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We Believe in America

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM This platform is dedicated with appreciation and reverence for:

The wisdom of the Framers

of the United States Constitution,

who gave us a Republic,

as Benjamin Franklin cautioned,

if we can keep it. Paid for by the Committee on Arrangements for the 2012 Republican National Convention

Not Authorized By Any Candidate Or Candidate’s Committee

www.gopconvention2012.com REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

Preamble

The 2012 Republican Platform is a statement of unsustainable debt produced by a big government who we are and what we believe as a Party and our entitlement society, or a positive, optimistic view of vision for a stronger and freer America. an opportunity society, where any American who The pursuit of opportunity has defined America works hard, dreams big and follows the rules can from our very beginning. This is a land of opportu - achieve anything he or she wants. nity. The American Dream is a dream of equal op - The American people possess vast reserves of portunity for all. And the Republican Party is the courage and determination and the capacity to hear party of opportunity. the truth and chart a strong course. They are eager Today, that American Dream is at risk. for the opportunity to take on life’s challenges and, Our nation faces unprecedented uncertainty through faith and hard work, transform the future with great fiscal and economic challenges, and under for the better. They are the most generous people on the current Administration has suffered through the earth, giving sacrificially of their time, talent, and longest and most severe economic downturn since treasure. the Great Depression. This platform affirms that America has always Many Americans have experienced the burden been a place of grand dreams and even grander re - of lost jobs, lost homes, and lost hopes. Our middle alities; and so it will be again, if we return govern - class has felt that burden most acutely. Meanwhile, ment to its proper role, making it smaller and the federal government has expanded its size and smarter. If we restructure government’s most impor - scope, its borrowing and spending, its debt and tant domestic programs to avoid their fiscal collapse. deficit. Federalism is threatened and liberty retreats. If we keep taxation, litigation, and regulation to a For the world, this has been four years of lost minimum. If we celebrate success, entrepreneurship, American leadership, leadership that depends upon and innovation. If we lift up the middle class. If we economic vitality and peace through strength. hand over to the next generation a legacy of growth Put simply: The times call for trustworthy lead - and prosperity, rather than entitlements and indebt - ership and honest talk about the challenges we face. edness. Our nation and our people cannot afford the status That same commitment must be present both quo. We must begin anew, with profound changes in here at home and abroad. We are a party that knows the way government operates; the way it budgets, the difference between international acclaim and taxes, and regulates. Jefferson’s vision of a “wise and world leadership. We will lift the torch of freedom frugal government” must be restored. and democracy to inspire all those who would be Providence has put us at the fork in the road, free. As President Reagan issued the clarion call to and we must answer the question: If not us, who? If “tear down this Wall,” so must we always stand not now, when? against tyranny and oppression. We will always sup - That is the choice facing the American people port and cherish our men and women in uniform this November. Every voter will be asked to choose who defend our liberties with their lives. between the chronic high unemployment and the As we embark upon this critical mission, we are

i REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 not without guidance. We possess an owner’s man - has ordained.” Values matter. Character counts. ual: the Constitution of the United States, the great - Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan understand these est political document ever written. That sacred great truths. They share a positive vision for document shows us the path forward. Trust the peo - America – a vision of America renewed and strong. ple. Limit government. Respect federalism. Guaran - They know America’s best days lay ahead. It will tee opportunity, not outcomes. Adhere to the rule of take honest results-oriented, conservative leadership law. Reaffirm that our rights come from God, are to enact good policies for our people. They will protected by government, and that the only just gov - provide it. ernment is one that truly governs with the consent We respectfully submit this platform to the of the governed. American people. It is both a vision of where we are The principles written in the Constitution are headed and an invitation to join us in that journey. secured by the character of the American people. It is about the great dreams and opportunities that President George Washington said in his first inau - have always been America and must remain the gural address: “The propitious smiles of Heaven can essence of America for generations to come. never be expected on a nation that disregards the May God continue to shed his grace on the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself United States of America.

Governor Bob McDonnell Chairman

Senator John Hoeven Congressman Marsha Blackburn Co-Chair Co-Chair

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Table of Contents

1 Restoring the American Dream: Rebuilding the Economy and Creating Jobs

9 We The People: A Restoration of Constitutional Government

15 America’s Natural Resources: Energy, Agriculture and the Environment

21 Reforming Government to Serve the People

31 Renewing American Values to Build Healthy Families, Great Schools and Safe Neighborhoods

39 American Exceptionalism

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Restoring the American Dream: Rebuilding the Economy and Creating Jobs

We are the party of maximum economic freedom motes substantial economic growth and reducing and the prosperity freedom makes possible. Prosper - regulation encourages business formation and job ity is the product of self-discipline, work, savings, and creation. Knowing that, a Republican President and investment by individual Americans, but it is not an Congress will jumpstart an economic renewal that end in itself. Prosperity provides the means by which creates opportunity, rewards work and saving, and individuals and families can maintain their inde - unleashes the productive genius of the American peo - pendence from government, raise their children by ple. Because the GOP is the Great Opportunity Party, their own values, practice their faith, and build this is our pledge to workers without jobs, families communities of self-reliant neighbors. It is also the without savings, and neighborhoods without hope: means by which the United States is able to assert together we can get our country back on track, ex - global leadership. The vigor of our economy makes panding its bounty, renewing its faith, and fulfilling possible our military strength and is critical to our its promise of a better life. national security. This year’s election is a chance to restore the Job Creation: proven values of the American free enterprise system. Getting Americans Back to Work We offer our Republican vision of a free people using The best jobs program is economic growth. We their God-given talents, combined with hard work, do not offer yet another made-in-Washington pack - self-reliance, ethical conduct, and the pursuit of op - age of subsidies and spending to create temporary or portunity, to achieve great things for themselves and artificial jobs. We want much more than that. We the greater community. Our vision of an opportunity want a roaring job market to match a roaring econ - society stands in stark contrast to the current Admin - omy. Instead, what this Administration has given us istration’s policies that expand entitlements and is 42 consecutive months of unemployment above 8 guarantees, create new public programs, and provide percent, the longest period of high unemployment expensive government bailouts. That road has cre - since the Great Depression. Republicans will pursue ated a culture of dependency, bloated government, free market policies that are the surest way to boost and massive debt. employment and create job growth and economic Republicans believe in the Great American prosperity for all. Dream, with its economics of inclusion, enabling In all the sections that follow, as well as else - everyone to have a chance to own, invest, build, and where in this platform, we explain what must be done prosper. It is the opposite of the policies which, for to achieve that goal. The tax system must be simpli - the last three and a half years, have stifled growth, fied. Government spending and regulation must be destroyed jobs, halted investment, created unprece - reined in. American companies must be more com - dented uncertainty, and prolonged the worst eco - petitive in the world market, and we must be aggres - nomic downturn since the Great Depression. Those sive in promoting U.S. products abroad and securing policies have placed the federal government in the open markets for them. A federal-State-private part - driver’s seat, rather than relying on energetic and en - nership must invest in the nation’s infrastructure: trepreneurial Americans to rebuild the economy from roads, bridges, airports, ports, and water systems, the ground up. Excessive taxation and regulation im - among others. Federal training programs have to be pede economic development. Lowering taxes pro - overhauled and made relevant for the workplace of

1 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 the twenty-first century. Potential employers need hension of the average citizen. A reformed code certainty and predictability for their hiring decisions, should promote simplicity and coherence, savings and the team of a Republican President and Congress and innovation, increase American competitiveness, will create the confidence that will get Americans and recognize the burdens on families with children. back to work. To that end, we propose to: Extend the 2001 and 2003 tax relief Small Business and Entrepreneurship packages—commonly known as the Bush tax America’s small businesses are the backbone cuts—pending reform of the tax code, to keep of the U.S. economy, employing tens of millions tax rates from rising on income, interest, divi - of workers. Small businesses create the vast dends, and capital gains; majority of jobs, patents, and U.S. exporters. Under Reform the tax code by reducing marginal the current Administration, we have the lowest tax rates by 20 percent across-the-board in a rate of business startups in thirty years. Small busi - revenue-neutral manner; nesses are the leaders in the world’s advances in Eliminate the taxes on interest, dividends, technology and innovation, and we pledge to and capital gains altogether for lower and strengthen that role and foster small business entre - middle-income taxpayers; preneurship. End the Death Tax; and While small businesses have significantly con - Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax. tributed to the nation’s economic growth, our govern - ment has failed to meet its small business goals year American Competitiveness after year and failed to overcome burdensome regu - in a Global Economy latory, contracting, and capital barriers. This impedes American businesses now face the world’s high - their growth. est corporate tax rate. It reduces their worldwide We will reform the tax code to allow businesses competitiveness, encourages corporations to move to generate enough capital to grow and create jobs for overseas, lessens investment, cripples job creation, our families, friends and neighbors all across Amer - lowers U.S. wages, and fosters the avoidance of tax li - ica. We will encourage investments in small busi - ability—without actually increasing tax revenues. To nesses. We will create an environment where level the international playing field, and to spur job adequate financing and credit are available to spur creation here at home, we call for a reduction of the manufacturing and expansion. We will serve as ag - corporate rate to keep U.S. corporations competitive gressive advocates for small businesses. internationally, with a permanent research and de - velopment tax credit, and a repeal of the corporate Tax Relief to Grow the Economy alternative minimum tax. We also support the rec - and Create Jobs ommendation of the National Commission on Fiscal Taxes, by their very nature, reduce a citizen’s Responsibility and Reform, as well as the current freedom. Their proper role in a free society should be President’s Export Council, to switch to a territorial to fund services that are essential and authorized by system of corporate taxation, so that profits earned the Constitution, such as national security, and the and taxed abroad may be repatriated for job-creating care of those who cannot care for themselves. We re - investment here at home without additional penalty. ject the use of taxation to redistribute income, fund unnecessary or ineffective programs, or foster the Fundamental Tax Principles crony capitalism that corrupts both politicians and We oppose retroactive taxation; and we con - corporations. demn attempts by activist judges, at any level of gov - Our goal is a tax system that is simple, transpar - ernment, to seize the power of the purse by ordering ent, flatter, and fair. In contrast, the current IRS code higher taxes. We oppose tax policies that divide is like a patchwork quilt, stitched together over time Americans or promote class warfare. from mismatched pieces, and is beyond the compre - Because of the vital role of religious organiza -

2 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 tions, charities, and fraternal benevolent societies in of Obamacare, with over $1 trillion in new taxes, mul - fostering benevolence and patriotism, they should tiple mandates, and a crushing price tag. not be subject to taxation, and donations to them We can preempt the debt explosion. Backed by should continue to be tax deductible. a Republican Senate and House, our next President In any restructuring of federal taxation, to guard will propose immediate reductions in federal spend - against hypertaxation of the American people, any ing, as a down payment on the much larger task of value added tax or national sales tax must be tied to long-range fiscal control. We suggest a tripartite test the simultaneous repeal of the Sixteenth Amend - for every federal activity. First, is it within the consti - ment, which established the federal income tax. tutional scope of the federal government? Second, is it effective and absolutely necessary? And third, is it Reining in Out-of-Control Spending, sufficiently important to justify borrowing, especially Balancing the Budget, and Ensuring foreign borrowing, to fund it? Against those stan - Sound Monetary Policy dards we will measure programs from international The massive federal government is structurally population control to California’s federally subsidized and financially broken. For decades it has been high-speed train to nowhere, and terminate pro - pushed beyond its core functions, increasing spend - grams that don’t measure up. ing to unsustainable levels. Elected officials have overpromised and overspent, and now the bills are Balancing the Budget due. Unless we take dramatic action now, young Cutting spending is not enough; it must be ac - Americans and their children will inherit an unprece - companied by major structural reforms, increased dented legacy of enormous and unsustainable debt, productivity, use of technology, and long-term gov - with the interest alone consuming an ever-increasing ernment downsizing that both reduce debt and portion of the country’s wealth. deficits and ignite economic The specter of national bank - growth. We must restructure the ruptcy that now hangs over much Our goal is a tax system twentieth century entitlement of Europe is a warning to us as that is simple, transparent, state so the missions of impor - well. Over the last three and a flatter, and fair… A reformed tant programs can succeed in the half years, while cutting the de - twenty-first century. Medicare, fense budget, the current Admin - code should promote simplicity in particular, is the largest driver istration has added an additional and coherence, savings and of future debt. Our reform of $5.3 trillion to the national healthcare will empower mil - debt—now approximately $16 innovation, increase lions of seniors to control their trillion, the largest amount in American competitiveness, personal healthcare decisions, U.S. history. In fiscal year 2011, and recognize the burdens unlike Obamacare that empow - spending reached $3.6 trillion, ered a handful of bureaucrats to nearly a quarter of our gross do - on families… cut Medicare in ways that will mestic product. Adjusted for in - deny care for the elderly. flation, that’s more than three We must also change the times its peak level in World War II, and almost half budget process itself. From its beginning, its design of every dollar spent was borrowed money. Three has enabled, rather than restrained, reckless spend - programs—Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Secu - ing by giving procedural cover to Members of Con - rity— account for over 40 percent of total spending. gress. The budget process gave us the insidious term While these levels of spending and debt are already “tax expenditure,” which means that any earnings the harming job creation and growth, projections of fu - government allows a taxpayer to keep through a de - ture spending growth are nothing short of cata - duction, exemption, or credit are equivalent to strophic, both economically and socially. And those spending the same amount on some program. It also dire projections do not include the fiscal nightmare lumped a broad range of diverse programs under the

3 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 heading of “entitlement,” as if veterans’ benefits and pressures for easy money and loose credit. welfare checks belong in the same category. Far Determined to crush the double-digit inflation worse, the process assumes every spending program that was part of the Carter Administration’s economic will be permanent and every tax cut will be tempo - legacy, President Reagan, shortly after his inaugura - rary. It refuses to recognize the beneficial budgetary tion, established a commission to consider the feasi - impact of lower tax rates, and it calls a spending in - bility of a metallic basis for U.S. currency. The crease a cut if it is less than the rate of inflation. commission advised against such a move. Now, three Republican Members of Congress have repeat - decades later, as we face the task of cleaning up the edly tried to reform the budget process to make it wreckage of the current Administration’s policies, we more transparent and accountable, in particular by propose a similar commission to investigate possible voting for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Con - ways to set a fixed value for the dollar. stitution, following the lead of 33 States which have put that restraint into their own constitutions. We Ending the Housing Crisis and call for a Constitutional amendment requiring a Expanding Opportunities for super-majority for any tax increase, with exceptions Homeownership for only war and national emergencies, and imposing Homeownership expands personal liberty, a cap limiting spending to the historical average builds communities, and helps Americans create percentage of GDP so that future Congresses cannot wealth. “The American Dream” is not a stale slogan. balance the budget by raising taxes. It is the lived reality that expresses the aspirations of all our people. It means a decent place to live, a safe Inflation and the Federal Reserve place to raise kids, a welcoming place to retire. It be - A sound monetary policy is critical for maintain - speaks the quiet pride of those who work hard to ing a strong economy. Inflation diminishes the pur - shelter their family and, in the process, create caring chasing power of the dollar at home and abroad and neighborhoods. Homeownership is best fostered by is a hidden tax on the American people. Moreover, a growing economy with low interest rates, as well as the inflation tax is regressive, punishes those who prudent regulation, financial education, and targeted save, transfers wealth from Main Street to Wall assistance to responsible borrowers. Street, and has grave implications for seniors living The collapse of the housing market over the last on fixed incomes. four years has been not only a severe blow to the en - Because the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy tire economy, but also a personal tragedy to millions actions affect both inflation and economic activity, of Americans whose homes have lost value and to so those actions should be transparent. Moreover, many others who have lost their homes. Combined the Fed’s important role as a lender of last resort with high unemployment, that decline has left count - should also be carried out in a more transparent less homeowners saddled with mortgages exceeding manner. A free society demands that the sun shine the value of their homes. The response of the current on all elements of government. Therefore, the Repub - Administration has done little to improve, and much lican Party will work to advance substantive legisla - to worsen, the situation. By discouraging private sec - tion that brings transparency and accountability to tor investment, it has stalled the housing recovery. the Federal Reserve, the Federal Open Market Com - Its massive intervention in the housing market, with mittee, and the Fed’s dealings with foreign central the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Fannie banks. The first step to increasing transparency and Mae and Freddie Mac backing nearly all new mort - accountability is through an annual audit of the gages, has hit the taxpayers with a bill for almost Federal Reserve’s activities. Such an audit would $200 billion to bail out the latter two institutions. It need to be carefully implemented so that the Federal has spent billions more on poorly designed and inef - Reserve remains insulated from political pressures fective housing assistance programs. Making matters and so its decisions are based on sound economic worse, the Congress, under Democrat control, en - principles and sound money rather than on political acted the Dodd-Frank Act, a massive labyrinth of

4 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 costly new regulations that deter lenders from lend - The federal government has a role in housing by ing to creditworthy homebuyers and that dispropor - enforcing non-discrimination laws and assisting low- tionately harms small and community banks. As a income families and the elderly with safe and ade - result, home sales remain weak, investment in hous - quate shelter, especially through the use of housing ing remains depressed, construction industry jobs re - vouchers. Homeownership is an important goal, but main down, and mortgage lending has yet to recover public policy must be balanced to reflect the needs of to pre-crisis levels. Americans who choose to rent. A comprehensive housing policy should address the demand for apart - Rebuilding Homeownership ments and multi-family housing. Any assistance We must establish a mortgage finance system should be subject to stringent oversight to ensure that based on competition and free enterprise that is trans - funds are spent wisely. parent, encourages the private sector to return to housing, and promotes personal responsibility on the Infrastructure: Building the Future part of borrowers. Policies that promote reliance on America’s infrastructure networks are critical for private capital, like private mortgage insurance, will economic growth, international competitiveness, and be critical to scaling back the federal role in the hous - national security. Infrastructure programs have tra - ing market and avoiding future taxpayer bailouts. Re - ditionally been non-partisan; everyone recognized forms should provide clear and prudent underwriting that we all need clean water and safe roads, rail, standards and guidelines on acceptable lending prac - bridges, ports, and airports. The current Administra - tices. Compliance with regulatory standards should tion has changed that, replacing civil engineering provide a legal safe harbor to guard against oppor - with social engineering as it pursues an exclusively tunistic litigation. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were urban vision of dense housing and government tran - a primary cause of the housing crisis because their im - sit. In the vaunted stimulus package, less than six plicit government guarantee allowed them to avoid percent of the funds went to transportation, with market discipline and make risky investments. Their most of that to cosmetic “shovel-ready” projects favored political status enriched their politically- rather than fundamental structural improvements. connected executives and their shareholders at the ex - All the while, the Democrats’ Davis-Bacon law con - pense of the nation. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie tinues to drive up infrastructure construction and Mac should be wound down in size and scope, and maintenance costs for the benefit of that party’s their officials should be held to account. union stalwarts. The FHA, tripled in size to more than $1 trillion What most Americans take for granted—the under the current Administration, has crowded out safety and availability of our water supply—is in per - the private sector and is at risk of requiring a taxpayer ilous condition. Engineering surveys report crum - bailout. It must be downsized and limited to helping bling drinking water systems, aging dams, and first-time homebuyers and low- and moderate- overwhelmed wastewater infrastructure. Investment income borrowers. Taxpayer dollars should not be in these areas, as well as with levees and inland wa - used to bail out borrowers and lenders by funding terways, can renew communities, attract businesses, principal write-downs. While the federal government and create jobs. Most importantly, it can assure the must prosecute mortgage fraud and other financial health and safety of the American people. crimes, any settlements received thereby should be The nation’s ports have become a bottleneck in directed to individuals harmed by the misconduct, international trade. America’s exporters sometimes not diverted to pay for unrelated programs. use Canadian ports in order to reach the world mar - FDIC insurance for bank depositors must be pre - ket in a timely manner. With the widening of the served. However, to correct for the moral hazard cre - Panama Canal, our East Coast and Gulf ports have an ated by deposit insurance, banks should be well extraordinary opportunity to boost container traffic capitalized, which is the best insurance against future but require major improvement to remain competi - taxpayer bailouts. tive receivers of large vessels.

