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Support of Our Armed Forces

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > Domestic > Support of Our Armed Forces
We support the armed forces. We recommend modernizing and maintaining the equipment and weapons for the safety and effectiveness of our armed forces. While we support a continued policy of an overwhelmingly strong military, we also support fiscal sanity: we demand termination of wasteful or ineffective equipment and weapons programs. We demand that displaced military personnel have their votes counted. We support construction of a Texas veterans museum.We encourage all Americans to support the brave and patriotic men and women of our armed forces. They should be paid a wage sufficient to prevent them from ever needing food stamps and that encourages retention. We strongly recommend that all our armed forces remain commanded only by the Commander-in-Chief and his subordinate commanders; upgrading, modernizing and maintaining the equipment, weapons, and vehicles for the safety, efficiency and effectiveness of our armed forces; the continuation of the all volunteer armed forces, the recruitment and advancement of military personnel based on the needs of the military and the qualifications of the person; disqualification of homosexuals from military service; immediate discharge of HIV positive individuals; separation of men and women in basic training; exclusion of women from ground and submarine combat roles; provision of full military honors for burial of veterans; restoration of all veteran benefits without an offset for disability pay; health and disability benefits equal to active military for national guard and reserves; passage of a "new" G.I Bill that fully funds expanded educational scholarship opportunities for honorably separated Veterans; restoration of full lifetime health benefits to retired military and their families; and assurance that military and civilian voters displaced by their service be afforded full opportunity for their votes to be counted; and the expeditious construction of a Veterans Museum in Texas.

This is a terrible, unfocused plank that is a grab bag of random wishes and left-wing government expansionism.

Wages are an economic issue in every industry, including the military. If wages are too low, they will show up in poor recruitment and retention numbers. Given good recruiting numbers, there is little evidence of insufficient wages.

There is no credible movement to:

  • Reassign commandment of the armed forces away from the President.
  • Move away from a volunteer force.
  • Recruit to fill ranks with unqualified people.

The issue of women in combat roles is an internal issue for the military and does not deserve mention here. If it comes down to it, women may decline to serve in the military if they do not want a combat role.

These are in fact left-wing and remarkably expensive policies:

  • Removing disability pay offset: A lack of an offset for other disability pay is unfair: you collect twice for one disability!
  • Full health benefits for National Guard and reservists: U.S. health benefits are typically a function of employment. National Guard and reservists do not work when they are not on duty, so it makes little sense to extend health coverage to off-duty times.
  • Lifetime health benefits: Just like with any other employer-sponsored health plan, military health plan should terminate upon end of employment.

It is counterproductive and pointless to have a witch hunt for homosexuals.

There is zero evidence that the military is mishandling HIV.

Separation of men and women in basic training is counterproductive. They will have to work together in the field. Why create artificial barriers?

The G.I. Bill provision is accomplished. The current bill pays up to $47,556 in educational benefits over a maximum of 36 months.

This plank is wordy. For example:

  • "Upgrading" and "modernizing" are the same thing.
  • Vehicles are a type of equipment.
  • Something that is safe and efficient is also effective.
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Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) and the North American Union

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > Domestic > Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) and the North American Union
We strongly oppose and call on Federal and State officials to place high priority on the withdrawal of the United States from the Security and Prosperity Partnership and the formation of the North American Union.
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This is a highly paranoid, nutty take on a project that has been canceled anyway.

This was an economic deal. There was no evidence whatsoever of any intent to merge countries.

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Trans-Texas Corridor

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > Domestic > Trans-Texas Corridor
We emphatically oppose the Trans-Texas Corridor in any form or manner. We call for full investigation of any public officials authorizing any form of eminent domain for the Trans-Texas Corridor and foreign funding.
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United States Energy Strategy

Strengthening the Economy > United States Energy Strategy > United States Energy Strategy
The foundation of our United States Energy Strategy must be to eliminateeliminating dependence on foreign energy sources for energy. Regulation and rulemaking must be cooperative, preserving the economy while promoting environmental preservation. We encourage Congress to: not support windfall profit tax; repealto repeal oil and gas severance and production taxes; stop promulgation of unnecessary environmental regulation; and promote all energy production including ANWR, offshore California, and the East Coast, while minimizing environmental impact.

Environmental preservation mentioned twice.

The windfall profit tax has dropped off the radar.

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Speed Limits

Promoting Individual Freedom and Personal Safety > Protecting Citizens From Crime > Speed Limits
We support highway speed limits based only on safety standards.
(plank deleted)

The intent of the 2002 plank was to oppose environmental speed limits (ESLs). A 2003 law prohibited all new ESLs. (Note: this plank was partly due to work of this site's author.)

