reduces education quality
These proposals would make our kids stupider.
Random plank
Educating Our Children
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Religious Freedom in Public Schools
We urge school administrators and officials to inform Texas school students specifically of their First Amendment rights to pray and engage in religious speech, individually or in groups, on school property without government interference. We support and strongly urge Congress to pass a Religious Freedom Amendment, which provides: "Neither the United States nor any State shall prohibit student-sponsored prayer in public schools, nor compose any official student prayer or compel joining therein." We urge the Legislature to end censorship of discussion of religion in our founding documents, and encourage discussing those documents.
Reason:
It is wildly inappropriate to push "school administrators and officials" into a role traditionally held by parents and churches.
Courts have consistently upheld personal or student-initiatied right to prayer. What is unconstitutional is when student-initiated prayer becomes de facto policy, such as what brought about Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe.
The proposed amendment is dangerous. It would tacitly endorse public schooling on a federal level, creating a "gateway drug" to enhancing federal oversight of schools. Also, contemporary interpretaion of the First Amendment strongly defends most student-initiated prayer as free speech and defends against compulsory prayer.
Key founding documents in fact have minimal references to religion. There is no evidence of censorship.
Problems
Show problem parts of the platform:
Platforms promote principles and policies. Planks must not push particular polymorphic political proposals, including bills.about a specific bill (6)
Parts of these were recently implemented.accomplished (11)
Parts of these only promote limited religious viewpoints.advances religious doctrine (8)
Too many positions already overwhelm voters. We cannot add more without a plan to cut ballot complexity.another elected office (6)
The GOP should not be a virulent, anti-homosexual crusade.anti-homosexual crusade (6)
These destroy useful customs or start us down slippery slopes.bad precedent (17)
Cliches belong on the playground, not in serious platforms.cliche (5)
These contradict other planks.contradictory (13)
These simply go too far, overshooting a rational remedy.extreme (25)
These have factual errors.incorrect (11)
These planks advanced contemporary liberal causes or expand government.leftist (22)
These planks require belief in something that is untrue.misinformed (18)
These are not appropriate for a platform document.misuse of platform (6)
These planks have minor punctuation or grammatical errors.needs copyedit (8)
These problems were fixed before the 2008 platform was published.no longer relevant (3)
"Black helicopters" and paranoid conspiracy have no place in our party.paranoid (15)
Parts of these do nothing useful.pointless (61)
These proposals would make our kids stupider.reduces education quality (3)
These planks are internally redundant or repeat other parts of the platform.redundant (41)
These planks should propose a more general solution.too specific (6)
These planks are unclear or unfocused.vague (19)
Puffy prose, hackneyed phrases, and obscure words create pinheaded, unfocused, and inaccessible platforms. Platforms must be simple and direct.wordy (47)
Recent comments
- Paranoid?
4 min 26 sec ago - In Federalist Paper #44,
36 weeks 6 days ago - 10th amendment
37 weeks 5 hours ago - But where do you cross the
37 weeks 6 days ago - Mandates without funding
37 weeks 6 days ago