Sat
Sep 1 2012
09:50 am

rnc2012cover.jpg

The Republican National Committee published their "We Believe in America" 2012 Republican Platform this week. It's about 62 pages (with credits) representing the good, bad and mostly ugly of the Republican Party. Our own Marsha Blackburn co-chaired the Platform Committee, so there's some crazy, too. (Yes, Agenda 21 is mentioned!)

Although there's some coded language (opposing "social experimentation" in the military = no gays, give workers "control over their investments" = privatize Social Security, set a "fixed value for the dollar" = return to the gold standard, etc.), it's mostly in your face, how do you like that, what are you going to do about it, bub?

Be very afraid if the GOP takes over the Senate and the White House.

Anyway, the no BS but still too long executive summary is after the jump. You can read the whole thing complete with BS, er, flowery rhetoric here.


2012 Republican Platform Executive Summary

Restoring the American Dream

  • Maxium economic freedom
  • Self-discipline, work, savings and investment by individual
  • Restore proven values of American free-enterprise
  • Excessive taxation and regulation impede economic development

Job Creation

  • Pursue free-market policies
  • Simplify tax system
  • Rein in government spending and regulation
  • Promote U.S. products abroad
  • Federal-state-private investment in infrastructure
  • Overhaul federal training programs

Small Business

  • Reform the tax code
  • Encourage investment in small business
  • Make adequate financing and credit available for expansion

Taxes:

  • Extend the 2001 and 2003 tax relief packages commonly known as the Bush tax cuts pending reform of the tax code
  • Reform the tax code by reducing marginal tax rates by 20 percent across-the-board
  • Eliminate the taxes on interest, dividends, and capital gains altogether for lower and middle-income taxpayers;
  • End the Death Tax
  • Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax
  • Reduce the corporate tax rate
  • Permanent research and development tax credit
  • Repeal the corporate alternative minimum tax
  • Territorial system of corporate taxation on profits earned abroad

Balancing the budget

  • Restructure the twentieth century entitlement state
  • Reform Medicare to empower millions of seniors to control their personal healthcare decisions
  • Balanced budget amendment
  • Amendment requiring a super-majority for any tax increase, with exceptions for emergencies
  • Cap spending to the historical average percentage of GDP

Federal Reserve

  • Audit the Federal Reserve
  • Commission to set a fixed value for the dollar

Housing

  • Free enterprise mortgage system
  • Wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
  • Downsize FHA

Infrastructure

  • Secure water supply
  • Invest in inland waterways
  • Major improvements to East Coast and Gulf shipping ports
  • Reform National Environmental Policy Act to streamline projects and limit litigation
  • Privatize Amtrak

International trade

  • Free trade agreements
  • Trade parity with China or import duties
  • WTO enforcement of intellectual property protection
  • Presidential Trade Promotion Authority
  • Trans-Pacific Partnership
  • Worldwide, multilateral Reagan Economic Zone

Workforce

  • Consolidate federal training programs into state block grants
  • Personal reemployment accounts
  • Expand H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers
  • Retain foreign students graduating from American universities
  • Employee stock ownership plans
  • Health insurance and pension portability
  • Restore the rule of law to labor
  • Block "card check"
  • Enact Secret Ballot Protection Act
  • Enforce Hobbs Act against labor violence
  • Raise Act to allow non-union raises
  • End Project Labor Agreements
  • Repeal Davis-Bacon
  • National right to work law
  • Prohibit government collection of dues for public employee unions

Restore Constitutional Order

  • Oppose the creation of any new race-based governments within the United States
  • Require statement of constitutionality for every bill
  • End unlawful recess appointments
  • Eliminate "czars" that evade confirmation
  • End executive orders that bypass congressional authority
  • End illegal actions by federal agencies
  • End open and notorious contempt of Congress
  • Enforce 10th amendment state's rights
  • Enforce requirement to pass a budget
  • Consult with Congress on troop deployments

Constitutional Budget

  • Balanced budget amendment
  • Constituional amendment requiring super-majority for tax increases
  • Cap limiting spending to percentage of GDP