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Interstate infrastructure has long been a federal U.S. exports means another 5,000 jobs here at home. responsibility shared with the States, and a renewed The Free Trade Agreements negotiated with friendly federal-State partnership and new public-private democracies since President Reagan’s trailblazing partnerships are urgently needed to maintain and pact with Israel in 1985 facilitated the creation of modernize our country’s travel lifelines to facilitate nearly ten million jobs supported by our exports. economic growth and job creation. In the last two That record makes all the more deplorable the years, Congressional Republicans have taken the lead current Administration’s slowness in completing with initiatives like the FAA Modernization and Re - agreements begun by its predecessor and its failure form Act; the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, to pursue any new trade agreements with friendly and Job Creation Act; and the Coast Guard and Mar - nations. itime Transportation Act. The recent highway bill re - This worldwide explosion of trade has had a forming the federal highway program included some downside, however, as some governments have used key reforms. It will shorten the project approval a variety of unfair means to limit American access to process, eliminate unnecessary programs, and give their markets while stealing our designs, patents, States more flexibility to address their particular brands, know-how, and technology—the “intellectual needs. It is a return to the principles of federalism, property” that drives innovation. The chief offender and it contains not a single earmark. It should be fol - is China, which has built up its economy in part by lowed by reform of the 42-year old National Environ - piggybacking onto Western technological advances, mental Policy Act to create regulatory certainty for manipulates its currency to the disadvantage of infrastructure projects, expedite their timetables, and American exporters, excludes American products limit litigation against them. from government purchases, subsidizes Chinese Securing sufficient funding for the Highway companies to give them a commercial advantage, and Trust Fund remains a challenge given the debt and invents regulations and standards designed to keep deficits and the need to reduce spending. Republi - out foreign competition. The current Administra - cans will make hard choices and set priorities, and tion’s way of dealing with all these violations of world infrastructure will be among them. In some States trade standards has been a virtual surrender. with elected officials dominated by the Democratic Republicans understand that you can succeed in Party, a proportion of highway funds is diverted to a negotiation only if you are willing to walk away other purposes. This must stop. We oppose any fund - from it. Thus, a Republican President will insist on ing mechanism that would involve governmental full parity in trade with China and stand ready to im - monitoring of every car and truck in the nation. pose countervailing duties if China fails to amend its Amtrak continues to be, for the taxpayers, an currency policies. Commercial discrimination will be extremely expensive railroad. The public has to met in kind. Counterfeit goods will be aggressively subsidize every ticket nearly $50. It is long past time kept out of the country. Victimized private firms will for the federal government to get out of way and be encouraged to raise claims in both U.S. courts and allow private ventures to provide passenger service at the World Trade Organization. Punitive measures to the northeast corridor. The same holds true with will be imposed on foreign firms that misappropriate regard to high-speed and intercity rail across American technology and intellectual property. Until the country. China abides by the WTO’s Government Procure - ment Agreement, the United States government will International Trade: end procurement of Chinese goods and services. More American Jobs, Higher Wages, and A Because American workers have shown that, on Better Standard of Living a truly level playing field, they can surpass the com - petition in international trade, we call for the restora - International trade is crucial for our economy. It tion of presidential Trade Promotion Authority. It means more American jobs, higher wages, and a bet - will ensure up or down votes in Congress on any new ter standard of living. Every $1 billion in additional trade agreements, without meddling by special inter -

6 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 ests. A Republican President will complete negotia - trade—by a policy of strategic immigration, granting tions for a Trans-Pacific Partnership to open rapidly more work visas to holders of advanced degrees in developing Asian markets to U.S. products. Beyond science, technology, engineering, and math from that, we envision a worldwide multilateral agreement other nations. Highly educated immigrants can as - among nations committed to the principles of open sist in creating new services and products. In the markets, what has been called a “Reagan Economic same way, foreign students who graduate from an Zone,” in which free trade will truly be fair trade for American university with an advanced degree in sci - all concerned. ence, technology, engineering or math should be en - couraged to remain here and contribute to economic A Twenty-First Century Workforce prosperity and job creation. Highly skilled, English- The greatest asset of the American economy is speaking, and integrated into their communities, they the hard-working American. The high rates of are too valuable a resource to lose. As in past gener - unemp loyment over the last three and a half years— ations, we should encourage the world’s innovators disastrously high among youth, minorities, and veter - and inventors to create our common future and their ans—have thus been a tragic waste of energy and ideas, permanent homes here in the United States. compounded by the waste of billions in “stimulus” Republicans believe that the employer-employee funds with no payoff in jobs. The chief cause has been relationship of the future will be built upon employee an unprecedented uncertainty in the American free en - empowerment and workplace flexibility, which is why terprise system due to the overreaching policies of the Republicans support employee ownership. We be - current Administration. Nothing lieve employee stock ownership matters more than getting the plans create capitalists and ex - American people back to work. In Today’s workforce is pand the ownership of private addition to cutting spending, independent, wants flexibility in property and are therefore the keeping taxes low, and curtailing working conditions, needs essence of a high-performing bureaucratic red tape, we must re - free enterprise economy, which place outdated policies and inef - family-friendly options, and is creates opportunity for those fectual training programs with a most productive when allowed who work and honors those plan to develop a twenty-first cen - values that have made our nation tury workforce to make the most to innovate and rethink the so strong. Today’s workforce is of our country’s human capital. status quo. independent, wants flexibility It is critical that the United in working conditions, needs States has a highly trained and family-friendly options, and is skilled workforce. Nine federal agencies currently most productive when allowed to innovate and re - run 47 retraining programs at a total cost of $18 bil - think the status quo. The federal government should lion annually with dismal results. Both the trainees set an example in making those adaptations, espe - in those programs and the taxpayers who fund them cially in promoting portability in pension plans and deserve better. We propose consolidation of those health insurance. programs into State block grants so that training can be coordinated with local schools and employers. Freedom in the Workplace That will be critically important if States establish The current Administration has chosen a differ - Personal Reemployment Accounts, letting trainees ent path with regard to labor, clinging to antiquated direct resources in ways that will steer them toward notions of confrontation and concentrating power in long-term employment, especially through on-the- the Washington offices of union elites. It has strongly job training with participating employers. supported the anti-business card check legislation to We can accelerate the process of restoring our deny workers a secret ballot in union organizing cam - domestic economy—and reclaiming this country’s paigns and, through the use of Project Labor Agree - traditional position of dominance in international ments, barred 80 percent of the construction

7 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 workforce from competing for jobs in many stimulus Ultimately, we support the enactment of a National projects. The current Administration has turned the Right-to-Work law to promote worker freedom and National Labor Relations Board into a partisan advo - to promote greater economic liberty. We will aggres - cate for Big Labor, using threats and coercion outside sively enforce the recent decision by the Supreme the law to attack businesses and, through “snap elec - Court barring the use of union dues for political pur - tions” and “micro unions,” limit the rights of workers poses without the consent of the worker. and employers alike. We salute the Republican Governors and State We will restore the rule of law to labor law by legislators who have saved their States from blocking “card check,” enacting the Secret Ballot Pro - fiscal disaster by reforming their laws governing tection Act, enforcing the Hobbs Act against labor vi - public employee unions. We urge elected officials olence, and passing the Raise Act to allow all workers across the country to follow their lead in order to to receive well-earned raises without the approval of avoid State and local defaults on their obligations and their union representative. We demand an end to the the collapse of services to the public. To safeguard Project Labor Agreements; and we call for repeal of the free choice of public employees, no government the Davis-Bacon Act, which costs the taxpayers at any level should act as the dues collector for billions of dollars annually in artificially high wages unions. A Republican President will protect the on government projects. We support the right of rights of conscience of public employees by proposing States to enact Right-to-Work laws and encourage legislation to bar mandatory dues for political them to do so to promote greater economic liberty. purposes.

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We The People: A Restoration of Constitutional Government

We are the party of the Constitution, the solemn As a matter of principle, we oppose the creation of any compact which confirms our God-given individual new race-based governments within the United States. rights and assures that all Americans stand equal be - fore the law. Perhaps the greatest political document A Restoration of Constitutional Order: ever written, it defines the purposes and limits of gov - Congress and the Executive ernment and is the blueprint for ordered liberty that We salute Republican Members of the House of makes the U.S. the world’s freest, most stable, and Representatives for enshrining in the Rules of the most prosperous nation. Its Constitutional ideals have House the requirement that every bill must cite the been emulated around the world, and with them has provision of the Constitution which permits its intro - come unprecedented prosperity for billions of people. duction. Their adherence to the Constitution stands In the spirit of the Constitution, we consider dis - in stark contrast to the antipathy toward the Consti - crimination based on sex, race, age, religion, creed, tution demonstrated by the current Administration disability, or national origin and its Senate allies by appoint - unacceptable and immoral. We ing “czars” to evade the confir - will strongly enforce anti- We are the party of the mation process, making unlawful discrimination statutes and ask Constitution, the solemn “recess” appointments when the all to join us in rejecting the compact which confirms our Senate is not in recess, using ex - forces of hatred and bigotry ecutive orders to bypass the sep - and in denouncing all who prac - God-given individual rights and aration of powers and its checks tice or promote racism, anti- assures that all Americans stand and balances, encouraging illegal Semitism, ethnic prejudice, or actions by regulatory agencies religious intolerance. We sup - equal before the law. from the NLRB to the EPA, port efforts to help low-income openly and notoriously display - individuals get a fair chance ing contempt for Congress, the based on their potential and individual merit; but we Judiciary, and the Constitutional prerogatives of the reject preferences, quotas, and set-asides as the best individual States, refusing to defend the nation’s laws or sole methods through which fairness can be in federal courts or enforce them on the streets, ig - achieved, whether in government, education, or cor - noring the legal requirement for legislative enact - porate boardrooms. In a free society, the primary ment of an annual budget, gutting welfare reform by role of government is to protect the God-given, in - unilaterally removing its statutory work requirement, alienable, inherent rights of its citizens, including the buying senatorial votes with special favors, and evad - rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. ing the legal requirement for congressional consulta - Merit, ability, aptitude, and results should be the fac - tion regarding troop commitments overseas. A tors that determine advancement in our society. Republican President and Republican Senate will join The Republican Party includes Americans House Republicans in living by the rule of law, the from every faith and tradition, and our policies and po - foundation of the American Republic. sitions respect the right of every American to Protecting America is the first and most impor - follow his or her beliefs and underscore our tant duty of our federal government. The Constitu - reverence for the religious freedom envisioned by the tion wisely distributes important roles in the area of Founding Fathers of our nation and of our party. national security to both the President and Congress.

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It empowers the President to serve as Commander in constitutions the traditional concept of marriage, and Chief, making him the lead instrument of the Amer - we support the campaigns underway in several other ican people in matters of national security and for - States to do so. eign affairs. It also bestows authority on Congress, including the powers to declare war, regulate com - Living Within Our Means: merce, and authorize the funds needed to keep and A Constitutional Budget protect our Nation. The United States of America is Republican Members of Congress have repeat - strongest when the President and Congress work edly tried to reform the budget process to make it closely together—in war and in peace—to advance our more transparent and accountable, in particular by common interests and ideals. By uniting our govern - voting for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Con - ment and our citizens, our foreign policy will secure stitution, following the lead of 33 States which have freedom, keep America safe, and ensure that we re - put that restraint into their own constitutions. We main the “last best hope on Earth.” call for a Constitutional amendment requiring a super-majority for any tax increase with exceptions Defending Marriage Against for only war and national emergencies, and imposing An Activist Judiciary a cap limiting spending to the historical average per - A serious threat to our country’s constitutional centage of GDP so that future Congresses cannot bal - order, perhaps even more dangerous than presiden - ance the budget by raising taxes. tial malfeasance, is an activist judiciary, in which some judges usurp the powers reserved to other Federalism and The Tenth Amendment branches of government. A blatant example has been We support the review and examination of all the court-ordered redefinition of marriage in several federal agencies to eliminate wasteful spending, op - States. This is more than a matter of warring legal erational inefficiencies, or abuse of power to deter - concepts and ideals. It is an assault on the founda - mine whether they are performing functions that are tions of our society, challenging the institution which, better performed by the States. These functions, as for thousands of years in virtually every civilization, appropriate, should be returned to the States in ac - has been entrusted with the rearing of children and cordance with the Tenth Amendment of the United the transmission of cultural values. States Constitution. We affirm that all legislation, rules, and regulations must conform and public ser - A Sacred Contract: Defense of Marriage vants must adhere to the U.S. Constitution, as origi - That is why Congressional Republicans took the nally intended by the Framers. Whether such lead in enacting the Defense of Marriage Act, affirm - legislation is a State or federal matter must be deter - ing the right of States and the federal government not mined in accordance with the Tenth Amendment, in to recognize same-sex relationships licensed in other conjunction with Article I, Section 8. jurisdictions. The current Administration’s open de - When the Constitution is evaded, transgressed, fiance of this constitutional principle—in its handling or ignored, so are the freedoms it guarantees. In that of immigration cases, in federal personnel benefits, context, the elections of 2012 will be much more than in allowing a same-sex marriage at a military base, a contest between parties. They are a referendum on and in refusing to defend DOMA in the courts— the future of liberty in America. makes a mockery of the President’s inaugural oath. The Republican Party, born in opposition to the We commend the United States House of Represen - denial of liberty, stands for the rights of individuals, tatives and State Attorneys General who have de - families, faith communities, institutions – and of fended these laws when they have been attacked in the States which are their instruments of self- the courts. We reaffirm our support for a Constitu - government. In establishing a federal system of gov - tional amendment defining marriage as the union of ernment, the Framers viewed the States as laborato - one man and one woman. We applaud the citizens of ries of democracy and centers of innovation, as do we. the majority of States which have enshrined in their To maintain the integrity of their system, they

10 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 bequeathed to successive generations an instrument popular vote” would be a mortal threat to our federal by which we might correct any misalignment of power system and a guarantee of corruption as every ballot between our States and the federal government, the box in every state would become a chance to steal the Tenth Amendment: presidency. The powers not delegated to the Voter Integrity to Ensure Honest Elections United States by the Constitution, nor Honest elections are the foundation of represen - prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the tative government. We support State efforts to ensure States respectively, or to the people. ballot access for the elderly, the handicapped, military In fidelity to that principle, we condemn the cur - personnel, and all authorized voters. For the same rea - rent Administration’s continued assaults on State gov - son, we applaud legislation to require photo identifica - ernments in matters ranging from voter ID laws to tion for voting and to prevent election fraud, immigration, from healthcare programs to land use particularly with regard to registration and absentee decisions. Our States are the laboratories of democracy ballots. We support State laws that require proof of cit - from which the people propel our nation forward, solv - izenship at the time of voter registration to protect our ing local and State problems through local and State electoral system against a significant and growing form innovations. We pledge to restore the proper balance of voter fraud. Every time that a fraudulent vote is cast, between the federal government and the governments it effectively cancels out a vote of a legitimate voter. closest to, and most reflective of, the American people. Voter fraud is political poison. It strikes at the Scores of entrenched federal programs violate the con - heart of representative government. We call on every stitutional mandates of federalism by taking money citizen, elected official, and member of the judiciary from the States, laundering it through various federal to preserve the integrity of the vote. We call for vig - agencies, only to return to the States shrunken grants orous prosecution of voter fraud at the State and fed - with mandates attached. We propose wherever feasi - eral level. To do less disenfranchises present and ble to leave resources where they originate: in the future generations. We recognize that having a phys - homes and neighborhoods of the taxpayers. We call ical verification of the vote is the best way to ensure on the federal government to do a systematic analysis a fair election. “Let ambition counter ambition,” as of laws and regulations to eliminate costly bureau - James Madison said. When all parties have repre - cratic mandates on the States and the people. sentatives observing the counting of ballots in a With every right comes a responsibility. A few transparent process, integrity is assured. We strongly States and their political subdivisions are currently support the policy that all electronic voting systems in dire fiscal situations, largely because of their have a voter verified paper audit trail. spending, debt, and failure to rein in public employee States or political subdivisions that use all-mail unions. In the event those conditions worsen, the fed - elections cannot ensure the integrity of the ballot. eral government must not assume the State govern - When ballots are mailed to every registered voter, ments’ or their political subdivisions’ financial ballots can be stolen or fraudulently voted by unau - responsibility or require the nation’s taxpayers to pay thorized individuals because the system does not for the misrule of a few State governments. Nor shall have a way to verify the identity of the voter. We call the States assume the federal government’s financial for States and political subdivisions to adopt voting responsibility. systems that can verify the identity of the voter. Military men and women must not be disenfran - The Continuing Importance of chised from the very freedom they defend. We affirm Protecting the Electoral College that our troops, wherever stationed, be allowed to We oppose the National Popular Vote Interstate vote and those votes be counted in the November Compact or any other scheme to abolish or distort the election and in all elections. To that end, the entire procedures of the Electoral College. We recognize chain of command, from President and the Secretary that an unconstitutional effort to impose “national of Defense, to base and unit commanders—must en -

11 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 sure the timely receipt and return of all ballots and mandments as a reflection of our history and of our the utilization of electronic delivery of ballots where country’s Judeo-Christian heritage, and we affirm the allowed by State law. right of students to engage in prayer at public school We support changing the way that the decennial events in public schools and to have equal access to census is conducted, so that citizens are distinguished public schools and other public facilities to accom - from lawfully present aliens and illegal aliens. In modate religious freedom in the public square. We order to preserve the principle of one-person, one- assert every citizen’s right to apply religious values to vote, the apportionment of representatives among the public policy and the right of faith-based organiza - States should be according to the number of citizens. tions to participate fully in public programs without renouncing their beliefs, removing religious symbols, The First Amendment: or submitting to government-imposed hiring prac - The Foresight of Our Founders to tices. We oppose government discrimination against Protect Religious Freedom businesses due to religious views. We support the The first provision of the First Amendment con - First Amendment right of freedom of association of cerns freedom of religion. That guarantee reflected the Boy Scouts of America and other service organi - Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious zations whose values are under assault and condemn Freedom, which declared that no one should “suffer the State blacklisting of religious groups which de - on account of his religious opinion or belief, but that cline to arrange adoptions by same-sex couples. We all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to condemn the hate campaigns, threats of violence, and maintain, their opinion in matters of religion….” That vandalism by proponents of same-sex marriage assurance has never been more needed than it is against advocates of traditional marriage and call for today, as liberal elites try to drive religious beliefs— a federal investigation into attempts to deny religious and religious believers—out of the public square. The believers their civil rights. Founders of the American Republic universally agree that democracy presupposes a moral people and that, The First Amendment: in the words of George Washington’s Farewell Ad - Speech that is Protected dress, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead The rights of citizenship do not stop at the ballot to political prosperity, religion and morality are indis - box. They include the free speech right to devote one’s pensable supports.” resources to whatever cause or candidate one sup - The most offensive instance of this war on reli - ports. We oppose any restrictions or conditions that gion has been the current Administration’s attempt would discourage Americans from exercising their to compel faith-related institutions, as well as believ - constitutional right to enter the political fray or limit ing individuals, to contravene their deeply held reli - their commitment to their ideals. As a result, we sup - gious, moral, or ethical beliefs regarding health port repeal of the remaining sections of McCain- services, traditional marriage, or abortion. This Feingold, support either raising or repealing contribu - forcible secularization of religious and religiously af - tion limits, and oppose passage of the DISCLOSE Act filiated organizations, including faith-based hospitals or any similar legislation designed to vitiate the and colleges, has been in tandem with the current Supreme Court’s recent decisions protecting political Administration’s audacity in declaring which faith- speech in Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election related activities are, or are not, protected by the First Commission and Citizens United v. Federal Election Amendment—an unprecedented aggression repudi - Commission . We insist that there should be no regu - ated by a unanimous Supreme Court in its Hosanna- lation of political speech on the Internet. By the Tabor v. EEOC decision. same token, we oppose governmental censorship of We pledge to respect the religious beliefs and speech through the so-called Fairness Doctrine or rights of conscience of all Americans and to safeguard by government enforcement of speech codes, the independence of their institutions from govern - free speech zones, or other forms of “political correct - ment. We support the public display of the Ten Com - ness” on campus.

