Both
the Democrat and Republican parties adopted their platforms during conventions
held earlier this summer. Those platforms reveal a great deal regarding the
agendas and priorities of each political party. They represent a roadmap of how
each party plans to govern if they are elected.
The
Republican
Party Platform is a 66-page document encompassing
several areas of both foreign and domestic policy. Its Preamble’s first line
states: “We believe in American exceptionalism.” It is dedicated to members of
the U.S. military, law enforcement, first responders and their families.
Other
principles embraced in the preamble include the belief the United States Constitution
is our enduring covenant rather than a flexible, living document. The qualities
of limited government and the separation of powers are specifically enumerated,
as well as the recognition that our people are better stewards of natural
resources than our government.
The
Platform describes the belief that our nation has been led in the wrong
direction for the past eight years. It cites salient examples including the
doubling of the national debt, ongoing refusals to control our borders, continued
attacks on domestic energy production, stagnant wages for private sector workers,
and the dismantling of our health care system. President Obama is chastised for
“regulating to death a free market economy that he does not like and does not
understand.”
The
first section of the Platform is entitled “Restoring the American Dream.” Its central
premise is that “government cannot create prosperity.” However, government can,
and often does, limit or destroy private wealth.
The
section rejects the idea that we should accept the “new normal” of a
slow-growing economy. It points out that Obama is poised to be the first modern
president to leave office without even one calendar year of three percent
economic growth.
Moreover,
the number of Americans living in poverty has increased by seven million during
his term in office. At 63 percent, the labor force participation rate is at its
lowest level since the Carter administration. For the first time since World
War II, business closures are exceeding business startups. Business investment
has been in negative territory for the past seven quarters.
Suggested
solutions to the Obama morass include the development of a simplified,
pro-growth tax code. The plan would reduce corporate tax rates while creating
incentives for investment and innovation as a “moral imperative.” It would
close multiple tax-avoidance loopholes and curb corporate welfare. It calls for
better negotiated trade agreements that put Americans first and encourages more
home ownership.
Another
section emphasizes the use of technology to build the future. The Republican
Party is committed to data privacy, the protection of intellectual property,
facilitation of access to high-speed broadband and the competition for internet
services. It seeks to expedite citing processes to accelerate the expansion of
the electrical grid.
Other
proposals to spur economic development include the reduction of occupational
licensing, annual audits bringing transparency and accountability for the
Federal Reserve, establishing a commission to investigate ways to set a fixed
value for the dollar, encouraging employee stock ownership plans, streamlining
federal personnel procedures and realigning federal employee compensation with
the standards of most American employees, reviewing the unionization of the
federal workforce, establishing caps on future debt and requiring that major
new federal regulations be approved by Congress.
A
significant portion of the Republican Party platform is included in a section
entitled “A Rebirth of Constitutional Government.”
The
Party proposes to protect religious liberty through the passage of a First
Amendment Defense Act. It further protects the political speech of advocacy
groups, corporations and labor unions by calling for the repeal of federal
restrictions on political parties and limits on political contributions.
The
Platform aims to uphold and strengthen the Second Amendment by stating support
for firearm reciprocity and constitutional carry. Conversely, it condemns
frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and opposes the federal licensing
or registration of gun owners, the registration of ammunition and the
restoration of the Clinton gun ban.
Fourth
Amendment issues are addressed through calls to limit aerial surveillance on
U.S. soil, other than for enforcement of our sovereign borders. Republicans
oppose the use of tracking devices on cars and encourage the reformation of
civil asset forfeiture policies.
A
section entitled “America’s Natural Resources: Agriculture, Energy and the
Environment” makes up approximately six pages of the Platform.
The
Party is calling for expanded trade opportunities and the opening of new
markets for U.S. agricultural products. It demands food and health regulations
must be based upon reproducible science-based standards.
The
section upholds ranching on federal land and promotes the active, sustainable harvest,
multi-use management of our federal forests. The Platform specifically
recognizes the states can perform those functions better than the federal
government.
Energy-related
proposals include supporting the construction of the Keystone Pipeline and
opening public lands, as well as the outer continental shelf, to energy exploration
and development. It advocates for transferring authority to state regulators to
manage energy resources on federal lands within their borders, expediting the
permitting process for mineral production on public lands and developing all
forms of energy without government subsidies using private capital.
The
Republican Party platform urges the transfer of federal lands to willing
states. Most environmental regulation authority would be transferred to the
states. Federal rulemaking would be limited and accompanied by a requirement
that citizens be compensated for regulatory takings. Private sector development
of carbon capture and sequestration technology would be encouraged. The
expected result would be increased domestic energy production.
The
Platform calls for abolishing the Obama administration’s controversial Clean
Power Plan, forbidding the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating
carbon dioxide and opposing a carbon tax. It also calls for the rejection of
the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement agendas, as well prohibiting further
U.S. funding for the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The
Equal Access to Justice Act would be reformed to cap and disclose payments made
to environmental activist organizations. The “sue and settle” system of legal
extortion used by certain environmental groups would be ended.