Defend Marriage

  • Enforce Defense of Marriage Act
  • Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman

Tenth Amendment

  • Eliminate mandates on states
  • Federal government must not assume financial responsibility for states that failed to rein spending and public employee unions

Honest elections

  • Protect Electoral College from "mortal threat" of popular vote
  • Support state photo-ID laws
  • Support state proof of citizenship laws
  • Vigorous state and federal prosecution of voter fraud
  • Support voter verified paper audit trail for all electronic voting systems
  • Discourage voting by mail only
  • Apportionment by census of citizens only, excluding legal and illegal aliens

First Amendment

  • End war on religion
  • End interference with faith-based institutions on health services, traditional marriage, abortion
  • Support public display of the Ten Commandments
  • Affirm the right to pray in school
  • Assert every citizen’s right to apply religious values to public policy
  • Support right of faith-based organizations to participate fully in public programs
  • Oppose state blacklisting of religious groups which decline to arrange adoptions by same-sex couples
  • Condemn the hate campaigns, threats of violence, and vandalism by proponents of same-sex marriage against advocates of traditional marriage
  • Call for a federal investigation into attempts to deny religious believers their civil rights
  • Final repeal of McCain-Feingold
  • Raise or repeal campaign contribution limits
  • Oppose any legislation to reverse Citizen United
  • No regulation of political speech on the internet
  • Oppose Fairness Doctrine

Second Amendment

  • Uphold the right to keep and bear arms
  • Support the fundamental right to self-defense
  • Federal right to carry firearms in any state that issues permits
  • Oppose legislation limiting capacity of clips or magazines

Fourth Amendment

  • Support legislation to prevent unwarranted surveillance using aerial drones

Fifth Amendment

  • Encourage state constitutional amendments and legislation to prohibit taking by eminent domain for private development
  • Just compensation for taking of water or other property rights for environmental regulation

Ninth Amendment

  • Welcome all fellow citizens who are determined to reclaim the rights of the people that have been ignored or violated by government

Sanctity of Life

  • Affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed
  • Support a human life amendment to the Constitution
  • Endorse legislation to make clear that Fourteenth Amendment protections apply to unborn children
  • Support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life
  • Oppose federal funding of embryonic stem sell research
  • Support state laws for informed consent, mandatory waiting periods, parental consent, and abortion clinic regulation

Respect Our Flag

  • Restore and protect "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance

American sovereignty

  • Oppose U.S. participation in the International Criminal Court
  • Repeal Lacey Act prohibitions against use of products illegally obtained in the country of origin
  • Oppose international treaties that weaken or encroach upon American sovereignty

Energy

  • All of the Above energy policy
  • Free markets and public preference determines industry outcomes
  • Promote Clean coal
  • End EPA war on coal
  • Open Outer Continental Shelf for oil exploration
  • Open ANWR for oil drilling
  • Open federally owned land for oil and natural gas drilling
  • Approve the Keystone XL pipeline
  • Streamline permitting for pipelines
  • Timely processing of Nuclear Regulatory Commission new reactor applications
  • Develop advanced reprocessing technologies for spent nuclear fuel
  • Taxpayers should not serve as venture capitalists for risky renewable energy endeavors
  • Market-based approach to aggressively develop wind, hydro, solar, biomass, geothermal, and tidal energy
  • Respect the States' proven ability to regulate the use of hydraulic fracturing

Agriculture

  • End Direct Payment program, replace with crop insurance
  • Fully fund USDA food safety programs
  • Use U.S. Forest Service land to the best economic potential
  • Limit expanding jurisdiction of EPA and Corps of Engineers over water rights
  • Convert Food Stamps to a block grant program for states