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The Second Amendment: veillance or flyovers on U.S. soil, with the exception Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms of patrolling our national borders. All security meas - ures and police actions should be viewed through the We uphold the right of individuals to keep and lens of the Fourth Amendment; for if we trade liberty bear arms, a right which antedated the Constitution for security, we shall have neither. and was solemnly confirmed by the Second Amend - ment. We acknowledge, support, and defend the law- The Fifth Amendment: abiding citizen’s God-given right of self-defense. We Protecting Private Property call for the protection of such fundamental individual The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment– rights recognized in the Supreme Court’s decisions in “nor shall private property be taken for public use and District of Columbia v. Heller McDonald v. without just compensation”–is a bulwark against affirming that right, and we recognize the in - Chicago tyranny; for without property rights, individual rights dividual responsibility to safely use and store are diminished. That is why we deplore the Supreme firearms. This also includes the right to obtain and Court’s decision, allowing local store ammunition without registration. We support Kelo v. New London governments to seize a person’s home or land, not for the fundamental right to self-defense wherever a law- vital public use, but for transfer to private developers. abiding citizen has a legal right to be, and we support We call on State legislatures to moot the impact of the federal legislation that would expand the exercise of decision in their States by appropriate legisla - that right by allowing those with state-issued carry Kelo tion or constitutional amendments. Equally impor - permits to carry firearms in any state that issues such tant, we pledge to enforce the Takings Clause in the permits to its own residents. Gun ownership is re - actions of federal agencies to ensure just compensa - sponsible citizenship, enabling Americans to defend tion whenever private property is needed to achieve their homes and communities. We condemn frivolous a compelling public use. This includes the taking of lawsuits against gun manufacturers and oppose fed - property in the form of water rights in the West and eral licensing or registration of law-abiding gun own - elsewhere and the taking of property by environmen - ers. We oppose legislation that is intended to restrict tal regulations that destroy its value. our Second Amendment rights by limiting the capac - ity of clips or magazines or otherwise restoring the ill- The Ninth Amendment: considered Clinton gun ban. We condemn the reckless Affirming the People’s Rights actions associated with the operation known as “Fast This speaks most eloquently for itself: “The enu - and Furious,” conducted by the Department of Jus - meration in the Constitution of certain rights shall tice, which resulted in the murder of a U.S. Border Pa - not be construed to deny or disparage others retained trol Agent and others on both sides of the border. We by the people.” This provision codifies the concept applaud the Members of the U.S. House of Represen - that our government derives its power from the peo - tatives in holding the current Administration’s Attor - ple and all powers not delegated to the government ney General in contempt of Congress for his refusal to are retained by the people. This is an essential fea - cooperate with their investigation into that debacle. ture of our governmental system, and we therefore We oppose the improper collection of firearms sales celebrate the grassroots rediscovery of this and other information in the four southern border states, which constitutional guarantees over the last four years and was imposed without congressional authority. welcome to our ranks all our fellow citizens who are The Fourth Amendment: determined to reclaim the rights of the people that Liberty and Privacy have been ignored or violated by government. Affirming “the right of the people to be secure in The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life their houses, papers, and effects, against unreason - Faithful to the “self-evident” truths enshrined in able searches and seizures,” we support pending leg - the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanc - islation to prevent unwarranted or unreasonable tity of human life and affirm that the unborn child governmental intrusion through the use of aerial sur - 13 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 has a fundamental individual right to life which can - pregnancy. We salute those who provide them with not be infringed. We support a human life amend - counseling and adoption alternatives and empower ment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to them to choose life, and we take comfort in the make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protec - tremendous increase in adoptions that has followed tions apply to unborn children. We oppose using Republican legislative initiatives. public revenues to promote or perform abortion or fund organizations which perform or advocate it and Respect for Our Flag: will not fund or subsidize health care which includes Symbol of the Constitution abortion coverage. We support the appointment of The symbol of our constitutional unity, to which judges who respect traditional family values and the we all pledge allegiance, is the flag of the United sanctity of innocent human life. We oppose the non- States of America. By whatever legislative method is consensual withholding or withdrawal of care or most feasible, Old Glory should be given legal protec - treatment, including food and water, from people tion against desecration. We condemn decisions by with disabilities, including newborns, as well as the activist judges to deny children the opportunity to say elderly and infirm, just as we oppose active and pas - the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety, including sive euthanasia and assisted suicide. “Under God,” in public schools and encourage States Republican leadership has led the effort to pro - to promote the pledge. We condemn the actions of hibit the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion those who deny our children the means by which to and permitted States to extend health care coverage show respect for our great country and the constitu - to children before birth. We urge Congress to tional principles represented by our flag. strengthen the Born Alive Infant Protection Act by enacting appropriate civil and criminal penalties on American Sovereignty in U.S. Courts healthcare providers who fail to provide treatment Subjecting American citizens to foreign laws is and care to an infant who survives an abortion, in - inimical to the spirit of the Constitution. It is one rea - cluding early induction delivery where the death of son we oppose U.S. participation in the International the infant is intended. We call for legislation to ban Criminal Court. There must be no use of foreign law sex-selective abortions – gender discrimination in its by U.S. courts in interpreting our Constitution and most lethal form—and to protect from abortion un - laws. Nor should foreign sources of law be used in born children who are capable of feeling pain; and we State courts’ adjudication of criminal or civil matters. applaud U.S. House Republicans for leading the ef - The Lacey Act of 1900, designed to protect en - fort to protect the lives of pain-capable unborn chil - dangered wildlife in interstate commerce, is now ap - dren in the District of Columbia. We call for a ban on plied worldwide, making it a crime to use, in our the use of body parts from aborted fetuses for re - domestic industries, any product illegally obtained in search. We support and applaud adult stem cell re - the country of origin, whether or not the user had search to develop lifesaving therapies, and we oppose anything to do with its harvesting. This unreasonable the killing of embryos for their stem cells. We oppose extension of the Act not only hurts American busi - federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. nesses and American jobs, but also subordinates our We also salute the many States that have passed own rule of law to the legal codes of 195 other gov - laws for informed consent, mandatory waiting peri - ernments. It must be changed. ods prior to an abortion, and health-protective clinic Just as George Washington wisely warned regulation. We seek to protect young girls from ex - America to avoid foreign entanglements and enter ploitation through a parental consent requirement; into only temporary alliances, we oppose the adop - and we affirm our moral obligation to assist, rather tion or ratification of international treaties that than penalize, women challenged by an unplanned weaken or encroach upon American sovereignty.

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America’s Natural Resources: Energy, Agriculture and the Environment

We are the party of sustainable jobs and eco - of billions of dollars we pay for foreign oil ends up in nomic growth – through American energy, agricul - the hands of terrorist groups that wish to harm us. A ture, and environmental policy. We are also the party growing, prosperous economy and our standard of of America’s growers and producers, farmers, ranch - living and quality of life, moreover, depend on afford - ers, foresters, miners, and all those who bring from able and abundant domestic energy supplies. the earth the minerals and energy that are the A strong and stable energy sector is a job gener - lifeblood of our nation’s historically strong economy. ator and a catalyst of economic growth, not only in We are as well the party of traditional conservation: the labor-intensive energy industry but also in its sec - the wise development of resources that keeps in mind ondary markets. The Republican Party will encour - both the sacrifices of past generations to secure that age and ensure diversified domestic sources of bounty and our responsibility to preserve it for future energy, from research and development, exploration, generations. production, transportation, transmission, and con - sumption in a way that is economically viable and Domestic Energy Independence: job-producing, as well as environmentally sound. An “All of the Above” Energy Policy When our energy industry is revitalized, millions The Republican Party is committed to domestic more Americans will find work in manufacturing, energy independence. The United States and its food production, metals, minerals, packaging, trans - neighbors to the North and South have been blessed portation and other fields – because of the jobs that with abundant energy resources, tapped and un - will be created in, and as a result of, the energy sector. tapped, traditional and alternative, that are among We are determined to create jobs, spur economic the largest and most valuable on earth. Advancing growth, lower energy prices, and strengthen our technology has given us a more accurate understand - energy industry. ing of the nation’s enormous reserves that are ours for the development. The role of public officials must Our Nation’s Energy Abundance be to encourage responsible development across the Coal is a low-cost and abundant energy source board. Unlike the current Administration, we will with hundreds of years of supply. We look toward the not pick winners and losers in the energy market - private sector’s development of new, state-of-the-art place. Instead, we will let the free market and the coal-fired plants that will be low-cost, environmen - public’s preferences determine the industry out - tally responsible, and efficient. We also encourage comes. In assessing the various sources of potential research and development of advanced technologies energy, Republicans advocate an all-of-the-above di - in this sector, including coal-to-liquid, coal gasifica - versified approach, taking advantage of all our Amer - tion, and related technologies for enhanced oil ican God-given resources. That is the best way to recovery. advance North American energy independence. The current Administration—with a President Our policies aim at energy security to ensure an who publicly threatened to bankrupt anyone who affordable, stable, and reliable energy supply for all builds a coal-powered plant—seems determined to parts of the country and all sectors of the economy. shut down coal production in the United States, even Energy security is intimately linked to national secu - though there is no cost-effective substitute for it or rity both in terms of our current dependence upon for the hundreds of thousands of jobs that go with it foreign supplies and because some of the hundreds as the nation’s largest source of electricity generation.

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We will end the EPA’s war on coal and encourage the permitting for the development of other oil and nat - increased safe development in all regions of the ural gas pipelines. nation’s coal resources, the jobs it produces, and Nuclear energy , now generating about 20 per - the affordable, reliable energy that it provides for cent of our electricity through 104 power plants, must America. Further, we oppose any and all cap and be expanded. No new nuclear generating plants have trade legislation. been licensed and constructed for thirty years. All estimates of America’s oil and natural gas We call for timely processing of new reactor applica - reserves indicate an incredible bounty for the use of tions currently pending at the Nuclear Regulatory many generations to come. At a time when unem - Commission. ployment has been above 8 percent for 42 consecu - The federal government’s failure to address the tive months, the longest stretch since the Great storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel has left Depression, and some 23 million Americans are ei - huge bills for States and taxpayers. Our country ther unemployed, underemployed, or have given up needs a more proactive approach to managing spent on finding work, we should be nuclear fuel, including through pursuing our oil and gas re - developing advanced reprocess - sources both on and offshore. It Unlike the current ing technologies. is nonsensical to spurn real job Administration, we will not pick We encourage the cost- creation by putting almost all effective development of renew - of our coastal waters off limits winners and losers in the energy able energy , but the taxpayers to energy exploration, while marketplace. Instead, we will let should not serve as venture capi - urging other nations to explore the free market and the public’s talists for risky endeavors. It is their coasts. We call for a rea - important to create a pathway to - soned approach to all offshore preferences determine the ward a market-based approach energy development on the East industry outcomes. for renewable energy sources Coast and other appropriate wa - and to aggressively develop alter - ters, and support the right of native sources for electricity gen - States to a reasonable share of the resulting revenue eration such as wind, hydro, solar, biomass, and royalties. We support opening the Outer Conti - geothermal, and tidal energy. Partnerships between nental Shelf (OCS) for energy exploration and traditional energy industries and emerging renew - development and ending the current Administra - able industries can be a central component in meet - tion’s moratorium on permitting; opening the coastal ing the nation’s long-term needs. Alternative forms plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) of energy are part of our action agenda to power the for exploration and production of oil and natural homes and workplaces of the nation. gas; and allowing for more oil and natural gas exploration on federally owned and controlled land. Pulling the Plug on American Energy We support this development in accordance with Independence: The Failure of the applicable environmental, health and safety laws, and Current Administration regulations. The current Administration has used taxpayer The current President personally blocked one of dollars to pick winners and losers in the energy sector the most important energy and jobs projects in years. while publicly threatening to bankrupt anyone who The Keystone XL Pipeline—which would have builds a new coal-fired plant and has stopped the brought much needed Canadian and American oil to Keystone XL Pipeline. The current President has U.S. refineries—would create thousands of jobs. done nothing to disavow the scare campaign against The current President’s job-killing combination of hydraulic fracturing. Furthermore, he has wasted bil - extremism and ineptitude threatens to create a per - lions of taxpayers’ dollars by subsidizing favored manent energy shortage. We are committed to ap - companies like Solyndra, which generated bankrupt - proving the Keystone XL Pipeline and to streamlining cies rather than kilowatts.

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Since the current President took office in 2009, to the next generation of farmers with families. Un - consumers pay approximately twice as much for gas certainties in estate and capital gains tax laws at the pump. Our common theme is to promote de - threaten the survival of multigenerational family velopment of all forms of energy, enable consumer farms. The proposals for tax reforms contained else - choice to keep energy costs low, and ensure that where in this document will make certain that family America remains competitive in the global market - farms will not be lost. place. We will respect the States’ proven ability to regulate the use of hydraulic fracturing, continue de - The Proper Federal Role in Agriculture velopment of oil and gas resources in places like the Agricultural producers and the jobs they gener - Bakken formation and Marcellus Shale, and review ate throughout the entire food chain must confront the environmental laws that often thwart new energy volatility in both the weather and the markets. We exploration and production. We salute the Republi - support farm programs that enable them to manage can Members of the House of Representatives for the extraordinary risk they meet in the fields every passing the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act, a vital year. These programs should be as cost-effective as piece of pro-growth legislation now introduced by they are functional, offering risk management tools Republicans in the Senate. that improve producers’ ability to operate when times are tough. Agriculture Just as all other federal programs must con - Abundant Harvests: Protecting Our Farmers tribute to the deficit reduction necessary to put our country back on a sound fiscal footing, so must farm Agricultural production and agricultural exports programs contribute to balancing the budget. are a fundamental part of the U.S. economy, and the Programs like the Direct Payment program vigor of U.S. agriculture is central to our agenda for should end in favor of those, like crop insurance, that jobs, growth, and prosperity. Our farmers and ranch - help manage risk and are counter-cyclical in nature. ers are responsible for millions of jobs and for gener - We support the historic role of the USDA in agri - ating a trade surplus of more than $137 billion cultural research that has transformed farming here annually. Our producers provide America with abun - and around the world. Because food safety is a major dant food, export food to hungry people around the concern of the American people, we urge Congress to world, and create a positive trade balance. Because ensure adequate resources for the Department’s re - of their care for the land, the United States does not sponsibilities in that regard. depend on foreign imports for sustenance the way we The U. S. Forest Service controls about 193 mil - depend on others for much of our energy. However, lion acres of land and employs 30,000 workers. The Americans are concerned about the increasing cost Forest Service should be charged to use these re - of their food under the current Administration poli - sources to the best economic potential for the nation. cies that restrict energy production and raise costs for We must limit injunctions by activist judges regarding producers due to increased regulation. Our depend - environmental management. In order to secure one ence on foreign imports of fertilizer could threaten of the country’s most important natural resources, we our food supply, and we support the development of will review the way the Forest Service handles wild - domestic production of fertilizer. The success of our fires. This summer’s lack of rainfall over much of agri - system of risk management policies will enable farm - cultural America highlights the importance of access ers and ranchers to continue to feed and fuel the na - to water for farmers and ranchers alike. We stand with tion and much of the world. growers and producers in defense of their water rights Restoring Economic Stability for Our Farmers against attempts by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to expand jurisdiction over water, including Uncertainty is threatening the survival of our na - water that is clearly not navigable. tion’s farmers. America’s growers and farmers are The productivity of America’s farmers makes aging and much of America’s farmland will be passed possible the generosity of U.S. food aid efforts around

17 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 the world. These programs are fragmented between valuable resource, and human health and safety are the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency the most important measurements of success. A pol - for International Development. They should be icy protecting these objectives, however, must bal - streamlined into one agency with a concentration on ance economic development and private property reducing overhead to maximize delivery of the actual rights in the short run with conservation goals over goods. the long run. Also, public access to public lands for The food stamp program now accounts for nearly recreational activities such as hunting, fishing, and 80 percent of the entire USDA budget. In finding ways recreational shooting should be permitted on all ap - to fight fraud and abuse, the Congress should consider propriate federal lands. block-granting that program to the States, along with Moreover, the advance of science and technology the other domestic nutrition programs. advances environmentalism as well. Science allows us to weigh the costs and benefits of a policy so that Protecting Our Environment we can prudently deal with our resources. This is es - The environment is getting cleaner and health - pecially important when the causes and long-range ier. The nation’s air and waterways, as a whole, are effects of a phenomenon are uncertain. We must re - much healthier than they were store scientific integrity to our just a few decades ago. Efforts to As the pioneer of conservation public research institutions and reduce pollution, encourage re - remove political incentives from cycling, educate the public, and over a century ago, the publicly funded research. avoid ecological degradation Republican Party believes Private Stewardship of the have been a success. To ensure in the moral obligation of the their continued support by the Environment American people, however, we people to be good stewards of Experience has shown that, need a dramatic change in the the God-given natural beauty in caring for the land and water, attitude of officials in Washing - private ownership has been our ton, a shift from a job-killing and resources of our country best guarantee of conscientious punitive mentality to a spirit of and bases environmental stewardship, while the worst in - cooperation with producers, policy on several stances of environmental degra - landowners, and the public. An dation have occurred under important factor is full trans - common-sense principles. government control. By the same parency in development of the token, the most economically data and modeling that drive advanced countries–those that regulations. Legislation to restore the authority of respect and protect private property rights—also have States in environmental protection is essential. We the strongest environmental protections, because encourage the use of agricultural best management their economic progress makes possible the conser - practices among the States to reduce pollution. vation of natural resources. In this context, Congress should reconsider whether parts of the federal gov - Our Republican Party’s Commitment ernment’s enormous landholdings and control of to Conservation water in the West could be better used for ranching, Conservation is a conservative value. As the pi - mining, or forestry through private ownership. Tim - oneer of conservation over a century ago, the Repub - ber is a renewable natural resource, which provides lican Party believes in the moral obligation of the jobs to thousands of Americans. All efforts should be people to be good stewards of the God-given natural made to make federal lands managed by the U.S. For - beauty and resources of our country and bases envi - est Service available for harvesting. The enduring ronmental policy on several common-sense princi - truth is that people best protect what they own. ples. For example, we believe people are the most It makes sense that those closest to a situation

18 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 are best able to determine its remedy. That is why a We demand an end to the EPA’s participation in site- and situation-specific approach to an environ - “sue and settle” lawsuits, sweetheart litigation mental problem is more likely to solve it, instead of a brought by environmental groups to expand the national rule based on the ideological concerns of Agency’s regulatory activities against the wishes of politicized central planning. We therefore endorse Congress and the public. We will require full trans - legislation to require congressional approval before parency in litigation under the nation’s environmen - any rule projected to cost in excess of $100 million to tal laws, including advance notice to all State and American consumers can go into effect. local governments, tribes, businesses, landowners, The Republican Party supports appointing pub - and the public who could be adversely affected. We lic officials to federal agencies who will properly and likewise support pending legislation to ensure cumu - correctly apply environmental laws and regulations, lative analysis of EPA regulations, and to require full always in support of economic development, job cre - transparency in all EPA decisions, so that the public ation, and American prosperity and leadership. Fed - will know in advance their full impact on jobs and the eral agencies charged with enforcing environmental economy. We oppose the EPA’s unwarranted revo - laws must stop regulating beyond their authority. cation of existing permits. We also call on Congress There is no place in regulatory agencies for activist to take quick action to prohibit the EPA from moving regulators. forward with new greenhouse gas regulations that will harm the nation’s economy and threaten Reining in the EPA millions of jobs over the next quarter century. The Since 2009, the EPA has moved forward with ex - most powerful environmental policy is liberty, the pansive regulations that will impose tens of billions central organizing principle of the American Republic of dollars in new costs on American businesses and and its people. Liberty alone fosters scientific in - consumers. Many of these new rules are creating reg - quiry, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, ulatory uncertainty, preventing new projects from and information exchange. Liberty must remain going forward, discouraging new investment, and the core energy behind America’s environmental stifling job creation. improvement.

