2012 Texas Republican Platform

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http://s3.amazonaws.com/texasgop_pre/as ... -Final.pdf

Some goodies:

Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) - We oppose this act through which the federal government would coerce religious business owners and employees to violate their own beliefs and principles by affirming what they consider to be sinful and sexually immoral behavior.

Family and Defense of Marriage ― We support the definition of marriage as a God-ordained, legal and moral commitment only between a natural man and a natural woman, which is the foundational unit of a healthy society, and we oppose the assault on marriage by judicial activists. We call on the President and Congress to take immediate action to defend the sanctity of marriage. We are resolute that Congress exercise authority under the United States Constitution, and pass legislation withholding jurisdiction from the Federal Courts in cases involving family law, especially any changes in the definition of marriage. We further call on Congress to pass and the state legislatures to ratify a marriage amendment declaring that marriage in the United States shall consist of and be recognized only as the union of a natural man and a natural woman. Neither the United States nor any state shall recognize or grant to any unmarried person the legal rights or status of a spouse. We oppose the recognition of and granting of benefits to people who represent themselves as domestic partners without being legally married. We advocate the repeal of laws that place an unfair tax burden on families. We call upon Congress to completely remove the marriage penalty in the tax code, whereby a married couple receives a smaller standard deduction than their unmarried counterparts living together. The primary family unit consists of those related by blood, heterosexual marriage, or adoption. The family is responsible for its own welfare, education, moral training, conduct, and property.

Homosexuality ― We affirm that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans.
Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle, in public policy, nor should “family” be redefined to include homosexual “couples.” We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin. Additionally, we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction or belief in traditional values.
Pornography ― We encourage the enforcement of laws regarding all forms of pornography, because pornography is detrimental to the fabric of society.

Family Values ― We support the affirmation of traditional Judeo-Christian family values and oppose the continued assault on those values.

Supporting Motherhood ― We strongly support women who choose to devote their lives to their families and raising their children. We recognize their sacrifice and deplore the liberal assault on the family.

RU 486 - We urge the FDA to rescind approval of the physically dangerous RU-486 and oppose limiting the manufacturers’ and distributors’ liability.

Morning After Pill - We oppose sale and use of the dangerous “Morning After Pill.”

Basic Standards – We favor improving the quality of education for all students, including those with special needs. We support a return to the traditional basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, and citizenship with sufficient discipline to ensure learning and quality educational assessment.

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

And that's where I'm stopping. Still, plenty of pretty bad things in there.

[Guardsman Bass]

State Republican Party Platforms in "red" states tend to be a mix-mash of conservative beliefs and fears. This one was actually less paranoid than the Maine Republican platform that I read a while back.

[General Zod]

Foster Care ― We support eliminating bureaucratic prohibitions on corporal discipline and home schooling in foster homes.

The good part? This was under the section called "Protecting Our Children."

[Todeswind]

This is not the republican party I grew up as part of. These are not the values I was raised to believe are republican. These are just... terrible. I grew up surrounded by republicans, involved in republican culture. None of these are republican values, they are fundamentalist christian values.

The republican platform didn't used to be especially progressive but it was at least sane. Balance the budget, build infrastructure, and try to limit the scope of government. My party has been co-opted by neo-conservantive borderline fascists. Being a republican did not used to require that one cease to make use of their higher brain functions. It used to be the party of sanity.

I deeply hope that the Republican party fractures in the near future, splitting from the Tea-party and the neocons. I would rather have the democrats win every election for the next ten years than have these morons defile the core values of my party.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Yes, because people ALWAYS believe the same thing FOREVER. I am sorry, but teenagers are on the cusp of adulthood, the point where their parents have no authority anymore. If you want them to be adults and not perpetual children, they need to learn how to think for themselves, and they can only do that through training. It is not as if critical thinking skills teach them what to think, only how to think.

Basic Standards – We favor improving the quality of education for all students, including those with special needs. We support a return to the traditional basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, and citizenship with sufficient discipline to ensure learning and quality educational assessment.

But... those traditional basics have NEVER been traditional. Unless of course you mean reading and writing in Latin, Greek, and French as well as the English Vulgate, math through mandatory trig and calculus, and a broad education in the sciences and humanit.. oh. Wait. No. You dont want anyone having a broad education, because that would inspire them to think for themselves.

RU 486 - We urge the FDA to rescind approval of the physically dangerous RU-486 and oppose limiting the manufacturers’ and distributors’ liability.

Morning After Pill - We oppose sale and use of the dangerous “Morning After Pill.”

They're the same thing.

Family Values ― We support the affirmation of traditional Judeo-Christian family values and oppose the continued assault on those values.

You mean women having the right to vote and work outside the home? Or do you mean the idea that children are not property of parents? Judeo-Christian family values are...um... kind of Bronze Age. Oh wait, sorry. I was mistaking texas republicans for something other than ancient greeks without acceptance of homosexuality. My Bad.