Environment

  • Shift environmental policy from a job-killing punitive mentality to a spirit of cooperation with producers, landowners, and the public
  • Full transparency in development of the data and modeling that drive regulations
  • Restore scientific integrity to our public research institutions and remove political incentives from publicly funded research
  • Public access to public lands for recreational activities such as hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting should be permitted on all appropriate federal lands
  • Open up federal government's landholdings and control of water in the West for ranching, mining, or forestry through private ownership
  • Make federal lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service available for harvesting timber
  • Require Congressional approval before any environmental rule projected to cost in excess of $100 million to American consumers can go into effect
  • Require full transparency in environmental litigation, including advance notice to all State and local governments, tribes, businesses, landowners, and the public who could be adversely affected
  • Support legislation to ensure cumulative analysis of EPA regulations, and to require full transparency in all EPA decisions, so that the public will know in advance their full impact on jobs and the economy
  • Prohibit the EPA from moving forward with new greenhouse gas regulations
  • Liberty must remain the core energy behind America's environmental improvement

Medicare

  • Medicare can't be sustained on its current course
  • Move Medicare from defined benefit to defined contribution program
  • Transition to a premium-support model
  • Income adjusted voucher for insurance
  • Increase eligibility age

Medicaid

  • The next frontier of welfare reform
  • Too big and too flawed
  • Alternatives to hospitalization for chronic health problems
  • Incentives for disease prevention activities
  • Eliminate excessive mandates on coverage
  • Convert to a block grant program for states
  • Premium supports or tax credits to pay for insurance for working poor
  • Home health alternatives for aged and disabled

Social Security

  • Younger Americans have lost all faith in the Social Security system
  • Give workers control over their investments
  • Younger workers can take responsibility for planning their own retirement
  • Presidential panel to review under funded pensions

Regulatory Reform

  • Repeal Obamacare
  • Repeal Dodd-Frank
  • Rein in OSHA and EPA
  • Sunset out-of-date regulations

Internet Freedom

  • Remove regulatory barriers that protect outdated technology
  • Deregulate delivery of voice, video, data
  • Ensure personal data receives full constitutional protection
  • Oppose net neutrality rule
  • Public-private partnerships to connect rural areas
  • Auction surplus spectrum

Too Big to Fail

  • No financial institution is too big to fail
  • End over-regulation and selective intervention
  • Institutional transparency
  • Reasonable federal oversight of financial institutions
  • Practical safeguards for consumers
  • Preserve mortgage interest deduction if tax reform fails

Judicial Activism

  • Some judges in the federal courts remain far afield from their constitutional limitations
  • Appoint and confirm only constitutional jurists who interpret the law as originally intended
  • Prevent elevation of additional leftist ideologues
  • Rein in the Department of Justice blocking of photo-ID laws
  • Defend all federal laws in court, including Defense of Marriage Act

U.S. Postal Service

  • Downsize
  • Outsource appropriate aspects

TSA

  • Outsosurce airport security to private sector
  • New systems to replace frisking

Immigration

  • Oppose any form of amnesty
  • Mandatory use of Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements
  • Workplace enforcement through verification systems
  • Mandatory E-Verify
  • Give Homeland Security long-term detention authority
  • Cooperative local government 278g agreements
  • Voluntary deportation procedures
  • Stop Dept. of Justice immigration lawsuits against states
  • Double-layerd border fence
  • Deny federal funding to sanctuary cities
  • Deny federal funding to universities that provide in-state tuition to illegal aliens
  • Support English as the nation's official language

American Indians

  • Respect tribal governments
  • Economic self-sufficiency
  • Expand local autonomy

District of Columbia

  • Promote home ownership
  • Open access to higher education
  • Expand Opportunity Scholarship Program
  • Non-partisan elected Attorney General
  • Oppose statehood for the District of Columbia

Federal Civil Service

  • Reduction of federal payroll by at least 10% through attrition
  • Adjustment of pay scales and benefits to reflect those of the private sector
  • No appointments for anyone with delinquent taxes or student loans

Space

  • Preserve national security interests
  • Foster innovation and competitiveness
  • Sustain our preeminence in space

Territories

  • Develop local energy options
  • Flexibility to determine minimum wage
  • Support statehood for Puerto Rico

Protecting Traditional Marriage

  • The union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard
  • Promote through laws governing marriage
  • Treat all Americans with respect and dignity

Poverty

  • Welfare must have work requirement
  • Ensure food stamp programs are better targeted