19 20 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

Reforming Government to Serve the People

We are the party of government reform. At a time stifling innovation, with no incentive for fundamental when the federal government has become bloated, an - change, through antiquated programs begun genera - tiquated and unresponsive to taxpayers, it is our in - tions ago and now ill-suited to present needs and fu - tention not only to improve management and provide ture requirements. As a result, today’s taxpayers—and better services, but also to rethink and restructure future generations—face massive indebtedness, while government to bring it into the twenty-first century. Congressional Democrats and the current Adminis - Government reform requires constant vigilance and tration block every attempt to turn things around. effort because government by its nature tends to ex - This man-made log-jam—the so-called stalemate in pand in both size and scope. Our goal is not just less Washington—particularly affects the government’s spending in Washington but something far more im - three largest programs, which have become central to portant for the future of our nation: protecting the the lives of untold millions of Americans: Medicare, constitutional rights of citizens, sustainable prosper - Medicaid, and Social Security. ity, and strengthening the American family. It isn’t enough to merely downsize government, Saving Medicare for Future Generations having a smaller version of the same failed systems. The Republican Party is committed to saving We must do things in a dramatically different way by Medicare and Medicaid. Unless the programs’ fiscal reversing the undermining of ship is righted, the individuals federalism and the centralizing hurt the first and the worst will be of power in Washington. We At a time when the federal those who depend on them the look to the example set by Re - government has become most. We will save Medicare by publican Governors and legisla - bloated, antiquated and modernizing it, by empowering tors all across the nation. Their its participants, and by putting it leadership in reforming and unresponsive to taxpayers, it is on a secure financial footing. This reengineering government clos - our intention not only to improve will be an enormous undertaking, est to the people vindicates the and it should be a non-partisan role of the States as the laborato - management and provide better one. We welcome to the effort ries of democracy. services, but also to rethink and all who sincerely want to ensure Our approach, like theirs, is restructure government to bring the future for our seniors and two-fold. We look to govern - the poor. Republicans are deter - ment—local, State, and federal— it into the twenty-first century. mined to achieve that goal with a for the things government must candid and honest presentation do, but we believe those duties of the problem and its solutions can be carried out more efficiently and at less cost. to the American people. For all other activities, we look to the private sector; Despite the enormous differences between for the American people’s resourcefulness, produc - Medicare and Medicaid, the two programs share the tivity, innovation, fiscal responsibility, and citizen- same fiscal outlook: their current courses cannot be leadership have always been the true foundation of sustained. Medicare has grown from more than 20 our national greatness. million enrolled in 1970 to more than 47 million en - For much of the last century, an opposing view rolled today, with a projected total of 80 million in has dominated public policy where we have witnessed 2030. Medicaid counted almost 30 million enrollees the expansion, centralization, and bureaucracy in an in 1990, has about 54 million now, and under Oba - entitlement society. Government has lumbered on, macare would include an additional 11 million.

21 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

Medicare spent more than $520 billion in 2010 and Strengthening Medicaid in the States has close to $37 trillion in unfunded obligations, Medicaid, as the dominant payer in the health while total Medicaid spending will more than double market in regards to long-term care, births, and in - by 2019. In many States, Medicaid’s mandates and dividuals with mental illness, is the next frontier of inflexible bureaucracy have become a budgetary welfare reform. It is simply too big and too flawed to black hole, growing faster than most other budget be managed in its current condition from Washing - lines and devouring funding for many other essential ton. Republican Governors have taken the lead in governmental functions. proposing a host of regulatory changes that could The problem goes beyond finances. Poor quality make the program more flexible, innovative, and ac - healthcare is the most expensive type of care because countable. There should be alternatives to hospital - it prolongs affliction and leads to ever more compli - ization for chronic health problems. Patients could be cations. Even expensive prevention is preferable to rewarded for participating in disease prevention ac - more costly treatment later on. When approximately tivities. Excessive mandates on coverage should be 80 percent of healthcare costs are related to lifestyle eliminated. Patients with long-term care needs might –smoking, obesity, substance abuse–far greater em - fare better in a separately designed program. phasis has to be put upon personal responsibility for As those and other specific proposals show, Re - health maintenance. Our goal for both Medicare and publican Governors and State legislatures are ready Medicaid must be to assure that every participant re - to do the hard work of modernizing Medicaid for the ceives the amount of care they need at the time they twenty-first century. We propose to let them do all need it, whether for an expectant mother and her baby that and more by block-granting the program to the or for someone in the last moments of life. Absent re - States, providing the States with the flexibility to de - forms, these two programs are headed for bankruptcy sign programs that meet the needs of their low in - that will endanger care for seniors and the poor. come citizens. Such reforms could be achieved The first step is to move the two programs away through premium supports or a refundable tax credit, from their current unsustainable defined-benefit allowing non-disabled adults and children to be entitlement model to a fiscally sound defined- moved into private health insurance of their choice, contribution model. This is the only way to limit costs where their needs can be met on the same basis as and restore consumer choice for patients and intro - those of more affluent Americans. For the aged and duce competition; for in healthcare, as in any other disabled under Medicaid, for whom monthly costs sector of the economy, genuine competition is the can be extremely high, States would have flexibility best guarantee of better care at lower cost. It is also to improve the quality of care and to avoid the inap - the best guard against the fraud and abuse that have propriate institutional placing of patients who prefer plagued Medicare in its isolation from free market to be cared for at home. forces, which in turn costs the taxpayers billions of dollars every year. We can do this without making Security For Those Who Need It: any changes for those 55 and older. While retaining Ensuring Retirement Security the option of traditional Medicare in competition While no changes should adversely affect any with private plans, we call for a transition to a pre - current or near-retiree, comprehensive reform mium-support model for Medicare, with an income- should address our society’s remarkable medical ad - adjusted contribution toward a health plan of the vances in longevity and allow younger workers the enrollee’s choice. This model will include private option of creating their own personal investment ac - health insurance plans that provide catastrophic pro - counts as supplements to the system. Younger Amer - tection, to ensure the continuation of doctor-patient icans have lost all faith in the Social Security system, relationships. Without disadvantaging retirees or which is understandable when they read the non- those nearing retirement, the age eligibility for partisan actuary’s reports about its future funding Medicare must be made more realistic in terms of status. Born in an old industrial era beyond the mem - today’s longer life span.

22 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 ory of most Americans, it is long overdue for major job creation. Constructive regulation should be a help - change, not just another legislative stopgap that post - ful guide, not a punitive threat. Worst of all, over- pones a day of reckoning. To restore public trust in regulation is a stealth tax on everyone as the costs of the system, Republicans are committed to setting it compliance with the whims of federal agencies are on a sound fiscal basis that will give workers control passed along to the consumers at the cost of $1.75 tril - over, and a sound return on, their investments. The lion a year. Many regulations are necessary, like those sooner we act, the sooner those close to retirement which ensure the safety of food and medicine, espe - can be reassured of their benefits and younger work - cially from overseas. But no peril justifies the regula - ers can take responsibility for planning their own re - tory impact of Obamacare on the practice of medicine, tirement decades from now. the Dodd-Frank Act on financial services, or the EPA’s Unlike Social Security, the problems facing pri - and OSHA’s overreaching regulation agenda. A Re - vate pension plans are both demographic and publican Congress and President will repeal the first ethical. While pension law may be complicated, the and second, and rein in the third. We support a sun - current bottom line is that many plans are increas - set requirement to force reconsideration of out-of- ingly underfunded by overestimating their rates of re - date regulations, and we endorse pending legislation turn on investments. This in turn endangers the to require congressional approval for all new major in tegrity of the Pension Guaranty Benefit Corpora - and costly regulations. tion, which is itself seriously underfunded. In both The bottom line on regulations is jobs. In listen - cases, the taxpayers will be expected to pay for a ing to America, one constant we have heard is the job- bailout. As the first step toward possible corrective ac - crippling effect of even well-intentioned regulation. tion, we call for a presidential panel to review the pri - That makes it all the more important for federal agen - vate pension system in this country of only those cies to be judicious about the impositions they create private pensions that are backed by the Pension on businesses, especially small businesses. We call for Guaranty Benefit Corporation and to make public a moratorium on the development of any new major its findings. and costly regulations until a Republican Administra - The situation of public pension systems demands tion reviews existing rules to ensure that they have a immediate remedial action. The irresponsible prom - sound basis in science and will be cost-effective. ises of politicians at every level of government have come back to haunt today’s taxpayers with enormous Protecting Internet Freedom unfunded pension liabilities. Many cities face bank - The Internet has unleashed innovation, enabled ruptcy because of excessive outlays for early retire - growth, and inspired freedom more rapidly and ex - ment, extravagant health plans, and overly generous tensively than any other technological advance in pension benefits. We salute the Republican Governors human history. Its independence is its power. The In - and State legislators who have, in the face of ternet offers a communications system uniquely free abuse and threats of violence, reformed their State from government intervention. We will remove reg - pension systems for the benefit of both taxpayers and ulatory barriers that protect outdated technologies retirees alike. and business plans from innovation and competition, while preventing legacy regulation from interfering Regulatory Reform: with new and disruptive technologies such as mobile The Key to Economic Growth delivery of voice video data as they become crucial The proper purpose of regulation is to set forth components of the Internet ecosystem. We will resist clear rules of the road for the citizens, so that business any effort to shift control away from the successful owners and workers can understand in advance what multi-stakeholder approach of Internet governance they need to do, or not do, to augment the possibilities and toward governance by international or other in - for success within the confines of the law. Regulations tergovernmental organizations. We will ensure that must be drafted and implemented to balance legiti - personal data receives full constitutional protection mate public safety or consumer protection goals and from government overreach and that individuals re -

23 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 tain the right to control the use of their data by third tioned for the taxpayers’ benefit. With special recog - parties; the only way to safeguard or improve these nition of the role university technology centers are systems is through the private sector. playing in attracting private investment to the field, we will replace the administration’s Luddite ap - A Vision for the Twenty-First Century: proach to technological progress with a regulatory Technology, Telecommunications partnership that will keep this country the world and the Internet leader in technology and telecommunications. The most vibrant sector of the American econ - omy, indeed, one-sixth of it, is regulated by the fed - Protecting the Taxpayers: eral government on precedents from the nineteenth No More “Too Big to Fail” century. Today’s technology and telecommunica - For more than a century, the U.S. was the world tions industries are overseen by the Federal Commu - leader in financial services. The visionary manage - nications Commission, established in 1934 and given ment of capital was the lifeblood of the entire econ - the jurisdiction over telecommunications formerly omy. By giving responsible access to credit, it helped assigned to the Interstate Commerce Commission, small businesses grow, created jobs, and made Amer - which had been created in 1887 to regulate the rail - icans the best-housed people in history. By funding roads. This is not a good fit. Indeed, the development innovation, financial services underwrote our future. of telecommunications advances so rapidly that even Then came the financial collapse of 2008 and a crit - the Telecom Act of 1996 is woe - ical reassessment of the role and fully out of date. An industry condition of financial institu - that invested $66 billion in 2011 The Internet has unleashed tions—most of which, it must be alone needs, and deserves, a innovation, enabled growth, said, were responsible and more modern relationship with and inspired freedom more healthy, especially those closest to the federal government for the their investors and borrowers. benefit of con sumers here and rapidly and extensively than In cases of malfeasance or worldwide. any other technological advance other criminal behavior, the full The current Administration force of the law should be used. has been frozen in the past. It in human history. Its But in all cases, this rule must has conducted no auction of independence is its power. apply: No financial institution is spectrum, has offered no incen - too big to fail. The taxpayers must tives for investment, and, never again be on the hook for the through the FCC’s net neutrality rule, is trying to mi - losses of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The public cromanage telecom as if it were a railroad network. It must never again be left holding the bag for Wall inherited from the previous Republican Administra - Street giants, which is why we decry the current Ad - tion 95 percent coverage of the nation with broad - ministration’s record of over-regulation and selective band. It will leave office with no progress toward the intervention, which has already frozen investment goal of universal coverage – after spending $7.2 bil - and job creation and threatens to make financial in - lion more. That hurts rural America, where farmers, stitutions the coddled wards of govern ment. ranchers, and small business manufacturers need A far better approach—protecting consumers and connectivity to expand their customer base and oper - taxpayers alike—is institutional transparency. Banks ate in real time with the world’s producers. We en - need to know that they could be at risk, and investors courage public-private partnerships to provide need clear rules that are not subject to political med - predictable support for connecting rural areas so that dling. The same holds true for the equity market every American can fully participate in the global regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. economy. We propose reasonable federal oversight of financial We call for an inventory of federal agency spec - institutions, practical safeguards for consumers, trum to determine the surplus that could be auc - and – what is crucial for this country’s economic re -

24 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 bound – sound spending, tax, and regulatory policies a greater role for private enterprise in appropriate as - that will allow those institutions to once again become pects of the mail-processing system. the builders of the next American century. We strongly support tax reform; in the event we do not Protecting Travelers and their Rights: achieve this, we must preserve the mortgage interest Reforming the TSA for Security and Privacy deduc tion. While the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks brought about a greater need for homeland security, Judicial Activism: the American people have already delivered their ver - A Threat to the U.S. Constitution dict on the Transportation Security Administration: Despite improvements as a result of Republican its procedures – and much of its personnel – need to nominations to the judiciary, some judges in the fed - be changed. It is now a massive bureaucracy of eral courts remain far afield from their constitutional 65,000 employees who seem to be accountable to no limitations. The U.S. Constitution is the law of the one for the way they treat travelers. We call for the land. Judicial activism which includes reliance on private sector to take over airport screening wherever foreign law or unratified treaties undermines Amer - feasible and look toward the development of security ican law. The sole solution, apart from impeachment, systems that can replace the personal violation of is the appointment of constitutionalist jurists, who frisking. will interpret the law as it was originally intended rather than make it. That is both a presidential re - The Rule of Law: Legal Immigration sponsibility, in selecting judicial candidates, and a The greatest asset of the American economy is senatorial responsibility, in confirming them. We the American worker. Just as immigrant labor urge Republican Senators to do all in their power to helped build our country in the past, today’s legal im - prevent the elevation of additional leftist ideologues migrants are making vital contributions in every as - to the courts, particularly in the waning days of the pect of our national life. Their industry and current Administration. commitment to American values strengthens our In addition to appointing activist judges, the cur - economy, enriches our culture, and enables us to bet - rent Administration has included an activist and ter understand and more effectively compete with the highly partisan Department of Justice. With a Re - rest of the world. Illegal immigration undermines publican Administration, the Department will stop those benefits and affects U.S. workers. In an age of suing States for exercising those powers reserved to terrorism, drug cartels, human trafficking, and crim - the States, will stop abusing its preclearance author - inal gangs, the presence of millions of unidentified ity to block photo-ID voting laws, and will fulfill its persons in this country poses grave risks to the safety responsibility to defend all federal laws in court, in - and the sovereignty of the United States. Our highest cluding the Defense of Marriage Act. priority, therefore, is to secure the rule of law both at our borders and at ports of entry. Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service We recognize that for most of those seeking for the Twenty-First Century entry into this country, the lack of respect for the rule The dire financial circumstances of the Postal of law in their homelands has meant economic ex - Service require dramatic restructuring. In a world of ploitation and political oppression by corrupt elites. rapidly advancing telecommunications, mail delivery In this country, the rule of law guarantees equal treat - from the era of the Pony Express cannot long survive. ment to every individual, including more than one We call on Congress to restructure the Service to en - million immigrants to whom we grant permanent sure the continuance of its essential function of de - residence every year. That is why we oppose any livering mail while preparing for the downsizing form of amnesty for those who, by intentionally vio - made inevitable by the advance of internet commu - lating the law, disadvantage those who have obeyed nication. In light of the Postal Service’s seriously un - it. Granting amnesty only rewards and encourages derfunded pension system, Congress should explore more law breaking. We support the mandatory use

25 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements make communities safer for all and will consider, in (S.A.V.E.) program—an internet-based system that light of both current needs and historic practice, the verifies the lawful presence of applicants—prior to utility of a legal and reliable source of foreign labor the granting of any State or federal government enti - where needed through a new guest worker program. tlements or IRS refunds. We insist upon enforce - We will create humane procedures to encourage ille - ment at the workplace through verification systems gal aliens to return home voluntarily, while enforcing so that jobs can be available to all legal workers. Use the law against those who overstay their visas. of the E-verify program—an internet-based system State efforts to reduce illegal immigration must that verifies the employment authorization and iden - be encouraged, not attacked. The pending Depart - tity of employees—must be made mandatory nation - ment of Justice lawsuits against Arizona, Alabama, wide. State enforcement efforts South Carolina, and Utah must in the workplace must be wel - The greatest asset of the be dismissed immediately. The comed, not attacked. When double-layered fencing on the bor - Americans need jobs, it is ab - American economy is the der that was enacted by Congress solutely essential that we protect American worker. Just as in 2006, but never completed, them from illegal labor in the immigrant labor helped build must finally be built. In order to workplace. In addition, it is why restore the rule of law, federal we demand tough penalties for our country in the past, today’s funding should be denied to sanc - those who practice identity theft, legal immigrants are making tuary cities that violate federal law deal in fraudulent documents, and endanger their own citizens, and traffic in human beings. It is vital contributions in every and federal funding should be de - why we support Republican leg - aspect of our national life. nied to universities that provide in- islation to give the Department of state tuition rates to illegal aliens, Homeland Security long-term in open defiance of federal law. detention authority to keep dangerous but unde - We are grateful to the thousands of new immi - portable aliens off our streets, expedite expulsion of grants, many of them not yet citizens, who are serving criminal aliens, and make gang membership a de - in the Armed Forces. Their patriotism should encour - portable offense. age us all to embrace the newcomers legally among The current Administration’s approach to immi - us, assist their journey to full citizenship, and help gration has undermined the rule of law at every turn. their communities avoid isolation from the main - It has lessened work-site enforcement—and even al - stream of society. To that end, while we encourage lows the illegal aliens it does uncover to walk down the retention and transmission of heritage tongues, the street to the next employer—and challenged le - we support English as the nation’s official language, gitimate State efforts to keep communities safe, suing a unifying force essential for the educational and eco - them for trying to enforce the law when the federal nomic advancement of—not only immigrant commu - government refuses to do so. It has created a back - nities—but also our nation as a whole. door amnesty program unrecognized in law, granting worker authorization to illegal aliens, and shown lit - Honoring Our Relationship tle regard for the life-and-death situations facing the with American Indians men and women of the border patrol. Based on both treaty and other law, the federal Perhaps worst of all, the current Administration government has a unique government-to-govern - has failed to enforce the legal means for workers or ment relationship with and trust responsibility for In - employers who want to operate within the law. dian Tribal Governments and American Indians and In contrast, a Republican Administration and Alaska Natives. These obligations have not been suf - Congress will partner with local governments ficiently honored. The social and economic problems through cooperative enforcement agreements in Sec - that plague Indian country have grown worse over tion 287g of the Immigration and Nationality Act to the last several decades; we must reverse that trend.

