This seems like the conservative version of a hissy fit. This need to control others is sociopathic.
66
Every American who understands the meaning of Democracy must make sure that anyone who is seduced by Trump be made to understand the dangerous tone of the Republican party platform. They are calling for nothing less than a Christian state which will only serve the interests of white Christian men. How does that square with Trump's promise to help America become great? A retrogressive platform will only produce a backward nation and will effectively end the evolution of Democracy as a progressive force that champions liberty and justice for all.
53
I'm tired of the GOPers imposing their faux morality on the rest of us when they can't even keep their pants zipped; Trump, Gingrich,etc. I have some gay and lesbian friends who are in more stable, longer lasting relationships than these bozos.
78
After the convention you will be able to drown the GOP in a bathtub.)
14
Thank God!(platform going far right!)
4
The GOP is tone deaf, completely without eye sockets and brainless.
Their platform harkens back to the dark ages and then some.
How in God's name did these (suspect mostly white men) ever get to be representatives in congress and who do they think they are representing?
Their platform harkens back to the dark ages and then some.
How in God's name did these (suspect mostly white men) ever get to be representatives in congress and who do they think they are representing?
21
I have no objection to the Bible being taught in schools as long as emphasis is placed on its philosophical content, not as a prop to support a particular "religious" dogma. Perhaps this should be done from at least the high school level up for those who are scholastically and emotionally mature enough to process such information. Ditto for other holy books. This is just part of promoting a well-informed populace, not to promote any theocratic ideology or dogma. Then we will know the difference between what such books actually say versus the ravings of extremist ideologues.
9
You know, maybe it's time to just accept the fact that there are two Americas. Accept reality. Let's have two new constitutional conventions, the current Constitution permits this. Conservatives can meet and develop several Constitutional Amendments to be taken as inseparable additions to the current U.S. Constitution (e.g., the Republican Platform) and Liberals can do the same. Then we have a vote. Do you want your state to remain in the United States, keeping the existing Constitution, as amended by the liberals in their convention, or do you want your state to leave the existing Union and form the Theocratic and Plutocratic States of America? This works for me, and I'll shed absolutely no tears when Texas, et.al. vote to leave.
37
"...“natural marriage” between a man and a woman is most likely to result in offspring who do not become drug-addicted or otherwise damaged".... Are they serious? How many of their sons and daughters end up as addicts or drug,/alcohol abusers? Wasn't the bush girls caught drinking while underage?
If you are a religious person then that is fine, but that does not give you the right to force your religious beliefs on everyone else. It amazes me how some on the far right will condemn those who do not agree with them on marriage or sexuality. Is porn also in the Bible?? How is prorn a menace to society??? Guns/ low wage increases/ the top 1% hoarding all of the money...now those are issues.
If you are a religious person then that is fine, but that does not give you the right to force your religious beliefs on everyone else. It amazes me how some on the far right will condemn those who do not agree with them on marriage or sexuality. Is porn also in the Bible?? How is prorn a menace to society??? Guns/ low wage increases/ the top 1% hoarding all of the money...now those are issues.
32
SOOOOOO.... the R's have decided to go back to the 1800's for their platform?
22
Apparently, the Republican Party wants to go back to the year 1952. Perhaps someone should remind them that the top marginal tax rate in 1952 was 92%.
75
One wonders how much if this platform Putin actually wrote.
21
Remember that these "values" will be implemented at the state level to the extent the Supreme Court permits. The GOP controls most states, as well as both the US House and Senate. We should be concerned about the "Afghanistanization" of the US via the GOP. These people are crazy and highly motivated. Vigilance is required. And they have already shown a refusal to staff the judiciary, which is critical to maintaining Constitutional freedoms against the relentless GOP assaults on the public school system, facts in textbooks, public safety, women, gays, non-Christians, the poor, transgender, people of color, immigrants, scientists, voting rights, doctors, and basic regulations of polution, minimum wages etc. It's serious business and we need to fight this, not snicker at it. These wackos have gained enormous power over the last 20 years and they show no sign of slowing down. If the Democrats can't take back the Senate, the Supreme Court will eventually be down to Roberts and whoever else isn't dead yet.
51
If it looks like fascism and it sounds like fascism,
Maybe??
Maybe??
50
That's the Democratic Party platform. Just down the hall to the left.
8
This platform won't affect Trump, because he'll just ignore it on the campaign trail, but it *will* affect many down ticket candidates in swing states and districts. I expect that their opponents will be putting that wording before the voters every chance they get. I don't think it will matter all that much, but in a few close races it may cost them.
19
Republicans like to claim that they are a party of family values, personal responsibility, small government, less regulation and low taxes. However, Donald Trump has exposed the whole facade and shown that it is all about bigotry and xenophobia. Trump voters don't care about the "party platform." As long as he keeps promising to keep the Mexicans and Muslims out, they'll vote for him.
15
When they small government they mean for straight white Evangelical billionaire gun owners. Anyone else needs a hefty dose of Uncle Sam (or really Uncle Jesus) on the taxpayer dime.
16
The GOP platform can easily fit in any of the conservative Muslim societies of this world, it is funny how they used to go ballistic over some imaginary Shariah law in USA when they themselves are crafting an American Shariah. Replace Allah with God and there is no difference between conservative ideologies espoused by House of Saud and GOP. GOP and its clown nominee should look at history and also the ongoing clash between modernity/secularism and conservative ideology (Islam etc), modernity has always trump-ed (forgive the pun!) old ideologies. A ridiculous platform with a clown candidate, not the recipe for success GOP!
31
"The definition of insanity..."
20
This is a surprise? The Republican Party is the party of religious intolerance, ignorance, anti-science, creationism ,bigotry, possibly the most Anti-American ( hidden behind "patriotism")party in the history of our country.
40
What is wrong with these people, they are as bad as the Taliban! Talk about retrogressive. It's like they ignore what has been happening around them for the last 100 years. I guess if you are a fundamentalist Christian it would sound pretty good but apart from that, hard to see how anyone living in the western world today could abide them or take them seriously. But then again, the US is a big country and Trump did win the primaries so I guess anything can happen.
34
Could they BE more obsessed with other people's sexual behavior and sexuality? What does any of this have to do with jobs and the economy?
48
Republicans haven't cared about jobs since at least 1980.
21
"“natural marriage” between a man and a woman is most likely to result in offspring who do not become drug-addicted or otherwise damaged." Well yes, as far as I know, it does take a man and a woman to produce offspring of any kind, LGBTQ and addicts included.
Their intolerance is really crushing and in a word - un-American and I trust the electorate as a whole will see through this so called 'Plank'.
Their intolerance is really crushing and in a word - un-American and I trust the electorate as a whole will see through this so called 'Plank'.
19
I look forward to the article on Hillary Clinton who breaks out in black accent when addressing African American audiences and who routinely panders to black audiences.
2
What???? If anyone ever doubted that many (if not most) Trump supporters were motivated by his implicit racism, this comment should remove such doubts.
16
Just heard an NPR report on this platform....platform committee members said this platform is for traditional family values and not against the LGBT community..."we welcome them into our party...we are inclusive...words prevent me from expressing the hypocrisy that is the Republican Party.
If they had their way slavery and/or segregation would still exist because it is a states right.
Doonesbury mocks the Republican Party by saying that it is the party of hard working white people who yearn for the 1950's. He usually says it with a bit of cynicism...I now think he is totally serious.
The Republican Party is stuck in the middle of 20th century (or 19th) and cannot seem to adapt to the realities of our new and rapidly changing world. Their insistence on old world solutions especially to social problems (there is no race problem, no gun control, no LGBT rights, no reproductive rights) is not small minded but dangerous to the progress of this country.
Their response to the demographics of this country rapidly changing over a generation is to gerrymander and restrict the voting franchise. The Supreme Court made it easy....for that reason alone the country should not vote for their policies.
I will take mistaken email server practices over what the Republicans are offering right now....RBG was right--I wonder what New Zealand or Australia is like?
If they had their way slavery and/or segregation would still exist because it is a states right.
Doonesbury mocks the Republican Party by saying that it is the party of hard working white people who yearn for the 1950's. He usually says it with a bit of cynicism...I now think he is totally serious.
The Republican Party is stuck in the middle of 20th century (or 19th) and cannot seem to adapt to the realities of our new and rapidly changing world. Their insistence on old world solutions especially to social problems (there is no race problem, no gun control, no LGBT rights, no reproductive rights) is not small minded but dangerous to the progress of this country.
Their response to the demographics of this country rapidly changing over a generation is to gerrymander and restrict the voting franchise. The Supreme Court made it easy....for that reason alone the country should not vote for their policies.
I will take mistaken email server practices over what the Republicans are offering right now....RBG was right--I wonder what New Zealand or Australia is like?
19
They want Sharia law with Jesus' face on it...
36
The 2020 venue for the Republican Convention should be held in Kentucky at the Creation Museum.
45
And brontosaurus burgers will be available at any fast food kiosk.
31
To counteract the Democrat Party which has gone Far Left.
1
Rockefeller Republicans, Circa 1960:
Economically opposed to socialism and government ownership of businesses, supported organized labor, some regulations on business. Supported investment in education, health care, and infrastructure, low-cost public universities. Supporters of Wall Street and big business.
Socially supportive of civil rights, feminism, reproductive rights.
Democrats, Circa 2016: See above...
Economically opposed to socialism and government ownership of businesses, supported organized labor, some regulations on business. Supported investment in education, health care, and infrastructure, low-cost public universities. Supporters of Wall Street and big business.
Socially supportive of civil rights, feminism, reproductive rights.
Democrats, Circa 2016: See above...
18
I'll go for that when hell freezes over. Much of their platform involves the Republican party - and the government - sticking its nose into our most personal affairs, in the most intrusive ways. That is a dog that absolutely does not hunt.
If a school wants to offer a course in comparative religion, or a course in the Bible as literature, that's one thing. What the Republicans want is something else entirely; teaching the Bible in the context they want is best left to parents, at home. What the Republicans want is no better than what ISIS wants, perhaps - for the moment - with a little less bloodshed. If those people have ever read the First Amendment, it's clear to me that they do not understand it.
The Republican National Convention will be interesting to watch, as they take another huge step toward political self-immolation.
Here in Colorado, the Republicans hit a low back in 2010 with the Dan Maes/Tom "Ol' 1Y" Tancredo/Ken "Buck-pedalin'" Buck fiascoes. The best they can do these days, especially at the local machine level, is put up Obama chimp memes
https://www.theguardian.com/…/colorado-delta-county-republi…
and go on rants about blacks ... and they are still on the 'Obama is a Muslim' kick.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/republicans-facebook-post_b…
Time for a change. We need a political party whose platform is 'justice for all.' Neither party is capable of that, especially the Republicans.
If a school wants to offer a course in comparative religion, or a course in the Bible as literature, that's one thing. What the Republicans want is something else entirely; teaching the Bible in the context they want is best left to parents, at home. What the Republicans want is no better than what ISIS wants, perhaps - for the moment - with a little less bloodshed. If those people have ever read the First Amendment, it's clear to me that they do not understand it.
The Republican National Convention will be interesting to watch, as they take another huge step toward political self-immolation.
Here in Colorado, the Republicans hit a low back in 2010 with the Dan Maes/Tom "Ol' 1Y" Tancredo/Ken "Buck-pedalin'" Buck fiascoes. The best they can do these days, especially at the local machine level, is put up Obama chimp memes
https://www.theguardian.com/…/colorado-delta-county-republi…
and go on rants about blacks ... and they are still on the 'Obama is a Muslim' kick.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/republicans-facebook-post_b…
Time for a change. We need a political party whose platform is 'justice for all.' Neither party is capable of that, especially the Republicans.
6
I guess the Trumpster has freed the Rs to say what they always wanted but were afraid to express openly.
13
Too busy rockin' in the free world, to think, to care, to listen. Or to understand why they are circling the drain.
10
The anger of Trump supporters might be legitimate in its effect, but Trump supporters clearly are lousy at producing verifiable cause.
Where is their anger at the GOP for focusing on abortion and gay people at the expense of jobs and the economy?
Where was their anger when the Democrats, in 2011, tried to get legislation passed that would have punished the hiring of undocumented people and the Republicans shouted “No!”?
Why must everyone lift up themselves up by their own bootstraps when times are tough EXCEPT Trump supporters, who permit themselves to blame everyone else for their misery?
Where is their anger at the GOP for focusing on abortion and gay people at the expense of jobs and the economy?
Where was their anger when the Democrats, in 2011, tried to get legislation passed that would have punished the hiring of undocumented people and the Republicans shouted “No!”?
Why must everyone lift up themselves up by their own bootstraps when times are tough EXCEPT Trump supporters, who permit themselves to blame everyone else for their misery?
17
Insanity is... never mind. Wow!! no wonder the party is dying. But I am happy with the platform they've adopted, this will only hasten its demise. Good riddance. After reading this, I almost think ordinary republicans made a good choice by picking Trump.
It's bewildering in one way, but is it really? Bill Maher is right. This party concerns itself more with the after world than the real world. The adopted platform proves it. They must know that don't have much chance of winning elections in an increasingly diverse country. Clearly they are less concerned about building a better America. They care more about ingratiating themselves in His eyes. In that sense, they aren't really much different from ISIS.
It's bewildering in one way, but is it really? Bill Maher is right. This party concerns itself more with the after world than the real world. The adopted platform proves it. They must know that don't have much chance of winning elections in an increasingly diverse country. Clearly they are less concerned about building a better America. They care more about ingratiating themselves in His eyes. In that sense, they aren't really much different from ISIS.
20
Republicans have given the American people an immense gift. They have telegraphed just how Republican Congressmen and Senators will exercise their leadership if elected. If Americans want leaders who will impose the Biblical mandates of fundamentalist Christianity on a secular society they know precisely who to vote for. If Americans want an end to civil rights for the LGBT community they know who to vote for. If Americans want Christianity to be taught in public schools as a mandated curriculum, they now who to vote for. If Americans want a new age of censorship to root out pornography from books and media, they know who to vote for. Who could ask for a better voter's guide to the November election? Good work GOP!
29
The GOP has one and only one platform: Keep things the same. Aptly named, they are the "conservative" party. They are NOT for reducing government. They are NOT for states' rights. They are NOT for liberty. The TRUE right. Those who actually want to restore America, are called Libertarians. Stop voting for these fools.
5
American Taliban.
19
It sounds like the Republican Platform only needs to add beheadings as a capital punishment and we'll have our own version of ISIS right here in the US.
19
The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.” It also encourages the teaching of the Bible in public schools...”
Is this the GOP or the Taliban?
Is this the GOP or the Taliban?
20
What's the difference?
12
Republicans call pornography "a public health crisis and “a public menace” that is especially harmful to children, as opposed to say, unfettered access to GUNS and ASSAULT WEAPONS.
33
...and there are still "undecideds"?
8
The GOP has one and only one platform: Keep things the same.
Aptly named, they are the "conservative" party. They are NOT for reducing government. They are NOT for states' rights. They are NOT for liberty.
The TRUE right. Those who actually want to restore America, are called Libertarians. Stop voting for these fools. Stop voting for socialism.
Aptly named, they are the "conservative" party. They are NOT for reducing government. They are NOT for states' rights. They are NOT for liberty.
The TRUE right. Those who actually want to restore America, are called Libertarians. Stop voting for these fools. Stop voting for socialism.
2
It's as if they WANT Hillary to win.
13
An article that summarizes why I left the republican party and won't return.
12
So GOP has learned nothing. Got it. The Party that claims it wants less gov't and out of our bedrooms, wants the exact opposite by dictating, morals, religion, sex preferences, etc... In short they completely lie to everyone including themselves about what they stand for... the GOP are walking Oxy-Moron's.
It just blows my mind how anyone can say one thing, believe in another, then do something else. Talk about the party of lunacy.
It just blows my mind how anyone can say one thing, believe in another, then do something else. Talk about the party of lunacy.
8
Being a black woman, this platform terrifies me. I don't want to go back to the America that kept my college-educated father from accepting a job in 1950s Mississippi because he and my mother were frightened for their baby daughter (me). If this platform doesn't galvanize Democrats, then I don't know what will. Bernie supporters, it's this or Hillary. When you say you can't vote for her, then you are putting our country in peril.
23
Clinton will do the same in more subtle ways like she has done already. She believes the Confederate lie of the "Lost Cause". She has done more actual harm to blacks and minorities than these proposals have yet to do. The country is already in peril with these two candidates.
3
They should move the convention to Northern Kentucky and have it on the Ark Encounter alongside the replicas of dinosaurs. https://arkencounter.com/
12
Will the NYT be doing a complimentary article on how far to the left the Democratic platform is? Has it happened already and I've missed it?
In general, I am beginning to see that the Democrats share none of my values or beliefs. It is going to be tough times between now and november.
In general, I am beginning to see that the Democrats share none of my values or beliefs. It is going to be tough times between now and november.
1
So you want to live back in the dark ages do you?
If public campaign reform; consumer protections; strong environmental laws; determination to protect social security and strengthen Medicare and Medicaid; decrease taxes for the middle class and increase taxes for high earners is far left, then you may as well leave the Democratic party. You certainly have lost you way; as much as the GOP has.
If public campaign reform; consumer protections; strong environmental laws; determination to protect social security and strengthen Medicare and Medicaid; decrease taxes for the middle class and increase taxes for high earners is far left, then you may as well leave the Democratic party. You certainly have lost you way; as much as the GOP has.
10
Only the GOP could look at Donald Trump and say "Not bigoted enough for us!"
24
sanxit - sanity's exit.
10
Somebody should check Tony Perkins closet- he is writing "conversion therapy" for gay citizens, a throughly discredited practice into the GOP platform. He gave a 2001 speech in Louisiana to The Concerned Citizens Council, designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He also gave cover to Josh Duggar who directed the Family Research Council while Mr. Dugger was run out for being a pedophile. Duggar later confessed his porn addiction.
Does this person sound like the right guy to write the party platform for a major American political party? Maybe they just want to lose in a landslide.
Does this person sound like the right guy to write the party platform for a major American political party? Maybe they just want to lose in a landslide.
12
I hope you are right...there are too many in this country gullible enough to buy what Trump is selling...he is doing the same thing he did for Trump University, bankruptcies, golf courses....
Some where W.C. Fields is smiling....there is a sucker born every minute.
Some where W.C. Fields is smiling....there is a sucker born every minute.
11
The GOP just tried to can our Constitution in their platform.
8
Trump vs. GOP. Hard to say which is worse. Somebody please wake me up from this nightmare.
10
More progressive than I thought. Nothing in there about restricting women's or Black's right to vote.
9
That's only because restricting Black's right to vote has never left their agenda.
15
Republicans are stuck in a rabbit hole incapable of adapting or accepting the facts of the world. I'm afraid of where this is heading. I feel badly for anyone mired in this situation.
6
Actually this Republican platform is very refreshing. We don't have to read phrases like 'family values' and 'respect for all life'. The starkness of the wording is easier to understand and digest. No more wondering about what they really mean. It is very clear. Thank you!
14
How is the draft platform on social issues different from the ideology of the Taliban? Both the G.O.P. and the Taliban believe that their religious beliefs should be imposed on society.
19
This is precisely why I abandoned the GOP ten years ago. They might as well be their own caliphate
17
Perhaps this will be viewed through the lens of time as one of the defining moments when the vast majority of moderates in the Country realized how out of touch the far right is with American's views, Fascist or no Trump.
6
Where are the people of good will, common sense and independence in today's Republican Party? We are fighting wars against religious extremism, people who want to teach their children in religious schools and put their God in every measure of society. It's all just a ploy for power. The type of thinking expressed in the Republican Party's platform regarding religion mirrors the widespread problem in Islam today, "too much "God says so" and not enough secular law based on human rights as similarly ascribed in our own Constitution.
The Republican Party is off the rails. What will the damage to our nation be?
The Republican Party is off the rails. What will the damage to our nation be?
16
This must be the worst time in relatively recent history things have been so bad for America. The Republican Party has gone off the deep end; and the Democratic Party is rife with pandering lies. Neither scenario plays out well for the People. How much lower can America sink?
1
“Republican delegates neared approval of a party platform that is staunchly conservative in matters of gender, sexuality and marriage.”
Good! The farther to the extreme right, the better it looks for Hillary and more troubles for the megalomaniac.
Good! The farther to the extreme right, the better it looks for Hillary and more troubles for the megalomaniac.
6
(keep liberals busy with frivolous lawsuits while we plunder the economy again)
13
Wow, I didn't get to vote in the 1956 election the first time around.
30
What a shame this medieval platform will have to be combated by someone looked upon by many as a hypocrite, liar and sellout. It's been observed that Trump is the best thing that ever happened to Clinton, but Clinton is the best thing that ever happened to Trump; the only question is who's the pot and who's the kettle?
4
Bobby Jindal was right about at least one thing in his life: the GOP really is the party of stupid. With more than 30 thousand deaths by gun in this country every year, the GOP considers pornography a public health matter. Yeah, I can see it; drive by pornography killing people like flies.
Women can't serve in combat because, you know, they are so weak and need the protection of the likes of Trump and his all male glee gang.
I'm sure that all of these little gems will withstand scrutiny of the Supreme Court and be upheld as constitutional. Right. Not even this righty court will hold this stuff up should any of it ever become law. Where is that eminent constitutional expert cum guru cum go to guy, Ted Cruz? I guess he wasn't part of the rabble that cooked up this platform.
It's all hilarious if it weren't so pathetic, but the platforms are essentially little sops to the special tiny interest groups that the parties feel they need to win. So, they'll throw out these hideous scraps and then close the door and tear the damned thing up.
Women can't serve in combat because, you know, they are so weak and need the protection of the likes of Trump and his all male glee gang.
I'm sure that all of these little gems will withstand scrutiny of the Supreme Court and be upheld as constitutional. Right. Not even this righty court will hold this stuff up should any of it ever become law. Where is that eminent constitutional expert cum guru cum go to guy, Ted Cruz? I guess he wasn't part of the rabble that cooked up this platform.
It's all hilarious if it weren't so pathetic, but the platforms are essentially little sops to the special tiny interest groups that the parties feel they need to win. So, they'll throw out these hideous scraps and then close the door and tear the damned thing up.