Adoption and Foster Care

  • Urge states to work with faith-based and community groups to assist teens who age out of foster care

Family Friendly Internet

  • Prohibit gambling over the internet
  • Service providers must provide safe haven for children

Americans with Disabilities

  • Oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide
  • Update statutory authority for Ability One
  • Support IDEA program that minimizes separation of children with disabilities from peers
  • Endorse Employment First to replace dependency with jobs

Repeal Obamacare

  • Republican victories in the November elections will guarantee that it is never implemented
  • Republican President, on the first day in office, will use his legitimate waiver authority under that law to halt its progress
  • American people, through the free market, can advance affordable and responsible healthcare reform
  • Affirm the dignity of women by protecting the sanctity of human life

American Healthcare

  • Health care is an individual responsibility
  • Personal responsibility for healthier lifestyles
  • Increase healthcare choice and options
  • Contain costs
  • Reduce mandates
  • Simplify the system for patients and providers
  • Restore cuts made to Medicare
  • Equalize tax treatment of group and individual health insurance
  • Promote free-market based system, empower consumer choice
  • Convert Medicaid to block grants to states
  • Limit federal requirements on private insurance and Medicaid
  • Reinsurance and risk adjustment for pre-existing conditions
  • Non-litigation alternatives for dispute resolution
  • Permanently ban all federal funding and subsidies for abortion and healthcare plans that include abortion coverage
  • Promote price transparency
  • Cap non-economic damages for medical malpractice lawsuits
  • Empower individuals and small businesses to form purchasing pools for uninsured
  • Protect individuals with pre-existing conditions from discrimination
  • Enhanced medical record technology

Consumer Choice in Healthcare

  • Portable insurance from job to job
  • Purchase insurance across state lines
  • Promote Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Accounts
  • Make home care a priority

Federal Healthcare R&D

  • Support federal investment in basic and applied biomedical research
  • Expanded support for stem-cell research
  • Support ban on embryonic stem-cell research, cloning or experimentation on human embryos
  • Restore DEA ban on use of controlled substances for physician-assisted suicide
  • Oppose RU-486 and similar "abortion pills"

Individual Conscience in Healthcare

  • No healthcare professional or organization required to provide or withhold or refer medical service against their conscience
  • Urge legislation to require parental consent to transport girls across state lines for abortions

FDA Reform

  • Lack of predictability, consistency, transparency and, efficiency at the FDA is driving innovation overseas
  • Eliminate bureaucratic red tape and legal uncertainty

Tort Reform

  • Aggressively pursue tort reform legislation

Education

  • High standards
  • Accountability
  • State and local control
  • Consumer choice
  • Transmit personal and cultural identity

Academic Excellence

  • Accountability
  • Higher academic standards
  • Programs to develop character and financial literacy
  • Rigorous assessments on fundamentals
  • Renewed focus on the Constitution and writings of the Founding Fathers
  • Accurate account of American history
  • Transparency
  • Flexibility and freedom to innovate
  • Hold teachers and administrators responsible for student performance
  • STEM subjects
  • Phonics
  • End social promotions
  • Merit pay
  • Classroom discipline
  • Parental involvement
  • Strong leadership
  • Technology

Consumer Choice in Education

  • Support home schooling
  • Single-sex classes
  • Full-day school hours
  • Year-round schools
  • Charter schools
  • Open enrollment
  • College lab schools
  • Virtual schools
  • Career and technical education programs
  • Vouchers or tax credits
  • Local control and block grants
  • Family literacy programs
  • English First
  • Abstinence education
  • Oppose school-based clinics that provide abortion counseling and contraception
  • No federal funding for mandatory mental health screening
  • Urge use of teaching talent from business, STEM fields and military
  • Replace tenure with merit pay
  • Background checks for all personnel who interact with school children

Classroom Improvement

  • Oppose ideological bias and political indoctrination in higher education
  • Oppose zones of intellectual intolerance favoring the Left

