- Deborah R.
RELIGIOUS RIGHT’S GRIP ON TEXAS GOP TIGHTENS AS PARTY CONVENTION PASSES EXTREMIST PLATFORM
Tightening their grip on the Republican Party of Texas, far-right activists pushed through an extremist party platform at the GOP state convention in San Antonio this month. Policies proposed by the 2004 state party platform threaten religious freedom, civil and equal rights, public education and good government. (Page numbers from the platform are in brackets below.)
Religious Freedom · “The Republican Party of Texas affirms that the United States of America is a Christian nation.” [8]
· “Our Party pledges to exert its influence to restore the original intent of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and dispel the myth of the separation of Church and State.” [8]
· The 2004 party platform opposes efforts to restrict display of the Ten Commandments and other religious symbols in government buildings and other places maintained by tax dollars. [7]
· The platform supports using tax dollars to fund faith-based social programs and calls for allowing religious organizations “to address vital issues of the day” without losing tax-exempt status (thus opening the door to explicit, partisan political activity by religious organizations). [4]
Civil/Equal Rights · “The Party supports amendment of the Americans with Disabilities Act to exclude from its definition those persons with infectious diseases, substance addiction, learning disabilities, behavior disorders, homosexual practices and mental stress, thereby reducing abuse of the Act.” [14]
· Republicans went on record endorsing the repeal of laws that have expanded opportunities for voter registration. The party also wants to require re-registration of all voters every four years laws. [6]
· Echoing calls by U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land that threaten an independent judiciary, the platform supports the impeachment and removal “of federal judges who abuse their constitutional authority or are no longer acting on good behavior.” [5]
· Republicans state that it should be a felony to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple “and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple.” [10]
· Defining marriage as a “God-ordained, legal and moral commitment only between a natural man and a natural woman,” the platform supports a federal constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriage and opposes “granting of benefits to people who represent themselves as domestic partners without being legally married.” [10]
· The platform opposes hate-crime laws (which increase penalties for crimes that target people based on hatred for their religion, race, sexual orientation and other characteristics). [8]
· The platform supports “covenant marriage” (which endangers battered spouses because it would allow couples to divorce only after a waiting period and counseling, even in cases of domestic abuse) and advocates rescinding no-fault divorce laws. [10]
· The platform condemns homosexuality, supports criminalizing sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex and calls on Congress to “withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy” (an implicit criticism of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned sodomy laws). [10]
· The platform opposes the adoption of children or foster parenting by gay men and lesbians. [10]
· “We oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values.” [10]
· The platform calls for constitutional protection of a fetus and, until then, strict limits and regulation of abortion and abortion providers. [11]
· The party supports corporal punishment and “parental authority to discipline,” mentioning it at least four different times. Republicans also advocate eliminating prohibitions on corporal punishment in order to attract more foster parents. [12, 13, 16]
· The party supports laws that bar Child Protective Services from removing an abused child from his or her home, even in cases of “immediate danger to the child’s physical health or safety.” [13]
· The platform calls for requiring people who report child abuse to identify themselves and their contact information. [13]
· The state party platform calls for a ban on stem-cell research (which experts believe holds the promise of cures for a variety of diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s). [12]
Public Education · The platform supports “child-centered school funding options” that use tax dollars to pay for tuition in private and religious schools (vouchers). [15]
· The party calls for schools to emphasize “Judeo-Christian principles” and for including Bible-based “theories” like “intelligent design” about the origin of humans in science textbooks (which would, in effect, water down discussions of evolution). [16, 17]
· Republicans support health education that promotes abstinence from sex “until heterosexual marriage with an uninfected person” and oppose any other instruction on methods of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. [15]
· The party calls for the Legislature to restore to the State Board of Education full authority to censor public school textbooks that “undermine belief in America and our Constitutional Republic, promulgate anti-American propaganda, and contain unchallenged biased viewpoints.” [14]
· The platform supports “local control” measures for public schools (which would mean the elimination of basic quality education standards like teacher certification and small class sizes). [14]
· Republicans called for the repeal of “government-sponsored programs that deal with early childhood development” (Head Start) and phasing the programs out “as soon as possible.”[16]
Good Government · The party “understands government ownership of land to be the cornerstone of socialism.” [4]
· Republicans officially call for privatizing Social Security and “gradually phasing out the Social Security tax.” [13]
· The platform calls for U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations. [24]
===== " How come people always flip and think they're Jesus? Why not Buddha? Particularly in America, where more people resemble Buddha than Jesus. 'Ah'm BUDDHA!' 'You're Bubba!' 'Ah'm Buddha now..All I gotta do is change 3 letters on ma belt...' " - Bill Hicks