21
Nothing like making the Republican Party even more irrelevant. The seeds sown will be reaped in November. And I'm only a former Republican until Trump became the likely nominee!
9
I refuse to be afraid of this sorry excuse of a political party. We are moving forward, with or without the Republicans. The President has presided to date over two scandal-free administrations, and like every good democratic president, has cleaned up the mess left behind a Republican predecessor, kept the country safe from another terrorist attack (outside of our home grown ones), rebuilt the economy, provided access to health care for all Americans, restored our standing in the world, and handled it all with incredible grace in the face of the most vile, vicious, barbarically slanderous smears I've ever heard directed at a president and his family. It'd be nice if the media would talk a whole lot more about that.
This ugly, anti-American, fascist platform is the antithesis of everything America and our Constitution stand for. We will defeat it and the people behind it. We have to.
This ugly, anti-American, fascist platform is the antithesis of everything America and our Constitution stand for. We will defeat it and the people behind it. We have to.
50
Just when I think it is only Middle Eastern countries who have myopic leaders who enforce a particular world view through religion......the GOP reveals it's platform. That they would think teaching the Bible in schools is the way for us to excel in Science and compete globally, is one of the more frightening things I have read. If I were writing the Democrat's platform - I would make education my number one goal (headstart, more science in k-12, greater financial support of State Universities, and something to eradicate these enormous student debt loads).....because clearly if so many think the Bible is the best way to educate people, we are in deep, deep trouble.
33
After losing the 2012 presidential election, the Republican party did some soul searching, and came to the conclusion that they needed a bigger tent. To bring in people of color and other minorities. If they were going to survive as a party.
Well that idea didn't get far.
The Republican party has decided to double-down on being the party of older white men. It's a shrinking population. With candidates like Trump, or the 17 others he creamed in the primaries, they will never win the presidency. They will start to lose state governments as due to the changing demographics of places like Arizona and Nevada.
The Republican party has decided to leap backward to an America that doesn't exist anymore. With any luck, the Republican party as now constituted will soon also cease to exist.
Well that idea didn't get far.
The Republican party has decided to double-down on being the party of older white men. It's a shrinking population. With candidates like Trump, or the 17 others he creamed in the primaries, they will never win the presidency. They will start to lose state governments as due to the changing demographics of places like Arizona and Nevada.
The Republican party has decided to leap backward to an America that doesn't exist anymore. With any luck, the Republican party as now constituted will soon also cease to exist.
4
What a relief that 'We the People" will have the collective opportunity to show via the general election that we do not stand for hate, bigotry and xenophobia. Embarrassing this perfect representation of archaic Conservative ideology with a crushing electoral loss is a day we will truly "Make America Great Again".
5
So much for the Republican Party heeding its own "autopsy report" after its last presidential election defeat to be more tolerant and inclusive. Its platform, as described in this story, willfully goes out of its way to condemn those it should be including, providing further confirmation, as if any were needed, that the Republican Party is not a "big tent" and "compassionate conservatism" is an oxymoron. If Neanderthals could have written a party platform, this would be it. But then, it would be an insult to Neanderthals. With a platform like this, the Republicans hasten their own extinction. Good riddance.
6
This GOP platform is absolutely repulsive. They have become the caracatures that served as the worst extremes they could go to. They advocate for a society of grey conformity, with no intellectual curiosity. It's time to let them know that this won't fly.
7
This is the platform for the party that has lost it's way - not to mention it's mind.
Tony Perkin's comment at the end of the article is a display of delusion - Mr. Trump is shaping the GOP not the other way around... And the reason Trump has contributed little to the platform is because if he decides he doesn't like it, he will simply ignore it.
I cannot shake the feeling that we are witnessing the last rites being read over the sick and ailing body of the Republican Party. Extreme unction for the former GOP marking the fusion of Church and State.
Tony Perkin's comment at the end of the article is a display of delusion - Mr. Trump is shaping the GOP not the other way around... And the reason Trump has contributed little to the platform is because if he decides he doesn't like it, he will simply ignore it.
I cannot shake the feeling that we are witnessing the last rites being read over the sick and ailing body of the Republican Party. Extreme unction for the former GOP marking the fusion of Church and State.
4
What sorry pathetic men and women are they who now comprise the GOP. Instead of attempting to create a world where all people are accepted as equals, despite their race, creed, class or sexuality, these simple minded so-called Christians would, in a heartbeat, turn back the clock to an idyllic past that never existed except in their closed minds. In refusing to face the reality of a multicultural and diverse America, they are foolishly choosing to commit political suicide by destroying what was once the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt as one by one they fall in line endorsing the bigoted huckster who cares only for himself, Donald Trump.
10
I am a Christian who now worships in the Mainline Presbyterian USA. I have worshiped in Evangelical congregations. I thought with the candidacy of Obama it would be obvious to Christians to come over to the Democrats. In this election the fact is sinking in that a majority of Evangelicals are willing to vote for Trump. Two recent NYTimes articles lay out the power striving philosophy of Trump as being anathema to the teachings of Jesus. Well if they could vote for a Mormon they can vote for a charlatan.
6
Wow, you would think that the Republican party would adopt more centrist values that reflect modern society. The fact that they are suggesting teaching the bible at public schools, promoting conversion therapy for gays, and using "religion as a guide when legislating" is a complete contradiction to the American values of individual freedoms and the separation of church and state. This party just sounds more disillusioned than rather trying to build a platform that is more representative of the American population.
4
It is so hard for me to imagine an LGBTQ person being a Republican. I don't understand supporting a party that does not want me to have equal rights.
Weird
Weird
5
Intolerant, homophobic, racist and misogynistic as this platform is, I feel I must urge caution in dismissing it out of hand. In 2008, millions with this point of view were 100 percent certain that the Democratic candidate was an anti-American, race-hustling secret Muslim (and they still believe that) and that there was absolutely no way any thinking citizen could elect such a person to office. Today those of us on the opposite side of the spectrum are 100 percent certain the Republican candidate is an anti-American, demagogic, race-baiting, thinly veiled white supremacist and there's absolutely no way any thinking person would elect such a person to office. It doesn't matter that the characterization of Barack Obama was untrue and that Donald Trump really is an egocentric demagogue. What matters is that the left ignored the depth of the anti-Obama rage that led to this extremist platform and an equally extreme GOP nominee. By Election Day, we could be the ones standing around with our jaws dropped to the floor, just as Republicans were eight years ago.
7
Here's my favorite part: '“natural marriage” between a man and a woman is most likely to result in offspring who do not become drug-addicted or otherwise damaged.' I just laughed out loud. Why don't we survey some drug addicts and some "otherwise damaged" people and see if they have a mommy and a daddy, two daddies or two mommies as parents. I am continually amazed at all the truly ignorant people who are incapable of engaging in any critical thinking. Do they really think there's a link between drug addiction and gay parents?
15
I agree with 90% of Republican platform but only at personal level and not to enact into laws. I want government stay out of personal life.
2
I used to believe that virtually everyone tempers their opinions about the evils of providing support for those who are ill or those who are different (LGBT) when they meet them and and get to know them. There have been occasional instances of prominent [Republican] politicians who've done so over the years.
Based on this draft of the Republican platform, I believe it's a rare thing for them to reconsider, regardless of the circumstances. What a shame. What a waste of possibility.
Based on this draft of the Republican platform, I believe it's a rare thing for them to reconsider, regardless of the circumstances. What a shame. What a waste of possibility.
4
How is it even possible that God (if such a being existed) would create something like Republicans? They must be, instead, the work of the devil. Jimmy Carter is a wonderful example of someone who follows the teachings of Christ to the letter, but never pounded his country into submission over his views, nor has ever twisted them into such knots as Republicans have to suit their own fears and demons. I can't think of one Republican who comes even close to the former President. Such hate and fear must stem from some deep psychological sickness.
16
This document is a blueprint for an Age of Endarkenment.
All reasonable people must band together to defeat this party and it's sideshow pitchman leader. As Tom Friedman writes today, they must be thoroughly beaten in order to force them to come to their senses.
All reasonable people must band together to defeat this party and it's sideshow pitchman leader. As Tom Friedman writes today, they must be thoroughly beaten in order to force them to come to their senses.
8
As the US turns: conservatives become reactionaries and liberals become moderate conservatives...
"We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race; the constitutional right to choose one's associates; to accept private employment without governmental interference, and to earn one's living in any lawful way. We oppose the elimination of segregation, the repeal of miscegenation statutes, the control of private employment by Federal bureaucrats called for by the misnamed civil rights program. We favor home-rule, local self-government and a minimum interference with individual rights."
Platform of the the States' Rights Democrats, aka Dixiecrats, platform for the 1948 presidential election...
Rockefeller Republicans:
Economically opposed to socialism and government ownership of businesses, supported organized labor, some regulations on business. Supported investment in education, health care, and infrastructure, low-cost public universities. Supporters of Wall Street and big business.
Socially supportive of civil rights, feminism, reproductive rights.
See also: 2016 Democrats...
"We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race; the constitutional right to choose one's associates; to accept private employment without governmental interference, and to earn one's living in any lawful way. We oppose the elimination of segregation, the repeal of miscegenation statutes, the control of private employment by Federal bureaucrats called for by the misnamed civil rights program. We favor home-rule, local self-government and a minimum interference with individual rights."
Platform of the the States' Rights Democrats, aka Dixiecrats, platform for the 1948 presidential election...
Rockefeller Republicans:
Economically opposed to socialism and government ownership of businesses, supported organized labor, some regulations on business. Supported investment in education, health care, and infrastructure, low-cost public universities. Supporters of Wall Street and big business.
Socially supportive of civil rights, feminism, reproductive rights.
See also: 2016 Democrats...
3
"The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”
Considering all the speeches that Republican lawmakers make publicly for respecting the constitution and it's authors the hypocrisy of this statement is pretty thick.
Jefferson was a religious man, even for all his sins, and like most if not all of the "founding fathers" found counsel with God, at least according to their own writings...in the privacy of their own conscience.
You will not find however in their writings the idea that the composition and enforcement of national governmental law first requires direct consultation with the Christian bible. On the contrary, Jefferson in particular spelled this out quite clearly and understood how religion, especially a specific religion held by those in power, posed a fundamental threat to a democracy.
Considering all the speeches that Republican lawmakers make publicly for respecting the constitution and it's authors the hypocrisy of this statement is pretty thick.
Jefferson was a religious man, even for all his sins, and like most if not all of the "founding fathers" found counsel with God, at least according to their own writings...in the privacy of their own conscience.
You will not find however in their writings the idea that the composition and enforcement of national governmental law first requires direct consultation with the Christian bible. On the contrary, Jefferson in particular spelled this out quite clearly and understood how religion, especially a specific religion held by those in power, posed a fundamental threat to a democracy.
6
There's so much to be offended by here, but I can't get past coal being a "clean energy". What the hell? It's bad enough that the Republicans are embracing Victorian morality, but the willful and abysmal stupidity in regards to science is breathtaking.
14
I am disappointed in both parties. As the GOP lurches far to the right, the Dems lurch far to the left. The days of moderation and compromise are clearly over.
2
I'd like to believe that this far-right platform would cause people to reject the Republican agenda. However, the fact is that Republicans have more than a 50 vote majority in the House and a nine vote majority in the Senate. Perhaps this year's election will narrow the gap in both houses of Congress, but given how gerrymandered Congressional districts are, I don't see the House reverting to Democratic control anytime soon.
Especially if Hillary wins. The anti-Clinton machine has been up and running for nearly a quarter-century now. If she wins in November, I predict yet another anti-incumbent backlash in the 2018 election, further widening the divide.
You have to wonder what conservatives will do for fundraising once there are no more Clintons to demonize.
Especially if Hillary wins. The anti-Clinton machine has been up and running for nearly a quarter-century now. If she wins in November, I predict yet another anti-incumbent backlash in the 2018 election, further widening the divide.
You have to wonder what conservatives will do for fundraising once there are no more Clintons to demonize.
7
Based on this article, I think Cotton Mather would be pleased.
3
The right-ward platform lurch is just another nail in the GOP coffin. Keep nailing, boys, keep nailing. Trump, please keep opening your mouth and spewing. Hillary looks better every day.
7
Never in my life has there been a litmus test for ignorance so blatant as "did you vote Republican in 2016?"
12
"man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights"
This sounds an awful lot like establishment of a state religion. It may refer to a generic God, but we all know it isn't referring to Islam. On the other hand, technically it would cover Shariah law. I bet that never crossed their minds.
This sounds an awful lot like establishment of a state religion. It may refer to a generic God, but we all know it isn't referring to Islam. On the other hand, technically it would cover Shariah law. I bet that never crossed their minds.
9
They say religion should guide legislators - so are they OK if I'm a Quaker or Buddhist and reject war? If I'm Unitarian or a Reform Jew, for which my church/temple *wants* to perform same-sex marriage?
Of course not! To the GOP, the only "religion" is conservative Christianity. How can these fools not see the hypocrisy of decrying "Sharia law", while turning around and trying to impose the same here?!
Of course not! To the GOP, the only "religion" is conservative Christianity. How can these fools not see the hypocrisy of decrying "Sharia law", while turning around and trying to impose the same here?!
16
Hypocrisy, inconsistency are no problem for the true believers.
4
Was this the Republican convention for 2012 or 1812?
10
People were pretty enlightened in 1812, I have to vote for 2016.
3
Yes, that might have been funnier had I known what year it is. I've gone back in time, just like the Republicans!
2
As a conservative Republican, I am disgusted by the tone of this Republican platform.
Aren't conservatives supposed to be for personal liberty and freedom? For small government? How 'bout minding your business and letting people live their lives as they see fit!
Aren't conservatives supposed to be for personal liberty and freedom? For small government? How 'bout minding your business and letting people live their lives as they see fit!
10
Did we get an article on DNC platform? Is it much different than Republican one?
Hillary managed to insert military force against Iran, refused to call an occupation an occupation and trade to benefit only the .01% continues.
Hillary managed to insert military force against Iran, refused to call an occupation an occupation and trade to benefit only the .01% continues.
4
How far west do you live? What part of "Separation of Church and State" don't you understand.
4
Newston's third law. As left drifts to far left, right will also drift to far right.
I think it's time that we find a place where we aren't persecuted for our religious beliefs. When we find it, it shall be called "Plymouth Rock".
What, there's no more Plymouth? OK, how about "Dodge Rock"?
What, there's no more Plymouth? OK, how about "Dodge Rock"?
1
Can you say Titanic?
Politics is about numbers as well as ideas.
Every month more of the folks who'd support this kind of platform pass away due to old age and younger more sophisticated voters gain more sway.
Politics is about numbers as well as ideas.
Every month more of the folks who'd support this kind of platform pass away due to old age and younger more sophisticated voters gain more sway.
5
Wish that were true.
2
I think the inclusion of pornography as a public health crisis says far more about the GOP than it does about America or pornography. It reminds me of Marcus Bachmann railing against gay marriage because if it was acceptable to be gay then, and I quote, "everyone would be gay!". No Marcus, just you, and, no GOP, it's just you.
4
Yes, the American Taliban in all their glory. It's amazing that the party of "small government", that invokes a fear of Big Government intruding into your personal life, is more than willing to turn around the tell Americans that their lives should be governed by the religious philosophy of conservative Christianity.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion' Per the ACLU, what this means is that it is unconstitutional to have or promote a national religion.
The GOP platform encourages teaching the Bible in the classroom, and "the platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”" As interpreted by whom, I might ask?? The arrogance of these people is that they think THEIR interpretation would take precedence over someone else's. These requirements appear to be in direct violation of our Constitutional right not to have any specific religious view crammed down our throats. I hate to break the news to the GOP, but the American people by and large accept and approve of gay marriage, rights for transgender people and do not see homosexuality as a mortal sin.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion' Per the ACLU, what this means is that it is unconstitutional to have or promote a national religion.
The GOP platform encourages teaching the Bible in the classroom, and "the platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”" As interpreted by whom, I might ask?? The arrogance of these people is that they think THEIR interpretation would take precedence over someone else's. These requirements appear to be in direct violation of our Constitutional right not to have any specific religious view crammed down our throats. I hate to break the news to the GOP, but the American people by and large accept and approve of gay marriage, rights for transgender people and do not see homosexuality as a mortal sin.
5
Traitorous theocratic fascist criminals who belong behind bars, not running a government they profess to hate.
But stupid Americans will vote for them anyway.
But stupid Americans will vote for them anyway.
6
While the substance of the platform is vile, it seems borne of desperation. This is the party's way of signaling to its most reliable voting bloc, evangelical Christians, that even though it is nominating Trump, an ostentatious New Yorker without any authentic religious leanings, it is still committed to a most regressive agenda. If the party thought that it had any hope of expanding its base, it would not embrace this platform. The party is worried that even its most loyal adherents will stay home on Election Day, portending down ballot doom.
This platform is the proverbial red meat. So far this season, the party has tried to inspire its base with the transgender bathroom hysteria, as it did in 2006 with the same sex marriage ballot initiatives. However, the transgender bathroom issue is too obscure to get out the vote. And the American taliban platform is not going to work either because it is not really accessible to the average voter.
This platform is the proverbial red meat. So far this season, the party has tried to inspire its base with the transgender bathroom hysteria, as it did in 2006 with the same sex marriage ballot initiatives. However, the transgender bathroom issue is too obscure to get out the vote. And the American taliban platform is not going to work either because it is not really accessible to the average voter.
3
Schools are for Facts, not Cult fantasy....
4
Timers forget that the half the nation is like the Republican Party reflected in this platform. I visited a university campus in Kansas where the director of sustainability said he was not allowed to discuss climate change in public for fear of impacts on legislative appropriations.
I am waiting to see if the party goes so far as to say that terrorist who buy their guns legally are part of our "well regulated militia."
I am waiting to see if the party goes so far as to say that terrorist who buy their guns legally are part of our "well regulated militia."
4
This is not a Republican platform. It is a decree for Fascist & religious tyranny, reflective of a subset of Americans who want to live in the past and are incapable of embracing the vibrant real America of today.
9
It's more than ironic that they seem to consider themselves to be 'conservative'. They claim to advocate small government, but they want to operate that government from the inside of each of our respective homes (and toilets). It's an attempt to cover up the Talibanesque aspects of their platform; but we must not allow them to get away with it.
5
This isn't a political platform for an American political party to run on. It discriminates against US citizens, violates the the concept of separation of church and state, dismisses science, and generally makes a mockery of the constitution. Shame on the GOP and shame on anyone who thinks these are appropriate policies to pursue in this country.
9
Needs more cowbell.
That is the only appropriate response to the GOP these days.
That is the only appropriate response to the GOP these days.
12
Ha ha, the states that consume the most online pornography are the red states -- religious and socially conservative communities. I guess making it "dirty" or illegal makes it even more fun for some people?
14
They have a death wish. There isn't going to be a Republican party after this, just a cluster of rabid bands of single-issue insane people. What a disgusting shame that the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness has been so perverted.
8
It is commonplace to say that the Republican Party is in crisis. At first glance, this platform appears to exacerbate the problem by making a virtue of intolerance and driving minorities of all kinds, and the remaining centre-right moderates, from the party.
Yet with the exception of the White House, the GOP has been a smashing electoral success in recent years -- gaining control of both houses of Congress and the majority of governor's mansions and state legislatures. I know: gerrymandering, voter suppression and the Citizens United decision have all played a role. But still -- judged by votes cast -- the GOP hardly seems to be a party in crisis.
The party's electoral success has been based on growing the % of whites who turn out to vote for the party in each succeeding election. As it moves further to the intolerant Right, it has no other large group of voters it can appeal to. Sadly, that is what this platform is designed do -- to continue to radicalize whites, convincing them to vote as a fearful, resentful, nostalgic white-nation bloc who feels that its white Christian nation is under siege and must be reclaimed to make America great again.
If blacks, Latinos and gays vote in their great majority for Democrats, then Republicans must convince straight whites to do likewise for them. Will it work? Is entrenching that ugly, embittered division the future of America? We'll find out in November.
Yet with the exception of the White House, the GOP has been a smashing electoral success in recent years -- gaining control of both houses of Congress and the majority of governor's mansions and state legislatures. I know: gerrymandering, voter suppression and the Citizens United decision have all played a role. But still -- judged by votes cast -- the GOP hardly seems to be a party in crisis.
The party's electoral success has been based on growing the % of whites who turn out to vote for the party in each succeeding election. As it moves further to the intolerant Right, it has no other large group of voters it can appeal to. Sadly, that is what this platform is designed do -- to continue to radicalize whites, convincing them to vote as a fearful, resentful, nostalgic white-nation bloc who feels that its white Christian nation is under siege and must be reclaimed to make America great again.
If blacks, Latinos and gays vote in their great majority for Democrats, then Republicans must convince straight whites to do likewise for them. Will it work? Is entrenching that ugly, embittered division the future of America? We'll find out in November.
7
Gerrymandering has caused the Democrats to get over a million more votes in House races and still be a huge minority. The Dems were not paying attention when the Republicans stole the reapportioning process away from them. The states draw the lines and they have turned out to be totally disproportionate. The 2020 census is the next chance for this to be corrected but the Democratic party must be willing to fight for both the demographic changes in this country and one man one vote all over the country.
44
Some of us were wholly aware of what was going on, but what can an ordinary citizen do? Please enlighten me.
2
“But this is a statement of not Donald Trump’s campaign, but of the Republican Party.”
Yes, it most certainly is.
These people don't need access to government. They need an island fortress shielded from all the things they loathe, like science, humanity, tolerance, respect for others, progress of any kind, etc.
Build as big a wall as you'd like on your island.
Yes, it most certainly is.
These people don't need access to government. They need an island fortress shielded from all the things they loathe, like science, humanity, tolerance, respect for others, progress of any kind, etc.
Build as big a wall as you'd like on your island.
10
No surprise here that the Republicans shifting even further to the right....
This is something all those disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters should think about when they cast their votes for him come November.
Some "revolution".
This is something all those disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters should think about when they cast their votes for him come November.
Some "revolution".
2
We need to call on all our G/gods to save the country from these Republicans. How much more do we need to move backward before the USA loses all its underpinnings for truth, justice, and .... a future?
