2008 Grays Harbor County Republican Platform
March 15, 2008

Preamble
Constitution
Equal Rights for All
Family Life
Taxation
Jobs and the Economy
Property Rights
Education
Social Security and Medicare
Healthcare
Welfare
Immigration
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Crime and Law Enforcement
The Environment
Energy
Campaign Finance Reform
National Defense
Foreign Affairs

Preamble

We, Republicans of Grays Harbor County, reaffirm the ideals our founding fathers embodied in the Declaration of Independence: "...We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We further believe that for civil government the single most important statement in the Declaration is "…That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

We believe that the American War for Independence was fought so that the American people could be responsible for managing their own lives by means of social relationships and voluntary organizations, such as families, communities, and churches. As Republicans, we believe good government is based on the individual and the family, that each person's ability, dignity, freedom and responsibility must be honored and recognized, and that the role of the family as the basic unit of our community must be respected and enhanced. We believe that free enterprise and the encouragement of individual incentive are fundamental to our free society.

We believe that the Constitutions of the United States and of Washington State were written to emphasize that the primary function of government is to protect our rights as individuals, and are therefore restricted to certain specific, limited functions which require a single coordinating authority.

We believe that most wars, conflicts, injustices, and even arguments, can be traced to a desire by one person or group to impose their will on another. We believe that our Founders realized that citizens do not—and need not—share a complete and exhaustive set of goals, values, and beliefs. We believe that a successful government will demand consensus on only a few, vital issues, leaving citizens free to exercise their rights through private, voluntary, nongovernmental associations. To avoid conflict with individual rights, the obligations imposed by government—including taxation and regulation—should be minimal. Therefore, we believe that the best government is government closest to the people, and limited to constitutional, enumerated powers.

We believe in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all U.S. Citizens.

We believe that free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative and incentive have brought this nation individual opportunity, economic growth and prosperity. We believe that a sound economy requires sound governmental fiscal policy and responsibility.

We believe we must retain those principles of the past that have made us strong and free, while developing new and innovative ideas which will strengthen and build upon our tradition of individual rights and meet the challenges of changing times. Finally, we believe that the Republican Party is currently the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful government. We urge the state and national Republican parties to construct platforms seriously dedicated to renewing our declaration of independence and re-establishing individual freedom.

Therefore, we the Republican Party of Grays Harbor County, in full convention at Aberdeen, Washington, on this the 15th day of March, 2008, do hereby establish the following platform of our beliefs and goals.TOP

Constitution

We believe that over the past several decades the Constitutional system established by the Framers has been largely and deliberately ignored, with the result that governments, especially the federal government, act virtually without restraint. The actions of unconstrained government have swept aside civil society, replaced it with political decision-making and bureaucratic administration largely unaccountable to the public, and created innumerable economic and social problems as a consequence.

We believe that citizens have largely been stripped of their rights, and that both federal and state governments have been remiss in obtaining the consent of the governed, as required by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

We believe the states also have been stripped of their rights by overreaching actions of the three branches of the federal government. We believe that the federal government has assumed an unconstitutional, unlimited, and unchallenged role in the economy, in society, and in the lives of individuals.

We believe that the unchecked expansion of government power, at both the federal and state levels, has undermined the institutions of civil society and severely weakened the ability of the people to exercise self-government. Bureaucratic rulemaking and administration from above has made decision-making in all areas of public and private life less accountable to citizens and more responsive to political influences and ideologies.

We believe that voter registration fraud undermines the most important exercise of a constitutional republic.

We also believe that the federal judiciary has unconstitutionally encouraged the open-ended expansion of power by the national government by assuming for itself the role of legislature of last resort.

We support:

• the United States Constitution as written, with a corresponding reduction of federal government functions back to its constitutionally-enumerated powers.

• the Rule of Law, with all laws to be enacted by constitutionally-established initiative and referendum processes, our legislatures, and Congress, so long as such laws are justifiable by the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

• abolition of administrative procedure laws and other laws which allow rules and policies to be established, with the force of law, by governmental and non-governmental agencies.

• the elimination or privatization of the Departments of Commerce, Education, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Energy, Labor, Transportation, and Interior, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other federal agencies not mandated by the Constitution.

• the elimination of programs not mandated by the Constitution, such as federal subsidies for the Arts or state mandates for arts spending in construction projects.