The ideal republican family: Mom, 2.3 kids, dad in the military (No spartan homo), and 3-4 helots subject to annual culling.

Homosexuality ― We affirm that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit.

Reality check: religious fundamentalists in the south have the highest divorce rate, so if anyone is contributing to the breakdown of the family unit, it is the Texas GOP. As for homosexuality tearing at the fabric of society... I am sorry, but a disproportionate number of homosexuals BUILT the fabric of western society.

Alexander the Great (OK, he was Bi, but whatev)
Richard the Lionheart
DaVinci
Possibly Shakespeare
Aristotle (IIRC)
Pietro Aretino (invented Erotic Fiction, I might add)
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Emperor Hadrian
Lord Byron
Alan Turing
Oscar Wilde
Michelangelo
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Walt Whitman
Alexander von Humboldt

Yeah. Fuck you.

Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans.

Two problems

1) Your 17th century politically motivated translations of the attic greek words Malakoi and Arsenkoites are wrong
2) The US is not a theocracy, and most of the founding fathers did not believe in YHWH.

Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle, in public policy, nor should “family” be redefined to include homosexual “couples.”

Sorry kids, but we already have families, including adopted AND natural children.

We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin.

Good, because we dont want special entitlements, just the same ones you take for granted when you do your best to emulate the marital antics of Henry VIII

Additionally, we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction or belief in traditional values.

Ah. So it is OK to beat people up if god tells you to? Fuck off, assholes.

Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) - We oppose this act through which the federal government would coerce religious business owners and employees to violate their own beliefs and principles by affirming what they consider to be sinful and sexually immoral behavior.

Does this same logic apply to descrimination against women or inter-racial couples? Oh wait. Sorry. This IS the Texas GOP...

[Terralthra]

RU 486 - We urge the FDA to rescind approval of the physically dangerous RU-486 and oppose limiting the manufacturers’ and distributors’ liability.

Morning After Pill - We oppose sale and use of the dangerous “Morning After Pill.”

They're the same thing.

Not in current parlance. RU-486 is Mifepristone, a progesterone receptor antagonist. It's an abortifacient. The currently-available "morning-after pill" is a high dose of levonorgestrel (or a combined dose of synthetic estrogen and progestin) which prevents ovulation.

[Alyrium Denryle]

RU 486 - We urge the FDA to rescind approval of the physically dangerous RU-486 and oppose limiting the manufacturers’ and distributors’ liability.

Morning After Pill - We oppose sale and use of the dangerous “Morning After Pill.”

They're the same thing.

Not in current parlance. RU-486 is Mifepristone, a progesterone receptor antagonist. It's an abortifacient. The currently-available "morning-after pill" is a high dose of levonorgestrel (or a combined dose of synthetic estrogen and progestin) which prevents ovulation.

Ah. I am a bit out of date then. Back in my day, RU-486 was the Morning After Pill, or Plan B.

[wautd]

I had to check if it wasn't an Onion article. Would have been good satire. Now it's just scary and sad.

[DarkArk]

Reality check: religious fundamentalists in the south have the highest divorce rate, so if anyone is contributing to the breakdown of the family unit, it is the Texas GOP. As for homosexuality tearing at the fabric of society... I am sorry, but a disproportionate number of homosexuals BUILT the fabric of western society.

To be fair homosexuality as a concept didn't arise until the 12th century or so. Alexander certainly wouldn't have thought of himself in such terms.

Strict adherence to the original intent of the Declaration of Independence

Correct me if I'm wrong by the Declaration is not a governing document. As such it's little more than an interesting historical curio.

A free enterprise society unencumbered by government interference or subsidies.

Anyone else find it hilarious that they oppose government subsidies even though most large American industries are based on them, or used them significantly in the past?

11.
“The laws of nature and nature’s God” as our Founding Fathers believed.

You know what? I don't give two shits what the Founders believed. They do not live in 21st century America today, and their wisdom only goes so far. Our current reality is our own to make.

That's as far as I got before I decided it just wasn't worth it.

[Alyrium Denryle]

To be fair homosexuality as a concept didn't arise until the 12th century or so. Alexander certainly wouldn't have thought of himself in such terms.

No, but man-sex and even more or less exclusive man-sex was common enough. It was not necessarily an identity but it existed.

[Nephtys]

This is just the greatest.

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Republican Party: Officially against thinking.

[Ralin]

To be fair homosexuality as a concept didn't arise until the 12th century or so. Alexander certainly wouldn't have thought of himself in such terms.

No, but man-sex and even more or less exclusive man-sex was common enough. It was not necessarily an identity but it existed.

Which is why if you look at what the Catholic Church and most other forms of Christianity (including Westboro Baptist, surprisingly enough) say they insist that they're against the act of sodomy, not homosexuals as people. Which actually makes me kinda curious when and why Republicans cast themselves as being against the practice of homosexuality instead of specific acts. Presumably because they didn't want to list them all out?