2
So much is just horrifically wrong with the GOP that I am spoiled for choice on what to post about. There are enough posters addressing guns, bigotry, and hostility to reproductive rights so I will just make one observation : If pornography is a health disaster destroying lives, how do they define porn?
Given that Melania Trump has contributed to the genre's softer side posing nude for GQ I am guessing that with evangelicals this will be washed away if she accepts Jesus.
Given that Melania Trump has contributed to the genre's softer side posing nude for GQ I am guessing that with evangelicals this will be washed away if she accepts Jesus.
4
Or they can just call it soft porn.
Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
Article VI. ...but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Article VI. ...but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
1
"Far to the right"? That, in the words of our liberal dominated, hysterical, know it all, superbigoted liberal press tyranny, really means if makes a lot of sense.
Superbigoted hysterical no-no-nothing tyrannical far right religious fanatics who cannot and will not separate church and state.
2
The real tyranny is that of the super-bigoted, hysterical religious conservatives trying to combine church and state.
Tony Perkins should be ashamed of himself for plagiarizing ISIS's platform. For heavens sake Tony, couldn't you think of any new hate to include in the 2016 Republican platform? I know you must be bummed that it doesn't call for beheadings (at least explicitly, wink wink) stoning of women, or tossing gays from rooftops, but there's always 2020!
4
Watching the Republican Party self-destruct which each passing day is both fascinating and entertaining. It's better than any summer blockbuster!
1
The liberal media has it wrong. While legal opinion " has moved steadily in one direction", public opinion has not. Many people are frightened by the extreme social changes in the last decade, which has made the rise of Trump possible. The liberal mistake was in pushing too hard and too fast in matters of diversity and inclusion. Trump may very well win this thing, especially considering his weak opposition
1
I'm sorry; as an LGBT person, I have the moral right to possess the same liberties as any other American.
But I do not.
Anyone, such as Republicans, Evangelicals, the KKK, and the American Nazi Party, who oppose our equality are doomed to failure.
We will win our rights, someday.
We will defeat the fascist, the ignorant, the bigoted.
We shall overcome.
But I do not.
Anyone, such as Republicans, Evangelicals, the KKK, and the American Nazi Party, who oppose our equality are doomed to failure.
We will win our rights, someday.
We will defeat the fascist, the ignorant, the bigoted.
We shall overcome.
5
For the Trump supporters, please tell us one thing in this platform that will help the white working class whose anger is his driving force. Just one.
3
I wish I could understand how Republicans behave like this and stay as close as they do in the polls. I'm afraid of Trump. I'm afraid of the Republicans. Most of all, right now, I'm afraid of the American electorate.
5
It's important to remember that in this nation of low information, ignorant, and largely disengaged voters, NO ONE CARES.
There are no god given rights. There are only the rights that that groups of humans give themselves and abide by. We don't need extremist christians deciding that some mythical being who lives on a cloud in an invisible land somewhere in the sky surrounded by little humanoids with wings should be
the guiding factor of governmental legislation. By pushing such an agenda they are showing that religion is about power and control and and their contempt for the constitution.
the guiding factor of governmental legislation. By pushing such an agenda they are showing that religion is about power and control and and their contempt for the constitution.
2
Overhead passing by the platform drafting committee (sequestered at Bellevue) "...and dinosaurs were alive at the time of people, dammit! The Flintstones! THE FLINTSTONES!!!! Stupid liberals can't get their facts..."
1
The most important quote for voters to remember when choosing in November:
"All we need in a [Presidential] candidate is someone who can wrap his fingers around a pen." - Grover Norquist (Republican hero)
"All we need in a [Presidential] candidate is someone who can wrap his fingers around a pen." - Grover Norquist (Republican hero)
7
Interesting that the Democratic Party's big tent includes minorities of all colors, women, educated people, younger people, believers in science.
While the republican party's big tent includes all of the racists, misogynists, money grubbers, bigots, xenophobes.
And it appears from polling data that the country is about evenly split. Is party affiliation and an intelligence test? A religious test? Or what?
While the republican party's big tent includes all of the racists, misogynists, money grubbers, bigots, xenophobes.
And it appears from polling data that the country is about evenly split. Is party affiliation and an intelligence test? A religious test? Or what?
3
Party platforms are generally tossed to the side almost as soon as they're approved. This is a candidate-driven election, not a party-driven one -- and, for better or for worse, it's actually been that way for a long time. It's not the 19th century anymore.
Republicans have to get off the social issues kick.
I don't know of anyone who follows their party platform on either side.
We need a strong leader. I prefer the one with multiple wives over the one with multiple private servers in her basement.
I don't know of anyone who follows their party platform on either side.
We need a strong leader. I prefer the one with multiple wives over the one with multiple private servers in her basement.
So "strong leader" means "feckless narcissistic bully"? For me, a strong leader is one who has a broad vision and the tenacity to work with Congress. Trump has no vision, or very narrow and vague one revolving around "being great again" and "I will build a wall. A WALL!" He does not know how to work cooperatively in a Constitutional political process and does not understand that the presidency is not a dictatorship of his will.
Clinton may have been sloppy with her email, but she understands Constitutional process and has demonstrated over decades of public service that she can work within that context.
Clinton may have been sloppy with her email, but she understands Constitutional process and has demonstrated over decades of public service that she can work within that context.
1
The GOP has lost all touch with reality. From a sheerly political angle, I cannot see what they hope to achieve with this outrageous and frankly bizarre fossil of a platform. The infamous 2013 "autopsy" of their complete defeat in 2012, performed within the party, urged party leaders to open the party to others, to increase outreach to people of all colors and stripes, yes, even the "gays." Needless to say, it seems the advice wasn't taken.
I know by adopting this platform the GOP is simply demeaning and excluding anyone who is not like them, and in doing so is hastening their own demise. At the same time, I know more than a few of my neighbors would have no problem supporting it. In those two realities I see a microcosm of our country.
I only hope the nation goes the way California has, which is for the GOP to render itself irrelevant, then see sane people actually govern and usher in some measure of prosperity and progress.
I only hope the nation goes the way California has, which is for the GOP to render itself irrelevant, then see sane people actually govern and usher in some measure of prosperity and progress.
3
Reading their platform, it could almost be a translation of Mein Kampf........looking at the GOP platform, all I keep thinking is the irony,the GOP , the party of Lincoln, the man who insisted that the south be integrated back into the union, in a sense laid the groundwork for the destruction of his party.
4
If the GOP actually ever demonstrated that they are rational, educated people, I would be shocked. Nearly every single plank in this platform is contrary to empirical evidence. Coal is not clean. Most drug addicted teens come from hetero families etc.
It is obvious the GOP is only interested in sowing fear and reaping the rewards of hysteria.
It is obvious the GOP is only interested in sowing fear and reaping the rewards of hysteria.
4
Creative destruction. Some call it market capitalism, some call it Kali at work.
Fascism has arrived in the US. How sad.
I believe the first paragraph sums it up well. The new Republican platform feels pornography is a "public health crisis," yet coal represents a "clean" energy source. I wonder if they will soon declare the work to be flat as well...
4
My favorite one is this: "that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights."
So, Republicans are promoting their own version of sharia law? Except that they'll claim they're in the right because they are morally correct. Which is pretty much how sharia law works.
So, Republicans are promoting their own version of sharia law? Except that they'll claim they're in the right because they are morally correct. Which is pretty much how sharia law works.
15
All religious leader will be for it! Not just the Bible but the Kuran, Torah, and whatever other religions there are. Under our system of government, if you endorse one, you endorse all. As far a s God is concerned, there is just one of Him and not the myriades that we worship. All images are just Him! If he is almighty, no one can challenge Him, the Supreme! His world has no chaos like we are having over his domain.
1
Party Platforms...
Talk about a Tempest in a Teapot that Trump will never use.
Talk about a Tempest in a Teapot that Trump will never use.
1
For the first time in my life, I'm afflicted by 'The Truman Show' syndrome - in which I've come to realize that the world is a fabrication, held up for my entertainment. It's never been more apparent that I live in a fictional world of bread and circuses, replete with clowns (of whom we should be afraid...very afraid!), elephants, and trapeze artists defying laws of gravity and gravitas.
What else can explain this passage through the looking glass into bizarro world?
What else can explain this passage through the looking glass into bizarro world?
5
I happen to be in Austria at the moment and the people I have spoken to believe that Trump and his followers are insane. They just voted down a strict conservative government. They can't understand how anyone can be in favor of a TV personality becoming president
3
I have every bit of faith that the Republican party will meet its demise come November; at which time we will tear their guns from their cold, clenched fists. Amen.
4
If Trump somehow manages to win, I'm dropping out of college and fleeing overseas.
3
this is ludicrous! How does the Republican Party survive? Political Party platforms are very important because it tells you what a candidate stands for. If a candidate wants to distance themselves from a platform, then they should leave the Party. One will not always agree with everything in a platform; one issue candidates are dangerous and can't govern anyway.
1
The Republican party seems to be trying to enact a fundamentalist Christian version of shariah law.
10
Note that neither Trump nor his aides "offered much interference" in the creation of this platform. My guess is that he either doesn't realize its importance or has no intention of abiding by it despite that realization. Let it say whatever, get the support of single issue voters, then do whatever he wants. No rules apply to him.
6
Trump's interest lies in the chase. After he catches his prey, he'll just bat it around and look bored. He couldn't care any less what this platform contains.
Can someone please explain RNC Convention logo to me? I get the red elephant but what does the blue guitar with the white stars represent?? If old Rancid Primpus and Draft Dodger Don the Con think this logo is being "hip" or "cool" they need a brain transplant. The GOTP is ANTI- woman (Republicans against equal pay for equal work and the Right to Choose), immigration (deport 11 million and keep immigrants out),LGBT( bathroom laws), Hispanic(deport 11 million hard working tax payers), African-American, minority like Muslim( Trump wants to monitor American Muslims and stop ALL Muslims from entering this country), poor and working Middle-Class (against raising the minimum wage, against paid family leave, against work safety laws, against health care for all), Veteran(Republicans(CUT Veterans pensions by 19 billion just this year),family( Republicans against paid family leave) college student(Republicans want to return student loans to the Big Banks that would again charge huge fees for doing nothing AND against state subsidized free community college), Voter(new Voter IDs that keep the elderly and minorities from voting), children(Republicans CUT SNAP for hungry children) Seniors ( Republicans want to raise the retirement age, cut privatize Social Security and CUT/Eliminate Medicare and the list goes on and on and on.
6
"It also encourages the teaching of the Bible in public schools..."
What part of "Separation of Church and State" don't they get?
What part of "Separation of Church and State" don't they get?
13
"Jim Bopp, a delegate from Indiana, said the Republican Party had always rejected “identity politics." ". Really! He said that. From Indiana of all places.
Does a fish know it's in the water?
My oldest friend spent the last years of his life in Indiana because it is beautiful, the Amish were very helpful neighbors and people are very nice to each other....until they find out you're not a Christian. He said it was a big mistake, but he was too old to move again. He had the wrong identity...old white male that he was, he didn't attend church. Social suicide.
Does a fish know it's in the water?
My oldest friend spent the last years of his life in Indiana because it is beautiful, the Amish were very helpful neighbors and people are very nice to each other....until they find out you're not a Christian. He said it was a big mistake, but he was too old to move again. He had the wrong identity...old white male that he was, he didn't attend church. Social suicide.
12
Well, we know what the GOP thinks about public health - i.e. they don't care. So, in essence, by declaring porn a public health emergency, they are saying they don't care about porn. Which is probably correct too. The only thing GOP lawmakers would care about when it came to porn is (1) can they get it free, and (2) how can they get it without alerting the Capitol police. Why anyone cares about what these flaming hypocrites actually care about is beyond me. Talk about an exercise in futility!
4
all these different factions fighting over the remains of the gop. looks like the religious kooks are winning.
3
In reading through the elements that will potentially makeup the GOP platform which is essentially the things the party stands for, I actually thought I may have been reading the doctrine of the Islamic State.
With its hyper focus on homosexuality, a strict definition of marriage, encouragement of religious indoctrination of school children, theological requirements for judges and the labeling of pororgrphy as a "public menace", how is this different than what ISIS preaches?
In a nutshell both the Islamic State and the GOP share nearly identicle tenets in terms of their platform. Both want to turn their respective countries into a theocracy, both want government to control what does and does not happen in the bedroom between consenting adults, both want the government to determine who can love/marry whom and both want ideological purity. The only difference is that they both go about achieving their goals differently.
With its hyper focus on homosexuality, a strict definition of marriage, encouragement of religious indoctrination of school children, theological requirements for judges and the labeling of pororgrphy as a "public menace", how is this different than what ISIS preaches?
In a nutshell both the Islamic State and the GOP share nearly identicle tenets in terms of their platform. Both want to turn their respective countries into a theocracy, both want government to control what does and does not happen in the bedroom between consenting adults, both want the government to determine who can love/marry whom and both want ideological purity. The only difference is that they both go about achieving their goals differently.
9
Welcome to the proclamation of GOPanistan, a UNESCO protected world heritage site of a cloistered aboriginal tribe unacquainted with modern society.
Fascinating native rituals still prevail, with all aspects of social life being presided over by a cabal of medicine men favoring various superstitious practices.
Interactions with the outside world are generally discouraged.
Fascinating native rituals still prevail, with all aspects of social life being presided over by a cabal of medicine men favoring various superstitious practices.
Interactions with the outside world are generally discouraged.
3
This does have a "last stand" quality to it. I guess they want everyone to know as they sink under the waves of irrelevancy that we were right all along that they are hateful, anti-science, small minded bigots just like everyone thought they were. I give them credit for not being hypocrites.
7
Believe what you want but the photo shows a worried Donald. He may have all he wanted in his platform but can he run with it and now cast in stone. Is the party behind him or just stepped back and let him struggle alone? Rather think the later as the reason he got what he wants. When he loses big, it will be a message to his faithfuls that there is no future in putting up that kind of a candidate and to all those little incubating little 'donald wanna bees' to grow up a little different and better. The only concern here is will our democracy of two party system survive. What will our political landscape be like.
1
attl, Trump deserves a lot of scorn and blame for a lot of things relating to his campaign, but I do believe that he was in effect forced to yield on the platform as the price for not having his nomination contested next week. He's not nearly as conservative as the platform is; that's the main reason why he's encountered so much resistance within his own "team." (Most Republican bigwigs, I think, would have put up with his public displays of sexism and even racism if they could be sure that he's a "true conservative.")
They definitely want to "take THEIR country back", to the 1900's. Pathetic!
7
Dear Republican Platform Committee,
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Sincerely,
A Liberal
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Sincerely,
A Liberal
6
This is a very strange document to read, especially considering it's 2016. This is straight out of Middle Ages.
8
As an audio mixer, I have found that sometimes you have to pull all of the mixer's faders down and start again. That's what we need now.
2
Now it is official. The GOP supports the Bundy terrorists and their desire to destroy the Federal Government.
Is there anyone left who does not get that?
Is there anyone left who does not get that?
7
And this is why we homeschool, to keep religious whack jobs away from our family.
8
Hmm...I am perceiving that the schools (and leftist teachers) are brainwashing children with liberal ideology. Last I checked, there was no religious education being offered in the public schools, other than liberalism.
1
Starting in the 1950's, "Ugly American" has been defined as a United States foreign tourist who is loud-mouthed, obnoxious, uncouth, rude, crude, unworldly, disrespectful, and provincial.
On Monday, Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena becomes a foreign country. Four days later, the emergent Ugly Americans will spread gospel and cheer across their home country.
On Monday, Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena becomes a foreign country. Four days later, the emergent Ugly Americans will spread gospel and cheer across their home country.
5
Actually, the "Ugly American" was the good guy in the book. Ugly refered to his physical appearance. The "Ugly American" was compassionate and understanding while working to help others in a foreign country.
1
It's almost as if they took the 2012 autopsy report and decided "y'know, we're not really dead ENOUGH yet. Let's put the knife back in and, this time, try twisting the knife this time."
10
Pornography a public menace? Especially to children? What about guns? I don't recall any children being killed in school by pornography.
16
Here is GOP platform!
Anti-Minimum Wage
Anti-Iran nuclear Deal
Anti-Abortion
Anti-Contraception
Anti-Reproductive Rights to Women
Anti-Women
Anti-Immigrants
Anti-Minorities
Anti-Planned Parenthood
Anti-Gay
Anti-Bailout that saved millions of jobs
Anti-Auto Bailout that saved hundreds of thousands of jobs (and GM)
Anti-Poor
Anti-Welfare state
Anti-Medicare
Anti-Medicaid
Anti-SNAP
Anti-Tax the rich back to their obligated percent
Anti-Healthcare that improves the system (so instead you'd break it)
Anti-Bill that improves infrastructure (and instead watch it continue to crumble)
Anti-Regulations
Anti-Union
Anti-Green Cars
Anti-Anything that moves our country forward...
Anti-government
Anti-spending
Anti-insurance mandate
Anti-NPR
and more
Anti-Minimum Wage
Anti-Iran nuclear Deal
Anti-Abortion
Anti-Contraception
Anti-Reproductive Rights to Women
Anti-Women
Anti-Immigrants
Anti-Minorities
Anti-Planned Parenthood
Anti-Gay
Anti-Bailout that saved millions of jobs
Anti-Auto Bailout that saved hundreds of thousands of jobs (and GM)
Anti-Poor
Anti-Welfare state
Anti-Medicare
Anti-Medicaid
Anti-SNAP
Anti-Tax the rich back to their obligated percent
Anti-Healthcare that improves the system (so instead you'd break it)
Anti-Bill that improves infrastructure (and instead watch it continue to crumble)
Anti-Regulations
Anti-Union
Anti-Green Cars
Anti-Anything that moves our country forward...
Anti-government
Anti-spending
Anti-insurance mandate
Anti-NPR
and more
10
Don't forget Anti-Auntie. They're Anti-Everythingelse. The party of "NO" -- the hits just keep on comin'.
Anti Colonia Martialis also...more lethal than the indignities comprising your rubric of shame?
So the GOP is a religious group trying to run the country under Perkins. That does not bode well. Why aren't the churches being taxed!
4
Let's see...propose a bunch of generic. unreachable goals on top of a lot of "righteous" desires that are all based on fear, tie that to the orange-fluffed haired nominee, and believe that will win over independents and their own GOP skeptics to get the Presidency?
The GOP has proven they don't want to govern, which means compromise to get things done. They don't want to do it, and they don't care how it affects the country. Why they have any support is more scary ...
The GOP has proven they don't want to govern, which means compromise to get things done. They don't want to do it, and they don't care how it affects the country. Why they have any support is more scary ...
4
The Know-Nothings have morphed into the modern Republic Party (if they call the other party "Democrat," this is the proper moniker for them).
1
We need to get out of the bedroom, and bathroom business, and move on with the economy. The social issues are overdone, bathrooms already relabeled, move on.
I make a motion to amend the platform item as such to replace the offending anti-gay language and anti-abortion statements with "... support household formation, elimanate the marriage tax penalties, re-affirm egalitarian values,... in particular the immeasurable and equal worth of every living human being."
The US Economy is on the brink, no self respecting economist will stop short of saying America got it wrong, the globalization strategy of the past 2 decades was overplayed to American and Global detriment. We have NO time to waste on social issues previously decided by popular vote, we must focus on jobs for everyone.
People may agree with republicans on the sanctity of marriage, but republicans are out of touch with the difficulty of raising a family if they choose to distract, and waste time on a dead horse. Respect the vote of the people. Fix the economy please, jobs for everyone, tranistional housing for the homeless, food and utility subsidies for familes in need, jobs/edutation/vocational training for everyone.
I make a motion to amend the platform item as such to replace the offending anti-gay language and anti-abortion statements with "... support household formation, elimanate the marriage tax penalties, re-affirm egalitarian values,... in particular the immeasurable and equal worth of every living human being."
The US Economy is on the brink, no self respecting economist will stop short of saying America got it wrong, the globalization strategy of the past 2 decades was overplayed to American and Global detriment. We have NO time to waste on social issues previously decided by popular vote, we must focus on jobs for everyone.
People may agree with republicans on the sanctity of marriage, but republicans are out of touch with the difficulty of raising a family if they choose to distract, and waste time on a dead horse. Respect the vote of the people. Fix the economy please, jobs for everyone, tranistional housing for the homeless, food and utility subsidies for familes in need, jobs/edutation/vocational training for everyone.
3
"Man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights"? Really, where do we find the list of these rights in the bible? Despite this insipid mantra that the our rights derive from some divine overlord, and that our country was founded on "christian values," the bible never endorses the idea of democratic government, nor any of the rights and values embodied in our Constitution or Bill of Rights. Thus, there is no mention of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to bear arms, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, freedom from self-incrimination, the right to a trial by jury, or the equal protection of all people under our laws. The bible likewise makes no mention of the establishment of separate executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, of checks and balances, of “states’ rights,” or of elections or voting. And there most assuredly is no mention of freedom of religion, inasmuch as the penalty for worshiping a false god under the first commandment is death. Lastly, it is interesting to note that, at least for the 3 years of his life that the gospels tell us about, Jesus himself never did a lick of work, instead living entirely on public welfare.
5
Listen to Theresa May's address upon entering #10 Downing street as Prime Minister. Great Britain's Conservative party has move far to the left socially yet has been successful in rebuilding the economy. This is not Thatcher's (or Reagan's) conservatism any longer. That's a dead horse. The Brits are far more practical than that. The GOP are stupidly hidebound (see party platform) in old dead ideas and nihilism and can only lead the US backward into a darker past. The world changes, the GOP can't keep up.
4
The only time that time or light is warped when there is a gravitational anomaly. And we are encountering one, the Republican Party. This party is so heavily to the right that it is producing that kind of warped platform. The candidate campaigned on it and got the party to where is seemed to want to be. Or is it?! It doesn't matter how it got there, but the task now is to pull ourselves out of this 'warped reality' and go on our way of democracy and freedom, and avoid any wall erected in front of our path to continue our journey! Vote where it counts.
1
Whether you like Trump or not, he will win in a landslide unless a lone crazed assassin stops him. As a non-voter, I see this much more objectively than my political friends. The polls show a statistical tie in July. That means Hillary will loves by 10 points or more.
The major papers refuse to address this, but I think all the big players see it. They have come out in a show of unity never before seen in America, with big time Democrats and Republicans joining to oppose Trump.