• the elimination of the Federal Reserve system, because only Congress has the constitutional authority "to coin money, and regulate the value thereof."

• the re-establishment of the rights and responsibilities of the states, and the people, to exercise those powers not reserved to government, as specified in the 9th and 10th Amendments to the US Constitution, and in Article 1, section 30 of the Washington State Constitution.

• the privatization of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and means-tested social welfare programs.

• a one-time federal subsidy to support re-registration of all voters.

• requiring personal voter registration by the county auditor or deputized agents, requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration, requiring proof of identity at the polling place, and the use of absentee ballots only if personal appearance at the polling place is impossible due to infirmity or out-of-state travel.

• Congress admitting new states only by application from possible new states, as required by the Constitution.

We oppose:

• all forms of socialism and socialistic policy because it is detrimental to progress and prosperity by reducing incentives to explore, discover, invent, create, and produce.

• Congressional pensions.

• exemption of members of the United States Congress from laws binding on others.

• statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and Congressional interference with the internal affairs of Puerto Rico, such as requiring "advisory ballots".

• any call for a Constitutional Convention, because the nation's problems can be better resolved by obeying the Constitution than by rewriting it.

• corporate welfare, such as farm subsidies, insurance subsidies, and international exposure subsidies.

• the unconstitutional usurpation of the legislative function by the judiciary or executive branches.

• the extension of the voter registration function beyond the county auditor's office into other agencies, such as in the "Motor-Voter" programs.

• the replacement of polling places with mandatory vote-by-mail and electronic balloting.

• the deliberate blending, alteration or engineering of human DNA or chromosomal material in combination with nonhuman DNA or chromosomal materials. TOP

Equal Rights for All

We believe in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all individuals. We believe that all human beings "are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights"—rights which cannot be given away by the individual or taken away by anyone else, including the government.

We believe that such inalienable, or "human rights," are rights that all individuals possess, that no one else can possibly provide, or be obligated to provide, to others, and that the primary responsibility inherent in such rights is to respect the equal rights of others.

We support:

• equal rights for born and unborn individuals alike. All individuals are unique by virtue of the chromosomes which are present in each cell of their body. Since that unique information is present beginning at the moment of conception, a human embryo or fetus is a biologically-distinctive human being, and therefore possesses the same inalienable rights before birth as after.

We oppose:

• all forms of premature life-termination, including abortion and euthanasia of any kind, as a violation of the most fundamental "inalienable right" to Life.

• any encouragement of, or incentive for, abortion and euthanasia, such as medical research requiring fetal-tissue.

• the establishment of "group" rights, including those implicit in "affirmative action" programs.

• the confusion of false "rights" (such as the "right" to a job, or housing, or healthcare) with "inalienable" rights, as false rights imply an obligation of others to provide them for you if you cannot provide them for yourself. TOP

Family Life

We believe that the traditional family (of husband, wife and children) is the fundamental unit of our society, and has the primary responsibility of providing all facets of its members' well-being, without governmental intervention.

We believe that parents are the most qualified to teach their own children those goals, values, and beliefs they feel are important, and that the strengthening and affirming of the traditional family structure will reduce many of our social problems, such as drugs, teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, poverty, crime, and violence.

We support:

• the traditional two-parent family as the best institution for prevention of crime, poverty, and anti-social behavior.

• responsible, dedicated, single parents working to provide for their children.

• the right and responsibility of parents to direct and provide for their children's upbringing, including financial, emotional, educational and moral support and growth, without government interference.

• the adoption or placement of children in traditional heterosexual family structures when they are unable to remain with their parent(s) or other family member.

• marriage as a lifetime commitment between husband and wife, and urge the legislature to repeal current and destructive state "no fault" divorce laws.

• rational child support laws based on the needs of children instead of income redistribution.

• simplification of laws to encourage adoption

We oppose:

• legislation and judicial action that attempts to replace, weaken, or destroy the traditional family unit, such as the UN Children's Rights Treaty.

• legalization or recognition of same-sex marriage and same-sex civil unions. TOP

Taxation

We believe that a sound economy requires sound governmental fiscal policy and responsibility. We believe current levels of taxation on the American people are oppressive, and have resulted from the uncontrolled and unnecessary expansion of government at both state and federal levels.

We believe that the current complex, convoluted, and confusing tax codes invite legislative corruption and social class warfare, penalize innovation, discourage savings and investment, and retard economic growth.