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

You almost have to respect them for how honest this platform is, there's no bullshitting or obfuscation, they're literally running on "Durr, Gawd iz gud, an' we hate queers."

[Zaune]

Which actually makes me kinda curious when and why Republicans cast themselves as being against the practice of homosexuality instead of specific acts. Presumably because they didn't want to list them all out?

I'm sure they'd give you a list of justifications as long as your arm if you asked, but I suspect the real reason is that there's a certain kind of person who just has to have someone weaker than themselves to bully, and homosexuals and economic refugees from Mexico are the easiest targets on hand now that they can't lynch black people anymore.

[General Mung Beans]

This is just the greatest.

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Republican Party: Officially against thinking.

Well to be fair, it was referred to as a "program" which just means some sort of an educational regimen that calls itself that.

[Zaune]

That might be what they said, but I think Nephtys probably nailed what they actually mean.

[TheFeniX]

This is just the greatest.

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Republican Party: Officially against thinking.

From here

Contacted by TPM on Thursday, Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Communications Director Chris Elam said the “critical thinking skills” language made it into the platform by mistake.

It still doesn't change the fact the party's real beef with HOTS is that kids start questioning their parent's own beliefs. They hide behind the fact that HOTS are hard to teach and even harder to test, leaving out that they are still extremely important skills you can't rely on all parents to teach. It's the idea that "You teach them how to read and add and I'll teach my kids how to use that to survive." Which doesn't work all that well in practice because you can barely rely on parents to teach their kids how their own dick works.

[Simon_Jester]

One thing I'll say:

Primary and secondary education are riddled with buzzwords. Many of them are meaningless, or could mean almost anything but are arbitrarily defined to mean a single specific thing by someone who wants to sell overpriced books to school systems' teacher training programs. "Outcome Based Education" is one of these.

I'm guessing here, but I think it's some big but very local controversy in Texas about how to run the schools- do we keep using this particular program that means all our teachers have to do everything in a certain way? And the local Republican Party is taking sides on the issue for political reasons, which may not have much to do with whether OBE is a good or a bad way to teach kids, and is just bullshitting some language in there to justify it in the eyes of their stereotypical average voter.

[Minischoles]

There is just no attempt at even disguising how batshit insane they are is there? just putting it right out there that they want to set up a Christian theocracy, and force their kids into being good little drones who don't question mummy and daddy, don't think for themselves in a land where being homosexual is illegal

[TheFeniX]

There is just no attempt at even disguising how batshit insane they are is there? just putting it right out there that they want to set up a Christian theocracy, and force their kids into being good little drones who don't question mummy and daddy, don't think for themselves in a land where being homosexual is illegal

I won't argue the insanity point, but you have to realize that the Texas Republicans are pandering to their base. Houston and Austin are fairly liberal (still vote Republican tickets though), but when you get out into other areas of Texas, you have a class of people who honestly believe shit like sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll will be the downfall of civilized society (ignoring that this has been a documented fear of adults since the Greeks and likely well before that). They firmly believe that forcing them to recognize homosexuals as equals is a direct assault on their religion and is repressing their beliefs. It doesn't help that Hispanics have become more politically active over the past few decades and they are just as prone to bigoted bullshit as whites. Texas conservatives have done a great job (considering) getting the Hispanic community to focus on where they agree (Religion, Education, Gay Marriage, abortion), rather than where they disagree (immigration, worker rights, etc).

It doesn't matter that the same arguments against gay marriage were parroted by racial purists: these people literally believe we're just one more liberal step away from utter anarchy and they latch onto buzzwords in their efforts to forestall Armageddon. It's also not all just a Religious thing. Parents just don't want their kids being exposed to ideas they haven't had a chance to run through a filter (my own brother is guilty of this). Republicans focus on children being swayed away from God and good morals, ignoring that we're graduating kids who don't have the most basic grasp of critical thinking because with NCLB focusing on Standardized Testing, we can't afford to waste time on something that subjective.

It's most jarring when you talk about condoms and Morning after pills. Responsibility ends at the specific moment you decide to have intercourse. By that I mean: "sex is irresponsible." So, you shouldn't be allowed to use condoms or birth control because that will let you "get away with being irresponsible." On that note, you would have to be insane or stupid to think condoms and birth control aren't listed under that "being responsible" column, unless of course sex is just evil.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Houston and Austin are fairly liberal (still vote Republican tickets though)

Not actually true. Houson, Waco, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso as municipalities tend to vote democrat. The problem is the vast rural and sub-urban hinterland around those cities, and jerrymandering. The electoral influence of Austin on the state legislature for example was basically eliminated by republicans in the last round of redistricting, where they basically cut the city up into pie slices and integrated the city with rural areas sufficiently large to wash out the urban city-folk.