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extreme

These simply go too far, overshooting a rational remedy.

United Nations

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > International Relations > United Nations
We reservedly support involvement in the United Nations. We support the United States's tough stance to counter the UN's many flaws. We oppose any measure that subjugates the United States to UN control.We believe it is in the best interest of the citizens of the United States that we immediately rescind our membership in, as well as all financial and military contributions to, the United Nations. We will: 1. support legislation similar to "The American Sovereignty Preservation Act", which would remove the United States entirely from the control of the UN; 2. demand that Congress ratify no more, and rescind any existing treaties that compromise the United States Constitution; 3. support immediate recall of our military forces from UN initiated engagements, and restore them to their traditional mission of defending the liberty and freedom of the people of the United States of America; 4. support an amendment to the United States Constitution stating, "a treaty that conflicts with any provisions of the Constitution shall not be of any force or effect"; 5. urge our Texas Senators to unalterably oppose any agreement or treaty that seeks to establish an International Criminal Court (ICC), make the United States a participatory party to such a court; recognize the jurisdiction of such a court within the United States or upon any native-born or naturalized citizen of the United States; and We oppose: 1. UN control of any United States land or natural resources; 2. the use of Presidential Executive Orders to implement UN treaties, thereby circumventing our elected Congress; 3. any attempt by the federal government, or the UN, to directly or indirectly tax United States citizens for UN support; 4. a UN resolution that would force the United States to adopt gun control measures by treaty; 5. the placement of the UN flag and emblem on public property or in government facilities; 6. payment of any debt allegedly owed to the UN; 7. Any attempt to grant veto power over the sovereignty of the United States to set national defense priorities, wage effective war, and negotiate peace in terms favorable to our vital interests; and 8. Ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). We urge Congress to evict the United Nations from the United States and eliminate any further participation.

This is a highly paranoid view. There is no credible movement to subjugate the United States to the United Nations. The US has consistently rebuffed all such proposals.

While the United Nations has deep flaws, it is the only forum for broad international discourse.

Several of the enumerated objections are redundant with other parts of the platform.

LOST should be handled in another plank.

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Taiwan

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > International Relations > Taiwan
We urge full recognition of Taiwan with a "One China, One Taiwan Policy." Being a long-time ally of the United States as well as an independent and sovereign nation, we call upon the President and the U.S. State Department to strongly support the people of Taiwan.
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This would be a drastic change in existing policy that would only provoke China. While it is understandable to want resolution, the current "stalemate" has resulted in de facto independent nations.

The issue of independence is one that Taiwan can and should work out internally.

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Illegal Immigration

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > Domestic > Illegal Immigration
We oppose illegal immigration. We call for continued progress on sealing our porous borders, including completion of a fence to block off our entire southern border and increased border patrols. We demand rapid resolution to the status of millions of illegal aliens living in the United States. We support expeditious deportation of violent or habitually criminal illegal aliens.No amnesty! No how. No way. Illegal aliens have committed a criminal act. We oppose illegal immigration, amnesty in any form, or legal status for illegal immigrants. We support an end to the "catch and release" policy; criminal penalties and aggressive enforcement for those who knowingly employ illegal workers; expeditious hearings on deporting non-violent illegal immigrants; suspending automatic U.S. citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants; elimination of federal funding to cities with "sanctuary" laws; empowering state and local law enforcement agencies with authority and resources to detain illegal immigrants; rejection of non-verifiable foreign-issued cards as valid identification; strict prosecution of any entity involved in phony identification documents; elimination of day labor work centers; elimination of laws requiring hospitals to give non-emergency care to illegals; elimination of social security benefits or government funding to illegals for education, housing or business loans; preventing any foreign entity from using our judicial system to enter the United States; strong document verification prior to issuance of a Texas drivers license; withholding federal highway funds from any state issuing drivers licenses to illegal aliens; and aggressive prosecution of persons smuggling humans across our borders.

Cliches do not belong in a serious platform document. "No amnesty! No how. No way." is a gibberish cliche.

Republicans must oppose illegal immigration and should support strong measures to seal porous borders. However, we have to be realistic: by failing to meaningfully secure the borders for many years, we left the welcome mat out for illegal aliens.

A sane immigration policy cannot only be deportation and punishment. That is unrealistic, inhumane, and economically destructive. It fuels critics who see Republicans as narrow and rigid, it hurts our relevancy, and it destroys our credibility with Hispanic voters.

Republicans must combine firmness on illegal immigration with acknowledgement of our current situation. That means we have to look beyond punitive measures and ripping up longstanding legal traditions. We have to be pragmatic and realistic.

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Homeland Security

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > Domestic > Homeland Security
We urge the Homeland Security Department to strengthen intelligence gathering, enhance inter-agency intelligence sharing, protect high profile targets from terrorists, enhance airport and port-of-entry security, use random selection and terrorist profiling in searching individuals, and authorize the Navy and Coast Guard to board and search vessels entering U.S. waters from foreign ports.We urge the Homeland Security Department to strengthen our national intelligence gathering; further enhance inter-agency coordination of intelligence; pass critical information on to local and state agencies; protect constitutional rights of all citizens; provide adequate protection of high profile targets for terrorists; enhance airport and port-of-entry security; use random selection and terrorist profiling in searching individuals; provide for armed guards and pilots on commercial aircraft; authorize the Navy and Coast Guard to board and search vessels entering U.S. waters from foreign ports. We further urge Congress to provide expert training of airline pilots for protection against terrorist attack.