College Costs

  • Acknowledge need to change status quo
  • New systems of learning to compete with traditional four-year colleges
  • Expanded community colleges and technical schools
  • Private training schools
  • Online universities
  • Life-long learning
  • Work-based learning in the private sector
  • Greater transparency for student aid
  • Federal government should not originate student loans
  • Federal government should insure private sector loans
  • Reevalute regulations that drive tuition costs higher

Crime

  • Strong families and caring communities
  • Excellent law enforcement
  • Citizen vigilance
  • Tough but fair prosecutors
  • Meaningful sentences
  • Victim's rights
  • Limits on judicial discretion
  • Liberals do not understand that criminals behind bars cannot harm the public
  • Mandatory prison sentencing for gang crimes, violent or sexual offenses against children, repeat drug dealers, rape, robbery and murder.
  • National registry for convicted child murderers
  • Oppose parole for dangerous or repeat felons
  • Death penalty for capital murder cases
  • Mandatory prison time for assaults against law enforcement officers
  • No monetary damages for injured criminals from victims or the public
  • Rehabilitation, reduce recidivism
  • Accountability courts
  • Work with faith-based institutions for youth, non-violent and first-time offenders
  • Diversion for drug rehab for first-time offenders
  • Regain control of prisons, prevent ethnic and racial battlegrounds
  • Protect inmates against cruel or degrading treatment by other inmates
  • Special concern for children of inmates to break the cycle of crime
  • Protect victim's rights, assure access to social and legal services
  • Withdraw federal authority to criminalize behavior

American Exceptionalism

  • Peace through strength
  • American military superiority
  • Across-the-board cuts in defense spending would be a disaster for national security
  • Leaks for political purposes have damaged national security
  • Shield of American Naval and Air power in the Pacific
  • Reduce world's nuclear stockpiles
  • Maintain effective strategic arsenal for deterrence
  • Modernize nuclear stockpile and infrastructure
  • Restore European missile defense systems
  • Deploy a missile defense shield for the U.S. and allies
  • Address cyberthreats, invest in cybersecurity
  • Deter any adversary who uses terror
  • New National Military Strategy based on potential threats
  • Deterrence using the full spectrum of military capabilities
  • Comprehensive and just detainee policy for enemy combatants
  • No arms control agreements that limit right to self-defense
  • Restore morale and advance capabilities of intelligence community
  • Sound management policies for Dept. of Defense spending
  • Recognize need for competition within a robust industrial base

Support our Troops

  • Will not reveal any secret that puts our people in harm's way
  • Reject the use of the military as a platform for social experimentation
  • Military compensation sufficient to attract and retain quality personnel
  • Honor commitments to veterans, retirees and their families
  • Maintain combat readiness
  • Support larger active duty force
  • Oppose cuts to National Guard and Reserves
  • Oppose reinstatement of the draft or compulsory national service
  • Support women in military
  • Oppose women in combat
  • Oppose anything that divides or weakens team cohesion
  • Support National Guard and Reserves
  • Counseling and faith-based institutions to treat post-service medical conditions, mental illness, addiction, and homelessness
  • Stop attempts to ban bibles or religious symbols from military facilities
  • Enforce Defense of Marriage Act in the Armed Forces
  • Ensure military opportunity to vote

Support Military Families

  • Readjustment counseling
  • Encourage state job, license reciprocity, one-stop service centers, and education programs
  • Protect survivor beneifits
  • No overextended deployments

Supporting Veterans

  • Move VA from adversarial to advocacy relationship with veterans
  • Presidential appointment of regional VA directors
  • Commitment of resources and personal to provide the best medical care we can provide for wounded veterans
  • End homelessness for veterans
  • Urge private sector to make hiring vets a company policy
  • Tax breaks for hiring vets
  • Give vets a place at the head of the training and employment line
  • Streamine disability claims processing

