Same-Sex Marriage "Traditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a free society and has for millennia been entrusted with rearing children and instilling cultural values. We condemn the Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Windsor, which wrongly removed the ability of Congress to define marriage policy in federal law. We also condemn the Supreme Court’s lawless ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which in the words of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was a “judicial Putsch” — full of “silly extravagances” — that reduced “the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Storey to the mystical aphorisms of a fortune cookie.”
Guns We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, a natural inalienable right that predates the Constitution and is secured by the Second Amendment. Lawful gun ownership enables Americans to exercise their God-given right of self- defense for the safety of their homes, their loved ones, and their communities. We salute the Republican Congress for defending the right to keep and bear arms by preventing the President from installing a new liberal majority on the Supreme Court. …. We oppose ill-conceived laws that would restrict magazine capacity or ban the sale of the most popular and common modern rifle. We also oppose any effort to deprive individuals of their right to keep and bear arms without due process of law.
Abortion The Constitution’s guarantee that no one can “be deprived of life, liberty or property” deliberately echoes the Declaration of Independence’s proclamation that “all” are “endowed by their Creator” with the inalienable right to life. Accordingly, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth. We oppose the use of public funds to perform or promote abortion or to fund organizations, like Planned Parenthood, so long as they provide or refer for elective abortions or sell fetal body parts rather than provide healthcare. We urge all states and Congress to make it a crime to acquire, transfer, or sell fetal tissues from elective abortions for research, and we call on Congress to enact a ban on any sale of fetal body parts.
Pornography The internet must not become a safe haven for predators. Pornography, with its harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the lives of millions. We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and well-being. We applaud the social networking sites that bar sex offenders from participation. We urge energetic prosecution of child pornography, which is closely linked to human trafficking.
Transgender access to bathrooms We emphatically support the original, authentic meaning of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. It affirmed that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” That language opened up for girls and women a world of opportunities that had too often been denied to them. That same provision of law is now being used by bureaucrats — and by the current President of the United States — to impose a social and cultural revolution upon the American people by wrongly redefining sex discrimination to include sexual orientation or other categories. Their agenda has nothing to do with individual rights; it has everything to do with power. They are determined to reshape our schools — and our entire society — to fit the mold of an ideology alien to America’s history and traditions. Their edict to the states concerning restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities is at once illegal, dangerous, and ignores privacy issues. We salute the several states which have filed suit against it.
Coal is a "clean" energy source: The GOP platform calls coal "an abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource." In 2012, the GOP merely called coal "abundant" and "low-cost." Support for Israel: The platform calls for an "undivided" Jerusalem, "removing a reference to Palestine in support of a two-state solution," according to CNN. (The 2012 platform says "we envision two democratic states — Israel with Jerusalem as its capital and Palestine — living in peace and security.") Teaching the Bible in public schools: In 2012, the platform’s only reference to the Bible was to opposing any bans on it in military forces. Now the GOP platform encourages state legislatures to offer Bible studies as an elective course in high schools. Lawmakers must consider religion: The platform also calls lawmakers to use religion as a guide when drafting legislation, and says "that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights." Calling abortion "aborted children": The platform committee also edited a reference to "aborted fetuses" to instead refer to "aborted children," according to Ball. (The 2012 platform does not mention "aborted children.")
Marriage, Family, and Society Foremost among those institutions is the American family. It is the foundation of civil society, and the cornerstone of the family is natural marriage, the union of one man and one woman. Its daily lessons — cooperation, patience, mutual respect, responsibility, self-reliance — are fundamental to the order and progress of our Republic. Strong families, depending upon God and one another, advance the cause of liberty by lessening the need for government in their daily lives. Conversely, as we have learned over the last five decades, the loss of faith and family life leads to greater dependence upon government. That is why Republicans formulate public policy, from taxation to education, from healthcare to welfare, with attention to the needs and strengths of the family. It is also why everyone should be concerned about the state of the American family today, not because of ideology or doctrine, but because of the overwhelming evidence of experience, social science, and common sense. All of which give us these truths about traditional marriage: Children raised in a two-parent household tend to be physically and emotionally healthier, more likely to do well in school, less likely to use drugs and alcohol, engage in crime or become pregnant outside of marriage. We oppose policies and laws that create a financial incentive for or encourage cohabitation. Moreover, marriage remains the greatest antidote to child poverty. The 40 percent of children who now are born outside of marriage are five times more likely to live in poverty than youngsters born and raised by a mother and father in the home. Nearly three-quarters of the $450 billion government annually spends on welfare goes to single-parent households. This is what it takes for a governmental village to raise a child, and the village is doing a tragically poor job of it. The data and the facts lead to an inescapable conclusion: Every child deserves a married mom and dad. The reality remains that millions of American families do not have the advantages that come with that structure. We honor the courageous efforts of those who bear the burdens of parenting alone and embrace the principle that all Americans should be treated with dignity and respect. But respect is not enough. Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous
How many years has the abortion thing been in the platform? W and a republican congress and a supreme court that people claim was conservative biased, and they didn't even try to ban abortion. Lip service. (And I'm glad they didn't ban it)
Wall Street regulation We support reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibits commercial banks from engaging in high-risk investment.
So, I guess that whole thing Obama said about how "It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." was actually fairly true.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/17/opinions/rnc-make-america-great-again-priebus/index.html From Cleveland to the White House By Reince Priebus
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/gary-johnson-the-third-party-candidate Johnson endorsed Ron Paul in 2008, but in 2011, dismayed by the war on drugs, the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Barack Obama’s liberal fiscal record, he decided to run for President as a Republican. He encountered formidable resistance when he tried to attract the right-wing Republican electorate in early-primary states, especially when it came to social issues and immigration. “Thirty per cent of Republican voters out there right now believe the scourge of the earth is Mexican immigration,” he told me. “You go to these Party events in New Hampshire and in Iowa, and they set the criteria for the entire nation. It’s profound. You can’t get beyond those two states, because you have to go out and appeal to anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-drugs, anti-immigration—and I’m crossways on all of those. I’d argue I’m the pragmatist in the room, but you can’t get past those groups, especially in those two states.” In December, 2011, Johnson left the Republican Party and found a home among the Libertarians, who awarded him the Party’s nomination. In the 2012 Presidential election, he won 1,275,971 votes, the Party’s largest total ever. But it was in 2015 that Johnson saw, with the rise of Trump, an unprecedented opening for the Libertarian Party. “I think Trump alienates more than half of the Republicans, and he alienates them because there’s no sense of smaller government,” Johnson said. “Immigration, the wall, killing the families of Muslim terrorists. He said, ‘I’m going to bring back waterboarding or worse.’ ” Trump’s agenda, he said, “is fascism.” ... Polls so far show that Johnson actually takes more voters from Clinton than from Trump.
