OK GOP platform

The Oklahoma Republican Party holds its state convention this weekend - one of the events that is scheduled to take place is a vote on the state party's platform.

I have seen an advance copy of a draft of the proposed platform - officially the "Report of the Oklahoma Republican Party Platform Committee 2009" - for the party that is supposed to stand for smaller government: it is 29 pages long! I suppose that should be considered an improvement over the inches-thick monstrosity the party adopted several years ago.

If anyone is laboring under the illusion that the OK GOP does not want to micro-manage the lives of individual Oklahomans every bit as much as - if not more than - the Democrats - this document goes a long way toward smashing that idea.

The document also makes it very clear what the motivation for that micro-management is: Religion. It should come as no surprise that the chairs of the platform committee are well-known theocrats: Randy Brogdon and Kevin Calvey.

Here are some highlights:

As Republicans we believe:
1. Our rights of life, liberty, and property are natural rights granted to us by God and protected by the Constitution.
4. God is the Author and Creator of life and that all human life, both born and unborn, should be protected.
5. In traditional marriage consisting of one man and one woman.

I. FAMILY
Preamble:
Traditional marriage, consisting of one man and one woman, is designed to provide for each family member’s physical, emotional, financial, spiritual, and social well-being. Both parents are needed to support and encourage happiness, health, and a good education for their children, creating the next generation of citizens who are constructive members of society. Multi-generational families foster mutual respect and cooperation while providing support for extended family members and forming enduring relationships. We believe God is the Author and Creator of human life and that each individual should be treated with dignity and compassion. We insist that any candidate receiving money and/or support from the Republican Party shall affirm and promote the Pro-Life concept.

" . . . each individual should be treated with dignity and compassion." Does that include Gays and Lesbians?

2. We believe in the sanctity and value of human life from conception through natural death. We oppose abortion (including the use of RU-486 or other abortion-inducing drugs), partial-birth abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, mercy killings, embryonic stem-cell research, cloning, distribution of cloned parts, and the funding of such by the government. We believe that human embryos created by Invitro-Fertilization (IVF) are fully human and if not wanted by the genetic parents, should be preserved until adoption. We support a Constitutional Amendment protecting innocent human life.

D. Elderly and Vulnerable
1. We support the origin and sanctity of life as an inalienable right from God alone, and as being defined in the Constitution of the United States. This definition of life begins with conception and ends at natural death due to the failure of the body to survive it’s environment. We support the protection of those who cannot defend themselves including the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly.

E. Religious Freedom
1. Our Founding Fathers based our Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and early laws on the Bible and on traditional Judeo-Christian ethics and values. We believe these documents are the basis for law, order, and behavior, allowing individuals, including government workers and officials, the freedom to involve God in all activities according to their conscience.

Please explain to me how individualism, Capitalism and the right to pursue happiness have anything to do with "traditional Judeo-Christian ethics and values". To assert that they do is an out-and-out lie.

F. General
1. We oppose the promotion of homosexuality, the elimination of laws against sodomy, and the granting of minority protection or special status to any person based upon sexual preference or lifestyle choices.
2. We believe that homosexuality is not a genetic trait but a chosen lifestyle.

Anyone who opposes the elimination of sodomy laws cannot claim to support the principle of individual rights.

We call for individuals, families, churches, and private organizations to take responsibility in meeting the needs of the citizens of the community.

Oh my, this does sound suspiciously like Obama's "community organizing" idea. In other words, you want everyone to meddle in everyone else's lives - that is, to be their brother's keeper (now there's a traditional Judeo-Christian value).

We encourage rigorous enforcement of all anti-pornography laws.

So much for freedom of speech and press.

II. EDUCATION
Preamble:
We acknowledge our dependence upon Almighty God and ask His blessings upon our students and their parents, teachers and nation. It is the right and responsibility of parents to direct their children’s upbringing and education whether public, private, charter, or home school, without interference, regulation, or penalty from the government.

The primary goal of public schools should be to teach proficiency in the basic subjects of phonicsbased reading, written and oral communication, mathematics, sciences, traditional history, including our founding documents, the Godly heritage of our nation, and critical thinking skills.

I'd watch out for those "critical thinking skills" if I were you. They can turn around and bite you.

The traditional family unit, consisting of a (husband) man, (wife) woman and child(ren), is the foundation of our social structure. The Oklahoma Department of Education and various Boards of Regents should uphold and teach this definition of traditional family at all levels of public school and higher education.

The Ten Commandments should be posted in all public schools as a means of moral guidance along with our national motto “In God We Trust” and the Bill of Rights.

How is this going to do anything but confuse those who are developing their "critical thinking skills" when they see how much the Bill of Rights clashes with the Ten Commandments? Hmm?

Public schools shall not prohibit the Judeo-Christian worldview upon which our country was founded. Public schools shall be prohibited from promoting other worldviews such as, but not limited to, secular Humanism, New Age philosophy, deep ecology, reincarnation,psychotherapy, channeling, transcendental meditation, altered states of consciousness or any occult practice.

Oh really? I suppose that includes Objectivism and the works of Ayn Rand?

We believe that the scientific evidence supporting Intelligent Design and biblical creation should be included in the Oklahoma public school curricula, and where any evolution theory is taught, that both should receive equal funding, class time, and material. Teachers should have the freedom to cover creation science without fear of intimidation or reprimand.

Why does this not surprise me?

Any mandated sex education shall hold to the following guidelines:
a. Neither homosexual nor extramarital sexual activity shall be presented as safe, nor shall they be presented as morally or socially acceptable behaviors.
b. HIV shall be presented as incurable and fatal.
c. Abstinence or lifetime fidelity shall be presented as the only safe sexual practice.
9. We oppose the portrayal of homosexual or promiscuous behavior in a positive light in public schools.

A. Crime and Punishment
1. We believe that the final solution to all crime is a change of heart and support the utilization of Christian faith-based and privately-financed programs to reduce recidivism and for the treatment of drug offenders as an alternative to prison.

I guess prisoners don't deserve any religious freedom.

IV. FEDERAL
Preamble:
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land and should be interpreted according to the original intent of the founding fathers. We call for reaffirmation of our God-given rights enumerated in the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. Our founding fathers based the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and early laws on traditional Judeo-Christian Bible, ethics and values. We believe that these documents are the basis for law, order, and
behavior, allowing individuals, including government officials, the freedom to involve God in all activities according to their consciences.

D. Constitutional Issues
1. We affirm our right under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to exercise our freedom of speech including religious speech. We believe the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause was intended to prevent a state-sponsored or preferred religion, not to separate God from our government or to remove religion from public life.

Hmmm . . . they don't want "state-sponsored or preferred religion". But how do they feel about laws that promote the views of a specific religion?

The whole document begins with this statement:

"We believe in limited government, individual liberty, and personal moral responsibility."

This is pure hypocrisy: anyone who genuinely believed that individuals were responsible for their own moral judgement would not do everything they could to prevent individuals from exercising their own moral judgement. Yet this proposed platform does just exactly that.

And I damn them for it.

I have just one thing to say to the Republicans of Oklahoma: Marilyn Musgrave. Don't think it can't happen here.