Proposed GOP Platform for Victory in 2010/2012

                                                  

 

 

 

                                                         By Scooter Blackswamp
                                                                 January 9, 2010

PREAMBLE

We are inspired by our founding documents and regard the Constitution of the United States as the Supreme Law of the Land. We believe it is possible to know the original intent of the government our Founders set forth and stand in support of that intent, as enumerated in such documents as, but not limited to, the Declaration of Independence and Federalist Papers. Like the founders, we are federalists, and support states rights for those powers not expressly stated in the Constitution. As the government is of the people, by the people and for the people, an all other matters we support the personal liberty of the individual, within the rule of law.

CONGRESS

All Federal power derives from the individual. Therefore, it is unjust and immoral that any law or regulation which applies to the individual should not therefore also apply to the Federal government, especially to the members of the United States Congress, who would govern the People while holding themselves inviolate from the laws under which the People would live as a result of Congressional action.

As Congress is a representative government of the People they shall therefore not vote on any bill which is not made available, in print and on the internet, in its final legislative form, to their constituents for a minimum of 3 business days per 100 pages. This is to ensure that the People shall have adequate time to express their opinion on the final bill and that their voice can be adequately heard before a vote is taken.

“Earmarks” shall not be allowed in any bill unless they are within the purview of the committee or committees of original jurisdiction in which the bill was written.

Elected officials are the servants of the People of the United States of America. As one of their elected officials in Congress it is appropriate that Representatives and Senators be paid an appropriate salary for their work and receive a modest benefits package, both of which shall terminate immediately upon their vacation of the office.


THE JUDICIARY

We support the appointment of members of the Judiciary who likewise believe in original intent, and not judicial activism of any sort, liberal or conservative, least of all the loss of our sovereignty through the reliance on international law as superior to the rights and privileges as expressed in the Constitution.

SPENDING, TAXATION and DEBT

As we believe in Equal Justice Under Law, we support a major restructuring of the U.S. Tax Code which would provide for one tax rate for both individuals and corporations. (This could be accomplished in the short term by a flat tax of 10% with no deductions and in the long term by repeal of the 16th amendment and the institution of the FairTax, that would restore the power of the Federal Government to tax as envisioned by its founders.)

We support a Balanced Budget for the Federal government, initially by force of will, and as soon as possible by the adoption of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, able to be breached only by a Congressional Act of War.

In deciding aspects of government to fund, we would point to the enumerated powers of the Constitution. We believe our current governments funding of entitlements is wholly at odds with the intent of our founders and belief in self-reliance and the freedom of the individual. We would therefore support the dismantling of such bureaucracies as the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, and both the National Endowments of the Arts and the Humanities, as we feel that such decisions are best made on a State and local level. What funding of these efforts that we would support, we would block grant to the states, based on population, for them to spend best on these specific needs as they see fit.

We must reduce our National Debt, for the sake of our nation and the future of our selves and our children. The best and quickest way to do that is to remove the unfunded liabilities from the obligations of the Federal government and spur self-reliance rather than governmental entitlement. We therefore support the privatization of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and free market reforms such as personal health and savings accounts that give the individual direct control over their health care spending and their financial safety net.

While we support a safety net, governmental help must be a hand-up, not a hand out. Therefore, we support Welfare programs that are geared toward finding work for those able-bodied individuals who are capable of working to support themselves.


SOCIAL ISSUES

Life. It is the pre-eminent unalienable right with which our Creator endows us. Although we may have differences on the issue of when that right should be conferred, either at conception or at the ability to live independently of the mother, these dates get closer and closer due to the advances of medical science. These differences pale in comparison to a Democrat Party that would seek to regulate through our health care not just the funding of abortions but the regulation of who is born, the healthcare they are allowed while they live and at what point they should die. This is the ideology which says that your body is not yours, it belongs to the State. It was that very ideology against which we fought to free ourselves during the American Revolution. “If we do not hang together, we will surely hang separately” were the words of Benjamin Franklin and they are still true today. The best current guarantor of those that support Life, are those that support Liberty, and our real opposition supports neither.

We believe that marriage is both a religious and a civil contract. Therefore, we support the right of religious institutions to marry whom they wish. As governments should not discriminate in the ability of two individual citizens to form a contract, we support the full adoption of civil unions for same-sex couples that carry all the legal rights and privileges of marriage.

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The First Amendment guarantees our rights to free association, freedom of speech and freedom from the establishment of one religion over another by an act of Congress. The Second Amendment guarantees the First.

Because we believe, as did the founders, that personal and economic liberty are indivisible, we support the right to work, and a secret ballot for the purposes of unionization.

We oppose any and all attempts at limiting political speech either in political advertising, campaign finance, radio, broadcast or cable television or the internet. We believe that freedom of expression is best served in an open marketplace of ideas where real and open debate can take place.

We believe that the foundation of this Republic is Natural Law, which presupposes a Creator from which our rights flow. We support any and all peaceful religious practice which can be brought into concert with the tenets of Natural Law. From time to time, throughout history, people have perverted the peaceful practice of faith into violent religious ideologies for their own secular power. We reject all such people and ideologies and welcome into the American family all peaceful people of faith.

The preeminent responsibility of the Federal government is National Security. We therefore support a robust defense that finds and destroys those who are at war with the United States. If they are engaged in warfare, whether or not they have allegiance to any acknowledged government, we believe they should be treated as enemy combatants and be subject to military tribunal, no matter their nationality.

We welcome all legal immigration to our shores. We are a nation built on immigration and believe in its benefits. We acknowledge the need for a more robust worker visa system, but reject those who enter illegally and then want legal status. If they can qualify as a legal immigrant, let them do so, after being deported according to the rule of law.

FOREIGN POLICY/ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

Many of our current foreign policy challenges, especially those in the Middle East, are a direct result on our reliance on foreign governments, many of which are despotic in nature, as our primary sources of energy for our economic growth. To alleviate this problem, we believe that the America must develop its own domestic sources of energy in order to be energy independent. These should include drilling for oil and natural gas in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, in an environmentally responsible manner. We also support the expansion of Nuclear power, and the use of wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal sources of energy as well as bio-fuels such as algae and switch grass, which do overlap with sources of food. We feel it is immoral to turn food into fuel, which falsely inflates the price of food and has been shown not to be an effective source of energy.

LIBERTY SHALL BE OUR LOADSTAR

America and its values of liberty and self-determination is the light of the world. Where there is tyranny and oppression in the world, we shall oppose it. We do not believe that the proper way to do this is by being the world’s policeman or by nation building, but rather by allowing indigenous movements for liberty and self-determination to build their own nations, just as we built ours. The descendants of our founders do not just reside in our country, they are present in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, China, Tibet, Israel, Palestine, and in any village or hamlet where the spark of liberty burns in the human breast. All those who believe in liberty and freedom are the descendants of the American Revolution. The shores of American freedom are vast and extend all over the world. When we find men and women are crawling onto them, we should welcome them warmly, with open arms and help them in every way we can.