As a Republican, Have YOU read the Republican Platform?

As a Republican, Do You Know what the Republican Party’s Platform really is?

By Lori York

Well, I will admit, I DON’T.  Vickie Tonkins, Chair of the El Paso County Republicans spoke at the January Republican Women’s meeting, and she challenged us with several items.   This one question spoke to me.  So, I found the Platform written out on the El Paso County Republican website (is it on the Montezuma County Republicans website? No, it is not.) It was written in 2016 and it is 66 printed pages long.

There is a one page “preamble” which states the main points. I will mention of few of them:

“We believe America is exceptional because of our historic role-first as a refuge, then as defender, and now as exemplar of liberty for the world to see” YES!  Is that why the enemy is trying to erase or change our history? 

“We believe in the Constitution as our founding document.

We believe the Constitution was written not as a flexible document, but as our enduring covenant” YES. The enemy believes it is flexible, and they can interpret it any way that suits their needs. They are wrong.

We believe our constitutional system-limited government, separation of powers, federalism, and the rights of the people-must be preserved uncompromised for future generations” Isn’t this what the Founding Fathers believed?

“We believe that people are the ultimate resource-and that the people, not the government, are the best stewards of our country’s God-given natural resources. “WE THE PEOPLE.  YES. The government is supposed to work for us, right?

As Americans and as Republicans we wish for peace-so we insist on strength. We will make America safe. We seek friendship with all peoples and all nations, but we recognize and are prepared to deal with evil in the world.”   Peace through strength. The foundation of Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy.

Then the authors of this platform go on to show the path to making America great and united again. The next 54 pages discuss the changes/regulations/laws passed in the previous (Obama) administration that began the destruction of our country, and what we need to do to turn this around. I don’t know about you, but during those years I was busy running a business, working crazy hours, and not paying attention to what was going on in Washington DC.   There were a few times when I heard something, and I thought “WHAT the heck are they doing in DC?”  and then shrugged my shoulders and went on with my busy life.  Read these 54 pages and you can see all the damage that was done. And We the People ignored it.   

The federal Debt is discussed on page 8.   They state, “we must impose firm caps on future debt, accelerate the repayment of the trillions we now owe in order to reaffirm our principles of responsible and limited government, and remove the burdens we are placing on future generations” Gosh, What a great concept!  I think we need to send this page to the 120 or so “Republicans” in Congress that just voted to pass another CR with increased spending.  

Also, “In a free society, the primary role of government is to protect the God-given, inalienable rights of its citizens.  These constitutional rights are not negotiable for an American. We affirm that all legislation, regulation, and official actions must conform to the Constitution’s original meaning as understood at the time the language was adopted” Ask the J6ers how their rights have been protected (they haven’t). We, as citizens, must know and understand our Constitution and what it means.  There are many online courses available to help us do this. 

They (finally) state on page 13 “we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed” There it is. The republican party believes in the Right to Life.

There is so much in this platform that is eye-opening.  I do not believe that most of our “Republican” elected officials know this platform and come even close to abiding by it.

Do our Elected Officials follow the Constitution?  NO

Do they want America to be safe?  NO

Do they believe that The People, not government, are stewards of our Natural resources? NO

I could go on & on…..

OH! And the Colorado Republican Party Platform is just TWO paragraphs.  Basically, it says, “We follow many of the traditional views of the Republican Party” and (we) pride ourselves “in applying the US Constitution to the state of Colorado.” That sounds like someone threw that together in about 5 minutes.

We need to work hard to bring back free and fair elections so that the People can elect candidates that truly believe these ideals and are strong enough to follow them.   Let us begin to look closely at the candidates running for office now and ask them if they will follow the Republican Platform.  We can start with electing County Precinct Co-Chairs on March 7 that believe in the Constitution and agree to follow the Republican Platform.  Then these Precinct Co-Chairs can look to elect Republican Executive Committee Members that believe the same.