It won't work because of the massive anger below.
The major papers refuse to address this, but I think all the big players see it. They have come out in a show of unity never before seen in America, with big time Democrats and Republicans joining to oppose Trump.
It won't work because of the massive anger below.
The fact that I was worried about President Obama's appearance in Dallas just makes me say DON"T EVEN GO THERE.
Your "political friends"? I think your friends have (unlike you) clearly gauged the odds and determined they are not good for Trump. No, not good at all. I personally would bet the farm on this one.
The same Republicans who rail against countries in the Middle East where there is Sharia Law and brand it "primitive" seem to be heading down the very same road towards making the United States a theocracy. While they love to talk about "strict" if not literal interpretation of the Constitution when it comes to the Second Amendment, they seem to have no skipping over First Amendment which calls states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" .
If I were to characterize the majority of their positions in a nutshell, I would have to say that hypocrisy pretty much covers it.
If I were to characterize the majority of their positions in a nutshell, I would have to say that hypocrisy pretty much covers it.
6
This SHOULD alienate voters. But it might not because people don't really pay attention to party platforms anyway.
2
We need a healthy two-party system in this country.
But the Republican party of the today needs disappear and never be heard of again. However, I don't think that will happen given the millions and millions that support these extreme views in a modern world, along with a candidate that is breathtakingly dangerous in what he espouses.
This is the new definition of American Exceptionalism. God help us all if they prevail.
But the Republican party of the today needs disappear and never be heard of again. However, I don't think that will happen given the millions and millions that support these extreme views in a modern world, along with a candidate that is breathtakingly dangerous in what he espouses.
This is the new definition of American Exceptionalism. God help us all if they prevail.
5
Wow. The Republican party is clearly desperate to bring back the 1940's and '50's. Well, at least the white male idealized version of those decades. There must be a cognitive deficient in the party's members that makes them so resistant to progress. I also wonder if the polarization at both bends of the political spectrum could be a harbinger of a future (many years down the road) where the US breaks into two or more countries
3
I guess I will be making another contribution to Freedom From Religion Foundation, a watchdog group that maintains Separation of Church and State. This is Christian Sharia Law. It is outrageous that the GOP has the audacity to promote their Christian Bible over our Secular government. And that they would take council from Tony Perkins, a man who justifies the killing of abortion providers is beyond belief. The GOP is tone deaf on social issues and I hope they pay for it in November.
17
yup. If they don't pay for it the rest of us surely will. I've never seen anything like the GOP platform they are concocting now. It sounds like the GOP has become an unconstitutional organization. No wonder McConnell became terrified when Scalia died. No wonder RBG is breaking out. No wonder the Bushes are saying home. I'm making a contribution to Freedom from Religion right now. This is getting really sick.
“Obviously, there’s an agenda here.”
You got that right, pal.
You got that right, pal.
6
If there ever was a reason (though Trump is enough of a reason) to "not" vote for Republicans…it is this ridiculous..discriminatory platform.
If you live in a swing state….you must vote for Hillary (even if you don't like her..she is qualified)…..and if you don't live in a swing state…vote for the Libertarian or Green Party.
Why? It is past time to end the Republican Party for they have truly "jumped the shark" of politics.
If you live in a swing state….you must vote for Hillary (even if you don't like her..she is qualified)…..and if you don't live in a swing state…vote for the Libertarian or Green Party.
Why? It is past time to end the Republican Party for they have truly "jumped the shark" of politics.
2
The Republican platform immigration isn’t right-wing, Republicans favor enforcing the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1996. This act calls for the deportation of unauthorized immigrants and a crackdown on employers who hire them. The bipartisan passed both houses of Congress by wide margins. Republicans favor extending and strengthen the border wall, but the proposed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill, which was much praised by President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Democrats, contains a “Southern Border Fencing Strategy” that provides for extension and strengthening of the existing Border Fence.
1
This platform seems to be trying to cut the Republican base to the smallest denomination possible. It reads like a manifesto on faith published by a small Protestant church, and it seems to have little taste for actual governing. I have a hard time reading this and associating it with a political party. It is as surprising to witness as it would be to watch BP Oil launch a billion dear campaign to promote family values.
2
Hey Ryan.... you must be very proud.....
3
So I guess the Republicans will be forbidding delegates from throwing money at women's bodies in strip clubs, during the convention hoopla in Cleveland. Not!
4
up next: VP candidate. hopefully, it's newt gingrich: a bottom-feeding opportunist who has failed for 30 years to make his bovine excrement of accusations stick to the clintons; an adulter (6 wives between the two of them) who wags his moralistic finger at others. and then, the loyal sheep are off to see the wizard.
10
Going far to the right follows the wishes of the 57% and 59% of white Americans who voted McCain/Palin in 2008 and Romney/Ryan in 2012. Losing the White House in both elections led to a Republican majority in both houses of the U.S. Congress. Along with Republican majorities in state executive governor's mansions and legislatures the Republicans can effectively block most Democratic efforts to govern national change. Coupled with the move to the near right by the Democrats under Clinton and Obama the country has moved to the right.
3
We lost the WH in 2008 & 2012? must be a defect in the Continuum twixt thee & me--pls recalibrate & t/mit again...dimitte praeterita, specta ad futuris.
Someone joked to me the other day about the Democrats that if the party had really moved closer to Bernie Sanders, it would’ve nominated Bernie Sanders. I don’t think average voters will even so much as read an article about their party’s platform.
This "platform" is nothing less than a declaration of war, not only against every American citizen who isn't (publicly) heterosexual, white, male and Christian, but also against the modern world itself. It reads like the GOP collaborated with ISIS, and nothing that group of fanatics is doing is even remotely as threatening to the United States as what the GOP has become. This is no longer a political party but a cult, pushing a twisted and fanatical distortion of "Christianity" that bears no resemblance to the faith most normal Americans claim to hold. This so-called platform doesn't call for the stoning of women and throwing gay people off of buildings yet, but I'm sure it's been disucssed and will appear in the next revision. These people are unAmerican.
17
unAmerican? How about inHuman?
1
Please speak to your fellow Texans
I'm not so sure that platform has moved to the right as much as it has moved into another dimension free of facts and common decency.
20
I would like every Log Cabin Republican to take a look at the 2016 Republican Platform and then tell us: Are your fiscal policy concerns still more important to you than your human dignity and equal civil rights? Your Log Cabin is burning down around you. Can you at long last muster enough integrity to walk out and slam the door behind you?
21
Plus the republican Party does not even address real fiscal policy concerns. Their only plan even more tax reductions for mega rich people
1
The prevalence of pornography, much of it very extreme, while perhaps not a 'crisis,' has nevertheless had a serious impact on marriages and relationships. For boys who look at it a lot in their formative years, it distorts their view of women and sex, and can lead to a kind of arrested development. There's probably no solution, and censorship is a slippery slope, but acknowledging it's a problem in many cases isn't 'right wing' in my view, it's honest.
1
We'll know the Republicans are serious when they adopt a plank advocating a prohibition on remarriage. Until then, this is all just an exercise in bullying.
3
If it's your desire to return to the days of your great grandfather when bigotry ruled and people as well as women knew there proper place the GOP should have your vote.
1
I am reminded of a very pointed quote:
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
13
you seriously wrote an article without printing the actual platform? not even an easily found link? WTH? I thought the NYT would not be a POS like the Huff Po.
1
The GOP has been coopted by the Tea Partiers.
It used to be that the Dems were a tad to the left of center while the Republicans were a tad to the right of center. No more. The GOP has swung so far to the right that they've fallen off the cliff of reasonableness while the Dems are pretty much where they've always been.
It used to be that the Dems were a tad to the left of center while the Republicans were a tad to the right of center. No more. The GOP has swung so far to the right that they've fallen off the cliff of reasonableness while the Dems are pretty much where they've always been.
8
This is what happens when you IGNORE mid-term elections. You let the crazies select these idiots for you.
11
Groundhog day...again and again.
3
What does it say about the Republican party - indeed, about a significant segment of the American electorate - that the dominant impulse within conservative activists is toward mean-spritidness, exclusion and intolerance.
It's as though the primary motivation for those crafting the party platform is "how can we be as ill-willed as possible?" It's the temperament of 12 year-old bullies.
Forget ideology for a moment, it is depressing to ponder just how insane and plain mean the conservative movement has become.
It's as though the primary motivation for those crafting the party platform is "how can we be as ill-willed as possible?" It's the temperament of 12 year-old bullies.
Forget ideology for a moment, it is depressing to ponder just how insane and plain mean the conservative movement has become.
5
I wish I could be more like the drafters of this platform, where I don't have to give a frig about evidence and facts - you know those pesky things which persist upon challenging one's world views and refusing to acknowledge that we are always right . . .
3
The GOP (not so Grand anymore) is well on their way to returning this country to it's rightful owners: rich, white people.
2
Not really, dude. Hasn't anyone told you that white folks Are or will be a minority as well. Sorry that Rhodesia is no longer available to you.
The Republican Party is apparently hell bent on self destruction. The further right they go the more at odds with mainstream America they become, something proven by their own post 2012 election analysis. Yet, they still let the extremists rule. The moderates in that party need to either break off and start over or grow a set and send the dinosaurs packing before the whole party becomes extinct.
8
What's "mainstream" seems to depend on what part of the country you're talking about.
I am so glad that I am in the last 1/3 of my life and not in the first third. To think that one would could possibly live a full lifetime hearing Trump's words and NOT hearing the Republicans fight back with any heart. To imagine years/decades of this.
And I write this with the feeling that it will only get worse. The racists will get louder and there will be more violence. There will be more sticks and stones and bullets, names that do hurt us. Really, they do; they shape us and make us who we are.
It is so odd to live now, in America, where there are so many inter-racial couples and marriages and families and yet....and yet...so much racism.
America is changing and maybe this is the bad part, the flipping of the "white" majority to a "white" minority (perhaps like a bad health prognosis, the "anger" before the "acceptance").
To imagine so much hatred, distrust, mistrust because of the color of one's skin! What a world. I do believe it has gotten better in my lifetime (think 60's) but there is such a backslide right now. It is painful to see and to experience.
America can continue to be great and can heal, but not when Republican politicians are encouraging their candidate to spew his racist speech and even worse, giving permission to every racist creep in America to not only copy but take Trump's racism one step farther.
And I write this with the feeling that it will only get worse. The racists will get louder and there will be more violence. There will be more sticks and stones and bullets, names that do hurt us. Really, they do; they shape us and make us who we are.
It is so odd to live now, in America, where there are so many inter-racial couples and marriages and families and yet....and yet...so much racism.
America is changing and maybe this is the bad part, the flipping of the "white" majority to a "white" minority (perhaps like a bad health prognosis, the "anger" before the "acceptance").
To imagine so much hatred, distrust, mistrust because of the color of one's skin! What a world. I do believe it has gotten better in my lifetime (think 60's) but there is such a backslide right now. It is painful to see and to experience.
America can continue to be great and can heal, but not when Republican politicians are encouraging their candidate to spew his racist speech and even worse, giving permission to every racist creep in America to not only copy but take Trump's racism one step farther.
10
I think it has gotten worse and more virulent precisely BECAUSE there are so many interracial couples and marriages, BECAUSE we have a black President, BECAUSE we have a woman running for President. This is the last, frantic, terrified, scrabbling, dying gasp of the racists and bigots among us. They've always been there, they've been flushed out into daylight, and this is their end.
We have to remember that actually this terrible racism, cops killing innocent blacks, has always been there, and much worse, but now, with citizen cameras, again, it is being flushed out into daylight. This is how it ends, not the beginning of something new. Even most Republicans are appalled at Trump and at the far-right wingnuts. Even the Koch brothers are secretly supporting Hillary. Even police chiefs are speaking out against gun violence and lax gun laws. And no one is going to support the far-right social conservatives.
This is the death knell of the Republican party. We can do our part by supporting Hillary, by supporting the down-ticket elections, by donating, by volunteering, even by commenting on social media. We boomers set out to change the world, and we can still make a difference.
We have to remember that actually this terrible racism, cops killing innocent blacks, has always been there, and much worse, but now, with citizen cameras, again, it is being flushed out into daylight. This is how it ends, not the beginning of something new. Even most Republicans are appalled at Trump and at the far-right wingnuts. Even the Koch brothers are secretly supporting Hillary. Even police chiefs are speaking out against gun violence and lax gun laws. And no one is going to support the far-right social conservatives.
This is the death knell of the Republican party. We can do our part by supporting Hillary, by supporting the down-ticket elections, by donating, by volunteering, even by commenting on social media. We boomers set out to change the world, and we can still make a difference.
The more conservative and racist the Republican Party gets the more clear choice people will have to vote for Clinton. The more frightening aspect of Trumps stirring of hate and racism is that it will not go away even if he loses the election. It seems that we are on a very slippery slope in our country.
7
A harbinger of things to come if Trump is elected. He'll govern with apathy toward the machinations of his party apparatchiks, allowing the hard right to romp with total abandon. Let ye who think he'll just "shake things up" be warned.
3
The dogs bark but the caravan keeps on moving.
2
So instead of Republicans seizing the moment and recognizing the country's shifting demographics and social views, they decide to go full force Christian Taliban. Their strategy continues to be: focus on the lowest common denominator, divide people and distract from real issues. If this is not to their detriment then I truly fear for this country.
9
While watching the Republican Platform Committee have their debates on C-SPAN, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the one lone delegate from D.C. who identified herself as Lesbian and tried to push back on some of these planks. She fought the good fight and had some support from a NY delegate, but otherwise, she might as well have been addressing a 1955 Junior League meeting for the reaction it got.
7
I am surprised they did not include bringing back slavery. Sadly the biggest threat to American values is the republican party.
11
Reverting to head-in-the-sand extremism on such social issues as homosexuality and women's equality is yet another indication of just how bereft of genuine policy ideas - and desperate - the Republican party has become.
7
Shall we impose a Republican version of sharia law?
10
Yesterday a Trump organizer asked participants at a planned rally in Cleveland next Monday not to bring their long rifles, especially AR-15s, shotguns and sniper rifles. Today we read about a platform of hate toward gay people, reintroducing prayer and the bible in schools, etc. And Paul Ryan writes an op-ed in the Washington Post to state why Hillary Clinton should not get security briefings. Are all the seats taken for the next year on one-way flights to New Zealand?
5
"The platform calls for overturning the Supreme Court marriage decision with a constitutional amendment and makes references to appointing judges “who respect traditional family values.”"
I can't wait to hear this addressed in Dennis Hastert's speech to the GOP convention. He isn't? Why not?
I can't wait to hear this addressed in Dennis Hastert's speech to the GOP convention. He isn't? Why not?
9
Republican platform inches further towards sharia law.
15
Give them their medicare money back and ask them to manage on their own when they retire with their existing conditions. Many of the same people will become liberal to get benefits of Medicare!
3
As a progressive I am not pro pornography. I find liberals naive when it come to the the corrosive power of popular culture.
While I don't think most people openly describe themselves as "fans" of pornography, it's existence itself isn't the problem. The problem is abstinence-based sexual education. This obviously doesn't deter young folks from having sex so pornography becomes their sexual education and that can be harmful. The best way to combat pornography's influence on young people is to promote sex-positive health education in schools.
Headline should read: GOP platform shows that GOP still hasn't learned the lessons of 2012.
5
The 2016 GOP Platform declares a Christian Sharia law; advocates a Theocratic dictatorship by and for the White Christian Race, & as such, declares war on LGBTQ Americans & anyone who else at odds with that vision. Americans of good conscience can no longer vote Republican and claim not to be part of this, claim to be with the GOP on some other issues that quells conscience. Jesus says: Love thy enemy, & do good to others who do wrong to one's self. The GOP's answer is: "If you'll be my enemy, I'll be your enemy, too." The 2016 platform abandons every notion to date of what it means to be an American.
6
Progress, like Don Draper's life, moves in one direction. Forward.
With a regressive, discriminatory and hateful, platform like this one, it seems we'll all be moving forward without the GOP. Oh well...
With a regressive, discriminatory and hateful, platform like this one, it seems we'll all be moving forward without the GOP. Oh well...
6
Well, I guess that any reasonable person who looks over this platform would assume that the people who wrote it are still watching Ozzie & Harriet and wishing it was 1957 again. If there was ever a reason to vote against any Republican anywhere here it is. A platform that says only white Christians have the right to tell us how to live.
Just a reminder to the Republican party. The Founding Fathers founded this country on the separation of church and state.
Just a reminder to the Republican party. The Founding Fathers founded this country on the separation of church and state.
8
Was 1957 the start of the stone age? If so, then you're right.
As someone that is a Democrat, a Christian, and a woman, this platform is utterly horrifying to me.
What exactly is the problem with a woman wanting to fight for her country?? That makes her a hero. Should I give up my career in Engineering because science and math should be for men only? Is that where we're headed? Or maybe the GOP is implying our troops are too weak-minded to see her as a peer?
The Bible taught in schools? No. I do NOT want my faith further twisted to promote BIGOTRY. Christianity is mainly about peace, love, taking care of the poor and sick, accepting others, and NOT JUDGING ANYONE. Most importantly, church and state should be separate. The schools that my sons attend have children of multiple faiths, how will they feel? Also, I chose to believe what I believe. Everyone should have that choice.
This platform is nothing but hateful, backwards nonsense that would have been embarrassing 20 years ago, and in 2016 is downright scary. This platform seems to come from a time when civil rights were nonexistent. Tony Perkins does NOT, IN ANY WAY speak for the majority of Christians. His Family Research Council has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center with good reason. Why is he allowed to help shape what may end up being law in this country???
Democrats need to vote in November. We can't lose, years of progress are on the line.
What exactly is the problem with a woman wanting to fight for her country?? That makes her a hero. Should I give up my career in Engineering because science and math should be for men only? Is that where we're headed? Or maybe the GOP is implying our troops are too weak-minded to see her as a peer?
The Bible taught in schools? No. I do NOT want my faith further twisted to promote BIGOTRY. Christianity is mainly about peace, love, taking care of the poor and sick, accepting others, and NOT JUDGING ANYONE. Most importantly, church and state should be separate. The schools that my sons attend have children of multiple faiths, how will they feel? Also, I chose to believe what I believe. Everyone should have that choice.
This platform is nothing but hateful, backwards nonsense that would have been embarrassing 20 years ago, and in 2016 is downright scary. This platform seems to come from a time when civil rights were nonexistent. Tony Perkins does NOT, IN ANY WAY speak for the majority of Christians. His Family Research Council has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center with good reason. Why is he allowed to help shape what may end up being law in this country???
Democrats need to vote in November. We can't lose, years of progress are on the line.
8
"Republicans moved on Tuesday toward adopting a staunchly conservative platform that takes a strict, traditionalist view of the family and child rearing, bars military women from combat, describes coal as a “clean” energy source and declares pornography a “public health crisis.”"
This is the most disgusting thing I have read on the Internet today. I have no words.
This is the most disgusting thing I have read on the Internet today. I have no words.
7
I hope the GOP's reactionary, homophobic and essentially racist platform is a wake up call for all those fools who can't see any difference between Trump & Clinton.
7
Mr. Trump looks like a lost puppy in many recent photos, and one wonders if he is starting to suffer from early signs of dementia, reflected in his inability to complete thoughts to conclusions and making statements that are simple, repeated conclusions void of thought. Given that, he is likely wholly disinterested in the platform and perhaps doesn't even understand what is going into it even though he will be held to it during the debates. A far right platform will alienate many constituencies, and deepen the reserve of GOP moderates like the Bushes to simply sit this one out. "Make America Great Again" means take our social mores back before civil rights, before women's rights, before anyone dared to come out of the closet. To the rest of us, the convention in Cleveland equates to "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Good bye, GOP: left in the dust.
4
We need to begin calling it what it really is.....the "Fascist Party". It's no longer a GOP any more than the man in the moon is made of green cheese. If a coworker or nieghbor votes Republican, they are supporting a Fascist agenda. Isolate them. It's a sickness!
7
What does any of that have to do with governance?
After long, hard work, the Republican party has finally become a caricature of itself.
After long, hard work, the Republican party has finally become a caricature of itself.
6
Flake, Buffoon, Nincompoop - not a man for all seasons.
I am sure all the members of the GOP platform committee would be happy to share their web browser histories with the public so that we can all confirm that none of them has ever looked at porn.
2
This is exactly why I could not vote for my tradition party 4 years ago. What a shame. I don't want to vote democrat but I have no choice. It is simply a vote against bigots
3
While everyone is focusing on Trump and how the GOP will loose the White House, they are doing what they have learned to do best: beat the Dems at the statehouse level where they can do real damage.
5
I agree with this - and that quest is made laughably easy with the gerry-mandering of voting districts.
This has the fingerprints of Ted Cruz and his delegates all over it, esp. on social issues, where Cruz made his stand during the Republican primary, courting the religious right incessantly. The Republican platform veers to Trump's right on at least a few high-profile issues, and assuming that Trump's delegates don't push back on this, it suggests to me that an endorsement from Cruz is coming and could be announced in Cleveland next week. Process-wise, it wouldn't be too different from what the Clinton and Sanders campaigns just went through. Policy-wise, of course, it would be VERY, VERY different.
1
I guess this is their final repudiation of Obama's promise of Hope and Change. Now that they've worked against that for 8 years, the final touch is a platform that reads No Hope, No Change.
1
In fact the 1956 GOP platform was more progressive than the 2015 version. The GOP is devolving more and more into something repugnant and unrecognizable in our country. The Republican party would be more at home in certain European countries of a different era.
4
The Republican Party was first to endorse - in their Platform - "equal rights for men and women" in 1946. Then the ERA in 1960. That was when the religious right perked up their ears. Truly, that changed everything.
2
Sounds like something out of Saudi Arabia--or anywhere in the middle-east. (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-islam-wa...
4
Ahhh, republicans. Gone are the days of nuanced dialog and respectful interaction, promotion of individual liberties and absence of gov intervention. I recently watched an interview- Mohammed Ali and W F Buckley. I think Mr Buckley is rolling over in his grave
1
Ostriches only stick their head in the sand. In 2016 the Republicans went for the total body. Way to go.
Given Hilary's campaign skills the best she could have hoped for was Donald as the candidate and this is the Republican Platform. If she can't beat these, she really doesn't have any political skills.
