The Republican Party of Texas has released their 2012 Platform, a list of ideas and positions favored by the Texas Republican party. Many bloggers have been posting quotes, so I thought I’d take a look.
The entire platform can be found here. Selected planks are in red, my comments follow.
Principle # 10. Honoring all of those that serve and protect our freedom.
- Except for those who don’t wear a military uniform, such as police, firemen, teachers, federal and state government workers, park rangers, etc. Those bastards should lose their pay, their pensions, and their jobs should be eliminated.
Unelected, Appointed Bureaucrats (Czars) - We decry the appointment of unelected bureaucrats, and we urge Congress to use their constitutional authority to defund and abolish these positions and return authority to duly elected officials, accountable to the electorate.
- The war on “czars” is one of those weird fetishes conservatives have adopted. “Czars” is merely a description of cabinet and other high level managers in the Administration, not independent, super-powerful, overlords. There were “czars” in the Bush administration. There have been “unelected bureaucrats” in charge of government agencies since, oh, forever. I mean, are we going to elect the head of the Surface Transportation Board?
Patriot Act - We urge review and revision of those portions of the USA Patriot Act, and related executive and military orders and directives that erode constitutional rights and essential liberties of citizens.
- I’ll give them credit for this one. Somehow, however, I don’t think the specifics behind their thinking would match up with mine.
Emergency War Powers and Martial Law Declarations - We strongly urge Congress to repeal the War Powers Act and end our declared state of emergency. Any Declaration of Martial law should be approved by Congress.
- Also credit due for this one. (Although were they advocating this during the Bush Administration?)
Washington D.C. - We strongly oppose making the District of Columbia a state or adding Congressional members.
- Because, you *know* what kind of people live in DC, right?
Census - We oppose the Census Bureau’s obtaining data beyond the number of people residing in a dwelling, and we oppose statistical sampling adjustments. We support the actual counting of people and oppose any type of estimation or manipulation of Census data. Only U.S. citizens should be counted for the purpose of adjusting legislative districts.
- Again, because you *know* what kind of people get counted more and more these days.
Affirmative Action - Inasmuch as the Civil Rights Movement argued against using race as a factor in American life, affirmative action reintroduces race as a divisive force in American life. The Republican Party of Texas believes in equal opportunity for all citizens without regard to race or gender. To that end, we oppose affirmative action.
- Because the Civil Rights Movement identified that racism was holding people back, we should ignore race in helping those people out. Or something.
Protection from Extreme Environmentalists – We strongly oppose all efforts of the extreme environmental groups that stymie legitimate business interests. We strongly oppose those efforts that attempt to use the environmental causes to purposefully disrupt and stop those interests within the oil and gas industry. We strongly support the immediate repeal of the Endangered Species Act. We strongly oppose the listing of the dune sage brush lizard either as a threatened.
- Because fuck that stupid lizard. Am I right?
Free Speech for the Clergy - We urge amendment of the Internal Revenue Code to allow a religious organization to address issues without fear of losing its tax-exempt status. We call for repeal of requirements that religious organizations send the government any personal information about their contributors.
- In other words, we want churches to be tax free, but we still want them to be able to advocate in favor of Republicans. Of course, if it turns out that they advocate more for Democrats, then we don’t want our tax dollars supporting those churches.
Real ID Act - As the Real ID Act effectively creates an unconstitutional and privacy-inhibiting national ID card, we hereby call for its immediate repeal.
- Unless you wish to vote in blue states, and then we want you to bring a picture ID, your birth certificate, and a pint of blood in order to vote. Because voter fraud.
Further, we urge Congress to withhold Supreme Court jurisdiction in cases involving abortion, religious freedom, and the Bill of Rights.
- So localities can enact whatever harsh, restrictive, fascist, Christianity-based crap they want and there won’t be any court review. Yeah, that sounds good.
Voter Rights Act – We urge that the Voter Rights Act of 1965 codified and updated in 1973 be repealed and not reauthorized.
- See “Washington DC” and “Census” above.
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, the Texas Republican party, if it wasn’t obvious from reading the planks above, is AGAINST CRITICAL THINKING. They’re also against challenging children’s fixed beliefs, so you’ll believe in Santa or go to bed without any supper!
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