26 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

Ineffective federal programs deprive American Indi - nomic opportunity, deliver top-flight education to fu - ans of the services they need, and long-term failures ture generations, modernize and improve the Indian threaten to undermine tribal sovereignty itself. Health Service to make it more responsive to local American Indians have established elected tribal needs, and build essential infrastructure in Indian governments to carry out the public policies of the country in cooperation with tribal neighbors. Our ap - tribe, administer services to its tribal member con - proach is to empower American Indians, through stituents, and manage relations with federal, State, tribal self-determination and self-governance poli - and local governments. We respect the tribal govern - cies, to develop their greatest assets, human re - ments as the voice of their communities and encour - sources and the rich natural resources on their lands, age federal, State, and local governments to heed without undue federal interference. those voices in developing programs and partner - Like all Americans, American Indians want safe ships to improve the quality of life for American communities for their families; but inadequate re - Indians and their neighbors in their communities. sources and neglect have, over time, allowed criminal Republicans believe that economic self- activities to plague Indian country. To protect every - sufficiency is the ultimate answer to the challenges one—and especially the most vulnerable: children, confronting Indian country. We believe that tribal women, and elders—the legal system in tribal com - governments and their communities, not Washing - munities must provide stability and protect property ton bureaucracies, are best situated to craft solutions rights. Everyone’s due process and civil rights must that will end systemic problems that create poverty be safeguarded. and disenfranchisement. Just as the federal govern - We support efforts to ensure equitable partici - ment should not burden States with regulations, it pation in federal programs by American Indians, in - should not stifle the development of resources within cluding Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians and to the reservations, which need federal assistance to ad - preserve their culture and languages that we consider vance their commerce nationally through roads and to be national treasures. Lastly, we recognize that technology. Federal and State regulations that thwart American Indians have responded to the call for mil - job creation must be withdrawn or redrawn so that itary service in percentage numbers far greater than tribal governments acting on behalf of American In - have other groups of Americans. We honor that com - dians are not disadvantaged. It is especially egregious mitment, loyalty, and sacrifice of all American Indi - that the Democratic Party has persistently under - ans serving in the military today and in years past mined tribal sovereignty in order to provide advan - and will ensure that all veterans and their families re - tage to union bosses in the tribal workplace. ceive the care and respect they have earned through Republicans recognize that each tribe has the their loyal service to America. right of consultation before any new regulatory policy is implemented on tribal land. To the extent possible, Preserving the District of Columbia such consultation should take place in Indian coun - The nation’s capital city, a special responsibility try with the tribal government and its members. Be - of the federal government, belongs both to its resi - fore promulgating and imposing any new laws or dents and to all Americans, millions of whom visit it regulations affecting trust land or members, the fed - every year. Congressional Republicans have eral government should encourage Indian tribes to taken the lead in efforts to foster homeownership and develop their own policies to achieve program objec - open access to higher education for Washington res - tives, and should defer to tribes to develop their own idents. Against the opposition of the current Presi - standards, or standards in conjunction with State dent and leaders of the Democratic Party, they have governments. fought to establish, and now to expand, the D.C. Republicans reject a one-size-fits-all approach to Opportunity Scholarship Program, through which federal-tribal-State partnerships and will work to ex - thousands of low-income children have been able to pand local autonomy where tribal governments seek attend a school of their choice and receive a quality it. Better partnerships will help us to expand eco - education.

27 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

D.C.’s Republicans have been in the forefront of Civil Service System into the twenty-first century. exposing and combating the chronic corruption The federal pay system should be sufficiently flexible among the city’s top Democratic officials. We join to acknowledge and reward those who dare to inno - their call for a non-partisan elected Attorney vate, reduce overhead, optimize processes, and expe - General to clean up the city’s political culture and for dite paperwork. congressional action to enforce the spirit of the Home Delinquency in paying taxes and repaying stu - Rule Act assuring minority representation on the dent loans has been too common in some segments of City Council. After decades of inept one-party rule, the civil service. A Republican Administration will the city’s structural deficit demands congressional make enforcement among its own employees a prior - attention. ity and, unlike the current Administration, will name As the center of our government, the District to public office no one who has failed to meet their fi - contains many potential targets for terrorist attacks. nancial obligations to the government and fellow tax - Federal security agencies should work closely with payers. local officials and regional administrations like the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority. A America’s Future in Space: top priority must be ensuring that all public trans - Continuing this Quest portation, especially Metro rails, is functioning in the The exploration of space has been a key part of event of an emergency evacuation. Also, to ensure U.S. global leadership and has supported innovation protection of the fundamental right to keep and bear and ownership of technology. Over the last half- arms, we call on the governing authority to pass laws century, in partnership with our aerospace industry, consistent with the Supreme Court’s decisions in the the work of NASA has helped define and strengthen and District of Columbia v. Heller McDonald v. our nation’s technological prowess. From building cases, which upheld the fundamental right to Chicago the world’s most powerful rockets to landing men on keep and bear arms for self-defense. the Moon, sending robotic spacecraft throughout We oppose statehood for the District of Columbia. our solar system and beyond, building the Interna - Modernizing the Federal Civil Service tional Space Station, and launching space-based telescopes that allow scientists to better understand The federal workforce bears great responsibili - our universe, NASA science and engineering ties and sometimes wields tremendous power, espe - have produced spectacular results. The technologies cially when Congress delegates to it the execution of that emerged from those programs propelled our complicated and far-reaching legislation. We recog - aerospace industrial base and directly benefit our na - nize the dedication of federal workers and the diffi - tional security, safety, economy, and quality of life. culty of their thankless task of implementing poorly Through its achievements, NASA has inspired gener - drafted or open-ended legislation. ations of Americans to study science, technology, Under the current Administration, the civil serv - engineering, and mathematics, leading to careers ice has grown by at least 140,000 workers, while the that drive our country’s technological and economic number making at least $150,000 has doubled. At a engines. time when the national debt has increased to over Today, America’s leadership in space is chal - $15.9 trillion under the current Administration, this lenged by countries eager to emulate—and surpass— is grossly irresponsible. The American people work NASA’s accomplishments. To preserve our national too hard and too long to support a bloated govern - security interests and foster innovation and competi - ment. We call for a reduction, through attrition, in tiveness, we must sustain our preeminence in space, the federal payroll of at least 10 percent and the ad - launching more science missions, guaranteeing unfet - justment of pay scales and benefits to reflect those of tered access, and maintaining a source of high-value the private sector. We must bring the 130-year old American jobs.

28 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

Honoring and Supporting private sector. A stronger private sector can raise Americans in the Territories wages, reduce dependence on public sector employ - ment, and lead toward local self-sufficiency. All un - We honor the extraordinary sacrifices of the men reasonable economic impediments must be removed, and women of the territories who protect our free - including unreasonable U.S. customs practices. dom through their service in the U.S. Armed Forces. We support the right of the United States citi - We welcome their greater participation in all aspects zens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a of the political process and affirm their right to seek fully sovereign state if they freely so determine. We the full extension of the Constitution, with all the recognize that Congress has the final authority to de - rights and responsibilities it entails. fine the constitutionally valid options for Puerto Rico U.S. territories face serious economic challenges to achieve a permanent non-territorial status with as they struggle to retain existing industries and de - government by consent and full enfranchisement. As velop new ones. Development of local energy options long as Puerto Rico is not a State, however, the will is crucial to reduce their dependence on imported fuel of its people regarding their political status should and promote economic stability. The Pacific territo - be ascertained by means of a general right of referen - ries should have flexibility to determine the minimum dum or specific referenda sponsored by the U.S. wage, which has seriously restricted progress in the government.

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Renewing American Values to Build Healthy Families, Great Schools and Safe Neighborhoods

We are the party of independent individuals Creating a Culture of Hope: and the institutions they create —families, schools, Raising Families Beyond Poverty congregations, neighborhoods —to advance their ideals and make real their dreams. Foremost among The Republican-led welfare reforms enacted in those institutions is the American family. It is the 1996 marked a revolution in government’s approach foundation of our society and the first level of self- to poverty. They changed the standard for policy suc - government. Its daily lessons–cooperation, patience, cess from the amount of income transferred to the mutual respect, responsibility, self-reliance – are fun - poor to the number of poor who moved from welfare damental to the order and progress of our Republic. to economic independence. We took the belief of Government can never replace the family. That is most Americans—that welfare should be a hand up, why we insist that public policy, from taxation to not a hand out—and made it law. Work requirements, education, from healthcare to welfare, be formulated though modest, were at the heart of this success. That with attention to the needs and strengths of the is why so many are now outraged by the current Ad - family. ministration’s recent decision to permit waivers for work requirements for welfare benefits, in other Preserving and Protecting words, to administratively repeal the most successful Traditional Marriage anti-poverty policy in memory. Instead of undermin - The institution of marriage is the foundation of ing the expectation that low-income parents and in - civil society. Its success as an institution will deter - dividuals should strive to support themselves, benefit mine our success as a nation. It has been proven by programs like food stamps must ensure that those both experience and endless social science studies benefits are better targeted to those who need help that traditional marriage is best for children. Chil - the most. dren raised in intact married families are more For the sake of low-income families as well as the likely to attend college, are physically and emotion - taxpayers, the federal government’s entire system of ally healthier, are less likely to use drugs or alcohol, public assistance should be reformed to ensure that engage in crime, or get pregnant outside of marriage. it promotes work. Each year, this system dispenses The success of marriage directly impacts the eco - nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer funds across a maze of nomic well-being of individuals. Furthermore, the approximately 80 programs that are neither coordi - future of marriage affects freedom. The lack of family nated nor effective in solving poverty and lifting up formation not only leads to more government costs, families. For many individuals collecting benefits but also to more government control over the lives from multiple categorical programs, efforts to work of its citizens in all aspects. We recognize and honor or earn more actually result in less money in their the courageous efforts of those who bear the many pocket through the resulting loss of benefits. This burdens of parenting alone, even as we believe that poverty trap would ensnare even more Americans if marriage, the union of one man and one woman must Obamacare were implemented. Taking a part time be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand job, working an extra shift, or even just marrying for, encourage, and promote through laws governing someone who works, would result in a loss of bene - marriage. We embrace the principle that all Ameri - fits, thereby discouraging the very acts necessary to cans should be treated with respect and dignity. achieve the American Dream.

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Adoption and Foster Care we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which en - danger especially those on the margins of society. Be - Families formed or enlarged by adoption cause government should set a positive standard in strengthen our communities and ennoble our nation. hiring and contracting for the services of persons We applaud the Republican legislative initiatives that with disabilities, we need to update the statutory au - led to a significant increase in adoptions in recent thority for the Ability One program, a major avenue years, and we call upon the private sector to consider by which those productive members of our society the needs of adoptive families on a par with others. can offer high quality services. Any restructuring of the federal tax code should rec - The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ognize the financial impact of the adoption process (IDEA) has opened up unprecedented opportunities and the commitment made by adoptive families. for many students, and we reaffirm our support for The nation’s foster care system remains a neces - its goal of minimizing the separation of children with sary fallback for youngsters from troubled families. disabilities from their peers. We urge preventive ef - Because of reforms initiated by many States, the forts in early childhood, especially assistance in gain - number of foster children has declined to just over ing pre-reading skills, to help many students move 400,000. A major problem of the system is its lack of beyond the need for IDEA’s protections. We endorse support, financial and otherwise, for teens who age the program of Employment First, developed by out of foster care and into a world in which many are major disability rights groups, to replace dependency not prepared to go it alone. We urge States to work with jobs in the mainstream of the American with the faith-based and other community groups workforce. which reach out to these young people in need. Making the Internet Family-Friendly Repealing Obamacare Millions of Americans suffer from problem or The Patient Protection and Affordable Care pathological gambling that can destroy families. We Act—Obamacare—was never really about healthcare, support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet though its impact upon the nation’s health is disas - and call for reversal of the Justice Department’s de - trous. From its start, it was about power, the expan - cision distorting the formerly accepted meaning of sion of government control over one sixth of our the Wire Act that could open the door to Internet economy, and resulted in an attack on our Constitu - betting. tion, by requiring that U.S. citizens purchase health The Internet must be made safe for children. We insurance. We agree with the four dissenting justices call on service providers to exercise due care to en - of the Supreme Court: “In our view the entire Act be - sure that the Internet cannot become a safe haven for fore us is invalid in its entirety.” It was the high-water predators while respecting First Amendment rights. mark of an outdated liberalism, the latest attempt to We congratulate the social networking sites that bar impose upon Americans a euro-style bureaucracy to known sex offenders from participation. We urge ac - manage all aspects of their lives. Obamacare has tive prosecution against child pornography, which is been struck down in the court of public opinion and closely linked to the horrors of human trafficking. is falling by the weight of its own confusing, unwork - Current laws on all forms of pornography and ob - able, budget-busting, and conflicting provisions. It scenity need to be vigorously enforced. would tremendously expand Medicaid without sig - nificant reform, leaving the States to assume unsus - Advancing Americans with Disabilities tainable financial burdens. If fully implemented, it We renew our commitment to the inclusion of could not function; and Republican victories in the Americans with disabilities in all aspects of our na - November elections will guarantee that it is never im - tional life. In keeping with that commitment, we op - plemented. Congressional Republicans are commit - pose the non-consensual withholding of care or ted to its repeal; and a Republican President, on the treatment from people with disabilities, including first day in office, will use his legitimate waiver au - newborns, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as thority under that law to halt its progress and then 32 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 will sign its repeal. Then the American people, lating local insurance markets and caring for the through the free market, can advance affordable and needy, we propose to block grant Medicaid and other responsible healthcare reform that meets the needs payments to the States; limit federal requirements on and concerns of patients and providers. Through both private insurance and Medicaid; assist all pa - Obamacare, the current Administration has pro - tients, including those with pre-existing conditions, moted the notion of abortion as healthcare. We, how - through reinsurance and risk adjustment; and pro - ever, affirm the dignity of women by protecting the mote non-litigation alternatives for dispute resolu - sanctity of human life. Numerous studies have tion. We call on State officials to carefully con sider shown that abortion endangers the health and well- the increased costs of medical mandates, imposed being of women, and we stand firmly against it. under their laws, which may price many low-income families out of the insurance market. We call on the Our Prescription for American Healthcare: government to permanently ban all federal funding Improve Quality and Lower Costs and subsidies for abortion and healthcare plans that We believe that taking care of one’s health is an include abortion coverage. individual responsibility. Chronic diseases, many of To achieve a free market in healthcare and ensure them related to lifestyle, drive healthcare costs, ac - competition, we will promote price transparency so counting for more than 75 percent of the nation’s that consumers will know the actual cost of treat - medical spending. To reduce demand, and thereby ments before they undergo them. When patients are lower costs, we must foster personal responsibility aware of costs, they are less likely to over-utilize serv - while increasing preventive serv - ices. We support legislation to ices to promote healthy lifestyles. Consumer choice is the most cap non-economic damages in We believe that all Americans medical malpractice lawsuits, should have improved access to powerful factor in healthcare thereby relieving conscientious affordable, coordinated, quality reform… Putting the patient providers of burdens that are not healthcare, including individuals rightly theirs and addressing a struggling with mental illness. at the center of policy decisions serious cause of escalating med - Our goal is to encourage the will increase choice and reduce ical bills. We will empower indi - development of a healthcare sys - costs while ensuring that viduals and small businesses to tem that provides higher quality form purchasing pools in order care at a lower cost to all Ameri - services provide what to expand coverage to the unin - cans while protecting the patient- Americans actually want. sured. Individuals with pre- physician relationship based on existing conditions who main - mutual trust, informed consent, tain continuous insurance cover - and privileged patient confiden - age should be protected from tiality. We seek to increase healthcare choice and op - discrimination. We support technology enhance - tions, contain costs and reduce mandates, simplify ments for medical health records and data systems the system for patients and providers, restore cuts while affirming patient privacy and ownership of made to Medicare, and equalize the tax treatment of health information. group and individual health insurance plans. For most Americans, those who are insured now or who Ensuring Consumer Choice in Healthcare seek insurance in the future, our practical, non-intru - Consumer choice is the most powerful factor in sive reforms will promote flexibility in State leader - healthcare reform. Today’s highly mobile work force ship in healthcare reform, promote a free-market requires portability of insurance coverage that can go based system, and empower consumer choice. All of with them from job to job. The need to maintain cov - which will return direction of the nation’s healthcare erage should not dictate where families have to live to the people and away from the federal government. and work. Putting the patient at the center of policy To return the States to their proper role of regu - decisions will increase choice and reduce costs while