Foreign Policy

  • Protect American sovereignty in international organizations
  • Prohibit granting federal money to NGOs that provide or promote abortion
  • Reject U.N. Convention on Women's Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, U.N. Conference on Environment treaties
  • Block ratification of the Law of the Sea treaty
  • Strongly reject the U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of American sovereignty
  • Oppose any form of U.N. Global Tax
  • Oppose any U.N. control of the internet
  • Reject jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court
  • Support U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
  • Foreign aid based on foreign government competition by showing respect for the rule of law, free enterprise, and measurable results
  • Reverse foreign aid cultural agenda of legalized abortion and homosexual rights
  • Fight slavery and human trafficking, increased diplomatic efforts
  • Greater scrutiny of overseas labor contracts for temporary workers in the U.S.
  • Address human smuggling across southern border by drug cartels and gangs
  • Support international broadcasting such as Radio Free Europe, extend to the Middle East
  • Support social media and unrestricted internet access throughout the world

The Americas

  • Venezuela represents an increasing threat to U.S. security
  • Venezuela is a narcoterrorist state and an Iranian outpost in the Western hemisphere
  • Venezuela issues passports or visas to thousands of Middle Eastern terrorists offering safe haven to Hezbollah
  • Stand with true democracies in Latin America against Marxist subversion and drug lords
  • Affirm our friendship with the People of Cuba
  • Call for a dedicated platform for the transmission of Radio and TV Marti and for the promotion of pro-democracy Internet access and circumvention technology
  • Support Assistance to a Free Cuba and Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 on rights of Cubans fleeing Communism
  • Salute allies Mexico and Columbia in war on drugs and war on terror
  • Unified effort on crime and terrorism, coordinate intelligence and enforcement among regional allies
  • Military-to-military training and intelligence sharing with Mexico
  • Finish Keystone XL Pipeline so both Canada and U.S. can profit

Africa

  • Continue aid to Africa, strengthen personal and commercial ties
  • Closer military and economic cooperation with African countries under assault by radical Islam

Asian-Pacific

  • Restore human rights in North Korea
  • Demand North Korean nuclear disarmament
  • Pursue accounting and repatriation of American remains in Vietnam

South Asia

  • Welcome stronger relationship with India
  • Encourage India to permit greater foreign investment and trade
  • Renewal of historic ties with Pakistan
  • Oppose politically motivated withdrawal of 30,000 "surge" troops from Afghanistan
  • Demand Afghan government crack down on corruption and narcotics trade
  • Demand Pakistan sever connections with insurgents

Taiwan

  • Oppose unilateral steps to alter status quo in the Taiwan Straits
  • Will help defend Taiwan from China
  • Continue Taiwan free trade agreements and arms sales

China

  • Increase trade and education alliances with China
  • Open Chines markets to American companies
  • Condemn Chinese military expansion, human rights suppression
  • Firm response from Republican president to trade and intellectual property disputes with China

Europe

  • Ensure continued vitality of political alliance with Europe through NATO
  • Appreciation for UK and other European nations contribution in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya

Russia

  • Warn Russia against suppression of opposition parties, the press, and institutions of civil society
  • Condemn Russian invasion of the Republic of Georgia
  • Condemn Russia for aligning with tyrants in the Middle East, bullying neighbors, protecting Stalinist regime in Belarus
  • Grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations with sanctions against human rights

Israel

  • Unequivocal support of Israel
  • Security of Israel is in the vital national security interest of the United States
  • Two democratic states, Israel with Jerusalem as its capital and Palestine
  • Palestine must reject terror, embrace democracy
  • Call on new government in Egypt to uphold peace treaty with Israel

Middle East

  • Comprehensive and lasting peace in Middle East with no artificial timetable
  • Recognize historic nature of Arab Spring, but be prepared for anything
  • Radical elements like Hamas and Hezbollah must be isolated
  • Call for restoration of Lebanon's independence
  • Support transition to post-Assad Syrian government of democracy
  • Continuing partnership with people of Iraq
  • Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons threatens America, Israel and the world
  • Failed engagement policy of current administration made the threat worse
  • America must lead the effort to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons
  • Urge the next Republican President to unequivocally assert his support for the Iranian people as they protest their despotic regime
  • Retain all options in dealing with grave threat from Iran
rikki's picture

bzzgrl needs to watch you

bzzgrl needs to watch you closely for signs of PTSD.