We support:

• reduction of government spending and the burdensome levels of taxation by reducing state and federal budgets to a level only sufficient to support their constitutionally-specified responsibilities.

• balancing the budget at all levels of government by reducing spending rather than raising taxes, with zero-based budgeting, and a surplus built-in to pay off the national debt as an amortized, 50-year debt.

• selling government assets rendered surplus as the result of government returning to its constitutional limits, to help reduction of the national debt.

• elimination of virtually all existing tax codes and replacement of them with a Tax Equality Act (TEA), which would mandate that any tax levied by government will be applied uniformly and equally, with no deductions, credits, exemptions, or exclusions of any kind.

• elimination of state and federal inheritance taxes.

• the payment of salaries, housing and transportation allowances, and per diems of Congressmen and Senators out of budget surpluses only.

• regular performance audits of all federal and state agencies

• repealing the 16th amendment.

We oppose:

• the use of "off-budget" items to hide congressional spending.

• federal mandates, both direct and indirect, to states and local governments.

• disingenuous citing of deficit levels which do not reflect borrowing. TOP

Jobs and the Economy

We believe that free enterprise and the encouragement of individual initiative and incentive have brought this nation unparalleled opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.

We believe that the perceived "flaws" in a capitalistic free market system largely to exist because of government interference in the marketplace.

We believe that the federal government has placed excessive regulations, mandates, and taxes on employers and workers, resulting in fewer job opportunities and slower real wage growth.

We believe that decreased government spending would result in lower taxes, creating more economic growth and employment opportunity than by any other possible action. We believe that such job growth would make it possible for more citizens to become economically self-supporting, creating new consumer demand which would further enhance economic growth.

We believe Social Security and Medicare privatization would cause more investment to be available for economic expansion, interest rates to drop, and more jobs to be created.

We support:

• reductions in workmen's compensation rates by allowing private insurers to compete against Washington State Labor and Industries rates.

• elimination of the Washington State Business & Occupation tax which retards the establishment and expansion of business by taxing gross receipts instead of profits.

• deregulation of all industries.

• the right of free persons to voluntarily establish, associate in, or not associate in, labor unions.

• the right of all citizens (including union members) to voluntarily contribute, or not contribute, to political activities.

• the right of employers to recognize, or refuse to recognize, a union as the collective bargaining agent of some, or all, of its employees.

• repeal of the National Labor Relations Act.

• the repeal of all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, and interest rates.

• repeal of the Growth Management Act.

• free and open competition for public work.

We oppose:

• government interference in bargaining, including compulsory arbitration.

• government-mandated mandatory retirement ages.

• government granting of competitive advantages or the artificial restriction of competition. TOP

Property Rights

We believe, with John Adams, that "The moment the idea is admitted into society that property in not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence."

We believe, with Arthur Lee of Virginia who said in 1775, that "The right of property is the guardian of every other right, and to deprive the people of this, is in fact to deprive them of their liberty," and that the freedom to own, use, exchange, control, protect and freely dispose of property is a natural, necessary, and inseparable extension of individual inalienable rights.

We believe that without safeguarding private ownership of property there are no other rights: If you cannot own the building for the printing press, there is no freedom of the press; if churches are not secure in their property, there is no freedom of religion; if citizens cannot own their own homes, there is nothing to prevent the government-landlord from dictating even how many children a family can have and therefore there is no inalienable right to even life itself.

We support:

• the Constitution, including the Fifth Amendment which requires that private property shall not be taken for public use, without just compensation for property taken or devalued as a result of government action or regulation.

• the rule of law, rather than rule by regulations not enacted by the legislature and signed into law by the executive.

• Congressional legislation to correct the heinous Supreme Court decision, Kelo v. City of New London, which extended eminent domain to include the taking of private property for other private use where the public benefited only from increased tax revenues.

We oppose:

• government interference in the lawful activities of private businesses, such as the regulation of smoking policies on private premises, or by economic subsidy or disincentive.

• unconstitutional regulations of land use, which often needlessly increase the price of land, limit its use, or add to the cost of construction. TOP

Education

We believe that competition in business, commerce, healthcare and other human and free-market endeavors results in wider choice, higher quality, more innovation, more efficiency, and lower costs.

