VERSION 1
PREAMBLE
We, the
Republican Party of the Great State of Texas, affirm our belief in nature's God
and declare our support for government based upon a moral and spiritual
foundation. We affirm freedom for every individual as expressed in the
Declaration of Independence and protected by the Constitution. We believe that
citizens' needs are best met through free enterprise, private initiative, and
volunteerism. We support the “Rule of Law” and believe in upholding the law of
the land.
THE PROPER
ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
We believe
government properly exists by the consent of the governed and must be restrained
from intruding into the freedoms of its citizens. The function of government is
not to grant rights, but to protect the unalienable, God-given rights of life,
liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.
PRIVATE
PROPERTY
We recognize
the rights of the individual to own property. We resist any effort by
government to take private property without an overwhelming need for public
use. We strongly oppose civil forfeiture of private property absent the
conviction of its owners for a crime involving its use.
REAFFIRMATION
OF STATES' RIGHTS
We oppose
congressional, judicial, and executive abrogation of the principle that the
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited
by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
We oppose unreasonable and intrusive federal mandates.
ETHICS AND
STANDARDS
We demand
honesty, integrity, morality, and accountability of our public officials. We
will work to expose and stop corruption. We reject the buying and selling of
endorsements in all elections.
NATIONAL
SECURITY AND PUBLIC PROTECTION
We support a
military force of sufficient strength and readiness to deter any threat to our
national sovereignty or to the safety and freedom of our citizens. We support
the Constitutional mandate to protect and secure our national borders. We
oppose placement of United States troops under any foreign command, including
the United Nations. We support lawful efforts of local law enforcement agencies
to protect citizens in their homes and in their communities. We urge reform of
the legal system to accomplish a swift and balanced administration of justice,
including consideration of rights of the victim. We support capital punishment
when appropriate.
SELF DEFENSE
We support
the individual constitutionally protected natural right of the people to keep
and bear arms for security and defense of self, family, others, property, or
the state, as well as for other lawful purposes. We encourage personal
responsibility for the care and use of these firearms. We support the Castle
Doctrine and the right of individuals to stand their ground when confronted
with criminal violence, and reject the notion that law abiding citizens have a
duty to retreat rather than defend themselves from criminals.
FREEDOM OF
RELIGION
We claim
freedom of religion for every citizen and expect the protection of government
in securing to us this unalienable right. We affirm the right to religious
expression, including prayer, in both private and public.
FAMILY VALUES
We recognize
the traditional family as the fundamental unit of society. We affirm that
parents have the fundamental right and primary responsibility to direct the
upbringing of their children and to provide nurturing care, discipline and
training in moral values.
RIGHT TO
LIFE
We believe
all human life is sacred regardless of age or infirmity, and therefore we
oppose abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and the public funding of any of
these abhorrent practices.
HUMAN
SERVICES
We believe
that the primary responsibility for meeting basic human needs rests with the
individual, the family, and the voluntary charitable organizations. We
recognize, however, that there are special social needs that must be addressed
through state human service programs. We support requiring welfare recipients
to work towards self-sufficiency. We reject the notion that the federal
government may mandate the purchase of any insurance product or penalize the
failure to do so, as well as federal regulation of insurance products offered
for sale.
HERITAGE
We recognize
the contributions made to our quality of life through ethnic diversity. We
reject efforts to sanitize history because it offends some based upon race,
ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.
EQUAL RIGHTS
We believe
that no individual is entitled to rights that exceed or supersede the natural
rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution
of the State of Texas. There shall be no discrimination in favor of or against
any individual due to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
EDUCATION
We believe
that all children should have access to quality education. Parents have the
primary right and responsibility to educate their children, and we support
their right to choose public, private, or home education. We support incentives
to promote competitive excellence. We encourage cooperative initiatives to help
all Texans become literate in English. We support the distribution of
educational funds in a manner that they follow the student to any school,
whether public private, or home school. We reject federal imposition of
educational standards and the tying of federal education funding to adopting
federally mandated standards. We reject
zero tolerance policies that mindlessly impose punishments that lack a rational
relationship to the supposed offense.
TAXATION
We accept
the necessity for limited taxation in order for government to perform and
administer those services that meet essential public needs. However, we
recognize that the power to tax is also the power to control, and believe that
the best way to control government is to strictly control the amount of taxes
imposed on the people. We encourage further simplification of tax systems, the
elimination of the estate tax, and broad-based rate reduction where possible. We
reject the imposition of a state income tax and support a meaningful cap on
increasing property taxes so that home owners need not fear being taxed out of
their homes.
REGULATION
We recognize
that government regulation can be a major impediment to productivity and to
competition. We must rely more on market forces and less on government.
Regulatory power now exercised by the federal government must be eliminated or
returned to state and local governments to the degree that it is practical to
do so.
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
We believe
that a strong, diversified economy based on a positive work ethic, a well-trained
and well-educated work force, a business-friendly environment, and safe work
place will help Texas compete in a world market place. We believe that
developing our human resources is essential to the future of Texas. We support
the Texas Right to Work Law.
THE ENVIRONMENT
We
appreciate the quality of our environment. Our air, water, and land are at the
heart of our existence and must be protected through balanced management. We
support reasonable laws and volunteer efforts to improve air and water quality.
We continue to seek responsible solutions to controversies surrounding uses of
our wilderness. We seek to preserve the environment while serving the best
interests of our Texas citizens.
We oppose as
unconstitutional the declaration by any President without approval from
Congress of any large tract of land as a national monument. We call on the
Governor of the State of Texas to use the resources at his disposal to bring
any such declaration affecting Texas before the United States Supreme Court for
reversal.
JURY
The jury is
a fundamental institution of liberty, because it is the only anchor yet
imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its
constitution. The jury has the right and the authority to acquit if jurors feel
justice will be served.
IMMIGRATION
America is a
stronger and better nation because of the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit
of legal immigrants, and the Republican Party honors them. We believe that
control of our borders is an urgent national security interest and our national
sovereignty depends on those secure borders.
We oppose
illegal immigration and all forms of amnesty, or legal status, for illegal
immigrants. We oppose granting government benefits to those illegally present
in the US. We believe that current laws against employing illegal immigrants
should be vigorously enforced, particularly to stem the now too common crime of
identity theft in obtaining employment. We support the imposition of civil and
criminal penalties for employers that knowingly employ illegal aliens.
TEXAS STATE
SOVEREIGNTY
The 13
original Sovereign States in Constitutional Convention created the Constitution
of the United States of America and subsequently ratified that document
creating a Federal Government and granting to that Government limited and
enumerated powers.
The Tenth
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States defines Federal powers as
those enumerated in the Constitution and reserves all other powers to the
States and to the People.
It remains
the sacred responsibility of the States as creators of the Federal Government
to keep the federal powers within the limits set by the Constitution.
We resolve
that the Republican Party of the Great State of Texas and elected party members
take any and all steps necessary to ensure that Federal powers exercised within
the Great State of Texas not exceed those granted by the Constitution of the
United States. We further resolve that those usurpations of State Sovereign
Powers by the Federal Government be corrected by the State Legislature and
enforced by the Governor’s office thus protecting Texas State Sovereignty
OUR MISSION
The Republican Party is a party by the people
and for the people. We appreciate the productivity of our citizens, affirm the
infinite worth of all individuals, and seek the best possible quality of life
for all. We invite all citizens to join us in working together for a better
Texas.
Crossposted at Rhymes With Right
