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Parts of these do nothing useful.

One World Government Organizations

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > International Relations > One World Government Organizations
We oppose a one-world government in direct opposition to our basic principles and eroding our sovereignty.
(plank deleted)

There is no credible movement to create a one world government.

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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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Civil Defense

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > Domestic > Civil Defense
We support a national and local civil defense system. We urge Congress to rescind all gun laws infringing upon our constitutional rights.
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This plank's point is unclear. Civil defense is still alive. It has shifted away from responding to miliary attack and is now focused on natural and general disasters.

Gun laws are handled elsewhere.

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Federalization of Police

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > Domestic > Federalization of Police
We support having only local control over our police forces.
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There is no credible movement to federalize local police forces.

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Foreign Military Bases on American Soil

Restoring American Sovereignty and Leadership > Domestic > Foreign Military Bases on American Soil
We oppose relinquishing United States supremacy to any foreign powers on our soil. We urge Congress to prohibit all foreign or international military bases within the United States.
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There is no credible movement to locate foreign military bases in the United States.

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Small Business

Strengthening the Economy > Business and the Economy > Small Business
We urge the federal and state legislatures to mitigate the impact of regulations on small businesses and to ensure that such businesses are adequately represented in the regulatory process.
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There is nothing in the regulartory process that excludes small business per se.

Mitigating regulatory costs suggest business welfare.

Also, the government should not pick winners and losers in the marketplace. Small and large business should all compete on a fair playing field, and neither should have costs "mitigated."

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Workers' Compensation

Strengthening the Economy > Business and the Economy > Workers' Compensation
We urge the Legislature to resist making Workers' Compensation mandatory for all Texas employers.
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There is no credible movement in Texas to expand workers compensation to all employees.

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Property Taxes

Strengthening the Economy > Tax Burden > Property Taxes
We favor abolishing property taxes. Until ad valorem taxes are abolished, we recommend that property valuations be fixed for not less than three years following each revaluation. Appraisal Boards should be elected. We urge four board members be elected by commissioners court precinct, and one member elected county-wide.
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Property taxes are a sound and relevant taxing tool. They are even supported in The Federalist Papers. There is little (any?) mainstream conservative support for abolishing them.

It is unclear how a 3-year-at-a-time freeze would benefit Texans. They don't effectively temper growth, and they risk trapping Texans with high valuations if property values declined substantially in the 3 years after valuation.

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Appraisal Cap

Strengthening the Economy > Tax Burden > Appraisal Cap
We support capping the annual increase in real property appraisals at 3% and strongly support a reduction in the margin of error in the property value study to 90% in place of the current 95%. We call upon the Texas Leg to eliminate the property value study
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This plank calls for adjustment to a program and also calls for its elimination? Huh?

The Property Value Study is a valid tool to monitor appraisal district accuracy. Certainly Republicans don't want less accuracy?

A 3% cap in Dallas County, for example, would have in fact shifted the net tax burden away from the wealthiest inhabitants. That makes no sense.

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Government Lobbying

Strengthening the Economy > Government Spending > Government Lobbying
We oppose paying lobbyists with tax dollars.
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So subordinate governmental jurisdictions cannot lobby superior jurisdictions? Cities can no longer lobby the Texas Legislature?

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Random plank

Preserving American Freedom > Honoring the Symbols of Our American Heritage > Flag Desecration
Any form of desecration of the American Flag is an act of disregard for our nation and its people and penalties should be established for such.
Reason:

Annoying speech is still protected speech. It is a dangerous precedent to establish politically correct forms of free expression. That's copying a tactic of despotic regimes like Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Cuba.

What is absent from the larger debate is the flag is a symbol. Nobody died for a symbol, they died for what it represents.

Enacting this amendment defiles what the flag represents: curtailing free speech is orders of magnitude more harmful than desecrating a symbol.

bad precedent, pointless

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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