We believe that the government-controlled monopoly in mass education stifles individual initiative and incentive, and has resulted in declining standards, grade inflation, lower SAT scores, more dangerous schools, and large numbers of high school graduates lacking basic knowledge of history, geography, mathematics, science, and literature.

We believe that such a government-controlled monopoly in public education has been accompanied by soaring costs, a bloated bureaucracy, and loss of parental control over educational and moral decisions.

We believe that government-controlled schools have usurped parental responsibility, authority, and decision-making in a wide range of issues, including moral and religious issues, without respect for the individual consciences of the parents and children.

We believe that it is unfair for government to compel parents to pay taxes for schools and then forbid the tax-supported schools to give their children the education they want.

We believe that parents should be able to choose a school for their children on the basis of the moral values and educational mission the school offers.

We support:

• equitable methods, such as vouchers or scholarships, which would allow parents to select the educational setting most suitable for their children, without having to additionally support a system not of their choosing.

• the rights and responsibilities of parents to make all decisions concerning their children's education.

• local control over school expenditures, curriculum, progress testing, discipline and classroom control, and teacher qualifications and review.

We oppose:

• government interference in education, including but not limited to curriculum programs and legislation such as Goals 2000, Schools-to-Work, the Careers Act, the Workforce Development Act, and Outcome-Based Education.

• the expansion of federal health care programs in schools, and the public funding of school-based health clinics. TOP

Social Security and Medicare

We believe the current Social Security and Medicare systems are inadequate, wasteful, plundered by Congress, and near collapse. We believe that for the tremendously high rates of taxation that they paid as workers, recipients receive insulting and near poverty-level benefits and that remedies such as increasing taxes, cutting benefits, and increasing eligibility ages have already been used 36 times and only serve to postpone the eventual bankruptcy of the system.

We believe that allowing workers to invest for their own retirement income and medical care would provide them with much greater benefits—at all income levels—upon retirement than provided by current government-controlled programs.

We support:

• the complete, competitive privatization of Social Security and Medicare.

• fulfillment of current commitments to workers at promised levels of benefits funded by general government revenue as well as by the sale of government lands and assets rendered surplus by the return of government to its constitutionally-mandated functions.

• requiring all new workers entering the work force for the first time to participate in the new, privatized system.

• the option for current workers to either remain in the existing Social Security system or voluntarily participate in the new privatized system.

• the issuance of recognition bonds, representing their prior contributions to the Social Security system, to current workers voluntarily opting to participate in the privatized system.

• the repeal of all payroll taxes for workers participating in the new privatized and competitive system and the redefinition of all gross wages to include the employer's previous contribution to the current Social Security tax.
• mandatory participation at levels adequate to maintain a minimum standard of living at a usual retirement age, while allowing workers additional optional and voluntary participation at higher levels of investment.

• allowing workers participating in the privatized system to determine their own age of retirement, based on the ability of their accumulated retirement funds to meet or exceed their minimal standard of living benefits.

• participation that includes a given percentage of contribution to be used for private life and disability insurance to insure coverage for survivors and disability.

• a given percentage of contribution to be privately invested for the purpose of purchasing post-retirement private healthcare coverage.

• transfer of all other current SSI, Disability and Survivors recipients to other general welfare programs.

• voluntary participation in Social Security in the event of inability to achieve complete privatization.

We oppose:

• any investment of government funds in the stock market.

• any proposal which would increase the total percentage of payroll tax and mandatory savings above the current payroll tax levels.

• taxing of Social Security income, because the levels of return already reflect a near-zero rate of return on
contributions made during workers employment years.

• making Social Security benefits means-tested for any worker who was subjected to mandatory participation during his employment years.

• mandatory vaccinations. TOP

Healthcare

We believe that Americans have developed the best medical science and technology in the world, primarily as a result of the natural innovation, incentive, and competition inherent in a free market.

We believe that the rights of citizens to obtain medical services of their own choice, to have the liberty to use their own property to protect their own lives, and to seek to heal themselves are among the self-evident, inalienable rights recognized in the Declaration of Independence. We further believe that violation of these rights by governments, individuals, or bureaucrats is a violation of basic human rights.

We believe that government-planned health care, including overall health care budgeting and reimbursement programs such as Medicare and Medicare, distorts the personal and financial relationship between doctor and patient. This results in over-utilization of services, rationing of services and inflated costs, and creates disincentives to personal health maintenance.

We believe that abandoning free market healthcare will lead to a decline in the quality of care, and a disincentive for the best and brightest students to enter healthcare fields.