33 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 ensuring that services provide what Americans actu - Protecting Individual Conscience ally want. We must end tax discrimination against the in Healthcare individual purchase of insurance and allow con - No healthcare professional or organization sumers to purchase insurance across State lines. should ever be required to perform, provide for, with - While promoting “co-insurance” products and alter - hold, or refer for a medical service against their con - natives to “fee for service,” government must pro - science. This is especially true of the religious mote Health Savings Accounts and Health organizations which deliver a major portion of Amer - Reimbursement Accounts to be used for insurance ica’s healthcare, a service rooted in the charity of faith premiums and should encourage the private sector to communities. We do not believe, however, that rate competing insurance plans. We will ensure that healthcare providers should be allowed to withhold America’s aging population has access to safe and af - services because the healthcare provider believes the fordable care. Because seniors overwhelmingly de - patient’s life is not worth living. We support the abil - sire to age at home, we will make home care a priority ity of all organizations to provide, purchase, or enroll in public policy. We will champion the right of indi - in healthcare coverage consistent with their religious, vidual choice in senior care. We will aggressively im - moral or ethical convictions without discrimination plement programs to protect against elder abuse, and or penalty. We likewise support the right of parents we will work to ensure that quality care is provided to consent to medical treatment for their children, in - across the care continuum from home to nursing cluding mental health treatment, drug treatment, and home to hospice. treatment involving pregnancy, contraceptives and Supporting Federal Healthcare abortion. We urge enactment of pending legislation Research and Development that would require parental consent to transport girls across state lines for abortions. We support federal investment in healthcare de - livery systems and solutions creating innovative Reforming the FDA means to provide greater, more cost-effective access America’s leadership in life sciences R&D and to high quality healthcare. We also support federal medical innovation is being threatened. As a country, investment in basic and applied biomedical research, we must work together now or lose our leadership po - especially the neuroscience research that may sition in medical innovation, U.S. job creation, and ac - hold great potential for dealing with diseases cess to life-saving treatments for U.S. patients. The and disorders such as Autism, Alzheimer’s, and United States has led the global medical device and Parkinson’s. If we are to make significant headway pharmaceutical industries for decades. This leader - against breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, and ship has made the U.S. the medical innovation capital other killers, research must consider the special of the world, bringing millions of high-paying jobs to needs of formerly neglected groups. We call for our country and life-saving devices and drugs to our expanded support for the stem-cell research that now nation’s patients. But that leadership position is at offers the greatest hope for many afflictions– risk; patients, innovators, and job creators point to the with adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and cells lack of predictability, consistency, transparency and reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells–without efficiency at the Food and Drug Administration that the destruction of embryonic human life. We urge a is driving innovation overseas, benefiting foreign, not ban on human cloning and on the creation of or ex - U.S., patients. perimentation on human embryos. We support We pledge to reform the FDA so we can ensure restoring the Drug Enforcement Administration ban that the U.S. remains the world leader in medical in - on the use of controlled substances for physician- novation, that device and drug jobs stay in the U.S., assisted suicide. We oppose the FDA approval of that U.S. patients benefit first from new devices and Mifeprex, formerly known as RU-486, and similar drugs, and that the FDA no longer wastes U.S. tax - drugs that terminate innocent human life after payer and innovators’ resources because of bureau - conception. cratic red tape and legal uncertainty. 34 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

Reducing Costs through Tort Reform Attaining Academic Excellence for All Frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits have bal - Since 1965 the federal government has spent $2 looned the cost of healthcare for the average Ameri - trillion on elementary and secondary education with can. Physicians are increasingly practicing defensive no substantial improvement in academic achieve - medicine because of the looming threat of malprac - ment or high school graduation rates (which cur - tice liability. Moreover, some medical practitioners rently are 59 percent for African-American students are avoiding patients with complex and high-risk and 63 percent for Hispanics). The U.S. spends an av - medical problems because of the high costs of med - erage of more than $10,000 per pupil per year in ical malpractice lawsuits. Rural America is hurt es - public schools, for a total of more than $550 billion. pecially hard as obstetricians, surgeons, and other That represents more than 4 percent of GDP devoted healthcare providers are moving to urban settings or to K-12 education in 2010. Of that amount, federal retiring, causing a significant healthcare workforce spending was more than $47 billion. Clearly, if shortage and subsequently decreasing access to care money were the solution, our schools would be for all patients. We are committed to aggressively problem-free. pursuing tort reform legislation to help avoid the More money alone does not necessarily equal practice of defensive medicine, to keep healthcare better performance. After years of trial and error, we costs low, and improve healthcare quality. know what does work, what has actually made a dif - ference in student advancement, and what is power - Education: A Chance for Every Child ing education reform at the local level all across America: accountability on the part of administra - Parents are responsible for the education of their tors, parents and teachers; higher academic stan - children. We do not believe in a one size fits all ap - dards; programs that support the development of proach to education and support providing broad ed - character and financial literacy; periodic rigorous as - ucation choices to parents and children at the State sessments on the fundamentals, especially math, sci - and local level. Maintaining American preeminence ence, reading, history, and geography; renewed focus requires a world-class system of education, with high on the Constitution and the writings of the Founding standards, in which all students can reach their poten - Fathers, and an accurate account of American history tial. Today’s education reform movement calls for ac - that celebrates the birth of this great nation; trans - countability at every stage of schooling. It affirms parency, so parents and the public can discover which higher expectations for all students and rejects the schools best serve their pupils; flexibility and free - crippling bigotry of low expectations. It recognizes the dom to innovate, so schools can adapt to the special wisdom of State and local control of our schools, and needs of their students and hold teachers and admin - it wisely sees consumer rights in education—choice— istrators responsible for student performance. We as the most important driving force for renewing our support the innovations in education reform occur - schools. ring at the State level based upon proven results. Re - Education is much more than schooling. It is the publican Governors have led in the effort to reform whole range of activities by which families and com - our country’s underperforming education system, munities transmit to a younger generation, not just and we applaud these advancements. knowledge and skills, but ethical and behavioral norms We advocate the policies and methods that have and traditions. It is the handing over of a personal and proven effective: building on the basics, especially cultural identity. That is why education choice has ex - STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, panded so vigorously. It is also why American educa - and math) and phonics; ending social promotions; tion has, for the last several decades, been the focus of merit pay for good teachers; classroom discipline; constant controversy, as centralizing forces outside the parental involvement; and strong leadership by prin - family and community have sought to remake educa - cipals, superintendents, and locally elected school tion in order to remake America. They have not suc - boards. Because technology has become an essential ceeded, but they have done immense damage. tool of learning, proper implementation of technol - 35 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 ogy is a key factor in providing every child equal ac - the teachers’ unions. We support putting the needs cess and opportunity. of students before the special interests of unions when approaching elementary and secondary educa - Consumer Choice in Education tion reform. The Republican Party is the party of fresh and in - Because parents are a child’s first teachers, we novative ideas in education. We support options for support family literacy programs, which improve the learning, including home schooling and local innova - reading, language, and life skills of both parents and tions like single-sex classes, full-day school hours, and children from low-income families. To ensure that all year-round schools. School choice —whether through students have access to the mainstream of American charter schools, open enrollment requests, college lab life, we support the English First approach and op - schools, virtual schools, career and technical educa - pose divisive programs that limit students’ ability to tion programs, vouchers, or tax credits—is important advance in American society. We renew our call for for all children, especially for families with children replacing “family planning” programs for teens with trapped in failing schools. Getting those youngsters abstinence education which teaches abstinence until into decent learning environments and helping them marriage as the responsible and respected standard to realize their full potential is the greatest civil rights of behavior. Abstinence from sexual activity is the challenge of our time. We support the promotion of only protection that is 100 percent effective against local career and technical educational programs and out-of-wedlock pregnancies and sexually-transmitted entrepreneurial programs that have been supported diseases including HIV/AIDS when transmitted sex - by leaders in industry and will retrain and retool the ually. It is effective, science-based, and empowers American workforce, which is the best in the world. teens to achieve optimal health outcomes and avoid A young person’s ability to achieve in school must be risks of sexual activity. We oppose school-based clin - based on his or her God-given talent and motivation, ics that provide referrals, counseling, and related not an address, zip code, or economic status. services for abortion and contraception. We support In sum, on the one hand enormous amounts of keeping federal funds from being used in mandatory money are being spent for K-12 public education with or universal mental health, psychiatric, or socio- overall results that do not justify that spending. On emotional screening programs. the other hand, the common experience of families, We applaud America’s great teachers, who teachers, and administrators forms the basis of what should be protected against frivolous litigation and does work in education. We believe the gap between should be able to take reasonable actions to maintain those two realities can be successfully bridged, and discipline and order in the classroom. We support Congressional Republicans are pointing a new way legislation that will correct the current law provision forward with major reform legislation. We support which defines a “Highly Qualified Teacher” merely by its concept of block grants and the repeal of numer - his or her credentials, not results in the classroom. ous federal regulations which interfere with State and We urge school districts to make use of teaching tal - local control of public schools. ent in business, STEM fields, and in the military, es - The bulk of the federal money through Title I for pecially among our returning veterans. Rigid tenure low-income children and through IDEA for disabled systems based on the “last in, first out” policy should youngsters should follow the students to whatever be replaced with a merit-based approach that can at - school they choose so that eligible pupils, through tract fresh talent and dedication to the classroom. All open enrollment, can bring their share of the funding personnel who interact with school children should with them. The Republican-founded D.C. Opportu - pass background checks and be held to the highest nity Scholarship Program should be expanded as a standards of personal conduct. model for the rest of the country. We deplore the ef - forts by Congressional Democrats and the current Improving Our Nation’s Classrooms President to kill this successful program for disad - Higher education faces its own challenges, many vantaged students in order to placate the leaders of of which stem from the poor preparation of students

36 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 before they reach college. One consequence has been greater transparency and the information they need the multiplying number of remedial courses for to make prudent choices about a student’s future: freshmen. Even so, our universities, large and small, completion rates, repayment rates, future earnings, public or private, form the world’s greatest assem - and other factors that may affect their decisions. The blage of learning. They drive much of the research federal government should not be in the business of that keeps America competitive and, by admitting originating student loans; however, it should serve as large numbers of foreign students, convey our values an insurance guarantor for the private sector as they and culture to the world. offer loans to students. Private sector participation Ideological bias is deeply entrenched within the in student financing should be welcomed. Any regu - current university system. Whatever the solution in lation that drives tuition costs higher must be reeval - private institutions may be, in State institutions the uated to balance its worth against its negative impact trustees have a responsibility to the public to ensure on students and their parents. that their enormous investment is not abused for po - litical indoctrination. We call on State officials to en - Justice for All: sure that our public colleges and universities be Safe Neighborhoods and Prison Reform places of learning and the exchange of ideas, not The most effective forces in reducing crime and zones of intellectual intolerance favoring the Left. other social ills are strong families and caring com - munities supported by excellent law enforcement. Addressing Rising College Costs Both reinforce constructive conduct and ethical stan - College costs, however, are on an unsustainable dards by setting examples and providing safe havens trajectory, rising year by year far ahead of overall in - from dangerous and destructive behaviors. But even flation. Nationwide, student loan debt now exceeds under the best social circumstances, strong, well- credit card debt, roughly $23,300 for each of the trained law enforcement is necessary to protect us all, 35,000,000 debtors, taking years to pay off. Over 50 and especially the weak and vulnerable, from preda - percent of recent college grads are unemployed or tors. Our national experience over the last several underemployed, working at jobs for which their ex - decades has shown that citizen vigilance, tough but pensive educations gave them no training. It is time fair prosecutors, meaningful sentences, protection of to get back to basics and to higher education pro - victims’ rights, and limits on judicial discretion can grams directly related to job opportunities. preserve public safety by keeping criminals off the The first step is to acknowledge the need for streets. change when the status quo is not working. New sys - Liberals do not understand this simple axiom: tems of learning are needed to compete with tradi - criminals behind bars cannot harm the general pub - tional four-year colleges: expanded community lic. To that end, we support mandatory prison sen - colleges and technical institutions, private training tencing for gang crimes, violent or sexual offenses schools, online universities, life-long learning, and against children, repeat drug dealers, rape, robbery work-based learning in the private sector. New mod - and murder. We support a national registry for con - els for acquiring advanced skills will be ever more im - victed child murderers. We oppose parole for dan - portant in the rapidly changing economy of the gerous or repeat felons. Courts should have the twenty-first century, especially in science, technol - option of imposing the death penalty in capital ogy, engineering, and math. Public policy should ad - murder cases. vance the affordability, innovation, and transparency In solidarity with those who protect us, we call needed to address all these challenges and to make for mandatory prison time for all assaults involving accessible to everyone the emerging alternatives, serious injury to law enforcement officers. Criminals with their lower cost degrees, to traditional college injured in the course of their crimes should not be attendance. able to seek monetary damages from their intended Federal student aid is on an unsustainable path, victims or from the public. and efforts should be taken to provide families with While getting criminals off the street is essential,

37 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 more attention must be paid to the process of restor - Thirty years ago, President Reagan’s Task Force ing those individuals to the community. Prisons on Victims of Crime, calling the neglect of crime vic - should do more than punish; they should attempt to tims a “national disgrace,” proposed a Constitutional rehabilitate and institute proven prisoner reentry sys - amendment to secure their formal rights. While tems to reduce recidivism and future victimization. some progress has been made to rectify that situa - We endorse State and local initiatives that are trying tion, the need for national action still persists in the new approaches, often called accountability courts. unacceptable treatment of innocent victims. We call Government at all levels should work with faith- on the States to make it a bipartisan priority to pro - based institutions that have proven track records in tect the rights of crime victims, who should also be diverting young and first time, non-violent offenders assured of access to social and legal services; and we from criminal careers, for which we salute them. call on the Congress to make the federal courts a Their emphasis on restorative justice, to make the model in this regard for the rest of the country. victim whole and put the offender on the right path, The resources of the federal government’s can give law enforcement the flexibility it needs in law enforcement and judicial systems have been dealing with different levels of criminal behavior. We strained by two unfortunate expansions: the over- endorse State and local initiatives that are trying new criminalization of behavior and the over-federaliza - approaches to curbing drug abuse and diverting first- tion of offenses. The number of criminal offenses in time offenders to rehabilitation. the U.S. Code increased from 3,000 in the early Public authorities must regain control of their 1980s to over 4,450 by 2008. Federal criminal law correctional institutions, for we cannot allow prisons should focus on acts by federal employees or acts to become ethnic or racial battlegrounds. Persons committed on federal property – and leave the rest jailed for whatever cause should be protected against to the States. Then Congress should withdraw from cruel or degrading treatment by other inmates. In federal departments and agencies the power to crim - some cases, the institution of family-friendly policies inalize behavior, a practice which, according to the may curtail prison violence and reduce the rate of re - Congressional Research Service, has created “tens of cidivism, thus reducing the enormous fiscal and so - thousands” of criminal offenses. No one other than cial costs of incarceration. Breaking the cycle of crime an elected representative should have the authority begins with the children of those who are prisoners. to define a criminal act and set criminal penalties. In Deprived of a parent through no fault of their own, the same way, Congress should reconsider the extent these youngsters should be a special concern of our to which it has federalized offenses traditionally schools, social services, and religious institutions. handled on the State or local level.

38 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

American Exceptionalism

We are the party of peace through strength. Pro - theless, our government must continue to ensure the fessing American exceptionalism—the conviction that protections under our Constitution to all citizens, our country holds a unique place and role in human particularly the rights of habeas corpus and due history—we proudly associate ourselves with those process of law. Americans of all political stripes who, more than three History proves that the best way to promote decades ago in a world as dangerous as today’s, came peace and prevent costly wars is to ensure that we together to advance the cause of freedom. Repudiat - constantly renew America’s economic strength. A ing the folly of an amateur foreign policy and defying healthy American economy is what underwrites and a worldwide Marxist advance, they announced their sustains American power. The current Administra - strategy in the timeless slogan we repeat today: peace tion is weakening America at home through anemic through strength—an enduring peace based on free - growth, high unemployment, and record-setting dom and the will to defend it, and American demo - debt. We must therefore rebuild our economy and cratic values and the will to promote them. While the solve our fiscal crisis. In an American century, Amer - twentieth century was undeniably an American cen - ica will have the strongest economy and the strongest tury—with strong leadership, adherence to the prin - military in the world. ciples of freedom and democracy our Founders’ enshrined in our nation’s Declaration of Independ - The Current Administration’s Failure: ence and Constitution, and a continued reliance on Leading From Behind Divine Providence—the twenty-first century will be The Republican Party is the advocate for a strong one of American greatness as well. national defense as the pathway to peace, economic Today’s adversaries are different, as are their prosperity, and the protection of those yearning to be weapons and their ideology, but this remains the free. Since the end of World War II, American mili - same: the unity of Americans, beyond party, in grat - tary superiority has been the cornerstone of a strategy itude to those who have defended our country, pur - that seeks to deter aggression or defeat those who sued its attackers to the ends of the earth, and today threaten our national security interests. In 1981, stand vigilant guard in our cities, on our coasts, and President Reagan came to office with an agenda of in alien lands. We pledge to our servicemen and strong American leadership, beginning with a women the authority and resources they need to pro - restoration of our country’s military strength. The tect the nation and defend America’s freedom. Con - rest is history, written in the rubble of the Berlin Wall tinued vigilance, especially in travel and commerce, and the Iron Curtain. is necessary to prevent bioterrorism, cyber terrorism, We face a similar challenge today. The current and other asymmetric or non-traditional warfare at - Administration has responded with weakness to tacks and to ensure that the horror of September 11, some of the gravest threats to our national security 2001 is never repeated on our soil. this country has faced, including the proliferation of Our country and its way of life have enemies transnational terrorism, continued belligerence by a both abroad and within our shores. We affirm the nuclear-armed North Korea, an Iran in pursuit of nu - need for our military to protect the nation by finding clear weapons, rising Chinese hegemony in the Asia and capturing our enemies and the necessity for the Pacific region, Russian activism, and threats from President to have the tools to deal with these threats. cyber espionage and terrorism. In response to these As history has sadly shown, even our fellow citizens growing threats, President Obama has reduced the may rarely become enemies of their country. Never - defense budget by over $487 billion over the next

39 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 decade and fought Republican efforts to avoid an - leaks by senior Administration officials regarding other $500 billion in automatic budget cuts through cyber warfare, the use of drones against Al Qaeda and a sequestration in early 2013 that will take a meat ax its operatives, and the targeting of our enemies—un - to all major defense programs. precedented leaks that compromised key sources and methods and damaged our national security—served The Dangers of A Hollow Force: the single purpose of propping up the image of a weak The Looming Sequestration President. Sequestration—which is severe, automatic, across-the-board cuts in defense spending over the A Failed National Security Strategy next decade—of the nation’s military budget would The current Administration’s most recent Na - be a disaster for national security, imperiling the tional Security Strategy reflects the extreme elements safety of our servicemen and women, accelerating the in its liberal domestic coalition. It is a budget-con - decline of our nation’s defense industrial base, and strained blueprint that, if fully implemented, will di - resulting in the layoff of more than 1 million skilled minish the capabilities of our Armed Forces. The workers. Opposition to sequester is bipartisan; even strategy significantly increases the risk of future con - the current Secretary of Defense has said the cuts will flict by declaring to our adversaries that we will no be “devastating” to America’s military. Yet the cur - longer maintain the forces necessary to fight and win rent President supported sequestration, signed it into more than one conflict at a time. It relies on the good law, and has threatened to veto Republican efforts to intentions and capabilities of international organiza - prevent it. If he allows an additional half trillion tions to justify constraining American military readi - dollars to be cut from the defense budget, America ness. Finally, the strategy subordinates our national will be left with the smallest ground force since 1940, security interests to environmental, energy, and the smallest number of ships since 1915, and the international health issues, and elevates “climate smallest Air Force in its history—at a time when our change” to the level of a “severe threat” equivalent to Nation faces a growing range of threats to our foreign aggression. The word “climate,” in fact, ap - national security and a struggling economy that can pears in the current President’s strategy more often ill afford to lose 1.5 million defense-related jobs. than Al Qaeda, nuclear proliferation, radical Islam, or weapons of mass destruction. The phrase “global Leaks for Political Purposes war on terror” does not appear at all, and has been The current Administration’s leaks of classified purposely avoided and changed by his Administra - information have imperiled intelligence assets which tion to “overseas contingency operations.” are vital to American security. This conduct is con - temptible. It betrays our national interest. It compro - Conventional Forces in Decline mises our men and women in the field. And it More than a century ago, Republican President demands a full and prompt investigation by a special Theodore Roosevelt predicted that America’s future counsel. Equally threatening to the long-term was in the Pacific. That future is here today, but it can strength and safety of our Armed Forces are the cur - develop peacefully only under the shield of American rent Administration’s efforts to sacrifice our national Naval and Air power. Yet the current Administration security for political gain and a partisan agenda. We plans to significantly curtail production of our most give the current President credit for maintaining his advanced combat aircraft, decommission 6 of 60 Air predecessor’s quiet determination and planning to Force tactical squadrons, and eliminate critical air mo - bring to justice the man behind the 9/11 attack on bility assets, including 27 giant C-5As and 65 C-130s, America, but he has tolerated publicizing the details while divesting the nation of the brand new C-27. of the operation to kill the leader of Al Qaeda; those The President plans to reduce our naval forces leaks exposed the tactics and techniques of our Spe - by retiring seven cruisers and slowing work on am - cial Operations forces and denied our nation an un - phibious ships and attack submarines, further reduc - precedented intelligence opportunity. Subsequent ing the Navy that already has the smallest fleet since

