HOME
DV NEWS
SERVICE ARCHIVE SUBMISSIONS/CONTACT ABOUT DV
So Exactly
Which Provisions of the Texas GOP Platform
Does
George Bush Disagree With?
by
Ralph Nader
October
6, 2003
"The
Platform is the Party's contract with the people." This noble sentiment
has been used by both Republicans and Democrats in characterizing their state
and national party Platforms over the decades. It can become an embarrassing
yardstick for any Party that lives a double life.
Consider
President Bush and his Texas State Republican Platform of 2002 which is still
in effect. The authors and endorsers of this lengthy document were taking no
chances. It says crisply that each "Republican candidate for a public or
Party office shall be provided a current copy of the Party platform at the time
of filing. The candidate shall be asked to read and initial each page of the
platform and sign a statement affirming he/she has read the entire
platform."
Signing on
the dotted line is connected with the Party giving the candidate financial and
other support.
Then
follows policy after policy of great specificity in direct opposition to what
the Bush Administration is doing and not doing. For example, the Texas
Republican Party demands that Washington repeal NAFTA and GATT and get out of
the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. It is adamant against any
gathering, accumulation and dissemination of personal data and information on
law-abiding citizens by business and governments. It wants "all
citizens" to be free from government surveillance of their electronic
communications.
In a slam
against Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Texas Party believes that "the
current greatest threat to our individual liberties is overreaching government
controls established under the guise of preventing terrorism."
Remember,
this is the Texas state Republican Party. It is President Bush's Party -- the
organization that launched his political career to the Governorship and beyond.
His friends and political allies run this Party.
So it is
remarkable to read that the Platform demands the "elimination of
presidential authority to issue executive orders, presidential decision
directives. . . .and a repeal of all previous executive orders and
administrative mandates." This policy would handcuff both George W. Bush
and John Ashcroft.
In
opposition to President Bush, his state Party insists that social security
funds "should not be commingled or spent with general revenues or invested
in private or public corporate stock." And it adds, Social Security
benefits should "be non-taxable," until private pensions replace
social security.
Talk about
abolishing government! The Texas Republican Party wants to terminate the U.S.
Department of Education, (there goes Bush's Leave No Child Behind hoax), the
Internal Revenue Service, along with the elimination of the personal income
tax, inheritance tax, corporate income tax, payroll tax and the minimum wage.
That is not all. The Party wants to close down the Department of Health and
Human Services, Commerce, Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and for good measure, the
"position of Surgeon General."
The
Platform has one demand that is quite sensible -- namely "The Party does
not support governmental subsidies, tariffs, bailouts, or other forms of
corporate welfare [including sports stadiums] that are used to protect and
preserve businesses or industries that have failed to remain relevant,
competitive, and efficient over time."
President
Bush made his fortune by getting Texas taxpayers to pay for the Texas Rangers's
new baseball stadium. His government now expands corporate welfare on the backs
of individual taxpayers, while allowing huge tax escapes for large
multinational corporations.
If you
want to read more, long onto www.texasgop.org/library/RPTPlatform2002.pdf.
But if you've read this far, you may be asking how did this astonishing Texas
GOP vs. Bush come about. It has to do with the double life of the Republican
Party -- the main party dominated by corporatists and the adjunct Party relying
on conservatives and libertarians to produce the margin of votes for victory in
elections.
The
corporatist Republicans give the platforms and the core ideological issues to
the conservatives, pat them on the back at convention time and then move into
office with the welcome mat for Big Business lobbyists and their slush funds.
This
duplicity is illustrated by the large contributions that the national
Republican Party takes from the gambling industry in return for political
support. In contrast, the Texas Party Platform states that "gambling has
had a devastating impact on many Texas families" and opposes "any
further legalization, government facilitation, or financial guarantees relating
to any type of gambling. . . "
In a
letter to President Bush, I called on him to engage in truth-in-advertising and
let the voters of this country know which provisions of his own state Party's
Platform he endorses and which ones he opposes. For all its faults, the media
does not like forked tongues and will sooner or later demand
"clarification."
As for the
Democratic Party, why didn't it make hay with this Platform, as the Republicans
surely would have if the shoe was on the other foot. Why? Because the
Democratic Party IS hay.
Ralph Nader is America’s
leading consumer advocate. He is the founder of numerous public interest groups
including Public Citizen, and has twice
run for President as a Green Party candidate. His
latest book is Crashing the Party: How to Tell the Truth and Still Run for
President (St. Martin’s Press, 2002)
* Congress
Hears This Call: The Fight Against Intrusive Telemarketing
* How
About Using A “People” Yardstick to Rank States?
* Physicians
for a National Health Program, Cable De-regulation
* The Corporatist
Democratic Leadership Council
* Citizen-centric
E-Government
* Has the American
Enterprise Institute Lost Contact with Reality?
* Tax
Cuts While Problems of Homeless Grow
* Giving Our
Airwaves to the Media Moguls
* Let
Technology Work for People