We support:

• a free market health care system, with freedom of choice of health plans, without tax penalty or subsidy.

• encouraging low-cost, high deductible private healthcare insurance options where premiums and co-pays can be financed with deductible contributions held in Medical Savings Accounts.

• deregulation of the health care industry.

• individual or employee ownership of health care insurance policies, to insure portability and good stewardship.

• equal tax treatment of all persons, such as self-employed persons and employees of corporations.

• limits on medical malpractice suit awards.

• the right to keep private medical records private.

• the right of Americans to contract privately in the medical system.

We oppose:

• unconstitutional infringement on the rights of the people to manage their own health, as provided by the United States Constitution (10th Amendment) and the Washington state Constitution (Article 1, Section 30).

• any form of compulsory "universal" National Health Insurance or National Health Service, including mandatory health insurance benefits required of employers by the government.

• parts of the Kennedy-Kassebaum law, such as the criminal penalties which are a violation of the equal protection provisions of the law, and its imposition of additional unnecessary paperwork burdens.

• federal price controls on health care services, such as included in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

• public health programs that subsidize, promote, or show acceptance of unhealthy or illegal behavior, such as the injection of illegal drugs or legitimization of unhealthy sexual activity.

• limitations on the right of Americans to buy health services not covered by their current insurance program, specifically including Medicare.

• the government telling patients how to spend their own money.

• mandatory enrollment of any citizen in any government or other health plan, specifically including Medicare.

• rationing, regulations, or mandates by government authority of medical services paid for privately or covered by private insurance plans.

• reporting of private medical transactions to government agencies and government creation of medical databases from private medical records.

• forcing government patients, such as those covered by Medicaid or Medicare, to rely solely on government entitlement programs. TOP

Welfare

We believe that in the protection of individual rights citizens can be encouraged, but not coercively required, to exercise charity, and that government cannot provide a substitute for human compassion and charity, which are qualities of individual human beings, not of a collective.

We therefore encourage distinguishing between free citizens and those dependant on the charity of others for assistance. We believe that an "entitlement" mentality is not consistent with a free people. We believe that the entitlement mentality tends to destroy civility, as recipients often become demanding for goods they do not own, and other citizens become hardened by excessive taxation.

We believe that current government welfare programs and philosophies have consigned millions of Americans to a lifetime of poverty, dependency, disrespect and hopelessness as permanent wards of the state.

We believe that in spite of spending more than $10 trillion in the "War on Poverty," 14-15 percent of the population still lives at or below the poverty level, just as there was 40 years ago.

We believe that in spite of the most noble of intentions to aid the needy and help those in poverty, and no matter how much we may wish to continue to alleviate those problems, the simple fact is that the methods that have been used over the past 40 years to achieve those goals all have one problem in common: They simply do not work.

We believe that people on public assistance would experience far greater prosperity and self-esteem if they were given the opportunities to become productive citizens providing for themselves and their own families.

We believe that a reduced level of taxation which would be realized with reduced government spending would allow Americans to exercise their tremendous natural compassion to provide for those incapable of providing for themselves.

We support:

• reducing dependency on welfare programs through economic expansion, enacting taxation and regulation changes which would promote job creation through the establishment of new businesses as well as the expansion of existing businesses.

• gradual elimination of governmental welfare programs, and their replacement with private charities.

• dollar-for-dollar tax credits for all charitable contributions to private social welfare agencies to enable this transition, with corresponding additional dollar-for-dollar decreases in government spending.

We oppose:

• current welfare laws, tax laws, minimum wage laws, and other regulations which discourage people from leaving welfare to become self-supporting citizens.

• government welfare, relief, and "aid to the poor" programs because they are demeaning, paternalistic, inefficient, ineffective, and wasteful.

• welfare benefits in any form for non-citizens. TOP

Immigration

We believe that America has benefited by welcoming people from other nations who have come to our country legally because they recognize that America has greater opportunities for personal freedom and economic prosperity than in any other nation, and who wish to join us in building a successful and prosperous economy while learning to embrace our national values.

We believe, however, that our national security begins with the security of our borders and our right to limit access to our lands and resources by citizens of other nations. We further believe that immigrants should recognize that America's great internal stability and economic success is built upon its system of law and order, and should demonstrate their willingness to accept such law and order as the price of their opportunity by following legal paths of entry into our country.

