Texas Republicans Have A Platform To Fear

The Texas Republican Party held its convention a couple of weeks ago in Dallas. To say the Texas branch of the Republican Party is right-wing is a vast understatement. They make Attila the Hun seem like a bleeding-heart liberal. It'll probably give you some idea of where they stand to know that one of the main speakers at their kick-off dinner was Rep. Michele Bachmann, the extremist right-winger from Minnesota.

But to really get the feel of how extreme the Texas Republicans are, one needs to read theTexas Republican Platform. Here are just a few of the things in that platform that these Republicans would like to see (and the comments in parentheses are mine):

* Want deep-water drilling to continue in the Gulf of Mexico and other places. (a crazy notion in the midst of the current oil disaster, and one that is at odds with the majority of Americans.)

* Want to abolish the Energy Department. (makes no sense in light of global climate change and our need to find and develop alternate energy sources.)

* Wants to abolish the Education Department. (this would give fundamentalist-controlled local school boards even more power - creationism anyone?)

* Wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and institute a national sales tax. (to protect the rich and put a greater percentage of the tax burden on the poor, working and middle classes.)

* Want to withdraw this country from the United Nations. (with a military budget like the U.S. has, who needs diplomacy?)

* Opposes the establishment of time-frames for withdrawal from Iraq or Afghanistan. (because eternal war is good for business and the dead soldiers are mainly poor, working class or minority.)

* Supports the "democratically-elected" governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. (they may be corrupt puppets, but they are our corrupt puppets.)

* Want to abolish Affirmative Action. (because the white power structure must be maintained.)

* Wants to eliminate the Endangered Species Act. (our grandkids wouldn't want to have those animals around taking up space that can be used by Big Business.)

* Want to outlaw driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. (will we be safer if all these drivers are unlicensed and uninsured?)

* Want to let religious organizations engage in politics without fear of losing their tax-exempt status and want to eliminate the separation of church and state. (because a theocracy is much better than a democracy.)

* Want to eliminate the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. (because business should be able to discriminate against anyone they want.)

* Want to abolish Supreme Court jurisdiction in abortion, religious issues and the Bill of Rights. (because rights are only for white christian males.)

* Want to require a presidential candidate to submit a birth certificate before they can be placed on the state's ballot. (the "birthers" are alive and well -- and Republican.)

* Want English adopted as the official language. (even though Spanish was spoken for hundreds of years in Texas before English was.)

* Want to abolish "no-fault divorce" laws. (because it should be difficult for a person to get out of an abusive marriage.)

* Want to ensure marriage can only be between a "natural man and a natural woman". (because equal rights shouldn't apply to all citizens.)

* Wants to re-institute sodomy laws and deny the Supreme Court the right to review the law. (in spite of the fact that both of these would be unconstitutional.)

* Want to make it a felony crime to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple. (if they have to force discrimination they are willing to do it.)

* Want all human life respected from fertilization to natural death. (a fancy way of saying a woman should not have the right to control over her own body.)

* Supports the death penalty and want to extend it to rape cases. (what happened to respect for human life until natural death?)

* Want to outlaw the sale and use of RU-486 and any other "morning-after pills". (but you can bet they'll oppose the government taking care of the unwanted babies this would cause.)

* Want to eliminate social security and the social security tax and transition to "private pensions". (because retirement should only be for those who can afford it -- not poor or working class folks.)

* Want to "defund, repeal and reject" the health care act passed by U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama. (because health care is a privilege for the rich -- not a right for everyone.)

* Oppose government mandating the vaccination of children. (because a plague every now and then is a good thing.)

* Oppose pre-school, kindergarten and any government programs dealing with early childhood development. (wouldn't want kids to actually be ready for school or they might learn to think for themselves.)

* Support "open carry" laws and oppose "Gun Free Zones". (because everyone should always be armed, especially in schools, bars, churches and courthouses.)

* Supports the formation of an armed state militia. (because you just can't have too many nuts carrying guns.)

* Want the Minimum Wage Law to be repealed. (because workers and families don't really need to have a decent standard of living.)

* Opposes the Fourteenth Amendment which gives citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. (especially brown people who may soon make whites a minority.)

* Opposes a Palestinian state being carved out of "historical Israel". (because that would lead to a two-state solution and peace in the Middle East).

These are just a few of the nutty ideas proposed in the Texas Republican platform. Does this sound like the kind of America you want to live in and leave for your children? I urge you to go read this very scary document in its entirety. The America these people want to create would be a terrible place for anyone not white, male and rich.

The Republicans don't just want a return to the 1950s -- they want to go all the way back to the 1850s. Is there any remaining doubt that the Republican Party in Texas has been taken over by right-wing extremist fringe elements?