be informed by the recent egregious behavior of child welfare agents in dealing with the FLDS compound in West Texas, with a strong statement on accountability for those agencies. Some of it is a bit neanderthal, with an endorsement for corporal punishments of children not just in family homes, but also in foster care and schools. It looks like the civil libertarians and fiscal conservatives also got in some of their resolutions here, with an endorsement of widespread welfare reform and a gradual phase-out and privatization of social security. Unfortunately, one of the resolutions pushed by Governor Perry also made it in, with a proposal to not only ban any new forms of gambling in the state - while 80% of the cars in Louisiana casinos have Texas plates - but also to go even further and repeal the state lottery and also prohibit the state from profiting from gambling. The voice of the Baptist womens quilting societies remains strong on this issue to the great fiscal detriment of the state and every taxpayer in it.
Article comments
1 - Pablo
Do people actually read this Dave? I sure don't.
2 - Dave Nalle
Nice to see you found it anyway, Pablito. I know politics isn't really your thing, but for some of us looking at a document like this is a way of understanding where the Republican Party has gone astray and what problems we need to address.
Dave
3 - Pablo
[Edited]
Dave,
The republican party went astray? Ya dont say. I would have to agree, since um about the days of ole Abe, however Ike had one brief shining moment in his warning about the military industrial complex. Good luck with the good ole boys Davey. :)
4 - Pablo
Well I broke down and looked at your article Dave, I usually do sooner or later. I particularly liked the paragraphs under the "Preserving American Freedom" header.
You sure got your work cut out for ya. Sounds to me like those good ole boys down there are the cream of the crop, of the endearing right wing that I so much adore.
Good luck!
5 - Ruvy
Having been a delegate at numerous precinct caucuses and district conventions at various levels in Minnesota's DFL, I know that party platforms are worth little more than toilet paper. That didn't stop me from keeping my ears open for the inevitable pro-"Palestine" shit that got raised at various conventions and doing what I could to stop them. I usually didn't make it to the state convention (inevitably held in out of the way places like Moorhead or Eveleth), so once it got out of my district, I was usually politicked out.
A state party platform doesn't really matter, Dave. Maybe, in Israel it does, but not in the States. The only thing that really matters in any state government is the receipts coming in from sales taxes, income taxes, etc. And each government has its own mix of how the money comes in. All the rest is well, nice, if you know what I mean.
Unfortunately, being a policy wonk is primarily being a power wonk. The rest is just garbage.
6 - David
"One is the strongest statement possible on abortion, declaring that life begins at fertilization."
So how long 'til men are prosecuted for masturbating?
7 - Lee Richards
Thoughtful and interesting article, Dave.
I imagine a lot of the same things are happening in most state Republican meetings. Can a party so divided(and with so many weird people making nutty demands)long endure? Or will internal pressures(and election wipe-outs)make it blow apart like Vesuvius?
One of the best things for the Republican Party in the last few decades was the election of Reagan, re-energizing it and bringing a lot of new people in. It was also one of the worst things for the Party; Reagan encouraged the religious right and lunatic fringe to get involved as Republican insiders, taking the party into strange directions.
Bush(an anti-conservative if there ever was one) has succeeded in making "Republican" as much of a political epithet as "liberal" used to be, in the minds of many people.
***
Ruvy, money isn't all that matters in state government. When extremists such as the religious right take control, freedom is threatened or curtailed and life is much more unpleasant under their repressive attitudes and mandates. (They sometimes re-write state constitutions, change school curricula, re-district, refuse to compromise to get things done, preach rather than dialogue, etc.)
8 - Dave Nalle
Don't worry, Pablo. The Ron Paul faction gets some of its points in later in the platform.
Ruvy. I agree that the platform doesn't matter much as a document of policy. However, as a statement of the beliefs and a sign of the degree of influence of various factions within the party it's very significant. That's why it is worth reporting on.
Dave
9 - Ruvy
Richard you missed the last line of my comment to Dave - Unfortunately, being a policy wonk is primarily being a power wonk. The rest is just garbage. That deals with all that you were talking about. I've dealt with these lovelies too, the pro-life dictator types who tried to take over the DFL club I belonged to. They eventually all found happy homes in the Republican Party, which is where would-be fascists belong.
10 - Randy Dixon
I'm a Ron Paul Republican and a Texas State delegate and often disagree with your criticisms of Dr. Paul's policies but on this post we are in total agreement.
11 - Cannonshop
#7
Lee, the same can be accurately said of the Democratic party. Depending on the level of and percentage of severe left-or-right at the state level, you can have a dictatorship of either Left, OR Right. Here in Washington State, for instance, the Democratic Party machine is effectively immune to change, and is rarely if ever restrained by the wording of the State's constitution. They don't even have to worry that much about state-wide elections, having districts that will generate fictional ballots that can be counted as real with total impunity, while their lickspittles in the state Supreme Court will rule against any initiative or ballot measure that does not please their leadership. They control the counters of the ballots, ergo, they control the outcome of elections, and there is NO serious or effective oversight. only the pretense of an election remains, and that's not even tried at real hard-the two dominant counties in the state use mail-in ballots, without any means of confirming if the voter whose ballot that is, even EXISTS as more than a signature forged on a registration form.
12 - Dave Nalle
Even within a state you can have multiple areas of dictatorial control. While Texas is certainly dominated by the GOP, the City of Austin is just as firmly dominated by dictatorial leftists.
DAave