Given Hilary's campaign skills the best she could have hoped for was Donald as the candidate and this is the Republican Platform. If she can't beat these, she really doesn't have any political skills.
3
Go easy on Hillary; she not only must run against her opponent and the multi-billion-dollar Republican machine, but, like Al Gore in 2000, she must run against the national political press as well, including this, the paper of record.
Welcome to 1916.
1
It's now Trumps party, he's their leader, and it shows. All warranties are void now, all bets are off. I expect nothing less than a total breakdown of society (on Friday, around dusk, local time Cleveland), followed by martial law, followed by either:
a) a sustainable, sensible, fair system of government for a nation of >300 million people that provides justice, opportunity, security and happiness for all
b) the biggest fascist empire the world has ever seen, followed by nuclear World War III, followed by a veeeeery long and grudge-filed silence, only interrupted by "...i told you so..." remarks from various corners.
Don't go to Cleveland or Philadelphia. Have supplies to last a month at home and an escape plan to Canada, Mexico or overseas. Learn how to peel potatoes, to use a plow, to cut hair, to juggle, something, ANYTHING that makes you useful wherever you go after the collapse.
May the flying spaghetti monster have mercy upon your souls...
a) a sustainable, sensible, fair system of government for a nation of >300 million people that provides justice, opportunity, security and happiness for all
b) the biggest fascist empire the world has ever seen, followed by nuclear World War III, followed by a veeeeery long and grudge-filed silence, only interrupted by "...i told you so..." remarks from various corners.
Don't go to Cleveland or Philadelphia. Have supplies to last a month at home and an escape plan to Canada, Mexico or overseas. Learn how to peel potatoes, to use a plow, to cut hair, to juggle, something, ANYTHING that makes you useful wherever you go after the collapse.
May the flying spaghetti monster have mercy upon your souls...
1
I wonder why the guards did not lock the doors to the asylum.
3
What is driving the Republicans? Efforts to moderate their platform fall flat, while the hardliners get a wish list of intolerance that indicates the retrograde motion of the party.
When will there be a rebirth of centrism? What happened to the center right? The wheel has been yanked, and the Republican bus is in the ditch. Amusement at the antics of this flailing party is replaced by shock at the degree to which they double down on a losing hand.
And to top it off, planks to teach biblical studies in public schools and a religious tests for legislation!! They should support freedom of religion, not U.S. Christian madrassas.
Republicans should reflect on Cromwell, the most successful Western Christian dictator. The evangelicals might think twice if they understood how easy it is to be blasphemous, heretical or apostate under theocracy. Rigid religious law would put many pushing the fundamentalist agenda on the wrong side of the fence themselves. What do they find so attractive about a progressively more Saudi like form of government control of belief?
The founders were aware of historical religious oppression. The fire brands of the Republican party are blind to it!
When will there be a rebirth of centrism? What happened to the center right? The wheel has been yanked, and the Republican bus is in the ditch. Amusement at the antics of this flailing party is replaced by shock at the degree to which they double down on a losing hand.
And to top it off, planks to teach biblical studies in public schools and a religious tests for legislation!! They should support freedom of religion, not U.S. Christian madrassas.
Republicans should reflect on Cromwell, the most successful Western Christian dictator. The evangelicals might think twice if they understood how easy it is to be blasphemous, heretical or apostate under theocracy. Rigid religious law would put many pushing the fundamentalist agenda on the wrong side of the fence themselves. What do they find so attractive about a progressively more Saudi like form of government control of belief?
The founders were aware of historical religious oppression. The fire brands of the Republican party are blind to it!
3
The Republican Party just can't get out of its own way. First nominating someone who will split the party, and now following that up with a platform that will split the party. Congratulations President H. Clinton.
2
I've always been under the impression that government was supposed to deal with the things that HELPED America. It seems that the Republicans believe by controlling everyone's personal life by setting laws and demanding everyone adhere to their version of what is moral and right, I'm now under the impression that the government is actually just a huge church service with the Republicans as the preacher.
They can rant and rave all they want about those issues they claim are more important than anything else no matter what. But the horse is long gone from the barn and catching him is never going to happen. The movement is forward on issues such as same sex marriage, what constitutes a family, where one relieves themselves and who gets to do it where and no amount of temper tantrums will bring the horse back.
They can rant and rave all they want about those issues they claim are more important than anything else no matter what. But the horse is long gone from the barn and catching him is never going to happen. The movement is forward on issues such as same sex marriage, what constitutes a family, where one relieves themselves and who gets to do it where and no amount of temper tantrums will bring the horse back.
5
column quotes Jim Bopp of Indiana stating republican party not a party of identity politics. of course only if you are of christian identity.
5
Is there much difference between these positions and those of the yahoos in the Middle East?
8
Absolutely! Their Book of Magic is a different colour.
1
Just in case Trump wasn't enough to prove that the GOP has lost its collective mind, they go in this direction? Good luck with that.
5
The scenarios that come to mind when describing pornography as a "public health crisis" skew, ahem, to the rather absurd.
5
WOW! The Small Government party...except when it dozens't suit their political interests.
6
Gee, did they also endorse the horse and buggy as an efficient means of transportation and pass a resolution requiring all women's skirts and dresses to include bustles? Could they BE any more bassackwards?
8
Actually terrifying. Setting the stage for the largest clash of ideals since the 1800's. Deliver us from Trump and his inclusion this incendiary and bigoted party.
4
Get the scotch and popcorn ready, Cleave-land is going to be a hoot!
4
This platform represents a failure in our political system. While I am sure it represents a large portion those who call themselves Republicans, and they have every right to their own politics, my guess is it does not represent the majority of people who consider themselves conservative or right of center. Those folks don't have a party that represents their views, and increasingly, cannot get candidates they would favor through the nominating process in the GOP.
The majority of Americans are just left or right of center, are much more tolerant of other peoples views than what is expressed in this platform and would prefer representatives that would be willing to negotiate with adversaries and move the country forward. But it seems difficult, if not impossible, to get candidates who fit that description through this political parties nominating processes, locking these folks out of our political system.
The end game in representative government is supposed to be a legislative body that can address the real needs of the public. The all or nothing attitude embodied in the rhetoric of this platform all but ensures a dysfunctional congress. That is a failed political system that is badly in need of reform.
The majority of Americans are just left or right of center, are much more tolerant of other peoples views than what is expressed in this platform and would prefer representatives that would be willing to negotiate with adversaries and move the country forward. But it seems difficult, if not impossible, to get candidates who fit that description through this political parties nominating processes, locking these folks out of our political system.
The end game in representative government is supposed to be a legislative body that can address the real needs of the public. The all or nothing attitude embodied in the rhetoric of this platform all but ensures a dysfunctional congress. That is a failed political system that is badly in need of reform.
5
Wow. Much of the GOP platform reads like a manifesto of what's shaping up to be the equivalent of a Christian Taliban. Cue Mullah Priebus.
13
"It also encourages the teaching of the Bible in public schools because, the amendment said, a good understanding of its contents is “indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry.”
This platform rejects Science, the Arts and Mathematics. That is the definition of insanity.
This platform rejects Science, the Arts and Mathematics. That is the definition of insanity.
9
The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.” ?? Guess they like to pick and choose which amendments of the Constitution to follow. They like the second but not the first.
9
Remnant Victorians & small-town, intra-montane whites over 60 will love the GOPlatform--absent abrogation of gerrymanders, it consolidates reactionary control of Congress til mid-century...the coming liberal majority on the Supremes will potentiate roll-back of calamitous Reaganism, but the fate of legislative decarbonization remains parlous, not to mention investment in social utilities & basic science...can we stop ecollapse? dubious, unless stand-alone renewables can be cranked in still faster.
For a political party whose members are always harping about how we should respect the intentions of the "Founders," it seems really ironic that the Republican proposed platform supports not the Founders' "separation of church and state," but rather the submission of state to church, so long, of course, that it's THEIR church.
21
per family values, we can pray the Republican candidate does not win. If there is a supreme deity, surely the Republican platform would be rebuked. And speaking of Supreme, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsberg should be able to state whatever she wants (most anything)...she's earned it. I say kudos to the octogenarian!
4
Absence of divine reproof in such matters again suggests the kosmos is indifferent to our fates, per Newton's 1687 obliteration of telos [purpose] in the Principia, not to mention general relativity & quantum mechanics...but the American people may yet dispatch Trumpidon back to the slough of pusillanimity whence he slithered.
Anti-women (the little dears need men to guide and protect them, in return for which the little dears are to worship men); anti gay; anti the teachings of Christ; xenophobic; gun crazy. Well, nothing is new other than thinking Republicans who understand basic American principles have been shut out. I hope they all are soundly defeated regardless of which office they seek.
3
Please, America. Get it right in November and reject cynicism, hatred, hypocrisy and racism. The world depended on you against the rise of Fascism before and you answered the call. Do not fail us now when we need you again.
8
Listening to Paul Ryan was painful
Lots of talk about "freedom", "equality" and "inclusiveness"
Meanwhile, the GOP is passing a bill allowing legalized bigotry to prevent damaging an individuals "religious conscience". The are also planning for nice fat tax cuts for the wealthy, and to pursue the Chumps wall building plan.
Oh, and stay tuned endless Clinton "investigations" for years
Staggering stupidity vs reactionary stubbornness
You decide...
Lots of talk about "freedom", "equality" and "inclusiveness"
Meanwhile, the GOP is passing a bill allowing legalized bigotry to prevent damaging an individuals "religious conscience". The are also planning for nice fat tax cuts for the wealthy, and to pursue the Chumps wall building plan.
Oh, and stay tuned endless Clinton "investigations" for years
Staggering stupidity vs reactionary stubbornness
You decide...
6
Sounds like somebody dug out 1951's platform.
5
I don't think Eisenhower would have gone near this platform with a 10-foot pole. Even Nixon wouldn't have.
Perhaps the GOP recognizes that it will lose the upcoming general election and has decided to shoot the moon. Why not? They have little to lose at this point.
4
They just keep digging their hole deeper and deeper...
7
GOP = Third Reich.
Just about any other candidate would have been better.
Just about any other candidate would have been better.
6
"The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”" = Christian Sharia Law.
16
People who want to use a Bible to guide a government are the most dangerous people on the planet.
17
Is it far to the right or not too far to the reich?
14
Read the bible. After Love God as the one and only, the bible has one over-arching theme: LOVE THY NEIGHBOR... regardless of who they are, race, sexual orientation, etc. Jesus hated one trait more than any other: self-righteousness. The hypocrisy and divisiveness of the increasingly bigoted stance being taken by Republicans is not only anti-American values, it's anti-God. How can they not see that they are on the WRONG side of both when in fact they insist they are RIGHT in taking these positions? Judgement on earth is one thing; judgement on the ultimate day is something else. In this great country you have the right to be a hypocritical bigot; thankfully I have the right to call you out on it and vote against it too.
5
Unfortunately, Brad, neither God nor jesus bothered to register to vote!
The GOP platform declares pornography a national health crisis; militarized, semi-automatic weapons, not so much.
17
I'm trans, and aghast. Words fail me. To realize so many just hate me, for how I was born, hurts so deeply. I'm crying as I write this. I don't tell them to not pray. How can they justify this intensity of profound hatred, to destroy whole groups of people who mean them no ill will.
I am in a fight for my very life. These are very, very dangerous people. These are not opposing political views: what they propose is genocide.
The platform is to signal on a Congressional level that they will never, ever allow me to live without looking over my shoulder.
They believe in God- She will extract a furious penalty for the hatred they sow in Her name.
I am in a fight for my very life. These are very, very dangerous people. These are not opposing political views: what they propose is genocide.
The platform is to signal on a Congressional level that they will never, ever allow me to live without looking over my shoulder.
They believe in God- She will extract a furious penalty for the hatred they sow in Her name.
5
The Republican position on religion must make the Founding Father's turn in their graves.
7
As much as they might clarify a party's core beliefs, platforms have never mattered to the average voter.
I would chock it up to feelings of impotent rage as the GOP rushes pell-mell towards that abyss otherwise known as the dustbin of history.
2
What they platform committee is proposing is a dystonian conglomeration of precepts, that if ever completely enacted, would result in the GOP being known as the Grand Old Taliban of the United States. And they wonder why the membership of their organization is becoming the middle age, xenophobic, angry white men party?
3
I'm in favour of anything the Republican Platform Committee puts into their election plank so long as it meets two criteria:
1. Any plank must do as much as possible to alienate and/or insult as large a group of voters as possible so as to assure that not just their candidate for President but as many Senators up for re-election as possible go down to defeat.
2. The Committee should recognize that their choice of candidate for President (I presume that to be Trump) has no intention of following their planks except in-so-far as he thinks they might help him get elected. They're a bunch of 'losers' after all and we all know that Trump is anything but a 'loser' and is certainly no Republican.
1. Any plank must do as much as possible to alienate and/or insult as large a group of voters as possible so as to assure that not just their candidate for President but as many Senators up for re-election as possible go down to defeat.
2. The Committee should recognize that their choice of candidate for President (I presume that to be Trump) has no intention of following their planks except in-so-far as he thinks they might help him get elected. They're a bunch of 'losers' after all and we all know that Trump is anything but a 'loser' and is certainly no Republican.
1
The written GOP platform is of no more practical importance than the Russian constitution. Republican dog-whistles and hate-mongering speak far louder than any written document.
Since Goldwater's 1964 "states rights" costumed appeal to Southern Segregationists, the foundational principles of Republican ideology remain:
1. Selfishness
2. Greedy materialism
3. Cowardly fear
4. Studied ignorance
5. Intolerance of diversity
6. Prejudice and bigotry
7. Fear of democracy
8. Opposition to the America's traditional pluralistic constitutional republic.
9. Wanton violence
Since Goldwater's 1964 "states rights" costumed appeal to Southern Segregationists, the foundational principles of Republican ideology remain:
1. Selfishness
2. Greedy materialism
3. Cowardly fear
4. Studied ignorance
5. Intolerance of diversity
6. Prejudice and bigotry
7. Fear of democracy
8. Opposition to the America's traditional pluralistic constitutional republic.
9. Wanton violence
7
Don't knock the GOP. They're trying to catch up with the 20th century as fast as they can.
3
How many of today's young people will decide to vote "R" with this kind of platform? Sure, maybe the Bob Jones University alumni, but the young peole I know embrace diversity and want our leaders to fix climate change (i.e. Real green energy such as wind, solar, etc). Few of them attend church and fewer read the bible regularly.
The Republican Party is not longer the Grand Old Party. It is the Party Of Old People.
The Republican Party is not longer the Grand Old Party. It is the Party Of Old People.
4
Don't knock old people, SayNoToGMO. There are many of us fiercely opposed to what's going on in the GOP and with Trump and the hatred he's spewing. Look no further than our SCOTUS judge who spoke out against Trump, as a shining example of an older person horrified by what's going on. It's the party of people with fossilized brains, no matter what age.
Liberals need to remember that Republicans use these issues to distract voters from issues like health care, the economy etc. We need to make sure that we don't get distracted as well.
11
What a wonderful gift for the Democrats!
4
Ironic how the Republicans rail against ISIS which is a pseudo-nation based on theocratic (theolunatic?) ideas but then propose to turn America in a theocracy!
9
Sounds like Republicans would like to treat America to a puritanical, socially restrictive, religious extremist form of government, in addition to continuing their efforts to impoverish most of the population in favor of adding to the wealth and power of a few oligarchs. Oh, and also continue to lower taxes on the wealthiest and explode the debt as a result.
7
I'm astounded the GOP didn't declare that color television should banned in favor of black and white. Everything else says 1955, why not that?
8
Forced Bible study, "conversion therapy" and an obsession with porn and potties. It's not exactly the Gettysburg address.
16
It's incredible that the GOP would ALLOW this idiotic platform to be documented in the first place. The party is basically announcing that it refuses to join the rest of us in modernity and offered a list of reasons why thinking or compassionate people should never vote for them. They offer nothing to our polity in terms of growth(infrastructure, a "wall", really?), education(The Bible, really?). What do they stand for? What can they DO? All they tell us is what we can't do and why we should be afraid. Nominating Trump and offering up this silliness...I can't imagine what they could do to alienate more of our citizenry.
8
So the Republican Party is complaining about Donald Trump, yet when it has a chance to come up with ideas of its own, they are just as disgustingly exclusive as he is. I am so saddened to know that humans are so far from being anything but greedy, fearful animals.
6
Whatever happened to the pro-business, pragmatic arm of the GOP? The side of the GOP that is (in theory) business-friendly and wants to improve people's livelihood through economic expansion?
7
Holy moly- these terrifying clowns want to turn the United States into a theocracy, the exact opposite of the intent of our founding fathers, and in utter disregard of the US Constitution. The Theocracy of White Male America, certainly not the teachings of Jesus, which I venture to guess none of them are genuinely familiar with.
The crafters of the republican platform: Trampling on our constitution while running around screaming about their constitutional right to own military grade guns, which contribute to the deaths of countless thousands of Americans (but pornography is a public health crisis).
While the party platform may ultimately be meaningless in terms of actual policy, the fact that one of the two only political parties that truly wield power has written this un-American platform should frighten us all.
The crafters of the republican platform: Trampling on our constitution while running around screaming about their constitutional right to own military grade guns, which contribute to the deaths of countless thousands of Americans (but pornography is a public health crisis).
While the party platform may ultimately be meaningless in terms of actual policy, the fact that one of the two only political parties that truly wield power has written this un-American platform should frighten us all.
8
Of course the Party Platform has "policy" meaning - and will even more so if there is a Repub. President. Look at the 30 (or so) states controlled by Republicans - there is little in this proposed platform that they have not already done or attempted to do in their states. The Platform gives them legitimacy. They can wave it around and say, 'see this is what the people want!' and...it IS what their people want. Hence, the rest of us wonder where the reasonable Republicans went... I agree though - Holy Moly!
I am moving to CANADA if this ###hole party wins what a bunch of XXckin XXitheads
1
While I agree with all your "## and XX" you have to know Canada doesn't want 'us'. Robin Williams helped us understand this: Canada, "you are a big country. You are the kindest country in the world. You are like a really nice apartment over a meth lab."
So much for the separation of church and State. Do these people even know why the Constitution guarantees that? Because Protestants were fleeing a Europe that was intolerant of religious diversity. Governments were playing favorites with religious orders and massacring people who did not conform. The freedom to think and say and write what you believed was not tolerated. Societal progress was bound up in archaic rules and dogmas. Science was trying to break free. This was the Great Enlightenment, This was why America was born. Republicans would do well to go back and study the history of this country. They talk about our freedoms, but they have no idea of the basis for those freedoms.
6
I'm delighted to see a political party talking about pornography, as anathema as the GOP is to me otherwise. In what ways pornography not a public health crisis? Not damaging children? I'm all for the right of consenting adults to share nude photos of each other and even to charge for it, but the unbridled porn fest that my kids are going to trip over any day now online absolutely represents a crisis. It certainly has been one for many marriages and for the mental health of both young men and women.
2
Sarah if you really are concerned about the well being of young people, I'd respectfully suggest public financing of undergraduate and post graduate education. Many young people are deterred from pursuing higher education due to its high cost. Those who manage to cobble together financing their education through a patchwork of loans and "scholarships" find themselves with a crushing student loan debt.
Heroin is a public health crisis. Obesity is a public health crisis. Pornography is one of a myriad of things that modern society has brought us that can be dangerous.
Would you say that smartphones or facebook are a public health crisis? I find them much more damaging to my marriage since my wife spends all her time on her phone now when we are together. My personal problems aside, it is just prudery, like most of the stuff on the list and I doubt they care about helping people. If they did, they wouldn't be voting for Trump.
Would you say that smartphones or facebook are a public health crisis? I find them much more damaging to my marriage since my wife spends all her time on her phone now when we are together. My personal problems aside, it is just prudery, like most of the stuff on the list and I doubt they care about helping people. If they did, they wouldn't be voting for Trump.
OK. Republicans offer us an extreme-right platform and a loud, racist, anti-feminist, anti-Latino, egomaniac braggart as their presidential almost nominee. Any more plans in the works to strengthen the Democratic Party's blowout Nov. 8? Democratic control of both houses of Congress would be great.
35
Don't make the mistake of thinking they can't win. As they demonstrated back in 2000, and every year since, there's little they won't do to ensure victory for themselves and their billionaire backers. Now, with targeted voter suppression campaigns underway in majority Republican states, multiple Republican secretaries of state poised to do creative vote-counting the way Katherine Harris did in Florida that fateful year, and more than two billion dollars in dark money already committed to guarantee Republican victories, it's not good for Democrats to be smug and confident simply because the other side is so vile one cannot imagine them triumphing. Believe me, vile can do very nicely for itself in this country, given the right conditions.
1
Americans love this kind of stuff. This is a country that has a secret fetish for war, religion and oppression. The GOP isn't going anywhere. They won the House and Senate and they're going to stay there. Mark my words. If Hillary wins, the GOP will control the legislature. American voters are so brainwashed and hate her that much.
Meanwhile the national polls show a statistical tie, on the heels of Hillary Clinton avoiding prison and nonstop Trump bashing from the entire news media.
They've thrown everything they have at Trump and he's gaining ground.
You may not want to spend the rent money on confetti if you're an Obama liberal.
They've thrown everything they have at Trump and he's gaining ground.
You may not want to spend the rent money on confetti if you're an Obama liberal.
I wonder how this platform jives with the study the GOP did after the 2012 election on why the GOP lost? Reading this article seems to indicate the 2012 study had no impact on the the party.
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Their response to corrective feedback typically is to "double down" on their problematic positions and policies that necessitated the corrective feedback in the first place. Anyone in their midst who engages in thoughtful self-reflection is shunned as a RINO.
1. It's "jibe" not "jive."
2. No study has an impact because no matter what the GOP does, the establishment, liberal White elite will always call all Republicans racist.
2. No study has an impact because no matter what the GOP does, the establishment, liberal White elite will always call all Republicans racist.
It didn't. For it to have an impact, republicans would need to first possess hindsight and open minds. Both of which are absent in just about every republican I know.
Clusters last stand
This strategy should ensure the same results
This strategy should ensure the same results
48
You may be getting ahead of yourself.