We believe that the arguments used to justify continuing use of illegal alien labor—namely, that without it businesses would fail and the economy would be ruined—are no different than the arguments used 150 years ago to justify the continued use of slavery.

We believe that any economic advantage to the American people in purchasing goods and services provided by cheap imported labor is more than offset by the increased tax burden of providing education, healthcare, and other benefits to the illegal immigrants and their families, and the loss of capital sent outside the country by those immigrants.

We believe that since only citizens can legally vote, and since applicants for citizenship must pass an English test, there is no rationale to support bi- or multi-lingual voting materials.

We believe that children of illegal aliens born in America should not be granted automatic citizenship.

We support:

• English as the official language of the United States of America.

• any and all means to seal our borders, ports, and coastlines to prevent illegal entry by non-citizens.

• mandated use, by all Washington state employers, of the DHS Internet database system, called e-Verify, to check the legal name and Social Security status of all new potential job applicants.

• requiring all legal immigrants to be financially self-supporting through personal funds or employment, and ineligible for any social benefits for a period of not less than twelve months.

• amending the 14th Amendment to read, "All persons born to citizens of the United States are citizens of the United States.

• teaching English to non-English speaking legal immigrants before introducing them into the public school system.

• the deportation of all illegal immigrations as soon as possible.

• political asylum for immigrants who are victims of extreme human rights violations.

• and strongly urge the G. H. County Commissioners to adhere to the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 196 Sec 287((g)) that authorizes the state and local and state law enforcement agencies to designate law enforcement officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions.

We oppose:

• printing of any election ballots in any language besides English

• providing education, tuition credit, healthcare, social assistance programs, Social Security, Medicare, or any other benefits to illegal immigrants or their families.

• accepting any liability whatsoever for injury, death, or other harm incurred by persons attempting illegal entry.

• bilingual or multi-lingual education in public schools

• the unconscionable imprisonment of border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Campeon. TOP

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

We believe that law-abiding citizens have a natural and constitutional right to keep and bear arms, not just for hunting, but for self-defense and as the last resort for the defense of our freedom and all of our other constitutional rights.

We believe that the best deterrent to violent crime is an armed populace of responsible citizens.

We believe that all hunters should have equal rights under the law and that current state and local hunting regulations should apply to all hunters (except Native Americans when hunting on their own tribal lands).

We support:

• the right of individual citizens to keep and bear arms as both inalienable and guaranteed by both the Washington State and US Constitutions.

• holding individuals responsible for their own illegal actions.

• instant background checks as superior to the "Brady Bill" provisions.

We oppose:

• any attempt by government, by law or constitutional amendment, to diminish the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.

• any registration or confiscation of firearms held by law-abiding citizens.

• laws that prohibit or restrict the sale, purchase, and ownership of handguns, shotguns, and rifles by law-abiding citizens.

• any attempt to hold gun manufacturers liable for the illegal use of their legally-produced products.

• using taxpayer dollars to hire professional hunters to control predatory animal populations, instead of allowing sportsmen to perform this as a "no fee/no payment" service. TOP

Crime and Law Enforcement

We believe that the basic function of government is to protect our rights to life and property, including from domestic crime and terrorism. We believe, however, as Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

We believe that social research shows that fatherless children from whatever socioeconomic or racial background are the most likely to commit violent crimes as teenagers and adults. We believe that existing government policies encourage illegitimacy and family dissolution.

We believe that a major purpose of punishment is to deter the recurrence of the same behavior in the future, and that any measure that fails to achieve that goal cannot be considered "punishment," in this context, let alone "cruel" or "unusual." We further believe that when a person violates the rights of others by breaking the law, that person forfeits most of his rights for the term of his incarceration and probation.

We support:

• the constitutional safeguards which protect our individual liberty, including due process and equal protection of the law.

• swift, sure, and severe punishment for violent crimes, including robbery, assault, rape, and murder.

• mandatory and severe penalties for both juveniles and adults who use lethal weapons in the commission of a crime.

• the death penalty for capital crimes.

• school programs for prison inmates to allow them to complete a GED.

• proven programs that reduce recidivism, such as The Laws of Living, which has a success rate of 87 percent for never re-offending, compared to normal rates of 65% re-offending within only one year.

We oppose:

• federalization of crimes which are primarily a local jurisdiction.