40 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 the early years of the twentieth century. And he will quarters as well. With unstable regimes in Iran and reduce ground forces by separating 100,000 soldiers North Korea determined to develop nuclear-tipped and Marines—many of whom will be discharged after missiles capable of reaching the United States, with recently returning from combat—and another the possibility that a terrorist group could gain con - 100,000 under the sequester. trol of a nuclear weapon, it is folly to abandon a These plans limit our strategic flexibility in an missile shield for the country. increasingly dangerous world. The current President is repeating the disastrous cuts of the post-Vietnam A Twenty-First Century Threat: war era, putting our nation in danger of returning to The Cybersecurity Danger the “hollow force” of the Carter Administration, when The frequency, sophistication, and intensity of the U.S. military was not respected in the world. cyber-related incidents within the United States have increased steadily over the past decade and will con - Nuclear Forces and tinue to do so until it is made clear that a cyber attack Missile Defense Imperiled against the United States will not be tolerated. The We recognize that the gravest terror threat we current Administration’s cyber security policies have face—a nuclear attack made possible by nuclear pro - failed to curb malicious actions by our adversaries, liferation—requires a comprehensive strategy for re - and no wonder, for there is no active deterrence pro - ducing the world’s nuclear stockpiles and preventing tocol. The current deterrence framework is overly re - the spread of those armaments. But the U.S. can lead liant on the development of defensive capabilities and that effort only if it maintains an effective strategic has been unsuccessful in dissuading cyber-related ag - arsenal at a level sufficient to fulfill its deterrent pur - gression. The U.S. cannot afford to risk the cyber- poses, a notable failure of the current Administration. equivalent of Pearl Harbor. The United States is the only nuclear power not The government and private sector must modernizing its nuclear stockpile. It took the current work together to address the cyberthreats posed to Administration just one year to renege on the Presi - the United States, help the free flow of information dent’s commitment to modernize the neglected infra - between network managers, and encourage innova - structure of the nuclear weapons complex—a tion and investment in cybersecurity. The govern - commitment made in exchange for approval of the ment must do a better job of protecting its own New START treaty. In tandem with this, the current systems, which contain some of the most sensitive Administration has systematically undermined data and control some of our most important facili - America’s missile defense, abandoning the missile ties. As such, we encourage an immediate update of defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, re - the law that was drafted a decade ago to improve the ducing the number of planned interceptors in Alaska, security of government information systems. Addi - and cutting the budget for missile defense. In an em - tionally, we must invest in continuing research to de - barrassing open microphone discussion with former velop cutting-edge cybersecurity technologies to Russian President Medvedev, the current President protect the U.S. However, we acknowledge that the made clear that, if he wins a second term, he intends most effective way of combating potential cybersecu - to exercise “more flexibility” to appease Russia, which rity threats is sharing cyberthreat information be - means further undermining our missile defense tween the government and industry, as well as capabilities. A Republican President will be honest protecting the free flow of information within the and forthright with the American people about private sector. his policies and plans and not whisper promises to The current Administration’s laws and policies authoritarian leaders. undermine what should be a collaborative relation - A strong and effective strategic arsenal is still ship and put both the government and private enti - necessary as a deterrent against competitors like Rus - ties at a severe disadvantage in proactively sia or China. But the danger in this age of asymmet - identifying potential cyberthreats. The costly and ric or non-traditional warfare comes from other heavy-handed regulatory approach by the current

41 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

Administration will increase the size and cost of the community of nations. We will have a comprehen - federal bureaucracy and harm innovation in cyberse - sive and just detainee policy that treats those who curity. The government collects valuable information would attack our nation as enemy combatants. We about potential threats that can and should be shared will accept no arms control agreement that limits our with private entities without compromising national right to self-defense; and we will fully deploy a missile security. We believe that companies should be free defense shield for the people of the United States and from legal and regulatory barriers that prevent or for our allies. deter them from voluntarily sharing cyberthreat in - We will pursue an effective cybersecurity strat - formation with their government partners. egy, supported by the necessary resources, that rec - ognizes the importance of offensive capabilities. An America That Leads: The Republican Whether it is a nation-state actively probing our na - National Security Strategy for the Future tional security networks, a terror organization seek - We will honor President Reagan’s legacy of ing to obtain destructive cyber capabilities, or a peace through strength by advancing the most cost- criminal network’s theft of intellectual property, effective programs and policies crucial to our national more must be done to deter, defeat, and respond to security, including our economic security and fiscal cyberthreats. solvency. To do that, we must honestly assess the We will restore the morale and advance the ca - threats facing this country, and we must be able to pabilities of our intelligence community to ensure articulate candidly to the American people our prior - that the President and our military leaders are fully ities for the use of taxpayer dollars to address those informed in an uncertain and increasingly dangerous threats. world. We will restore accountability to ensure that We must deter any adversary who would attack our nation’s most sensitive information and activities us or use terror as a tool of government. Every poten - are protected appropriately. tial enemy must have no doubt that our capabilities, The Department of Defense, like all government our commitment, and our will to defeat them are agencies, needs to be careful to spend taxpayers’ dol - clear, unwavering, and unequivocal. We must imme - lars wisely. We will implement sound management diately employ a new blueprint for a National Mili - policies to ensure the timely, cost-effective delivery tary Strategy that is based on an informed and of the tools our troops need to fight. We reject Con - validated assessment of the potential threats we face, gressional earmarks that put personal and parochial one that restores as a principal objective the deter - interests ahead of military effectiveness and the best rence using the full spectrum of our military capabil - interests of the nation. We recognize the need for, ities. As Ronald Reagan proved by the victorious and value of, competition within a robust industrial conclusion of the Cold War, only our capability to base to most effectively maximize quality and drive wield overwhelming military power can truly deter down costs in everything the Department buys. the enemies of the United States from threatening our people and our national interests. Supporting our Troops, In order to deter aggression from nation-states, Standing By Our Heroes we must maintain military and technical superiority The foundation of our military lies in the men through innovation while upgrading legacy systems and women who wear our country’s uniform, including aircraft and armored vehicles. We must whether on active duty or in the Reserves and deter the threat posed by rogue aggressors with the National Guard, and the families who support them. assurance that justice will be served through state-of- Under no circumstances will we reveal any secret or the-art surveillance, enhanced special operations ca - detail of a military operation that could put our peo - pabilities, and unmanned aerial systems. ple into additional harm’s way. The members of our We will employ the full range of military and military should be treated with the utmost respect intelligence options to defeat Al Qaeda and its and dignity. We reject the use of the military as a affiliates who threaten not just the West but the platform for social experimentation and will not

42 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 accept attempts to undermine military priorities and Forces. Many of them have heroically served for mul - mission readiness. tiple deployments resulting in inadequate time be - Consistent with this commitment, we believe tween deployments, also known as dwell time. We compensation and conditions for our Armed Forces pledge to maintain their manpower and equipment in place at the time military service is initiated should strength and to ensure their members receive the be sufficient to attract and retain quality men and pay, benefits, and adequate training to continue their women as we honor our promises and commitments service and maintain mission readiness through to veterans, retirees, and their families. These shall Presidential leadership and Congressional budget continue and not be reduced or otherwise diminished support. Their historic and continuing role as citizen- while in service, or upon separation, or retirement. soldiers is a proud tradition linking every community The combat readiness of our Armed Forces is the across America to the cause of freedom. We affirm foundation of strength and deterrence. Readiness re - service members’ legal right to return to their civilian quires a consistent and sustained investment in the jobs, whether in government or the private sector, training and re-equipping of our military personnel. and we urge greater transition assistance to and We will never assume the risk of reduced readiness, from employers as they return to the civilian world. and we can never return to the “hollow” forces of the Especially in light of the high unemployment rates 1970s. Combat readiness also requires that we re - faced by younger Reserve and Guard members, we serve troops for truly necessary operations by not salute those employers who have wisely decided that overextending them around the world. it is a smart and patriotic business decision to We recognize that drastic cuts to our military’s hire those who have served above and beyond the call end strength pose severe national security challenges. of duty. To avoid the overextension of our forces, we support The spiritual welfare of our troops and retired a larger active force and oppose cuts to the National service members should be a priority of our national Guard and Reserves. leadership. With military suicides running at the rate The all-volunteer force, begun on the watch of of one a day, with post-service medical conditions, in - Republican Presidents, has carried America to victory cluding addiction and mental illness, and with the from the Caribbean and Central America to the financial stress and homelessness that is often related Balkans and Southwest Asia. We oppose the rein - to these factors, there is an urgent need for the kind statement of the draft whether directly or through of counseling that faith-based institutions can best compulsory national service. We support the ad - provide. We support rights of conscience and vancement of women in the military, which has not religious freedom for military chaplains and people only opened doors of opportunity for individuals but of faith. A Republican Commander in Chief will has also made possible the devoted, and often heroic, protect religious independence of military chaplains services of additional members of every branch of the and will not tolerate attempts to ban Bibles or reli - Armed Forces. We support military women’s exemp - gious symbols from military facilities. We will enforce tion from direct ground combat units and infantry and defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act battalions. We affirm the cultural values that encour - (DOMA) in the Armed Forces as well as in the civilian age selfless service and superiority in battle, and we world. oppose anything which might divide or weaken team We call upon the entire chain of command— cohesion, including intra-military special interest from the President and the Secretary of Defense, to demonstrations. We will support an objective and base and unit commanders—to ensure that our open-minded review of the current Administration’s troops and retired service members, wherever sta - management of military personnel policies and will tioned, have the opportunity to vote in the November correct problems with appropriate administrative, elections, and that their ballots will be returned in legal, or legislative action. time to be properly counted. Those who fight for and The National Guard and Reserves are a fully op - defend freedom around the world must not be disen - erational and battle-tested component of our Armed franchised.

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Recognizing and Supporting regional directors of the Department presidential ap - Military Families pointees rather than careerists. Our wounded warriors, whether still in service or The families of our military personnel currently discharged, deserve the best medical care our country serving, retired service members, and veterans must can provide. The nature of the fighting in Iraq and also be assured of the pay, health care, housing, edu - Afghanistan has resulted in an unprecedented inci - cation, and overall support they have earned. We will dence of traumatic brain injury, loss of limbs, and ensure that the federal government keeps its commit - post-traumatic stress disorder which calls for a new ments to those who signed on the dotted line of en - commitment of resources and personnel for its treat - listment with the assurance that those promises ment and care to promote recovery. We must make would be kept. We must also do more to retain the military and veterans’ medicine the gold standard for services of those service mem - mental health care, advances in bers who have borne the fight prosthetics, and treatment of since 2001. The foundation of our military trauma and eye injuries. We must We must acknowledge that lies in the men and women who heed Abraham Lincoln’s com - as our troops have experienced mand “to care for him who bore repeated deployments, so have wear our country’s uniform, the battle.” To care, as well, for their families. We are commit - whether on active duty or in the the families of those who have ted to providing programs that Reserves and National Guard, made the ultimate sacrifice, who offer readjustment information must be assured of meaningful and counseling to our military and the families financial assistance, remains our families, and urge States to offer who support them. solemn duty. support for job programs, license Because the conditions of reciprocity, one-stop service cen - warfare have changed dramati - ters, and education programs to cally since the war on terror support these families. The nation must also recog - began, today’s veterans face new challenges. Asym - nize the ultimate sacrifice of survivors and protect metrical or non-traditional warfare results in a high their benefits. We will work to protect service mem - incidence of severe conditions that must receive high bers and their families by not overextending their de - priority and call for continued research into preven - ployments. tion and treatment. We are committed to ending homelessness for Honoring and Supporting our veterans. One key is to assist their reentry into Our Veterans: A Sacred Obligation the job market as soon as possible after military serv - America has a sacred trust with our veterans, ice ends. A job for a veteran is more than a source of and we are committed to providing them and their income. It is a new mission, with a new status, and families with care and dignity. This is particularly the transition can be difficult. It is a national scandal true because our nation’s warriors are volunteers, that veterans are one of the groups with the highest who served from a sense of duty. The work of the De - unemployment rates. We urge the private sector to partment of Veterans Affairs—with a staff of make hiring vets a company policy and commend the 300,000—is essential to meet our obligations to many organizations that have specific programs to them: providing health, education, disability, sur - accomplish this. But the federal government must vivor, and home loan benefit services and arranging take the lead by simplifying the paper work required memorial services upon death. All its branches in for a tax break for hiring a veteran and by giving vets those various fields must be made more responsive, their assured place at the head of the training and moving from an adversarial to an advocacy relation - employment line. ship with veterans. To that end we will consider a Every State has an office dealing with veterans. fundamental change in structure to make the The federal Department needs to consider these as

44 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 partners in assisting vets, recognizing that those clos - tion on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and est to the individual can best diagnose a problem and the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty as well as the various apply a remedy. This is especially important with re - declarations from the U.N. Conference on Environ - gard to the determination of veterans’ disability ment and Development. Because of our concern for claims. If private insurance companies can deal with American sovereignty, domestic management of our car wrecks and hurricanes within weeks or months, fisheries, and our country’s long-term energy needs, it is inexplicable that the federal government takes, we have deep reservations about the regulatory, legal, on average, a year to process a veteran’s claim. We and tax regimes inherent in the Law of the Sea Treaty urge immediate action to review the automatic denial and congratulate Senate Republicans for blocking its of gun ownership to returning members of our ratification. We strongly reject the U.N. Agenda 21 as Armed Forces who have had representatives erosive of American sovereignty, and we oppose any appointed to manage their financial affairs. form of U.N. Global Tax. We oppose any diplomatic efforts that could result in giving the United Nations Sovereign American Leadership in unprecedented control over the Internet. Interna - International Organizations tional regulatory control over the open and free In - Since the end of World War II, the United States, ternet would have disastrous consequences for the through the founding of the United Nations and United States and the world. NATO, has participated in a wide range of interna - To shield members of our Armed Forces and tional organizations which can, but sometimes do others in service to America from ideological prose - not, serve the cause of peace and prosperity. While cutions overseas, the Republican Party does not ac - acting through them, our country must always re - cept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal serve the right to go its own way. There can be no Court. We support statutory protection for U.S. per - substitute for principled American leadership. sonnel and officials as they act abroad to meet our The United Nations remains in dire need of re - global security requirements. form, starting with full transparency in the financial operations of its overpaid bureaucrats. As long as its Protecting Human Rights scandal-ridden management continues, as long as To those who stand in the darkness of tyranny, some of the world’s worst tyrants hold seats on its America has always been a beacon of hope, and so it Human Rights Council, and as long as Israel is must remain. That is why we strongly support the treated as a pariah state, the U.N. cannot expect the work of the U.S. Commission on International Reli - full support of the American people. gious Freedom, established by Congressional Repub - The United Nations Population Fund has a licans to advance the rights of persecuted peoples shameful record of collaboration with China’s pro - everywhere. It has been shunted aside by the current gram of compulsory abortion. We affirm the Repub - Administration at a time when its voice more than lican Party’s long-held position known as the Mexico ever needs to be heard. Religious minorities across City Policy, first announced by President Reagan in the Middle East are being driven from their ancient 1984, which prohibits the granting of federal monies homelands, fanaticism leaves its bloody mark on both to non-governmental organization that provide or West and East Africa, and even among America’s promote abortion. Western friends and allies, pastors and families are Under our Constitution, treaties become the law penalized for their religious convictions. A Republi - of the land. So it is all the more important that the can Administration will return the advocacy of reli - Congress—the Senate through its ratifying power and gious liberty to a central place in our diplomacy. the House through its appropriating power—shall re - ject agreements whose long-range impact on the America’s Generosity: International American family is ominous or unclear. These in - Assistance that Makes a Difference clude the U.N. Convention on Women’s Rights, the Americans are the most generous people in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Conven - world. Apart from the taxpayer dollars our govern -

45 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 ment donates abroad, our foundations, educational trust developing peoples to build their future from institutions, faith-based groups, and committed men the ground up. and women of charity devote billions of dollars and volunteer hours every year to help the poor and needy Combating Human Trafficking around the world. This effort, along with commercial As we approach the 150th anniversary of the investment from the private sector, dwarfs the results Emancipation Proclamation, issued by the first Re - from official development assistance, most of which publican President Abraham Lincoln, we are re - is based on an outdated, statist, government-to- minded to be vigilant against human bondage in government model, the proven breeding ground for whatever form it appears. We will use the full force corruption and mismanagement by foreign klepto - of the law against those who engage in modern-day crats. Limiting foreign aid forms of slavery, including the spending helps keep taxes We must deter any adversary commercial sexual exploitation of lower, which frees more re - children and the forced labor of sources in the private and char - who would attack us or use men, women, and children. Build - itable sectors, whose giving terror as a tool of government. ing on the accomplishments of the tends to be more effective and Every potential enemy must have last Republican Administration in efficient. implementing the Trafficking Vic - Foreign aid should serve no doubt that our capabilities, tims Protection Act of 2000, we our national interest, an essen - our commitment, and our will to call for increased diplomatic ef - tial part of which is the peaceful forts with foreign governments to development of less advanced defeat them are clear, root out complicit public officials and vulnerable societies in crit - unwavering, and unequivocal. who facilitate or perpetrate this ical parts of the world. Assis - evil. We highlight the need for tance should be seen as an greater scrutiny of overseas labor alternative means of keeping the peace, far less costly contractors to prevent the imposition of usurious in both dollars and human lives than military engage - terms on temporary foreign workers brought to the ment. The economic success and political progress of United States. Our government must address the in - former aid recipients, from Latin America to East creasing role of vicious drug cartels and other gangs Asia, has justified our investment in their future. U.S. in controlling human smuggling across our southern aid should be based on the model of the Millennium border. The principle underlying our Megan’s Law— Challenge Corporation, for which foreign govern - publicizing the identities of known offenders—should ments must, in effect, compete for the dollars by be extended to international travel in order to protect showing respect for the rule of law, free enterprise, innocent children everywhere. and measurable results. In short, aid money should We affirm our country’s historic tradition of wel - follow positive outcomes, not pleas for more cash in coming refugees from troubled lands. In some cases, the same corrupt official pockets. they are people who stood with us during dangerous The effectiveness of our foreign aid has been lim - times, and they have first call on our hospitality. ited by the cultural agenda of the current Adminis - tration, attempting to impose on foreign countries, Promoting a Free Marketplace of Ideas: especially the peoples of Africa, legalized abortion Public Diplomacy and the homosexual rights agenda. At the same time, International broadcasting of free and impartial faith-based groups—the sector that has had the best information during the Cold War kept truth and hope track record in promoting lasting development—have alive in the Captive Nations. Today, Radio Free been excluded from grants because they will not con - Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio/TV Marti do the form to the administration’s social agenda. We will same in other lands where freedom is unknown or reverse this tragic course, encourage more involve - endangered. We support these essential extensions ment by the most effective aid organizations, and of American values and culture and urge their