Trump is leading in Iowa and Pennsylvania. Add Ohio and Florida and its all over for Shillary.
Trump is leading in Iowa and Pennsylvania. Add Ohio and Florida and its all over for Shillary.
This American psychosis started when we got the Puritans and the Australians got the convicts. I'll take the convicts any day. No wonder Justice Ginsburg is thinking of moving to New Zealand.
141
Hear, hear!!
Not sure your point. NZ has no convicts. It's 1500 miles from Australia. Founded by Maori and mostly Scottish farmers.
Just so you know, New Zealand was not settled by convicts. That was Australia. Having lived in NZ (my picture is on a glacier in NZ), I can say it is a lovely , nice place to live. Unfortunately, immigration from the US is a problem, primarily for seniors as they have universal health and our health insurance doesn't cross over, I know, I tried.
Perhaps the Republicans are trying to shrink their own party to where they can be drowned in a bathtub?
172
Or perhaps a nearby porcelain fixture.
2
...or strangled at parturition.
One would hope!!!!!!!
Using its own perverse and inimitable logic, the GOP thinks sex sells and will decide November.
28
And the Democrats think sexism sells.
Indeed we will see in November if women are as gullible as Obama & the liberals think.
Indeed we will see in November if women are as gullible as Obama & the liberals think.
Republicans took this route in California years ago and now they are almost extinct. With any luck, it will happen to them on the national level.
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Trouble is, intra-montane reactionaries will control The Hill for another 30 years, absent demand for degerrymandering by non-partisan commissions...
We can only hope but plenty of states are full of delusional people.
Yep. Not a single state wide elected Republican here in California. Not one.
Who cares about Trump. He disparages anyone who has the gall to criticize or proffer an opinion about his stance and his rant. I'm sure that if by some terrible twist of fate, if he became president. He would be a dictator as his respect for the Constitution and anything that has to do with real democracy is non-existent.
27
Borrowing and improving on your idea,
''If by some terrible twist of fate, if Mr. Obama became president. He will be a dictator as his respect for the Constitution is non-existent. I bet he even changes inconveniently-written laws dozens of times!'' My version, of course, came true.
The ultimate truth on Democrats is that even their ''Constitutional scholars'' have no more regard for the rule of law than Mr. Obama has shown us.
Everything touched by liberalism - the I.R.S., the Dept. of Justice, the Border Patrol, the Veteran's Administration - becomes so corrupted as to be hopelessly harmful.
''If by some terrible twist of fate, if Mr. Obama became president. He will be a dictator as his respect for the Constitution is non-existent. I bet he even changes inconveniently-written laws dozens of times!'' My version, of course, came true.
The ultimate truth on Democrats is that even their ''Constitutional scholars'' have no more regard for the rule of law than Mr. Obama has shown us.
Everything touched by liberalism - the I.R.S., the Dept. of Justice, the Border Patrol, the Veteran's Administration - becomes so corrupted as to be hopelessly harmful.
They are going to party like it's 1959.
118
1459 is probably closer
5
1859
2
1759
The GOP might actually be able to bring about the end of the world.
Who knew?
Who knew?
42
Via thermageddon & cascading ecollapse...
1
"The GOP might actually be able to bring about the end of the world."
No surprise. That objective has implicitly been part of the GOP's platform for approximately 30 years now.
No surprise. That objective has implicitly been part of the GOP's platform for approximately 30 years now.
This is a great platform. Looks the same as it did in 2012 and 2008.
29
"It also encourages the teaching of the Bible in public schools because, the amendment said, a good understanding of its contents is “indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry.”"
It looks like they forgot to mention that the platform includes re-writing the Constitution as well.
It looks like they forgot to mention that the platform includes re-writing the Constitution as well.
112
"a good understanding of its contents is indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry.”
As a cautionary tale.
As a cautionary tale.
A constitutional re-draft would be splendid, but how do we block seizure or sabotage of the Convention by Corn-&-Bible-Belt Neanderthals?
An understanding of the contents of the Bible is indeed indispensable in the development of an educated citizenry ... in that it is the fastest and surest way to make an atheist or at least agnostic of anyone who applies critical intelligence to it.
Seriously, it is. Just as pretty much every LGBT person is the product of heterosexual parents, pretty much every atheist and agnostic had some degree of religious education.
But in addition, knowledge of the Bible - and of the Quran, the Upanishads, the Analects of Confucius, the teachings of the Buddha, the writings of Nietzsche and Bertrand Russell and myriad others - is essential to understanding history, philosophy, sociology, art and literature,etc. All the great atheist thinkers I can think of were/are thoroughly knowledgeable on the Bible, e.g., George Bernard Shaw, Martin Gardner, Christopher Hitchens.
I would add that you cannot tar all evangelicals with the same brush. I've met some very decent human beings who just happened to be born-again. For that matter, what about Jimmy Carter? It's a pity that when you say the words 'evangelical Christian', his is no longer the first name that comes to mind.
Seriously, it is. Just as pretty much every LGBT person is the product of heterosexual parents, pretty much every atheist and agnostic had some degree of religious education.
But in addition, knowledge of the Bible - and of the Quran, the Upanishads, the Analects of Confucius, the teachings of the Buddha, the writings of Nietzsche and Bertrand Russell and myriad others - is essential to understanding history, philosophy, sociology, art and literature,etc. All the great atheist thinkers I can think of were/are thoroughly knowledgeable on the Bible, e.g., George Bernard Shaw, Martin Gardner, Christopher Hitchens.
I would add that you cannot tar all evangelicals with the same brush. I've met some very decent human beings who just happened to be born-again. For that matter, what about Jimmy Carter? It's a pity that when you say the words 'evangelical Christian', his is no longer the first name that comes to mind.
1
I understand there are as many as 10,000 religions in the world. Wonder which one the Republicans are talking about. Is it constitutional for the government to pick one out to the exclusion of all the others? This stuff is stupid.
81
It is not stupid;it is dangerous. It ignores the decision by the founders of our country to learn from the disastrous religious conflicts in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries and to deliberately choose to allow citizens the freedom to worship, or not worship, as they chose.
This platforms borrows from a narrow-minded and mean-spirited version of Christianity that many have rejected.
This platforms borrows from a narrow-minded and mean-spirited version of Christianity that many have rejected.
Actually, it's frightening.
Oh, oh I can answer you question. The real one silly. The rest are all fake.
It will make for great sound bites for democrats. They learned nothing from the autopsy on 2012.
34
Is it possible to conduct a second autopsy on the same body?
1
Still the party of economic libertarianism and theocratic social authoritarianism.
57
The car is accelerating as it approaches the cliff.
89
LOL, that pretty much sums it up!
These religionists go a long way towards illustrating how they design for their own benefit that special brand of "spirituality."
27
It seems that the Republican Party is having a hissy fit. Folks are becoming less religious. Gay Marriage is legal. Women refuse to go back under the boot-heels of men. People are awakening to the reality of human-caused climate change. Americans are refusing to forget what Wall Street did to us. We are finally beginning a serious discussion of racism in America. It is becoming impossible to deny that guns are a cancer on the country. What is a backward, reactionary political party to do? Apparently, realizing that the presidential election is lost before it began, the only thing left for Republicans is to stamp their feet and be deliberately offensive to vast numbers of the American electorate. Well played, GOP, well played.
504
I sure hope that you are right.
41
I'm glad to see this clarity of thinking by a citizen smack-dab in the capital of Virginia.
Clearly the GOP would rather be "right" than right. Let them stand up for their principles, it will cost them the White House. Again.
Now let's see them stand up for the principle of "one person, one vote", end gerrymandering, and help elect a Congress that reflects the views of ALL Americans, not just the conservative fringe.
Now let's see them stand up for the principle of "one person, one vote", end gerrymandering, and help elect a Congress that reflects the views of ALL Americans, not just the conservative fringe.
46
Not gonna happen, but it would be nice.
Do please note that the people with the most influence on Mr. Trump are his adult children--none of whom are likely to agree with the official Republican platform.
And as should be dazzlingly obvious by now--it sure is to establishment Republicans--Mr. Trump's appeal is very largely to the voter not in thrall to Republican party lines.
A Trump Presidency is likely to be full of surprises. A Hillary Presidency--not at all.
And as should be dazzlingly obvious by now--it sure is to establishment Republicans--Mr. Trump's appeal is very largely to the voter not in thrall to Republican party lines.
A Trump Presidency is likely to be full of surprises. A Hillary Presidency--not at all.
4
Hillary is moderate, prudent, level-headed ... and excellent.
3
Tantrum-based, Twitter-transmitted presidential proclamations that destabilize around the globe? I guess you can call that interesting.
1
You are assuming that Donald Trump actually cares about his children's feelings and viewpoints. That is not an assumption we can make. For all we know, he could be a sociopath, meaning that he has no conscience. When he does things that are considered "wrong" by society, he may literally feel no guilt/shame because his brain may not be wired for it. Sociopaths see other people, even their own children, as objects -- pawns to be used to help them achieve their own end goal, and that end goal varies by sociopath. According to "The Sociopath Next Door," 4% of Americans have this abnormality (1 in 25 people). We assume a sociopath is always violent (e.g. Serial killers), but a surprising number of them are not. In my opinion, and based on the psychological definitions of sociopathy, Trump does show signs of being a sociopath, which makes the possibility of him being in a position of power in government very, very scary.
They basically let Tony Perkins run away with the whole platform. No big tent here.
24
It's like they're not even trying to win. Kinda takes all the fun out of election season.
And these people are different from the Taliban or the Saudi clerics, both of whom they deeply revile, exactly how? Better outfits?
118
Spot on!
1
No. Meaner dieties.
It saddens me that in this day and age we still are putting the politics of hatred, judgement and exclusion into a national party platform.
With the Republican party being now completely controlled by it's most conservative members, I think the party's marginalization has disconnected it from the majority of American voters.
Hopefully we have come far enough as a nation to see this reactionary stance for what it is: fear of change. Let the Republicans party like its 1952. I am optimistic that the rest of the nation has moved on.
With the Republican party being now completely controlled by it's most conservative members, I think the party's marginalization has disconnected it from the majority of American voters.
Hopefully we have come far enough as a nation to see this reactionary stance for what it is: fear of change. Let the Republicans party like its 1952. I am optimistic that the rest of the nation has moved on.
34
I'm pretty sure even the Republicans of 1952 would be ashamed and embarrassed by the state of their party now.
Primates with toys does not make us smarter. Humans can do incredible thing but most of humanity is still just apes with toys some of them been extremely dangerous.
Among the most reactionary republicans, there is the great fear that a handful of Muslims will somehow impose Sharia Law on three hundred and twenty plus million unwilling Americans. This is the psychological condition know as 'projection' at its most starkly transparent. The republicans do want religious law and religious tests. It simply must be their Old Testament version of civil law. Middle and working class republicans reaped the whirlwind with Bush. The party's base is still recovering from his destructive, neo-liberal presidency. Trump will take them to a whole new level of despair. We can only hope that Independence Day is at hand. That would be the day next week in Cleveland, when conservatives, those who wish to conserve equality, the environment, a fair and just economy, the commons, in fact, conserve the republican party itself, rip their party away from its habitually scolding, venal right wing.
28
if they did as you suggest, they would have to call themselves democrats. this is their dilemna: they can either let go of their failed ideals or cling to them and lose. and cease to exist as a viable political entity.
I agree Bob. Except more accurately, they'd have to call themselves progressives, as they once did many, many decades ago.
Give them enough rope...
34
Your comment reminds me of how little comment came from the Democrats
during the last strange Bush presidency. They waited patiently.
during the last strange Bush presidency. They waited patiently.
The Republican Party, simply put, has blinders on; fervently hoping to cling to a past that will never be.
21
And let's be honest here - the "past" they so fervently cling to never really did exist at all. Most of them actually believe that TV shows of the 50's were actually illustrative of American life during that period, which is completely laughable.
Trump, and his supporters, have demonstrated the complete moral and political bankruptcy of the Republican Party. The current GOP machine has not only embraced the hatred and intolerance of Trump, but wallow in his blatant bigotry as evident in the 2016 Party Platform. The public should not be shocked as Republicans move closer and closer to the fascism of the corporate state, which marginalized the "other," who could be anyone - Muslims, Hispanics, the LBGTQ community, or everyone Trump's supporters despise at the moment. I will not be surprised if Trump does not incorporate two minutes of hate into his convention program in order to galvanize his base. More troubling, the media did not effectively warn the public where the Trump phenomenon was heading and the danger it posed to the future of the United States.
25
The media seems completely unable to give us the real story on candidates until after the election. It's economics, really. Why spend all that time and coin on all the candidates when in the end only one will win? News departments have to make a profit these days, unlike 30 or 40 years ago. Pity.
Oh! I've read this book. It's called "The Handmaid's Tale".
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Lurching closer to Gilead every day, aren't we? Very, very frightening.
Jeremy....
Remind me again.....what's the definition of insanity ??
Remind me again.....what's the definition of insanity ??
20
Here's hoping the politics of hate doesn't prevail. But I'm not optimistic. The Republican Party is racing to the bottom.
17
The Republican politics of hate actually began during the Carter Administration.
Denigration, lying and name calling became their MO.
Denigration, lying and name calling became their MO.
Smug "progressives", so certain in the correctness of their positions, have fostered a backlash. They forget that most issues have multiple positions. What's morally correct is a slippery issue which depends upon public opinion at the time. The legislation which endures the longest, is legislation with bipartisan support. If one party rams something through, disregarding the other side while in power, the other party will unwind when they come to power.
You can't dismiss millions of voters without a reaction - from either side.
The people are fickle and if history teaches us one thing, it is that this too shall pass.
You can't dismiss millions of voters without a reaction - from either side.
The people are fickle and if history teaches us one thing, it is that this too shall pass.
3
"They forget that most issues have multiple positions"
People's right to peacefully live free, without interference from their neighbors and their elected officials, isn't open to multiple positions or debate. Either you are free to live your life as you see fit, or you are not. The GOP wants to ensure that anyone who doesn't share its fundamentalist interpretation of ancient superstitions is forced to live by the standards of those fundamentalists. No thank you. I am absolutely certain in the correctness of my position that my freedom trumps GOP's fundamentalist religion.
It was not that long ago that conservatives in this country criminalized single people's access to birth control, interracial marriage and so-called 'living in sin'. My goal is to ensure that today's repulsive GOP platform ends up in history's dustbin, right alongside those once-mainstream ideas.
People's right to peacefully live free, without interference from their neighbors and their elected officials, isn't open to multiple positions or debate. Either you are free to live your life as you see fit, or you are not. The GOP wants to ensure that anyone who doesn't share its fundamentalist interpretation of ancient superstitions is forced to live by the standards of those fundamentalists. No thank you. I am absolutely certain in the correctness of my position that my freedom trumps GOP's fundamentalist religion.
It was not that long ago that conservatives in this country criminalized single people's access to birth control, interracial marriage and so-called 'living in sin'. My goal is to ensure that today's repulsive GOP platform ends up in history's dustbin, right alongside those once-mainstream ideas.
6
I'm sorry but using your logic, we should never have implemented desegregation.
3
Yeah! Like, remember how slavery came back after 1884, when Democrat Grover Cleveland came into power. Or how Warren Harding rescinded women's votes in 1920? Or how legal segregation came back after Reagan's 1980 campaign? Or how, after John Adams became President, we went back to being part of Britain? Man, I hate how "smug progressives" keep foisting notions of fundamental human equality on people that they clearly hate. Good thing citizens like you are around to remind us that, fortunately, not everyone supports such harmful notions.
4
Daddy why is that bell ringing?
Father, son another political party has died.
Signed the Whigs.
Father, son another political party has died.
Signed the Whigs.
14
The photo accompanying this article is mare than interesting, and perhaps telling. I see a tired, doubtful Donald Trump, who thinks he may well lose, and even if he wins, will face issues almost no prepartion to address them. No wonder -- as he gets ready to accept the R nomination -- he looks a bit despondent and confused.
14
We've seen that look before...during a reading if my pet goat.
Hopefully this will be their death spiral.
17
I do not agree with the GOP in the slightest, I think their policies are homophobic, transphobic, rascist and I think they've gone off the deep end in many ways. However, I do appreciate their transparency on such topics. They've made it clear what they want for this country and what they want for people who are gay and/or trans like me. I can only vote and hope that this election goes well so that the future may be brighter than it is now with policies like these looming over us all.
20
Presidency is but one branch. They can stop our rights legislatively and do. Gerrymandering has given them disproportionate political control. Stop that one thing, and you stop this divisiveness and their zealous hatred of the other.
The only area where they haven't made their positions transparent is race relations.
The GOP aristocracy is hiding behind a thinly disguised cloak of social and religious values, and little else to address the needs and aspirations of a majority of the American people. The message of the party is adrift upon a shifting foundation of sand. Vacuous rhetoric and reactivist dogma are not enough to elect a man such as Mr. Trump to the presidency. The Republican platform needs revision. Perhaps the party will be finally set right in preparation for the 2020 election cycle?
4
So this is what it looks like watching a political party self-destruct.
17
Trump + Gingrich = 6 wives. Will this be the ticket that represents this nonsense? We'll see!
Dennis Hastert would certainly be in Cleveland to celebrate this abomination if he were not in prison on a conviction tangential to molesting teenage boys.
What a joke!
Are there still people who fall for this?
Dennis Hastert would certainly be in Cleveland to celebrate this abomination if he were not in prison on a conviction tangential to molesting teenage boys.
What a joke!
Are there still people who fall for this?
46
Last time 48% fell. It's but a short walk, another terrorist attack to 51%.
Family values, haha. 6 wives.
Sorry, but by most normal measurements, the GOP and Mr Trump's platform seems to be nothing more than reactionary screed directly aimed at returning the country to a 1950's style political/ economic system, in which the country was overwhelmingly controlled by rich, straight, white old men. How it is possible to ignore the advances in race relations, civil rights, women's rights- as well as economic and social diversity- that has occurred over the last 50 or 60 years (contained in this platform) is nothing short of fantastical. And to even briefly ponder the consequences to the majority of the citizens of the US, that a successful implementation of this latest Republican platform would hold, is down right scary.
10
The Family Research Council, that organization of fine upstanding individuals like Josh Duggar? You know, the serial child molester including his young sisters? The Ashley Madison subscriber? The self-described porn addict? That organization?
45
Did Josh Duggar court his sisters and that other little girl before he molested them?
I find it interesting how Trump insists on taking the bait of "is he really that arrogant and ignorant on human relationships"? there is nothing in the constitution that prohibits RBG from sharing her insights.
11
There is nothing in the constitution that prevents RBG from sharing her thoughts but I wish common sense would have kept her from sharing them.
2
Why is this headline "Emerging platform goes far to the right" when the equivalent Democratic story is something like "Bernie Sanders leaves his stamp on party platform" and not "Democratic platform veers far to the left?" This might be subtle, but it illustrates the bias in mainstream journalism.
3
I just reread the article you cite about the Democratic platform, and I fail to see how the approaches demonstrate "the bias in mainstream journalism". It is news that Bernie Sander's influence moved the democratic platform in a liberal direction, and that was what was reported in that article as it discussed areas where the platform moved in a liberal direction. There is no equivalent to Bernie Sanders in the Republican party, unless you would prefer that the article cite the influence of the Koch Brothers, the NRA, and other behind the scenes players. It is also news that the platform is again and again inconsistent with Trump's views and persona, and I think it's reasonable and does not reflect bias to report on those aspects of the platform. There again no equivalence exists on the Democratic side as so far HRC largely supports the platform of her party. Since Trump is not a full blooded Republican, the disconnects between him and his adopted party are newsworthy. The NYTimes has a job to report the news, and not present false equivalences where none exist.
1
Gays in America have provided something of a litmus test.
They are gentle people who want simply to be able to live their lives freely without fear of irrational oppression.
They only want to breathe free, as American as it gets.
And they offer all of us a chance to see (often openly) who among us are the intolerant souls who would deny another American their birthright - freedom.
Keep showing yourself to us, you deniers of freedom.
We want to see you, point to you, use you as an example of what is unpleasant in the American soul. Of what is un-American.
Unwittingly, you help further the cause of decent people who have learned to accept and love.
They are gentle people who want simply to be able to live their lives freely without fear of irrational oppression.
They only want to breathe free, as American as it gets.
And they offer all of us a chance to see (often openly) who among us are the intolerant souls who would deny another American their birthright - freedom.
Keep showing yourself to us, you deniers of freedom.
We want to see you, point to you, use you as an example of what is unpleasant in the American soul. Of what is un-American.
Unwittingly, you help further the cause of decent people who have learned to accept and love.
20
This party is tone deaf. They are so out of step with reality, it is amazing. They must be soundly defeated to clearly send a message that this is not a viable political party anymore.
18
"The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating..."
And yet, it is GOP voters that claim to fear the instituting of Sharia law (presumably from the thousands of Syrian refugees supposedly being let into the country by Obama)? Seems like they're fine with a Christian version of Sharia. I would say, "Heaven help us!", but then...
And yet, it is GOP voters that claim to fear the instituting of Sharia law (presumably from the thousands of Syrian refugees supposedly being let into the country by Obama)? Seems like they're fine with a Christian version of Sharia. I would say, "Heaven help us!", but then...
22
My Poly Sci professor in college said it perfect: you can vote for a candidate but at the end of the day if that candidate wants to stay in Washington they will have to serve the party's platform. This is why it's vital to have articles such as these, outlining what a party truly stands for. This is why I couldn't vote for even the most moderate Republican. This is why I vote party line.
194
Been an Independent for decades. More and more what I read/see/and confirm through more than one source am I to become that which until now I've disliked: a lever puller. Basta (spanish for enough). Basta. Basta!!!
1
I'm an independent; I don't fit easily into any box. I lean leftish on some issues, rightish on others. But in practice, I almost always vote for the Democrat (a couple of times I have voted for a Republican for county freeholder, state Assembly, or our municipal council, the last of which is technically not partisan, but although candidates do not run as affiliates of the established parties, everyone knows who is what).
This year reminds me of the old Monty Python's Flying Circus episode 'Election Special', which pitted the Sensible Party against the Silly Party, with one three-way split involving a candidate from the Extremely Silly Party. For a moment there, it looked like USA 2016 wasn't going to have a Sensible Party; it would be between the Perpetually Immature Party and the Utterly Bonkers Party. Fortunately Hillary won, and so it's the Sensible Party vs the Downright Deranged Party. This being America, all bets are off ....