• "Hate crime" designations which base penalties not on the actions but on the thoughts of the criminal.

• gun control measures because they penalize law-abiding citizens and do not reduce crime.

• unlimited ability of inmates to file suit against the government for violation of their rights.

• infringements on the constitutional rights and privacy of law-abiding citizens—such as allowing the FBI to monitor electronic mail, health and financial records, and phone calls—under the pretense of law enforcement.

• government programs, including welfare, that promote single-parent households.

• excessive use of plea-bargaining. TOP

The Environment

We believe, without apology, that humans are not only a part of the environment, but have earned primary consideration when environmental decisions are made.

We believe that private owners tend to take better care of their property because they will reap the benefits of any increase in its beauty and value.

We believe that when resources are "owned" by everybody in common, they are, in effect, owned by no one, and therefore publicly-owned property gives no one an incentive to maintain it or preserve it. We believe that in countries where government controls all the property, pollution and environmental destruction is worse than in the U.S. We believe, as Vaclav Klaus, Czech prime minister once said, "The worst environmental damage occurs in countries without private property, markets, or prices."

We believe that private ownership of resources encourages conservation and technological innovation for the preservation of those resources.

We believe that government cannot manage efficiently the environmental issues confronting thousands or millions of private and commercial enterprises any more than it can adequately guide a society's economic activities, and that environmental problems should be handled on as local a level as possible.

We believe it is callous, irresponsible, and unnecessary for the government to make decisions on environmental issues without regard to the social, economic, and behavioral impact they may have on citizens, especially when those decisions ignore, distort, or obfuscate scientific evidence, reason, and logic.

We support:

• resource planning by means of private voluntary covenants rather than by government mandate.

• abolition of the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and the Army Corps of Engineers' civilian functions.

• a "polluter-pays" approach to liability issues consistent with the principles of individual responsibility, instead of the invitation to personal irresponsibility entailed by collective liability solutions, such as Superfund.

• repeal of the Price-Anderson Act which limits liability for nuclear accidents and funds partial payments at taxpayers' expense.

We oppose:

• government management of lands, and issues such as timber rights, mineral rights, grazing fees, offshore drilling, as politicized and wasteful and instead urge private stewardship of natural resources.

• government control of energy pricing, allocation, and production.

• the Endangered Species Act, not because it does not have noble goals, but because it is bad law; it prevents the setting of priorities of any kind, and decisions are based not on proven scientific, biological facts and realities, but on "best available data," which often represents the mere opinion of even a single investigator.

• the Kyoto Treaty because a broad spectrum of scientific evidence does not support either the purported global warming trend as being man-made, or that man-made efforts to reduce greenhouse gases would be effective at reversing the trend, while it is certain that such measures would have enormous adverse economic impact, especially in the developing countries they are supposed to help.

• other environmental policies which are based on hypothetical or empirical opinions instead of verifiable, repeatable scientific data and facts. TOP

Energy

We believe than one of mankind's primary, constant and unchanging goals has always been to improve his standard of living, and that the technological, medical, nutritional, economic, and even environmental achievements of today have been made possible through the harnessing of nature's various forms of energy by man.

We believe that until new technology or discoveries allow the development of alternative energy sources and supplies, it is in the interests of all nations to ensure the continued availability of global petroleum supplies and safeguard its production and delivery.

We believe that the continued health and economic prosperity of all nations depends upon continued discovery, accessibility, and development, and utilization of any and all practical forms of energy. We further believe that modern technological methods allow such energy to be acquired and used in a manner consistent with human and environmental safety.

We believe that our national and economic security would be enhanced if we were not so completely dependent upon foreign energy resources.

We support:

• Proven environmentally-compatible drilling for oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, as well as in the offshore reserves in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Building or converting of power plants to utilize the world's largest clean-burning bituminous coal reserves which were rendered unavailable with the creation of the Escalante National Monument by the Clinton Administration after receiving illegal campaign contributions from representatives of Indonesia which, perhaps not so coincidentally, has the world's second largest reserves.

• Further development and expansion of nuclear energy production.

• Encouragement of zero-polluting solar energy production, specifically the newest nano-technology techniques which have produced ultra cost-efficient solar cell applications which can be installed cheaply and utilized by homes, businesses, and industries to an extent potentially capable of allowing us to sever our dependence on the import of foreign energy sources.