R. Neal's picture

Happy to take one for the

Happy to take one for the team. I'll be OK after a shower.

bizgrrl's picture

Aaarrrggghhh! I can't even

Aaarrrggghhh! I can't even get past the first section, Restoring the American Dream, before I get frustrated.

•Self-discipline, work, savings and investment by individual

Yeah, right.

Andy Axel's picture

Believe In America

Every time I hear "We Believe In America," I'm brought back to the opening scene of The Godfather:

(Link)

"We've known each other many years, but this is the first time you ever came to me for counsel or for help. I can't remember the last time that you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child. But let's be frank here. You never wanted my friendship. And, uh, you were afraid to be in my debt.

I understand. You found paradise in America, you had a good trade, you made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law. You didn't need a friend like me. But, now you come to me, and you say: "Don Corleone, give me justice." But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather."

It's an imperfect analogy, to be sure, but it appears that the RNC is playing Bonasera, while Obama is Emilio Barzini.

fischbobber's picture

Restore the rule of law to labor

(link...)

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

(link...)

We have allowed ourselves to become complacent as sheep being lead to the slaughter.

The economic survival of the middle class is this generations Vietnam.

B Harmon's picture

It makes much more sense if

It makes much more sense if you add after each sentence the phrase "for rich people".

Cleuster / lonnie's picture

I wish everyone would read

I wish everyone would read the Republican platform and understand it. There is absolutely nobody in our country except a rich atheist that could be voting for their own interests in voting Republican. The Republican platform and philosophy contradicts all religions that have a moral basis.It certainly contradicts the Christian teachings of the New Testament which the majority of the Republicans say they believe. The Grand Ole Party is for sure the The Grand Immoral Party!

mld

lonnie's picture

I read over the summary a

I read over the summary a second time. It makes me sick to think we could be headed toward a Romney kind of America. The increased economic elitism and favoritism of the wealthy, the not so subtle racism, the ignorant and dangerous foreign policy, the destruction of public education, the destruction of our environment, the denial of essential healthcare, the attack on democracy.........Hell a person has to be mentally unstable to vote for this bullshit. It not only makes me sick, it makes me mad to hear the mean spirited and ungodly lies and propaganda the Republicans are feeding the elderly and many that actually have put their trust in them. So many sit and hear Rush and keep their TV'S tuned to Fox, they think that they are hearing the gospel. They do not take time to learn the real facts.

mld

Nelle's picture

Here's the bit on Agenda 21

We strongly reject the U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of American sovereignty, and we oppose any form of U.N. Global Tax.

Delusional, as always.

What's this Global Tax? I've never heard of it.

Maybe it's a typo and they're opposed to Global Tacks.

Rachel's picture

global tax

I think it's kin to Madeline Rogero's rain tax. :)

Rooster2's picture

The bad news for Obama, in

The bad news for Obama, in the supposedly "good" news area:

"The economy has fewer good jobs now than it did at the start of the 21st century," said Bernhardt.

NELP looked at employment trends in 366 occupations between 2008 and 2012. Low-wage jobs had median hourly wages between $7.69 to $13.83, while people in mid-wage positions earned between $13.84 and $21.13. High-wage jobs had a median hourly wage of $21.14 to $54.55.

Related: America's workers: A year of ups and downs

The NELP study backs up a separate report from the Department of Labor that showed more than half of displaced workers who lost their jobs during the recovery and found new ones were working for lower wages.

(link...)

Obama doesn't have anything to show for the last 4 years. To blame it on past Republican administrations may make sense, but won't wash with the electorate.

That's why we have an election every four years. And Obama has had his.

Unless he comes up with something new and different, which would require a sea change on his part, it's basically over if the past is prologue.

fischbobber's picture

The good news for Obama

The good news for Obama is that most voters are exposed to enough everyday life to understand that class warfare not only exists, but that the 1% would indeed have us in chains if they had half an opportunity.

The newspaper industry is a prime example. 40 years ago the writers guild controlled economic negotiations for the writing professionals and subsequently the content and the integrity of both the real news and the op-ed writers. The writers guild is all but busted. How many Sentinel writers are being paid guild wages or are even members? Some highly vocal non-verified contributors to this forum have been engaged in a non-stop bitchfest about the Sentinels practices for some time now, but let me ask you a question,

WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?