46 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 expansion in the Middle East. Recognizing the vital for Assistance to a Free Cuba and affirm the principles role of social media in recent efforts to promote of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, recognizing the democracy, we support unrestricted access to the In - rights of Cubans fleeing Communism. ternet throughout the world to advance the free mar - The war on drugs and the war on terror have be - ketplace of ideas. come a single enterprise. We salute our allies in this fight, especially the people of Mexico and Colombia. Strengthening Ties in the Americas We propose a unified effort on crime and terrorism to We will resist foreign influence in our hemi - coordinate intelligence and enforcement among our sphere. We thereby seek not only to provide for our regional allies, as well as military-to-military training own security, but also to create a climate for democ - and intelligence sharing with Mexico, whose people racy and self-determination throughout the Americas. are bearing the brunt of the drug cartels’ savage The current Administration has turned its back assault. on Latin America, with predictable results. Rather Our Canadian neighbors can count on our close than supporting our democratic allies in the region, cooperation and respect. As soon as possible, we will the President has prioritized engagement with our en - reverse the current Administration’s blocking of the emies in the region. Venezuela represents an increas - Keystone XL Pipeline so that both our countries can ing threat to U.S. security, a threat which has grown profit from this vital venture and there will no need much worse on the current President’s watch. In the for hemispheric oil to be shipped to China. last three years, Venezuela has become a narco- terrorist state, turning it into an Iranian outpost in the Advancing Hope and Prosperity in Africa Western hemisphere. The current regime issues PEPFAR, President George W. Bush’s Plan for Venezuelan passports or visas to thousands of Middle AIDS Relief, is one of the most successful global Eastern terrorists offering safe haven to Hezbollah health programs in history. It has saved literally mil - trainers, operatives, recruiters and fundraisers. lions of lives. Along with the Global Fund to fight Alternatively, we will stand with the true democ - AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, another initiative of racies of the region against both Marxist subversion President Bush, it represents America’s humanitar - and the drug lords, helping them to become prosper - ian commitment to the peoples of Africa, though ous alternatives to the collapsing model of Venezuela these are only one aspect of our assistance to the na - and Cuba. tions of that continent. From Peace Corps volunteers We affirm our friendship with the People of Cuba teaching in one-room schools to U.S. Seabees build - and look toward their reunion with the rest of our ing village projects, we will continue to strengthen the hemispheric family. The anachronistic regime in Ha - personal and commercial ties between our country vana which rules them is a mummified relic of the age and African nations. of totalitarianism, a state-sponsor of terrorism. We re - We stand in solidarity with those African coun - ject any dynastic succession of power within the Cas - tries now under assault by the forces of radical Islam tro family and affirm the principles codified in U.S. and urge other governments throughout the conti - law as conditions for the lifting of trade, travel, and fi - nent to recognize this threat to them as well. We sup - nancial sanctions: the legalization of political parties, port closer cooperation in both military and an independent media, and free and fair internation - economic matters with those who are under attack by ally-supervised elections. We renew our commitment forces which seek our destruction. to Cuba’s courageous pro-democracy movement as the protagonists of Cuba’s inevitable liberation and U.S. Leadership in the democratic future. We call for a dedicated platform Asian-Pacific Community for the transmission of Radio and TV Marti and for We are a Pacific nation with economic, military, the promotion of Internet access and circumvention and cultural ties to all the countries of the oceanic technology as tools to strengthen the pro-democracy rim, from Australia, the Philippines, and our Freely movement. We support the work of the Commission Associated States in the Pacific Islands to Japan

47 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 and the Republic of Korea. With them, we look comes weeks before this year’s presidential election toward the restoration of human rights to the and against the advice of the current President’s top suffering people of North Korea and the fulfillment military commanders. Future decisions by a Repub - of their wish to be one in peace and freedom. The lican President will never subordinate military neces - U.S. will continue to demand the complete, verifiable, sity to domestic politics or an artificial timetable. and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea’s Afghans, Pakistanis, and Americans have a common nuclear weapons programs with a full accounting of interest in ridding the region of the Taliban and other its proliferation activities. insurgent groups, but we cannot expect others to re - We celebrate the political and economic devel - main resolute unless we show the same determina - opment of most of the nations of Southeast Asia. tion ourselves. We will expect the Afghan government Their example of material progress through hard to crackdown on corruption, respect free elections, work and free enterprise, in tandem with greater and assist our fight against the narcotic trade that democracy should encourage their less fortunate fuels the insurgency. We must likewise expect the neighbors to set aside crippling ideologies and em - Pakistan government to sever any connection be - brace a more humane future. While our relations tween its security and intelligence forces and the in - with Vietnam have improved, and U.S. investment is surgents. No Pakistani citizen should be punished for welcomed, we need unceasing efforts to obtain an ac - helping the United States against the terrorists. counting for, and repatriation of the remains of, Americans who gave their lives in the cause of Viet - Taiwan namese freedom. We cannot overlook the continued We salute the people of Taiwan, a sound democ - repression of human rights and religious freedom, as racy and economic model for mainland China. Our well as retribution against ethnic minorities and relations must continue to be based upon the provi - others who assisted U.S. forces during the conflict sions of the Taiwan Relations Act. America and Tai - there. wan are united in our shared belief in fair elections, personal liberty, and free enterprise. We oppose any South Asia unilateral steps by either side to alter the status quo We welcome a stronger relationship with the in the Taiwan Straits on the principle that all issues world’s largest democracy, India, both economic and regarding the island’s future must be resolved peace - cultural, as well as in terms of national security. We fully, through dialogue, and be agreeable to the peo - hereby affirm and declare that India is our geopolitical ple of Taiwan. If China were to violate those ally and a strategic trading partner. We encourage principles, the U.S., in accord with the Taiwan Rela - India to permit greater foreign investment and trade. tions Act, will help Taiwan defend itself. We praise We urge protection for adherents of all India’s reli - steps taken by both sides of the Taiwan Strait to re - gions. Both as Republicans and as Americans, we note duce tension and strengthen economic ties. As a loyal with pride the contributions to this country that are friend of America, Taiwan has merited our strong being made by our fellow citizens of Indian ancestry. support, including free trade agreements status, as The aftermath of the last decade’s conflicts in well as the timely sale of defensive arms and full par - Iraq and Afghanistan has put enormous pressure on ticipation in the World Health Organization, Inter - the political and military infrastructure of Pakistan, national Civil Aviation Organization, and other which faces both internal terrorism and external dan - multilateral institutions. gers. The working relationship between our two coun - tries is a necessary, though sometimes difficult, China benefit to both, and we look toward the renewal of his - We will welcome the emergence of a peaceful toric ties that have frayed under the weight of inter - and prosperous China, and we will welcome even national conflict. more the development of a democratic China. Its The imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan of rulers have discovered that economic freedom leads the 30,000 “surge” troops sent there two years ago to national wealth. The next lesson is that political

48 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012 and religious freedom leads to national greatness. respect. As our allies in their Great Patriotic War, The exposure of the Chinese people to our way of life they lost 28 million fighting Nazism. As our allies in can be the greatest force for change in their country. spirit, they ended the Soviet terror that had con - We should make it easier for the people of China to sumed so many millions more. They deserve our ad - experience our vibrant democracy and to see for miration and support as they now seek to reestablish themselves how freedom works. We welcome the in - their rich national identity. We do have common im - crease in trade and education alliances with the U.S. peratives: ending terrorism, combating nuclear pro - and the opening of Chinese markets to American liferation, promoting trade, and more. To advance companies. those causes, we urge the leaders of their government The Chinese government has engaged in a num - to reconsider the path they have been following: ber of activities that we condemn: China’s pursuit of suppression of opposition parties, the press, and advanced military capabilities without any apparent institutions of civil society; unprovoked invasion need; suppression of human rights in Tibet, Xinjiang, of the Republic of Georgia, alignment with tyrants in and other areas; religious persecution; a barbaric the Middle East; and bullying their neighbors while one-child policy involving forced abortion; the ero - protecting the last Stalinist regime in Belarus. The sion of democracy in Hong Kong; and its destabiliz - Russian people deserve better, as we look to their full ing claims in the South China Sea. Our serious trade participation in the ranks of modern democracies. disputes, especially China’s failure to enforce inter - Russia should be granted Permanent Normal national standards for the protection of intellectual Trade Relations, but not without sanctions on Russ - property and copyrights, as well as its manipulation ian officials who have used the government to violate of its currency, call for a firm response from a new human rights. We support enactment of the Magnit - Republican Administration. sky Rule of Law Accountability Act as a condition of expanded trade relations with Russia. Europe The West has been the bulwark of democracy Our Unequivocal Support of Israel and freedom, providing hope and faith to the op - Israel and the United States are part of the great pressed around the globe. Our historic ties to the fellowship of democracies who speak the same lan - peoples of Europe have been based on shared culture guage of freedom and justice, and the right of every and values, common interests and goals. Their en - person to live in peace. The security of Israel is in the durance cannot be taken for granted, especially in vital national security interest of the United States; light of the continent’s economic upheaval and demo - our alliance is based not only on shared interests, but graphic changes. Ensuring the continued vitality of also shared values. We affirm our unequivocal com - our political alliance with Europe through NATO will mitment to Israel’s security and will ensure that it require effort and understanding on both sides of the maintains a qualitative edge in military technology Atlantic. We honor our special relationship with the over any potential adversaries. We support Israel’s United Kingdom and appreciate its staunch support right to exist as a Jewish state with secure, defensible for our fight against terrorism worldwide. We thank borders; and we envision two democratic states— the several other nations of Europe which have con - Israel with Jerusalem as its capital and Palestine— tributed to a united effort in Iraq, Afghanistan, and living in peace and security. For that to happen, the Libya. Their sacrifice will not soon be forgotten. We Palestinian people must support leaders who reject are heartened by the ongoing reconciliation in North - terror, embrace the institutions and ethos of democ - ern Ireland and hopeful that its success might be racy, and respect the rule of law. We call on Arab replicated in Cyprus. governments throughout the region to help advance that goal. Israel should not be expected to negotiate Russia with entities pledged to her destruction. We call on The heroism—and the suffering—of the people the new government in Egypt to fully uphold its peace of Russia over the last century demand the world’s treaty with Israel.

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The U.S. seeks a comprehensive and lasting virtually destroyed. We support the transition to a peace in the Middle East, negotiated between the par - post-Assad Syrian government that is representative ties themselves with the assistance of the U.S., with - of its people, protects the rights of all minorities and out the imposition of an artificial timetable. Essential religions, respects the territorial integrity of its neigh - to that process will be a just, fair, and realistic frame - bors, and contributes to peace and stability in the re - work for dealing with the issues that can be settled gion. We offer a continuing partnership with the on the basis of mutually agreed changes reflecting people of Iraq, who have endured extremist terror to today’s realities as well as tomorrow’s hopes. now have a chance to build their own security and democracy. We urge special efforts to preserve and The Challenges of a Changing Middle East protect the ethnic and religious diversity of their We recognize the historic nature of the events of nation. the past two years—the Arab Spring—that have un - Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability leashed democratic movements leading to the threatens America, Israel, and the world. That threat overthrow of dictators who have been menaces to has only become worse during the current Adminis - global security for decades. In a season of upheaval, tration. A continuation of its failed engagement it is necessary to be prepared for anything. That is policy with Iran will lead to nuclear cascade. In true on the ground in the Middle East, and it will be solidarity with the international community, America equally true in the next Administration, particularly must lead the effort to prevent Iran from building with a new President unbound by the failures of and possessing nuclear weapons capability. We the past. We welcome the aspirations of the Arab express our respect for the people of Iran, who seek peoples and others for greater freedom, and we peace and aspire to freedom. Their current regime hope that greater liberty—and with it, a greater is unworthy of them. It exports terror and provided chance for peace—will result from the recent weapons that killed our troops in Iraq. We affirm turmoil. Many governments in the region have given the unanimous resolution of the U.S. Senate calling substantial assistance to the U.S. over the last for “elections that are free, fair, and meet interna - decade because they understood that our struggle tional standards” and “a representative and respon - against terror is not an ethnic or religious fight, and sive democratic government that respects human that violent extremists are abusers of their faith, not rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law.” We urge its champions. the next Republican President to unequivocally On the other hand, radical elements like Hamas assert his support for the Iranian people as they and Hezbollah must be isolated because they do not protest their despotic regime. We must retain all meet the standards of peace and diplomacy of the in - options in dealing with a situation that gravely ternational community. We call for the restoration of threatens our security, our interests, and the safety Lebanon’s independence, which those groups have of our friends.

50 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

The Platform Committee

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus

Chairman Governor Bob McDonnell

Co-Chairmen Senator John Hoeven Congressman Marsha Blackburn

Subcommittee Chairs

Restoring the American Dream: Rebuilding the Economy and Creating Jobs Co-Chairman Jonathan Barnett Co-Chairman Lynn Fitch Co-Chairman Andy Puzder

We The People: A Restoration of Constitutional Government Co-Chairman Jim Bopp Co-Chairman Jane Timken

America’s Natural Resources: Energy, Agriculture and the Environment Co-Chairman Mary Dye Co-Chairman Ed Whitfield

Reforming Government to Serve the People Co-Chairman Jim Cawley Co-Chairman Rachel Kemp

Renewing American Values to Build Healthy Families, Great Schools and Safe Neighborhoods Co-Chairman Tom Luna Co-Chairman Carolyn McLarty Co-Chairman Sam Olens

American Exceptionalism Co-Chairman Donna Cain Co-Chairman Jim Talent

51 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

Committee Members

ALABAMA FLORIDA LOUISIANA Jacqueline Curtiss Allen Bense Ambia Baker Cam Ward Remedios Diaz Tony Perkins

ALASKA GEORGIA MAINE Ric Davidge Sue Everhart Linda Bean Debbie Joslin Sam Olens Mike Wallace

AMERICAN SAMOA GUAM MARYLAND Salote Schuster Arthur Boyd Clark Christian Cavey Brandon Smart Telo Taitague Kathy Szeliga

ARIZONA HAWAII MASSACHUSETTS Kip Kempton Lynne Hansen Jay Barrows Heather Sandstrom Philip Hellreich Rachel Kemp

ARKANSAS IDAHO MICHIGAN Jonathan Barnett Gayann DeMordaunt Krista Haroutunian Julie Harris Tom Luna Norm Shinkle

CALIFORNIA ILLINOIS MINNESOTA Andrew Puzder Steve Kim Kevin Erickson Audra Strickland Sharee Langenstein Juliette Jordal

COLORADO INDIANA MISSISSIPPI Suzanne Sharkey James Bopp Jr. Lynn Fitch Guy Short Deborah Fleming Delbert Hosemann

CONNECTICUT IOWA MISSOURI L. Scott Frantz Gopal T.K. Krishna Phyllis Schlafly Themis Klarides Kimberly Lehman Jim Talent

DELAWARE KANSAS MONTANA Ruth Briggs King Beverly Caley Mark Baker John Sigler Kris Kobach Tamara Hall

DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY NEBRASKA COLUMBIA Ed Whitfield Brian Buescher Teri Galvez Shirley Wiseman Darlene Starman Edward Newton

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NEVADA OKLAHOMA TEXAS Cynthia Kennedy Anthony Lauinger David Barton Pat Kerby Carolyn McLarty Denise McNamara

NEW HAMPSHIRE OREGON UTAH David Boutin Donna Cain Margaret Dayton Beverly Bruce Russ Walker Brad Dee

NEW JERSEY PENNSYLVANIA VERMONT Aubrey Fenton Jim Cawley Rick Cochran Lynda Pagliughi Joyce Haas Darcie Johnston

NEW MEXICO PUERTO RICO VIRGINIA James Damron Jorge San Miguel Chris Stearns Rocky Galassini Vanessa Viera Kathy Terry

NEW YORK RHODE ISLAND VIRGIN ISLANDS John Cahill Barbara Ann Fenton April Newland Adele Malpass Richard Ford Herbert Schoenbohm

NORTH CAROLINA SOUTH CAROLINA WASHINGTON Wayne King Randy Page Mary Dye Mary Summa LaDonna Ryggs Lew Moore

NORTH DAKOTA SOUTH DAKOTA WEST VIRGINIA Kyle Handegard Mary Jean Jensen Conrad Lucas II Paul Henderson Dana Randall WISCONSIN NORTHERN TENNESSEE Daniel Feyen MARIANA ISLANDS Marsha Blackburn Susan Lynch Ellsbeth Alepuyo Chris Devaney Juan Diego Blanco WYOMING Cynthia Cloud OHIO Dan Dockstader Clarence Mingo Jane Timken

53 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2012

Platform Staff Ben Key, Executive Director Elise Stefanik, Policy Director Bill Gribbin, Editor Gracey Roskam, Executive Assistant Bob Dove, Parliamentarian Laura Dove, Clerk Jeff Rosen, Counsel Tim Flanigan, Counsel Kirsten Kukowski, Press Secretary Gary Howard, Press Secretary Leslie Rutledge, RNC Associate Counsel Jon Waclawski, RNC Advisor and Associate Counsel Karen Portik, Graphic Designer Marcia Brown, Production

Administrative Team: Gregg Edgar, Brian O’Malley, Mallory Loring

Court Reporter: Raymond Heer III, Alderson Court Reporting

Policy Staff Economy Subcommittee Government Reform Subcommittee Andrew Olmem George Fishman Matt Weidinger Jonathan Slemrod

Restoring Constitutional Government Health, Education & Crime Ed Corrigan Cynthia Herrle William Henderson Mike O’Rielly Billy Gribbin Keith Studdard

Energy Subcommittee National Security Subcommittee Tony Eberhard Neil Bradley Mary Neumayr Robert Wilkie

Special thanks to the following for their valuable insights: Former Executive Directors: Ambassador John Bolton, 1984; William Martin, 1992; Judy VanRest, 1996; Mitch Bainwol, 2000; Anne Phelps, 2004; Steven Duffield, 2008

Former Policy Director: Candi Wolff, 2000

Senior Advisors: Tony Feather, James Tobin, Brian Noyes

Special thanks to: Betsy Ankney, Sara Armstrong, Julia Biebighauser, Tyler Brown, Britt Carter, Brittany Cohan, Cesar deGuzman, Sharon Day, Dirk Eyman, Mike Gilding, Wells Griffith, Bill Harris, Anne Hathaway, Rebecca Heilig, Aly Higgins, Colleen House, Mark Isaacson, Bettina Inclain, Jeff Larson, Jeremy Kenney, Tom Kise, Tory Maguire, James Min, Johanna Persing, Joe Pounder, Ryan Price, Matt Sauvage, Tim Schigel, Sean Spicer, Elizabeth Steil, Bill Steiner, Christine Samuelian, Matt Terrill, Jennifer Voldness, Rick Wiley, Larissa Ziemann and all our volunteers 54 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM We Believe in America

Y REPUBLICANREPUBLICAN

A NATIONALNATIONAL

B CONVENTIONCONVENTION

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PA P ★ ★ ★ M A A T T