Armed guards and pilots on aircraft is a statutory issue.

"Expert" connotes an insurpassible level of experience; airline pilots can and do have some training, but expertise is too much, especially in the limited context of what pilots can accomplish midair. Pilots need to be experts at flying; security needs to be experts at stopping terrorism.

Protecting Constitutional rights is an inherent duty of all government officials, not just Homeland Security.

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Global Warming

Strengthening the Economy > Tax Burden > Global Warming
We demand that global warming control schemes be open and utilize normal market forces. Any new revenue sources from these schemes must be revenue neutral and reduce other taxes. We oppose policy based on hysterical portrayals of global warming threats. We affirm the right to dissent and demand continued research on the theory and extent of global warming.We oppose taxes levied and regulations imposed based on the alleged threat of global warming.

From a pragmatic standpoint, "alleged threat" appears backwards amidst an overwhelming popular and scientific consensus affirming human-caused global warming. We must be open to the increasing numbers of conservatives who buy into the theory. At the same time, we must affirm the importance of dissent and research on the fundamental validity of the theory.

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Congressional Retirement System

Strengthening the Economy > Government Spending > Congressional Retirement System
Congress should abolish its enhanced retirement benefit calculation and be subject to the same benefits formula as typical federal employees.We recommend that the Congressional retirement system be abolished.

There is in fact no special Congressional retirement system. They are just members of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), although they are eligible for the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) if they were in Congress before 1984.

The problem is that Congress requires FERS to calculate its own retirement benefits much more generously than for typical federal employees.

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Sexual Assault

Promoting Individual Freedom and Personal Safety > Protecting Citizens From Crime > Sexual Assault
Punishment options for rape should include death. AdultsAdults convicted of sexual molestation of a minor should receive mandatory prison sentences without probation or parole. We support increasing the penalty for failure to report child sexual assault cases, and we urge vigorous prosecution of such failure. We urge the Legislature to eliminate from the child sexual assault law the "affirmative defense" when there is less than 36 months of age difference.

Rape is serious, but it is unclear why it deserves equivalent punishment to capital murder. Why just rape? How about all the other serious crimes that leave lasting harm on their victims?

It is likely this is just advancing a limited religious viewpoint.

The 3 year boundary is arbitrary and imperfect, but it is not clear why it is the wrong boundary or why a different (or no?) boundary is better. There is no popular movement to change this law.

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Addictive Behaviors

Promoting Individual Freedom and Personal Safety > Protecting Citizens From Crime > Addictive Behaviors
We encourage state and federal governments to severely prosecute illegal dealers and manufacturers of addictive substances and pornography. We urge Congress to discourage export of such substances into our country. Faith based rehabilitation programs should be emphasized. We oppose legalizationlegalizing recreational use of illegalillicit drugs. We support an effective abstinence-based educationaldrug avoidance education program for children. We oppose any "needle exchange" program. We urge vigorous enforcement of our DUI laws but only in ways that do not hassle innocent motorists.

Pornography is protected free speech.

The government is already fighting multilateral wars to prevent importation of illicit drugs.

Rehabilitation programs that are effective should be emphasized. It is neither legal or wise to promote a program just because it is affiliated with a religious movement; otherwise the government would have to promote programs like Narcanon, a front for the Scientology cult.

Needle exchange programs are a local issue.

"Abstinence" is strongly associated with sex education and should not be used in this context.

We DUI enforcement support must be qualified. Current trends are ensnaring innocent citizens with spurious citations, pointless arrests, and roadblocks.

Need to be clear that it's the recreational use of drugs that is proscribed. Some otherwise illicit drugs have valid clinical uses.

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Unfunded Mandates

Strengthening the Economy > Government Spending > Unfunded Mandates
We oppose all unfunded mandates by the federal and state governments including unreasonable requirements on voluntary emergency response personnel. State mandates without full funding should be included in the government body's annual increase spending limits.
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The part about emergency response personnel makes this plank unfocused.

"State mandates without full funding should be included in the government body's annual increase spending limits." Huh?

Also, do we really oppose all unfunded mandates? For example, consider how the Texas Public Information Act mandates openness. This is an unfunded mandate that imposes compliance costs on jurisdictions, but it's an excellent practice.

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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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Random plank

Educating Our Children > Higher Education
We support higher education. Publicly funded institutions must prioritize Texas high school graduates for admission and educational assistance and only accept students and grant financial assistance on the basis of merit and financial need. We oppose the 10% automatic admissions rule.We reaffirm support of public and private institutions of higher learning. We advocate an equal standard for public college admission based on merit and ability. We urge the legislature to ensure equal access to grants and scholarships to all Texas high school graduates, including privately educated students. All Texas students should be given acceptance priority over out-of-state or foreign students. We oppose the 10% automatic admissions rule.
Reason:
wordy

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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