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Unborn Victims of Violence

Promoting Individual Freedom and Personal Safety > Protecting Citizens From Crime > Unborn Victims of Violence
We believe a person who injures or kills an unborn child should be subject to criminal and civil litigation, whether the child dies in the womb or is born alive.
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This has been law in Texas since the 78's Legislature's (2003) SB 319. It has withstood a court challenge.

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Personal Confidentiality

Promoting Individual Freedom and Personal Safety > Individual Freedom > Personal Confidentiality
Necessary dissemination of personal information among government entities must be safeguarded with the threat of criminal penalties. Legislation should provide redress to anyone denied service for refusing to provide such information.
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Safeguards are already in place. For example, see the Motor Vehicle Records Disclosure Act (Texas Transportation Code Chapter 730) from 1997.

"Legislation should provide redress to anyone denied service for refusing to provide such information." This is grossly over-broad. Providing personal information may be necessary to prove one's identity.

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Right To Keep and Bear Arms

Promoting Individual Freedom and Personal Safety > Individual Freedom > Right To Keep and Bear Arms
We support a fundamental right to bear arms. We oppose gun ownership monitoring and unusual taxation or regulation of guns and ammunition. We support stiff penalties for felonies committed with firearms. We believe the Texas Legislature should: - Allow concealed handgun license (CHL) holders to carry concealed weapons in colleges and universities. - Prevent employers from prohibiting CHL holders from storing their concealed handgun in their vehicle. - Protect property owners who allow concealed weapons from civil liability.We urge the Legislature and Congress to repeal all laws that infringe on the right to bear arms, and to reject any monitoring of gun ownership, and all excessive taxation or regulation of guns and ammunition. We support a ten-year minimum mandatory sentence without parole for felonies committed with firearms. Stiff penalties should be enacted for frivolous lawsuits against legitimate firearms manufacturers. All gun owners are responsible for safely storing and operating firearms. We believe the Legislature should enact legislation: allowing: Concealed Handgun License holders to carry concealed weapons on publicly owned institutions of learning; and, preventing employers from prohibiting Concealed Handgun License holders from storing their concealed handgun in their vehicle while on a company parking area, and removing civil liability from property owners who do not prevent Concealed Handgun License holders from carrying on their premises. We believe that FFL holders should be free from harassment, and license revocations and denials against firearm dealers based on violations consisting of largely inconsequential recordkeeping errors and encourages the ATF to consider lesser gradation of sanctions for such errors.

Frivolous lawsuits are a general tort reform measure and do not belong here. That notwithstanding, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was signed by President Bush in 2005.

"All gun owners are responsible for safely storing and operating firearms." This is a common sense, obvious statement that does not belong in a platform.

The idea that a person should be free from harrassment and not inundated by red tape is a general issue of proper governance and is not unique to firearms-related issues.

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Basic Standards

Educating Our Children > Basic Standards
We favor improvements on the quality of education and a return to the traditional basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic with sufficient discipline to ensure learning. We support standardized testing to ensure minimal standards are met. We advocate the elimination of the TAKS test.

TAKS is currently being phased out. That notwithstanding, this plank should not have called for elimination of a test without recommending improvements. Otherwise we just stay on the treadmill of new test forms. Remember TABS, TEAMS, and TAAS? And now we have TEKS?

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Parental Rights in Education

Educating Our Children > Parental Rights in Education
The right of parents to raise and educate their children is fundamental. Parents have the right to withdraw their child from any special or bilingual education program. We urge the Legislature to enact penalties for violation of parental rights.
(plank deleted)

The first sentence repeats earlier statements.

Parents have the right to withdraw children from special education as of December 2008.

"We urge the Legislature to enact penalties for violation of parental rights." is unacceptably vague.

 

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Random plank

Educating Our Children > Textbooks and Curricula
The SBOE must have sole authority over textbook content and state adoption, and this process must include public hearings. We urge the Legislature to give the State Board of Education authority to establish textbook adoption standards. We oppose the replacement of textbooks by laptops. We support competitive pricing as part of the textbook selection process by independent school districts and oppose standard maximum pricing schemes.
Reason:

Textbook content adoption must have checks and balances. Otherwise textbook standards will entirely be created by an unelected committee.

The anti-technology provision is silly and contradicts other parts of the platform that affirm technology.

Furthermore, by limiting textbook authority to the SBOE, this plank contradicts other planks that call for local control.

Let's be frank about what this is about: some see the SBOE as the best hope for replacing science with religious doctrine or presenting a politically-biased, revisionist view of history. They keep trying but always fail.

Textbook pricing problems can be greatly alleviated by eliminating Texas's unusual, centralized control of textbook adoption and purchasing. Let the free market work, let local control work, let local districts purchase their textbooks like the rest of the nation. Fortunately that has already started.

contradictory, advances religious doctrine, leftist, extreme

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)

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