We oppose:

• Efforts to abandon our military and diplomatic support of Middle Eastern nations upon whom our current national energy requirements depend, until alternative resources are developed.

• the further commitment of arable land for fool-to-fuel conversion at a time when domestic crops are being increasingly supplanted by imported food and while the multiple problems associated with ethanol and similar fuels have been solved. TOP

Campaign Finance Reform

We believe that since the United States of America is a republic, it is critically important that legislators at all levels be truly representative of the people, and beholden to no other interests.

We believe that the most corrupting influence in politics today stems from the excessive power assumed by governments, which makes it profitable for some to support politicians financially in the expectation of future excessive returns on their "investments."

We believe that most politicians' rhetoric about campaign finance reform is empty, judging from their actions in pursuing financial support, inaction in establishing meaningful reform, and flagrantly disobeying current laws. We believe that politicians have little incentive or desire to enact real reform, and that dozens of laws already on the books are being effectively circumvented or ignored.

We believe the Nobel Prize-winning economist, Milton Friedman, is correct when he says, "The current tax code is nothing more than a means of raising campaign funds," and that creating loopholes to reward lobbying has resulted in a behemoth, serpentine tax code that is unfair, incomprehensible, and unconscionable.

We believe that the only effective way to remove the influence of lobbying is to remove the need to lobby.

We support:

• the elimination of government involvement and interference in all but its constitutional responsibilities (see Constitution section above).

• tax reform as outlined in a previous section, where all taxes are levied with no means of providing tax deductions, credits, exclusions, exemptions or other loopholes.

• a uniformly assessed and administered tax code which not only eliminates adversarial competition within society, but also makes tax increases harder to pass because everybody would be affected. TOP

National Defense

We believe that Americans value their security and the national military force required to maintain peace through strength.

We believe that even with the breakup of the Soviet Union the world has become more destabilized, and that serious threats to American security continue to exist.

We believe that the military has been downsized beyond the minimum level necessary to respond meaningfully to world threats to US interests, and that resources are unavailable to keep our personnel sufficiently trained to maintain their status as the world's best armed force.

We support:

• the rebuilding of American military forces to a level sufficient to deter foreign aggression—including multiple simultaneous threats—against American soil, or our physical and economic interests, and the re-building of international awareness of our resolve to respond to any such aggression in a manner guaranteed to prevent its recurrence.

• the continued development of military systems that maximize effectiveness and minimize risk to our military personnel.

• providing the military with the resources necessary to achieve and maintain a high level of training and readiness.

• mandatory inspections of all foreign cargo containers, vessels, or vehicles entering the U.S.

We oppose:

• the commitment of American military forces for any reason unless they are given a specific, attainable military mission directly related to defense of American interests or American citizens.

• the placement of American military forces under UN or foreign command.

• the wearing of UN uniforms by US personnel. TOP

Foreign Affairs

We believe in encouraging the growth of peace and freedom and respect for human rights throughout the world, and that free market capitalism is the most effective system in fostering freedom and self-governance. We believe that free nations grounded in democratic institutions generally do not initiate aggression.

We believe the freer and more democratic the world becomes, the more peaceful and congenial it will be to U.S. values and interests.

We believe citizens of other countries possess the same inalienable rights as do we, and that we must respect those right as well as the sovereignty of other nations. We believe that if the most effective, responsible, and responsive government is government closest to the people, then the United Nations logically represents the complete antithesis of that belief. We therefore believe that the UN is a valuable forum only for the presentation and perhaps arbitration of problems between nations.

We believe that the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are now economically strong enough to provide for their own defenses.

We support:

• fair trade between the US and countries who are willing to permit the equal access to their markets.

• diplomacy to remove artificial barriers to the free flow of goods, services, and ideas.

• private, free-market investment instead of government foreign aid as the most effective means with which to help emerging democracies.

• more open immigration only if linked to non-eligibility of immigrants for welfare programs.

We oppose:

• any subjugation of U.S. sovereignty to any foreign or international body, including any form of North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

• the use of American taxpayer dollars to bail out foreign and domestic bankers under the guise of helping the financial plight of foreign countries.

• the continuation of American participation in NATO and other security alliances.

• the commitment of American military and financial resources to missions and roles determined or directed by the United Nations.

• any transportation safety standards, utilized by foreign vehicles or vessels crossing our international borders or entering our national waters, which are lower than those required of domestic vehicles or vessels. TOP