The
1906 Antiquities Act would be amended to establish Congress’ right to approve
the designation of national monuments. It would further require the approval of
the state where a monument is to be designated or a national park is proposed.
“Government
Reform” comprises eight pages of the Republican Party Platform. Proposals
include a Constitutional requirement for a balanced federal budget, as well as
a Balanced Budget Amendment that imposes a cap limiting spending to the
appropriate historical average percentage of Gross Domestic Product. It
proposes a supermajority requirement for any tax increase, except in instances
of war or legitimate emergencies.
This
section also addresses issues surrounding immigration policies. It includes
support for making English the nation’s official language, making sanctuary
cities ineligible for federal funding, establishing a mandatory minimum of five
years in prison for illegals who re-enter the country after being deported,
reforming the current guest worker program and making e-verify mandatory
nationwide.
Also
proposed are audits for the Pentagon and Department of Defense, term limits for
members of Congress and the reinstatement of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act
regulating the banking and securities industry.
Health
care issues are addressed in the Platform’s next section. The Party is calling
for the repeal of Obama Care, the promotion of price transparency in the health
care industry, the encouragement of individuals and small businesses to form
insurance purchasing pools and amending outdated laws to allow consumers to buy
insurance across state lines. The Platform also promotes health savings
accounts and reimbursement accounts.
The
Party recognizes the only hope for public education is to introduce more
competition into the current monopolized system. It aims to bolster Americans’
choices by promoting education savings accounts, education vouchers and education
tuition tax credits.
The
platform’s final section, entitled “America Resurgent,” discusses foreign
policy and national defense. It includes the Party’s support for Israel, resolve
for maintaining and increasing sanctions against Russia until the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the Ukraine are restored, and calling for our
allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to make greater investments in
their armed forces. Republicans oppose the reinstatement of a military draft.
The
55-page Democratic
Party Platform lists a significantly contrasting set of national
priorities. It contains many promises of increased spending on myriad
government programs. However, it provides scant detail on how to pay for them
other than the familiar rhetoric about corporations paying their “fair share.”
What is a fair corporate share and how much revenue it will raise is a figure which
is never actually defined.
Salient priorities for the national Democrat Party include overturning
the U.S. Supreme Court’s free speech decision in Citizens United, removing the
Confederate flag from public properties and closing the “racial wealth gap.”
Included is a call to reaffirm our commitment to develop a national
strategy to eliminating poverty. Democrats first responded to that call with
President Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 “Great Society.” The multiple layers of
Democrat programs created by that effort have perpetuated, expanded and
institutionalized poor minorities for more than half a century. One important
reason for the programs’ failures is that much of the money allocated for them
is used to pay the government employees who oversee and deliver the services.
The Democrat Platform states that we should “secure environmental
justice” and combat “environmental racism.” It expresses support for the Kyoto
Protocol and Paris Agreement, the Clean Power Plan and Obama’s continued
rejection of the Keystone Pipeline.
One stated goal is obtaining half of the nation’s electricity from clean
energy sources within a decade, powering the government with 100 percent clean
energy and making the U.S. the clean energy superpower of the 21st
century. They would purportedly accomplish these
goals by incentivizing wind and solar power over the development of new natural
gas, by increasing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and by taxing carbon
dioxide emissions.
Democrats
are also calling for a Department of Justice investigation of “corporate fraud”
by fossil fuel companies for supposedly misleading shareholders on the
“scientific reality” of climate change. There is no mention of the need for similar
investigations into the kind of green energy cronyism and corruption that has
plagued Oregon and other states for the last several years.
The
Democratic Party platform include a plank guaranteeing good schools for every
child. It does not address how public education outcomes have progressively
worsened by virtually every objective indicator, despite the seemingly endless
amounts of money spent to improve those outcomes.
The
Platform states the Democrat pride in being the party responsible for enacting
the Affordable Care Act. It goes on to describe health care as a right rather
than a privilege and includes support for securing universal health care for
all, as well as support for the public option. The growing lack of access to
medical care and the runaway costs of medical insurance under the ACA are not
addressed.
Another
Democrat Party Platform pledge is to “tackle the epidemic of gun violence” by
revoking legal immunity protections for gun makers and sellers, expanding
background checks, eliminating background check “loopholes” and taking “weapons of war” off of
our streets.
Another
section of the Platform is devoted to foreign policy. It praises Obama for
blocking Iran’s ability to pursue nuclear weapons and claims he “crippled al
Qaeda’s core leadership.” It states a devotion to ending the rule of Assad in
Syria, pledges to close Guantanamo Bay and supports a two-nation solution in
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The
obvious contrast between the parties is spelled out in their platforms. Voters
would be wise to educate themselves on those differences when considering which
candidates to support in November’s general election.
Please remember--if we do not stand up for rural Oregon, no one will.
Best Regards, Doug
Senate District 28
Email: Sen.DougWhitsett@state.or.us I Phone: 503-986-1728 Address: 900 Court St NE, S-311, Salem, OR 97301 Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/whitsett
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