This year reminds me of the old Monty Python's Flying Circus episode 'Election Special', which pitted the Sensible Party against the Silly Party, with one three-way split involving a candidate from the Extremely Silly Party. For a moment there, it looked like USA 2016 wasn't going to have a Sensible Party; it would be between the Perpetually Immature Party and the Utterly Bonkers Party. Fortunately Hillary won, and so it's the Sensible Party vs the Downright Deranged Party. This being America, all bets are off ....
What a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln has turned into this travesty of American values. Pornography? Racism? Xenophobia? What positive values are they offering the American voter? I wonder if all the former Rockefeller Republicans will slide over to the Democratic Party just like all the racist Dixiecrats moved to the Republican Party after LBJ managed to push through his civil rights agenda.
16
Some of the best Liberals have come from the South.
1
Well thanks- this just makes it easier for Hillary to win.
15
I would like to think so, but nobody should take this for granted.
Of course the cherry picking Evangelicals of the GOP have no issue nominating a thrice married philanderer who's talked openly about his attraction for his own daughter. But then again Evangelicals care not a whit about Trump's moral probity. They just want him to keep minorities in check. No surprise for a religion that counts bigotry and intolerance as its cornerstones.
26
Yes, this is a time when all these religious conservatives were required to make a choice. They made it, and their choice tells us a lot about them. They had to choose between principles and power and they chose power, then threw a quick coat of paint on it and renamed it principle. You remember the one about putting lipstick on a pig.
Actually, I think the Democratic Party's chairman should send a thank you letter to the GOP's platform committee, especially if the adopted platform provokes a floor fight at the Republican Party's convention in Cleveland next week. Republican Congress critters in swing states are going to have a awful hard time distancing themselves from the crazy nonsense crammed into the GOP's platform like so much Crisco in a double stuffed Oreo.
So thanks, GOP! You've just made it much more likely that President Elect Hillary Clinton will take office come January with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. Thomas Friedman will be ecstatic.
So thanks, GOP! You've just made it much more likely that President Elect Hillary Clinton will take office come January with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. Thomas Friedman will be ecstatic.
11
"So thanks, GOP! You've just made it much more likely that President Elect Hillary Clinton will take office come January with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. Thomas Friedman will be ecstatic."
Well, the House and Senate. That would be nice. I'm not sure about Thomas Friedman.
Well, the House and Senate. That would be nice. I'm not sure about Thomas Friedman.
The Republican party is fastly exiling themselves from relevancy in today's world. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
10
What planet are these people living on?
12
"Back to the Future" Republicans will never win a national race until they realize that majority of Americans are put off by their homophobia and stances on women's rights.
9
1950 called, they wan't their platform back. In 1990, Time magazine had on the cover "Twenty Somethings, know as Generation X, we had gone onto higher education more then any generation before us, we were the most diverse generation (at that time) including sexual preference - more importantly, we were the most expecting of that diversity ( not utopia had our issues ) but the grafted moved up, Gen Y and the millennial's have even pushed all the above further and the ones who supported Barack Obama in two elections, Does the GOP really think that this demographic will regress back to the stone age! Is Scary how disconnected they really are.
11
There's really little difference between this platform and the platform of the Reagan years, including its focus on the family and anti-pornography position. And he is now widely acknowledged as the greatest President ever and the most admired world-wide hero in history. What's to worry?
4
You're being sarcastic right?
3
Reagan was absolutely not the best president ever, regardless of what they think. His policies set us on the path that has landed this country in the current state it's in and history will judge him much more harshly than his acolytes.
1
By who? In retrospect, Reagan was nothing but a good PR guy. He nearly tripled the debt, among many other illegal things his party's minions were doing.
1
I'm half Republican and half Democrat..
I don't recognize either party anymore..
I don't recognize either party anymore..
2
False equivalency alert
2
The Republican Party has developed and embraced a platform that ensures them the presidency. As evidence, one need only to look at the results of the Brexit vote. The uninformed, older, white, marginalized turned out in droves and with passion to guarantee their homeland would remain pure.
By mobilizing and energizing this same group in America the Republicans have found the driving force to take the white house.
P.S. America...there is no do over for a minimum of four years. Buyer's remorse doesn't count in elections.
By mobilizing and energizing this same group in America the Republicans have found the driving force to take the white house.
P.S. America...there is no do over for a minimum of four years. Buyer's remorse doesn't count in elections.
53
there are two ways this could be true: 1) if there were enough of these americans; but two terms of a popularly elected, center-left, half-Black president says otherwise. additonally, even many evangelicals--usually some of the most tolerant of right-wing immorality and hypocrisy--can't stomach this racist, materialistic, thrice-married, vice peddling demagogue. 2) if the republicans succeed in stealing the election again, and that's possible if enough democrats chose not to vote or throw their vote away because they have bought into the 30 year slime-fest and the "liberal" media echo chamber that disseminates it against the clintons; 30 years of innuendo, accusations, hyperbole, lies, that have produced one DNA stained dress as conviction.
1
Stick to your pasta class. Older white are not behind Trump. It is middle aged people who have not been able to adapt to change.
Too bad time machines are fantasy; would love to ship the entire GOP back to the 1850's where they belong.
9
Donald Trump and his radical party are like that moist rock you come across while walking on a perpetually shady part of the trail.
You curiously yet foolishly decide to turn it over and when you do, the horror of seeing all those slimmy, wriggling, misshapen, other-worldly looking bugs makes you recoil and drop the rock and quickly move away.
Wait till the rock gets lifted at the Republican convention starting Monday and the grotesque bugs show themselves, openly, proudly to a public they mistakenly think is with them.
Wait till you see polls in the aftermath which confirm that the majority of Americans dropped that rock and ran, grossed out by the sight.
Never to be fooled into turning it over again.
You curiously yet foolishly decide to turn it over and when you do, the horror of seeing all those slimmy, wriggling, misshapen, other-worldly looking bugs makes you recoil and drop the rock and quickly move away.
Wait till the rock gets lifted at the Republican convention starting Monday and the grotesque bugs show themselves, openly, proudly to a public they mistakenly think is with them.
Wait till you see polls in the aftermath which confirm that the majority of Americans dropped that rock and ran, grossed out by the sight.
Never to be fooled into turning it over again.
17
It's not even a small tent anymore. It's one of those very tiny umbrellas that are placed in colorful summer drinks.
217
or a few droplets of deadly poison.
1
"It's not even a small tent anymore. It's one of those very tiny umbrellas that are placed in colorful summer drinks. "
Not too colorful though. Puritan black pretty much.
Not too colorful though. Puritan black pretty much.
Their extreme positions, the ability of anyone to come close with firearms and the insanity of the Tea Party tag alongs should prove for a great news week.
6
There are no surprises in this radical ultra-right-wing Republican platform.
The GOP establishment for too long permitted the party's No-Nothing Tea-Party, via the Hastert Rule, to be the tail that wagged the dog. Now, with the ascendancy of Donald Trump, whom Dr. James Dobson now assures us is a born again "baby Christian", the GOP is virtually all tail. The establishment has been reduced to little more than the GOP's cold, damp nose.
Anyone who believes the GOP is still a moderately right-of-center force for moderation is hopelessly naive.
The GOP establishment for too long permitted the party's No-Nothing Tea-Party, via the Hastert Rule, to be the tail that wagged the dog. Now, with the ascendancy of Donald Trump, whom Dr. James Dobson now assures us is a born again "baby Christian", the GOP is virtually all tail. The establishment has been reduced to little more than the GOP's cold, damp nose.
Anyone who believes the GOP is still a moderately right-of-center force for moderation is hopelessly naive.
8
So overturning the first amendment to the US Constitution is a high priority for one of the major US political parties, while the interpretation of 2nd amendment appears to be that of thinly veiled racism -- its application dependent on the color of one's skin.
good to know.
good to know.
7
An appalling platform not worthy of a major party in the United States. It's clear that being a Republican today is the equivalent of being a bigot. The support of conversion therapy for gay people is ludicrous.
11
This is not surprising. It is indicative of the decline of power being lodged in hands of straight,old white people. As their hold on that power slips they become more extreme and hard line. I'm happy to see them go.
5
Democrats need to use this platform against Republican candidates by forcing them to defend it every chance they get, especially since House, Senate, and statewide elections.
231
If the Democratic party does not do a huge media buy and bullet point these insane precepts, they are fools.
Absolutely, just like they used what they thought Goldwater wanted to do. They just kept running commercials about atom bombs and what they would do to us. Actually, I don't think Goldwater wanted to use the bomb, but the ads were effective.
The Republicans appear intent on shrinking the size of their party to where it can be "drowned in a bathtub".
118
Now that would make America Great Again.
13
I wonder what the Platform Committee's thoughts are re: water flouridation?
6
The Republican party is only an avatar. The players pose the danger. They are ignorant and angry. They are armed to the teeth. They are are in the grip of uniform indoctrination by radio and purchased pulpit. Defeating the party is no victory.
4
“But this is a statement of not Donald Trump’s campaign, but of the Republican Party.”
I'd like to see how many people of the 55 million plus Republican Party voters actually even look at this platform, but instead rely on a thirty second clip talking about how great it is.
I'd like to see how many people of the 55 million plus Republican Party voters actually even look at this platform, but instead rely on a thirty second clip talking about how great it is.
6
Eventually, fear always loses.
5
Eventually, we'll all be dead. In the meantime fear is having a great run.
6
Interesting that the party members had enough signatures for a convention wide vote on anti-gay measures. They are more democratic than the Senate, which refuses to allow an up or down vote on the Obama Supreme Court nominee, or the House, which did not allow an up or down vote on gun control.
2
The Goofy Ol' Party never learns as they continue to take positions that alienate more of the electorate. They blew me out of the Party 20 years ago when moderation became a dirty word in their lexicon.
6
All these social conservatives are falling in behind Trump because they treat him like the bible - focus on the parts you like (e.g., love thy neighbor, blurring the line between church and state), ignore the parts you don't (e.g., killing adulterers, flip-flopping on abortion).
71
I heard Paul Ryan on CNN yesterday. Something very disturbing is at play.
First, it likely signals an overwhelming belief that their apartheid seeking, plutocratic, theocracy-seeking intents (aka rugged individualism for the rest of us) can be camouflaged by innocuous huzzas about liberty, freedom, blah blah. They may be right, virtually everyone at the Trump rally will buy their product (all welfare junkies who want the Hispanics out and Muslims banned . . . I guess after they have given them their money).
Second, it likely signals an overwhelming belief among the non-cynics, or the true-believers, that god is a republican, and if they only spell out their true gospel, then everyone will come to their senses and immediately see the light (i.e., down the Kool Aid). Whether they are consciously aware or not, their notion of the right way in which we should live (church going families with pregnant wives). Their separation from the Taliban is just a matter of degree.
Today's republicans are hard to reconcile with the achievement of the country I love (can a line be drawn from the republican platform to explain any of the great things the country has accomplished such as the constitution, the bill or rights, the man on the moon, the interweb?).
After poring over Ryan's document, the clearest inference I can draw is this: Everything good that happens here from now on will be despite them, and not because of them.
Kalidan
First, it likely signals an overwhelming belief that their apartheid seeking, plutocratic, theocracy-seeking intents (aka rugged individualism for the rest of us) can be camouflaged by innocuous huzzas about liberty, freedom, blah blah. They may be right, virtually everyone at the Trump rally will buy their product (all welfare junkies who want the Hispanics out and Muslims banned . . . I guess after they have given them their money).
Second, it likely signals an overwhelming belief among the non-cynics, or the true-believers, that god is a republican, and if they only spell out their true gospel, then everyone will come to their senses and immediately see the light (i.e., down the Kool Aid). Whether they are consciously aware or not, their notion of the right way in which we should live (church going families with pregnant wives). Their separation from the Taliban is just a matter of degree.
Today's republicans are hard to reconcile with the achievement of the country I love (can a line be drawn from the republican platform to explain any of the great things the country has accomplished such as the constitution, the bill or rights, the man on the moon, the interweb?).
After poring over Ryan's document, the clearest inference I can draw is this: Everything good that happens here from now on will be despite them, and not because of them.
Kalidan
9
It is interesting that the "small government" GOP always wants to put the government into our bedrooms. Given their extraordinary focus on sex, it is fascinating that it is members of the GOP who seem to have most of the problems with sex such as their great retired and imprisoned Speaker.
9
"The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”"
So the majority religion of Republican Politicians is in fact the de facto religion of the nation.
So the majority religion of Republican Politicians is in fact the de facto religion of the nation.
5
Hate LGBTQ...
Teach religion in public schools...
Calling pornography immoral...
When did the Taliban sneak into the country? Did we let them in, or were they always here?
Teach religion in public schools...
Calling pornography immoral...
When did the Taliban sneak into the country? Did we let them in, or were they always here?
11
"Obviously there's an agenda here."
An agenda so inclusive it advocates
For the teaching of the Bible
In public, excuse me,
"Government" schools
Where trans kids can't use the bathroom.
A future led by the Republican Party
Is an elective course.
Let's refuse to enroll until the instructors
Update the syllabus.
An agenda so inclusive it advocates
For the teaching of the Bible
In public, excuse me,
"Government" schools
Where trans kids can't use the bathroom.
A future led by the Republican Party
Is an elective course.
Let's refuse to enroll until the instructors
Update the syllabus.
7
Trump will be a breath of fresh air in snooty more of same, who want no change.
His biggest adversaries would be money and media mafia which controls America
His biggest adversaries would be money and media mafia which controls America
Funny, Trump is all about money and nothing else.
1
If the media hates him so much, why do they report every thing he does. He drowned out every other republican candidate because of the media's strange infatuation with him. You have to be kidding that they're his adversaries.
1
It's introspection time for traditional Republicans. They must ask themselves whether they can be participants in the destruction of civil rights in America.
Most Americans have not paid attention to the contraction of our civil rights since 9/11, but this platform nor only contracts even more tightly, it is a lurch toward tyranny.
God has a place in our churches, synagogues, and mosques, it has no place in our government. Those who are pushing religious mores as laws, are traitors to all the founders of America sought for the people of this country.
Most Americans have not paid attention to the contraction of our civil rights since 9/11, but this platform nor only contracts even more tightly, it is a lurch toward tyranny.
God has a place in our churches, synagogues, and mosques, it has no place in our government. Those who are pushing religious mores as laws, are traitors to all the founders of America sought for the people of this country.
13
Wait. I see what the mistake was. Someone accidentally substituted "onward Christian soldiers" for the party platform when they went to close out the committee. ( apologies to Sullivan.)
3
"Disempowered" white men demand the return of their former privileged status.
5
I am certainly glad that the GOP released their platform to the public and are spreading it throughout the country, and even trumpeting it as some kind of salvation. Now all can see, in writing, how out-of-touch and 19th Century they are !
14
Republicans just can't help themselves. They have held the title of The Stupid Party for so long they simply know no other way to be. They insist their way if the right, hard right, way to go. They are confused, angry and delusional. They can't think straight and thus continue to make the wrong choices.
Trump? Really? They sincerely are trying so desperately to present this odious demagogue as a brilliant businessman and political master capable of leaping tall buildings and walls at a single bound. What hogwash. Trump is a numbskull and they are hogtied to him. As long as the GOP keeps trying to this country hard right when it is listing left they are doomed to becoming a minority party for eons to come. Abandon ship while you still can.
DD
Manhattan
Trump? Really? They sincerely are trying so desperately to present this odious demagogue as a brilliant businessman and political master capable of leaping tall buildings and walls at a single bound. What hogwash. Trump is a numbskull and they are hogtied to him. As long as the GOP keeps trying to this country hard right when it is listing left they are doomed to becoming a minority party for eons to come. Abandon ship while you still can.
DD
Manhattan
10
Reminds me of the Republican Party convention of 1992; a hateful gathering with Newt Gingrich, Pat Robertson, Phyllis Schafley, and "church ladies" from far and wide let loose to make their mark. Some of the most vitriolic, fear mongering speeches I've ever heard. Ironic that a candidate name Clinton won the general election.
10
Wow. These people are officially "off the rails". I hope this helps terminate the hold the Republicans have had on the Congress.
All of this is so far in the opposite direction of what the younger generation thinks, I just do not see how the positions taken in this platform can resonate with the broad opinions out there.
All of this is so far in the opposite direction of what the younger generation thinks, I just do not see how the positions taken in this platform can resonate with the broad opinions out there.
9
This is the most despicable example of the GOP who no longer believe in separation of church and state and no longer believe in rational discourse calling coal "clean". They have moved beyond the pall and as they tear up the constitution, I'm moving to New Zealand also
12
I wouldn't be surprised if the platform had something to say about water fluoridation. Or chemtrails.
11
Good, now they've lost the female veteran vote, too, if they ever had it.
11
Trump will ultmately not stand for this. He is a New Yorker and a business man and not really obsessed with ultra right wing cultural issues which is mainly the domain of backward evangelical southerners.
2
It's hard to pick out the craziest among these provisions, but the one stating that marriage between a man and a woman is most likely to result in children who do not become drug addicted is my choice since most drug addicts have heterosexual parents.
19
So tonight we're gonna party like it's 1899. And a rebuke of "identity politics" from the crowd that goes blue in the face claiming that Christians are persecuted by allowing others to exercise constitutional rights...comedy gold.
12
Does the platform demand that trains run on time?
10
That specific policy will be announced from a balcony by somebody no taller than Gary Bauer
1
They don't play "identity politics"? I guess that only bones into play when they are explicitly granting rights to a group of their fellow citizens and not when they are denying rights.
9
Hillary is basically an old school Republican. It occurs to me that the Republican power brokers know this and are fine with seeing her in office as opposed to Trump. This platform is a great way to appease the right wing base and steer the election towards someone they consider the lesser of two evils.
5
The Democratic Party's platform is very left-wing, promising government programs such as free college tuition without specifying the sources of income (taxes) to pay for the programs. Hillary Clinton knows that it is next to impossible to collect any additional tax revenue from the "1%." Both the Democratic and Republican Party platforms appeal to the fringe on the left and right.
2
Wow. Did you really just equate affordable education with violating the separation of Church and State?
1
We used to have free public tuition (steve jobs was helped by this)
We must get tax revenue from the 1% the cutting is destroying this country. No infrastruture for years . Right now the top 10% have 94% of the wealth and income. (1% have 50%) it used to be in the 70's it was only 35%.. We need to tax the rich to run this country/ the bottom 90 % have only 6%. Soon 3d printing and robots are going to take over 95% of the jobs.
We must get tax revenue from the 1% the cutting is destroying this country. No infrastruture for years . Right now the top 10% have 94% of the wealth and income. (1% have 50%) it used to be in the 70's it was only 35%.. We need to tax the rich to run this country/ the bottom 90 % have only 6%. Soon 3d printing and robots are going to take over 95% of the jobs.
Education will not be "affordable." The University of Massachusetts system (UMASS) is in part a patronage haven for Democratic Party politicians. The gangster James "Whitey" Bulger's brother, William Bulger was the president of UMASS for years while tuition went up, and quality education went down.
1
Please, please, please let's stop calling these radical people "conservatives" and let's call them what they are; right-wing radicals, extremists, seditionists, insurgents, insurrectionists. Republicans are adept at framing issues with gut-level labels such as "death panels," "pro-life," etc. It's time for the media to brand Republicans for what they truly are. "Conservatives" doesn't even come close.
25
It's time for the media to brand Republicans for what they truly are. "Conservatives" doesn't even come close.
ONLY in your dreams. Follow the money is what rules in election years (which seems to be EVERY year now) and the media make a ton of it so they are not about to give comments calling for reality a TIMES PICK.
Since the GOP is going back in time, maybe it is time that the public went back in time as well, say to 1789? Madame LaFarge will be breathlessly waiting for an answer.
ONLY in your dreams. Follow the money is what rules in election years (which seems to be EVERY year now) and the media make a ton of it so they are not about to give comments calling for reality a TIMES PICK.
Since the GOP is going back in time, maybe it is time that the public went back in time as well, say to 1789? Madame LaFarge will be breathlessly waiting for an answer.
For all their cries about the constitution, to include teaching the bible in public school is flat out disgusting.
20
Wow. That's just mind-boggling in its ignorance and close-mindedness. The use of religion as a basis for laws, the demotion of everyone who isn't a straight male to second-class citizen, the condescending attitude towards women who must under no circumstances be allowed to control their own lives, the obsession with people's private morals...gosh, that sounds a lot like, I don't know, big chunks of the Middle East, doesn't it?
The fact that anyone can think this way today is immensely depressing and more than a little frightening. I might have to buy a gun just to protect myself from the Republicans.
The fact that anyone can think this way today is immensely depressing and more than a little frightening. I might have to buy a gun just to protect myself from the Republicans.
257
These people are primeval.
5
No surprises here. With the ascendancy of the Trump-Cruz No-Nothing Tea-Party radicals, the GOP can no longer claim to be a force for moderation in American politics.
I recently asked a friend to please identify any moderate GOP candidate, actually present on my ballot here in Utah, for whom, come next November, I might vote.
So far the best he has come up with is: Write in "John Kasich"--not exactly the option I had requested.
I recently asked a friend to please identify any moderate GOP candidate, actually present on my ballot here in Utah, for whom, come next November, I might vote.
So far the best he has come up with is: Write in "John Kasich"--not exactly the option I had requested.
4
Don't forget that the down ticket Republicans hold these same positions, otherwise they wouldn't run as Republicans, so vote them out as well. Although the Republicans must know that Trump will only agree with himself.
17
Hmmm, sounds like our moving to mimic those progressive democratic societies of Saudi Arabia & Iran. Sharia law and madrases for everyone! God Bless America!
From the article:
The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”
It also encourages the teaching of the Bible in public schools because, the amendment said, a good understanding of its contents is “indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry.”
From the article:
The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”
It also encourages the teaching of the Bible in public schools because, the amendment said, a good understanding of its contents is “indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry.”
6
God-given, natural rights.”
Can't be NATURAL if someone gives it to you. I guess they forgot about the "separation of church and state" requirement, and this looks like a platform that is not only going to "give it to you" but more likely "stick it to you".
