Why do this?

Table of Contents

Why change it?
Eliminate the liberal agenda
Now is the time
Deflate RINO movement
Save religion
Win back urban areas and south Texas
Get rid of Blue Dog Democrats

Why change it?

The platform is a farce. Few take it seriously; politicians openly ignore it. It's radical, indecipherable, and unfocused. It doesn't describe a mainstream conservative agenda.

It targets the wrong crowd. November voters are who put Republicans in office, but it's written for the most radical of March Republicans (primary voters).

Eliminate the liberal agenda

The 2008 platform already promotes the democrat/liberal agenda!

Planks that support leftist philosophy, reduce education quality, or increase regulation.
Extreme planks, especially the social planks, mean we can't focus on a mainstream conservative agenda. That's why many Washington Republicans are in fact liberal government expansionists--as long as they give lip service to the extreme stuff, nobody bothers to see if they are advancing a meaningful conservative agenda.

We must stop advancing a left wing agenda. To do that, we must ditch the extremes. We must focus on a durable, electable, mainstream conservative agenda. Our agenda must first appeal to November (general election) voters, not just fringe activists.

Now is the time

Democrat excess could make 2010 good for Republicans. But this is just a blip in our slouch to irrelevancy.

Look, if you have surpluses, do you stop cutting budgets? Republicans did that in the late '90s, and look what it brought us. We must not make the same same mistake; we must fix our platform in 2010.

Our good stance must not permit inaction.

Deflate RINO movement

RINO = Republican In Name Only. That's how extremists tar those who don't play to the nuttiest planks.

Any honest, informed politician will ignore much of the platform. Remember, 25% of the planks are pointless. So RINO territory is dangerously easy.

Most of RINO phenomenon will go away if we improve the platform.

Save religion

Combined church/states mean a fascist state and a corrupt church. That's why we separated from England. That's what's runs Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

Several planks promote limited religious viewpoints, many well outside of mainstream Christianity. Their goal is dominion theology, a radical transformation of church/state separation.

Win back urban areas and south Texas

In the 2008 presidential election, we lost Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Beaumont, El Paso, and south Texas:

This is a shame, but it makes sense.

We'll always struggle with El Paso and south Texas with our regressive and backwards immigration planks.

Our cities would respond well to a mainstream conservative agenda.

Get rid of Blue Dog Democrats

Blue Dog Democrats shouldn't exist. They are just conservatives who object to our extreme agenda.

Texas has several Blue Dog Democrat Legislators. 2010 needs a two-pronged strategy: defeat or assimilate Blue Dogs! That will only happen with a mainstream agenda.

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Random plank

Strengthening the Economy > Government Spending > Earmarks

We call upon all Senators and Representatives to take appropriate action to block any bill containing earmarks, to produce bills with wording that will not allow any earmarks to be added after a final vote is taken, and, to shepherd through the two houses of Congress changes in their procedures that will delete the practice of earmarking and any similar technique that allows spending without a consensus approval.

Reason:

The problem is abuse of earmarks, not the earmarks themselves.

"Carve out" earmarks do not increase spending; those earmarks are a critical Congressional check against intransigent bureaucracies. Certainly our motto is not "in bureaucrats we trust"! Trusting bureaucrats is Democrat policy.

This proposal distracts from the underlying problem: unending government expansion. Arresting runaway spending is the only effective way to end the abuse of earmarks.

Earmarks are like money. Neither are evil; how they are used is the issue.

misinformed, leftist

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)