When the industry was allowed to replace a highly regarded profession with a strong set of ethical standards with people willing to work for substandard wages while admitting to submitting substandard work the credibility of the whole industry crumbled. The newspaper industry isn't dead because their audience changed, the newspaper industry is dead because it killed itself. With the possible exception of David Hunter and a minority of the sports staff, there are no longer any credible writers at the Sentinel. And they've earned that reputation by achieving new lows at every possible opportunity.

And yet, you advocate more of the same. The tide won't turn until labor laws are strengthened. This country was falling off a cliff in 2008. Had the crises reached you, you would know this. As it stands, you appear to be one of the blissfully ignorant willing to stick your fingers in your ear and sing "La La La" until the bad guys kick in your door. And yet, by your bi-polar posts it's clear you have no clue as to who the bad guys even are. Scripps-Howard is one of the most anti-labor, anti-professional standards businesses in America and yet, you not only want to bitch about the way they operate, you appear to advocate the election of a president willing to give corporations more power to intimidate their own while lessoning your rights as an individual.

Without a constitutional overhaul, the data mining by the press that has you so bent out of shape will continue to happen. Here's the kicker. Without a return to professional standards that only organization and unionization can bring, the subsequent return to ethical standards won't ever happen because there will always be a shitty worker willing to do the job for cheaper. If you don't believe me, open the Sentinel to the editorial page every Friday, look to the left, then look to the right.

Rooster2's picture

Is this the equivalent of the

Is this the equivalent of the malaise speech?

(link...)

Does the Administration not understand that simply saying "it could have been much worse," is not accounting for the unfulfilled campaign promises?

lonnie's picture

Are you on drugs?

Are you on drugs?

fischbobber's picture

Is this the equivalent of the malaise speech?

No.

But that is the sort of shallow question one would expect from a person who felt that the only function of government and private enterprise was to serve his every whim.

One cannot have one's cake and eat it too. Freedom comes with responsibility.

rikki's picture

This one cracked me up:

This one cracked me up: "Support voter verified paper audit trail for all electronic voting systems." I can cite several examples of Republicans working to the contrary. Can anyone provide an example of a Republican actually taking steps toward verifiable elections?

R. Neal's picture

I like how it starts out with

I like how it starts out with "We are the party of the Constitution, the solemn compact which confirms our God-given individual rights and assures that all Americans stand equal before the law," yet goes on to propose no less than four amendments to the solemn compact, one of which is anything but equal before the law:

• Balanced budget amendment
• Amendment requiring super-majority for tax increases
• Amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman
• Human life amendment

R. Neal's picture

P.S. I believe the last

P.S. I believe the last Constitutional amendment passed by Congress was the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, which states that "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

It has been ratified by 35 states, including Tennessee. It only needs three more. The holdouts are all in the South except Arizona, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nevada and Utah.

lonnie's picture

You are right, it was

You are right, it was proposed in 1972 passing both houses of Congress by the required 2/3 vote. It actually was proposed way back about 90 years ago by women suffragists Alice Paul.

The Congress sets a limit for debate and ratification by the states. The Congress established a 7 year deadline for ratification by the states. After that deadline passed, they extended the period until 1982.No state approved during that extension and 4 or 5 states actually rescinded their original vote because the makeup of their legislature had changed, becoming more conservative. Jerry Farewell campaigned hard against it, telling his Immoral Majority followers that if the ERA got approved, women would be drafted and forced into combat.

Not only do the Republicans want to amend the heck out of the document that they rant and rave about, they want to destroy the democracy that it created by suppressing voters and taking away their Constitutional rights. They are a bundle of contradictions.

mld

Rachel's picture

if the ERA got approved,

if the ERA got approved, women would be drafted and forced into combat.

Also - unisex bathrooms!

fischbobber's picture

Also - unisex bathrooms!

Does that mean there's going to have to be toilet paper all over the floor and long lines?

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