Maybe it is time to go to NZ. RBG quotes her husband, those words were not hers, btw.
Can't be NATURAL if someone gives it to you. I guess they forgot about the "separation of church and state" requirement, and this looks like a platform that is not only going to "give it to you" but more likely "stick it to you".
Maybe it is time to go to NZ. RBG quotes her husband, those words were not hers, btw.
1
Trump, like David Duke and other white supremacist use dog whistle words and phrases.
Their zero sum ideology is:
If any African American receives anything of value, it came at the expense of a white.
If an African American gets into college, a white kid was denied admission. If an African American student gets a grant/scholodship, a white kid was denied a grant or scholarship. If an African American received a promotion or raise; white worker was denied a promotion or raise.
Trump works on the white supremacist platform that everyone except whites aren't worthy and are undeserving. Hence the phrase, take our country back, and Blacks are living high on the hog.
It's a lie, it's all a lie. But, just like yellow cake uranium and aluminum tubes; say it enough times and weak minded people will believe it.
Their zero sum ideology is:
If any African American receives anything of value, it came at the expense of a white.
If an African American gets into college, a white kid was denied admission. If an African American student gets a grant/scholodship, a white kid was denied a grant or scholarship. If an African American received a promotion or raise; white worker was denied a promotion or raise.
Trump works on the white supremacist platform that everyone except whites aren't worthy and are undeserving. Hence the phrase, take our country back, and Blacks are living high on the hog.
It's a lie, it's all a lie. But, just like yellow cake uranium and aluminum tubes; say it enough times and weak minded people will believe it.
11
Amazing.
I'd love to see the platforms from any time in the past. I'll bet none were this radical.
I'd love to see the platforms from any time in the past. I'll bet none were this radical.
3
The Republican Party is a political conglomeration of hatemongers, ignoramuses, and bigots. Honestly, it's rare and bizarrely refreshing to see retrograde, useless opinions like this on such naked display. I guess the old "family values" smokescreen just doesn't cut it anymore.
We get it, Republicans. You hate gays and lesbians. Transgender individuals freak you out. You think women are getting too brazen, what with wanting equality in society and opportunity, and all. You really, really want to make our diverse nation an extremist Christian theocracy.
Not gonna happen. I'm not going back into the closet. My sister is not going to give up the business she started from the ground up. My Muslim neighbors and their children aren't going to discard their faith. My transgender friends deserve to live their lives in truth. Oh, and scientific facts- especially the undeniable ones relating to climate change- are not going to stop being true just because you don't like it.
The GOP is out of touch, out of use, and out of time. Their platform is the last, fever-dream of a ranting bigot, raving against the dying of the light. Goodbye and good riddance. I look forward to crushing you in November.
We get it, Republicans. You hate gays and lesbians. Transgender individuals freak you out. You think women are getting too brazen, what with wanting equality in society and opportunity, and all. You really, really want to make our diverse nation an extremist Christian theocracy.
Not gonna happen. I'm not going back into the closet. My sister is not going to give up the business she started from the ground up. My Muslim neighbors and their children aren't going to discard their faith. My transgender friends deserve to live their lives in truth. Oh, and scientific facts- especially the undeniable ones relating to climate change- are not going to stop being true just because you don't like it.
The GOP is out of touch, out of use, and out of time. Their platform is the last, fever-dream of a ranting bigot, raving against the dying of the light. Goodbye and good riddance. I look forward to crushing you in November.
14
I'm on this crazy device that gives me information through the air, so this can't be 1902.
8
“natural marriage” between a man and a woman is most likely to result in offspring who do not become drug-addicted or otherwise damaged."
Really? Seriously? Perhaps all they have to do is look around. The jail cells and shelters are full of "drug addicted or otherwise damaged" people that are the result of "natural marriage." How do the republicans think these people get here?
As for the LGBT "problem," there is a meme floating around that states "If you don't like gay people, blame straight parents - they are the ones that keep having them." Pretty much sums it up.
This republican platform is so full of hate, disparaging assumptions not supported by facts, and just wrong-headed, backwards thinking, that I find it hard to believe that any sane person could put their name to it - let alone support it.
This IS NOT the republican party I first joined. Is it any wonder I switched years ago?
Mr. Lincoln must be spinning in his grave like a lathe.
Really? Seriously? Perhaps all they have to do is look around. The jail cells and shelters are full of "drug addicted or otherwise damaged" people that are the result of "natural marriage." How do the republicans think these people get here?
As for the LGBT "problem," there is a meme floating around that states "If you don't like gay people, blame straight parents - they are the ones that keep having them." Pretty much sums it up.
This republican platform is so full of hate, disparaging assumptions not supported by facts, and just wrong-headed, backwards thinking, that I find it hard to believe that any sane person could put their name to it - let alone support it.
This IS NOT the republican party I first joined. Is it any wonder I switched years ago?
Mr. Lincoln must be spinning in his grave like a lathe.
12
This may be the end of the modern GOP as it disintegrates into oblivion. I hope their convention in Cleveland is orderly and free of disruption--in that way, Americans can see that the party is on the wrong side of history. It is proper and fitting that their standard bearer is bringing out the worst in people--the intolerance of immigrants and the invitation to bigots, racists and anti-Semites to emerge, once again, from their rat holes to infect the body politic.
5
It is unnerving to watch the most powerful military nation ever behaving as if the rest of the world doesn't exist. Lost in hate land, encouraged by avarice and fear. At this point I wouldn't trust the United States to take out the garbage.
Land of the thief, home of the slave as W.E.B Dubois observed.
Land of the thief, home of the slave as W.E.B Dubois observed.
6
I have been reading this paper for fifty years and always thought of myself as Liberal. I am an old white fool, but i will say that i am not comfortable watching people of the same sex passionately kissing on television.
If i had children in the room my discomfit would increase.
The way the gay issue has steamrolled the last couple of years is most unsettling. To have a powerful minority group such as the gays impose their lifestyle on the majority is sure to have blow back.
If i had children in the room my discomfit would increase.
The way the gay issue has steamrolled the last couple of years is most unsettling. To have a powerful minority group such as the gays impose their lifestyle on the majority is sure to have blow back.
2
No one is forcing you to watch anything on television. My old fashioned parents weren't comfortable watching anyone gay or straight passionately kissing, that doesn't mean they had the right to make laws about how people live their lives.
We don't base our laws on what some people find "icky."
We don't base our laws on what some people find "icky."
2
There are a whole lot of issues Donald Trump simply couldn't care less about. When that is the case, he lets the far right do exactly what they want, because he needs them.
That is precisely how he will govern as President. Be crystal clear about this if you are contemplating voting for Gary Johnson, or Jill Stein, or not voting at all.
That is precisely how he will govern as President. Be crystal clear about this if you are contemplating voting for Gary Johnson, or Jill Stein, or not voting at all.
5
Happy to see the GOP showing their true colors. This should be on the front page of every paper and news vehicle. The horrifying truth is how many Americans think it is fine.
Separation of church and state-of course not!
Respecting the Supreme Court -no,no.
Trump won't really pay attention to this but just the same....Buyer beware.
Separation of church and state-of course not!
Respecting the Supreme Court -no,no.
Trump won't really pay attention to this but just the same....Buyer beware.
4
NYTimes...Why do you continue to use and bastardize the term "conservative" to describe modern day Republicans? If you look up the word's definition, or even simply consider its standard usage to describe politicians of traditionalist persuasion during the past half century, it no longer applies to the majority of today's Republicans, who are reactionaries, and/or plutocrats, and/or theocrats.
7
The platform is only for the ultra conservatives to review. Nobody else cares what is in the RNC platform. Why make more of it than it is?
"The platform is only for the ultra conservatives to review. Nobody else cares what is in the RNC platform. Why make more of it than it is?"
Because if elected, this platform is what GOP politicians will push down our throats. Whether you agree with the platform or not, you need to educate yourself and be fully cognizant of what the party stands for - we all do - before the election. Informed voters are the best disinfectant.
Because if elected, this platform is what GOP politicians will push down our throats. Whether you agree with the platform or not, you need to educate yourself and be fully cognizant of what the party stands for - we all do - before the election. Informed voters are the best disinfectant.
6
It seems that the GOPs policies could be any less popular than they were in 2012.
2
Republicans tell people how to live - Democrats let people live. Here we are in 2016 and these neanderthals still press a 1950's agenda. They ignore the environment, invent their own economic policy, demonize LGBT Americans, start wars whenever possible, ignore the true American family and invent a pubic health crisis out of thin air. Most of all, they're angry, righteous people who have deemed themselves pure and virtuous when the opposite is true.
4
Again the Times perpetuates the myth that Trump is somehow out of step with the GOP. Trump is Reagan's heir in every sense, from the racism to the economic illiteracy, to the war on women. A few minor differences (e.g. trade policy) are not the story the reporters seem to think they are.
3
Imagine what will happen when Trump is elected. Congressmen(women) will be falling all over themselves to see who can come up with the most extreme legislation with confidence that there will be no barrier to implementation. No silliness will be too much. This is what has happens when demagogues take power: everyone else must prove themselves worthy. Find a witch to burn. Trump will supply the empty bubbles that will carry the loonies to the top.
3
One presumes that there is something about climate change, infrastructure maintenance, health law improvement, and wage disparity. Perhaps I missed those parts.
Judge the relative evils by the platforms. The Democratic effort has got to be in the real world.
Where do these people come from?
Judge the relative evils by the platforms. The Democratic effort has got to be in the real world.
Where do these people come from?
4
"The religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives. The great decisions of Government cannot be dictated by the concerns of religious factions. This was true in the days of Madison, and it is just as true today. We have succeeded for 205 years in keeping the affairs of state separate from the uncompromising idealism of religious groups and we mustn't stop now. To retreat from that separation would violate the principles of conservatism and the values upon which the framers built this democratic republic." Barry Goldwater, 1981
"When you say "radical right" today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye." Barry Goldwater, 1994
"When you say "radical right" today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye." Barry Goldwater, 1994
8
This platform looks like it is being drawn from a 1950s fantasy of white-only America. Good luck with that.
3
Friedman today is writing about his hope that the Republicans lose big in November and re-emerge as an effective party (providing balance to the left).
This article responds: fat chance!
This article responds: fat chance!
3
The GOP has brainwashed people into believing that it is the party of God, therefore incorruptible, moral and serving only the best interest of the people. They use religion as their battering ram against anything progressive, rational or sane. They pander to emotion not reason. They pander to fear not courage. They pander to those from who bigotry is a way of life. Their first priority is not the people, it is themselves, their own futures and that of corporate American. Their extreme far right platform should terrify Americans.
6
The xenophobic, flat-earth crowd now controls the Republican Party, and they are really starting to be quite annoying for the corporate elite who need government to do what is best for business.
6
I'd like to thank the GOP for giving me yet another non-Trump reason for voting straight Democratic in November.
3
Let them run as they like. They are no longer a Party.
2
Welcome to the Christian Republic of the United States! Maybe. Or maybe not. How does all this "Christianity" square up with the First Amendment, which should be even more sacred than the radical rights beloved Second Amendment (I think the framers knew exactly what they wanted when they put the rights of speech and religion first in the pecking order).
4
This platform reminds me of the state of the Catholic church. Rome passes all of these rules, while, most Catholics ignore most of the rules. The good news, if there can be any good news in this election cycle, even if Trump were elected, he and most of the country would ignore most of the platform.
1
That won't help us if Republicans plunge us into another war and another recession.
Many aspects of the Republican platform are refreshing in their frankness. Republicans are basically saying that if they get sufficient power, they will make life difficult for people they don't like -- people who are not like them. For all the subterfuge in which Republicans regularly engage, here's something they say that we can believe.
7
The Republican Party has forever lost those of us Americans who believe that America should be viewed as a nation that embraces progressive democratic principles, is a melting pot for all races, religions, and ethnic groups. The decisive and anachronistic Republican platform is a sign of a loss of these principles and the soul of America.
3
Republican platform:
Sex bad. Guns good.
Government bad. God good.
Poor people bad. Rich people good.
Smart people bad. Ignorant people good.
Sex bad. Guns good.
Government bad. God good.
Poor people bad. Rich people good.
Smart people bad. Ignorant people good.
14
Republicans are living in the past and it may well be that their party will soon be a thing of the past. Good riddance to the racists and 1%-ers!
5
I have emailed my thoughts on how rich, old white men run this country of which I have a great perspective being an old white man. Combine this fact with Tony Perkins writing the republican platform. Each of us can pray to GOD but we should not want political religion because it will distort the facts and we will look just like ISIS.
Viewing pornography as a "public health crisis" or supporting traditional view of the family hardly makes the platform staunchly conservative ... Mainstream maybe, but not staunchly conservative.
1
Traditional view of family? Are you aware that for most of this country's history it was perfectly legal for a man to beat his wife and have his children doing hard labor?
The only shock in the GOP platform is that there is nothing in it formalizing the GOP's permanent investigatory stance vis-a-vis any and all actions of the Clintons.
3
Thank you, thank you GOP for putting your regressive, bigoted, fossilized, xenophobic "values" down in black and white. You are proud to adopt it all openly as your official party platform. It's out there now. And if there was any any doubt about how out of touch and step you are with the modern world, and values of kindness and inclusion, you have erased all doubt with clarity and directness. Thank you for showing the world who you really are.
7
Well there goes their claiming to become more "inclusive".
How any self-respecting LGBT person can vote for them is beyond me.
How any self-respecting LGBT person can vote for them is beyond me.
7
If Donald Trump was covertly trying to ensure that Hillary Clinton will be elected President due to a lack of viable alternatives, what would he do differently?
1
"The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”"
Wow! I had no idea that allowing open carry of semi automatic assault weapons and rampaging bigotry were "consistent with our God-given, natural rights".
Will some of our more conservative friends out there point me to the Bible passages that explicate why these things are so? I tired old pagan like me would really like to know.
Wow! I had no idea that allowing open carry of semi automatic assault weapons and rampaging bigotry were "consistent with our God-given, natural rights".
Will some of our more conservative friends out there point me to the Bible passages that explicate why these things are so? I tired old pagan like me would really like to know.
7
Its ok for these yahoos to impose their "morals" on everyone else while not living by them themselves? I think not. There, my friends, is the full history of Republican ideology.
3
Sounds like a platform from 1980. Or 1952.
3
And while the Times and all its commentariat are reacting in horror to the pro-slavery party's social agenda, not a word is said about their economic and colonial policies, all of which are undoubtedly geared towards ensuring the money continues to flow towards their donors.
3
The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”
Silly me, I thought the GOP was against ruling under the principles of Sharia.
Silly me, I thought the GOP was against ruling under the principles of Sharia.
4
Trump doesn't care at all about any Republic Party "Platform". He has the nomination and if elected, will never look at it.
2
Wow. They really have lost the plot, haven't they? I guess Republicans learned nothing from prior Presidential elections.
3
Pandora's box is open and the damage done to the golden rule can be measured in trump signs littering the lawns of people who have lost our ideals of working together for all the people in a more perfect union. While collective wisdom will most likely reject the mean guy with the walls, the stink of intolerance and ignorance is here to stay, perpetuated on the airwaves by entertainers masquerading as journalists. The GOP has done quite a number on our country hitching their wagon to any hateful complaint and selling it to poor souls to gain power- the power to undo the social contract, raid the treasury and isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. May the Democrats finally wake up and start telling it like it is- beginning with what we've already lost and what we could lose in the days to come if this platform becomes our bible.
1
The Republican platform is frightening and speaks to how extremist the GOP has become.
107
"Yet it was the lack of much interference by Mr. Trump or his aides that seemed to set the tone for the platform’s direction."
"interference"??? No, lack of leadership!!!
This is an example of how Trump has jumped in front of the mob and of what kind of "leader" he would (not) be
"interference"??? No, lack of leadership!!!
This is an example of how Trump has jumped in front of the mob and of what kind of "leader" he would (not) be
5
As time passes the Republican Party drifts further from mainstream American thought, and becomes more of a national joke and embarrassment. I don't see how it ends. The good news? No Republican in the White House in the foreseeable future. Hopefully fewer and fewer of them outside the backwards/depopulated Southern and Western states too.
5
The Cheney/ Bush administration left the country in the most horrendous shape in my lifetime. Can Trump outdo that? He already has and he's not even in office yet. Does make "America great again" mean we're still recovering from the Cheney administration?
5
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past.
1
The smaller the space left behind by the expansion of science and reason, the harder the dim and scared will try to carve out space in the political realm for their warped little world.
1
What's the strategy here? Why are they deliberately trying to lose?
3
"“Has a dead horse been beaten enough yet?” asked Annie Dickerson, a committee member from New York"
And yet, Annie, your still there with all the corpses of the Republicans ideas. You, I think represent the true Republican voter: Trump is small change, you would go so far as eating your own children to save a dollar in taxes.
And yet, Annie, your still there with all the corpses of the Republicans ideas. You, I think represent the true Republican voter: Trump is small change, you would go so far as eating your own children to save a dollar in taxes.
7
With this platform, the republican'ts have totally abandoned 2016 and gone back to 1016.
3
If Republicans want to see how things work out when demands that god-given laws be enforced, they need only look at ISIS. You say it can't happen here? With Trump as the nominee and a platform of hate and denial of reality, we are well more than halfway there.
4
This is beyond absurdist humor, beyond hypocrisy, beyond the pale... The standard-bearer for this party & their platform will be the likes of Donald Trump and his good friend Newt Gingrich? How do you square cheating on your wife with this 'family values' babble?
Unfortunately, this sort of jingoistic claptrap has won races - in the name of God and Country. But at least there was an appearance of propriety. Now, they're not even concerned with appearances. As Donald Trump said, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters". Just put a monkey in a suit and see what happens at the Republican convention. And let's just fan those flames of hate a little more, as if America isn't in need of leadership.
Unfortunately, this sort of jingoistic claptrap has won races - in the name of God and Country. But at least there was an appearance of propriety. Now, they're not even concerned with appearances. As Donald Trump said, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters". Just put a monkey in a suit and see what happens at the Republican convention. And let's just fan those flames of hate a little more, as if America isn't in need of leadership.
1
This platform is basically:
"If you're not acting like me and my family, it's disgusting and you should stop it."
I would term this Social Correctness.
"If you're not acting like me and my family, it's disgusting and you should stop it."
I would term this Social Correctness.
152
I think it is important to note that there is most often a wide divergence between what these people advocate, and how they are "acting."
2
Actually, given the history of "family values" Republicans who have gone on to be caught in illicit activities directly in contradiction to their political stances (Dennis Hastert, Larry Craig, Mark Foley, and more), "acting" is the correct term. However, their over-the-top public performances wouldn't garner any rewards.
This platform might put the final nail in the GOP coffin for 2016...
5
The GOP tells the US that they reject the modern world. Will the US reject the GOP platform and the GOP?
8
As the old football coach said " you are what your record says you are". As Americans we are who our elected leaders are. Please vote.
8
As a gay man I've not forgotten that Bill Clinton signed the worse laws ever against gays. And his wife is less trusted. After reading this I would like to know when that BIG caravan headed north to Canada leaves?
1
Charlie,
You clearly wanted more from President Clinton, as many did on this issue. But you seem to (somehow) have forgotten how hard it was to even get the limited progress he DID achieve.
Change is incremental. You seldom see a nation taking gigantic changes in social policy without an external cause, such as an attack by a foreign power.
Take the change as it happens. Push for more. But be realistic about what is possible on any given day.
You clearly wanted more from President Clinton, as many did on this issue. But you seem to (somehow) have forgotten how hard it was to even get the limited progress he DID achieve.
Change is incremental. You seldom see a nation taking gigantic changes in social policy without an external cause, such as an attack by a foreign power.
Take the change as it happens. Push for more. But be realistic about what is possible on any given day.
3
Wors[t] laws ever? You mean worse than historic laws that made homosexuality a crime punishable by jail?
If Trump wins, you might just gain a greater appreciation of what "worst laws ever" really means. Your choice, for now. Might be too late after November.
If Trump wins, you might just gain a greater appreciation of what "worst laws ever" really means. Your choice, for now. Might be too late after November.
5
You do realize that between your nominee and your platform, you've just made yourselves the laughing stock of the developed world?
9
The "new" GOP "platform" sounds like variations on Trump's theme, to whit: Make America White Again, Make America Homophobic Again, Make America Christian Again, Make America Hide Your Playboys Under The Mattress Again!
158
Wheeeeeew! The GOP agenda in writing is astringent. They write "Gay Bashing" over and over. Similar to parents who say, "if I told you once not to do it, I have told you a thousand times, don't do it again. ". The GOP had their eyes closed with the recent massacre in Orlando at the Pulse Bar. Do we just gloss over this? If we do not like progress laws made by votes from the American people? The GOP will just tear them down? Perhaps after the four days of men in fatigues with long riffles over their shoulders telling them a thing or two. Will the GOP change? Yes! Their ideas run neck and neck on some of ISIS basic ideas.
4
On the political spectrum, the 2016 platform appears to be closer to ISIS that it is to Eisenhower. Very sad.
10
Who hates ya, baby!
5
GOP seems to be living in some alternate universe.
Come November, that is where they seem to be heading for. And I hope that the bathrooms out there are configured to their liking, because that is SO VERY IMPORTANT in the grand plan of things, among all the challenges before these United States...
Come November, that is where they seem to be heading for. And I hope that the bathrooms out there are configured to their liking, because that is SO VERY IMPORTANT in the grand plan of things, among all the challenges before these United States...
8
"Has a dead horse been beaten enough yet?" Well, Ms. Dickerson, you could get up and leave your party, for surely there is NOTHING in it of value except hate of all stripes. But, apparently, in the hopes of probably getting another tax cut you would still be complicit in such a bankrupt organization. It's time folks like you do a little soul searching. Seriously, it IS enough.
9
The Democrats have lost city, county, state and federal sets by the 100's in the last few elections. YOU need to get YOUR act together before you lecture the Republicans.
1
Umm, some of us are not Democrats per se - we are just disgusted by today's GOP. I guess you could say disgust of GOP politics crosses party (and state) lines.
3
Danny
If you fool some local rubes, okay. But remember: your view is from the OUTSIDE of the White House.
If you fool some local rubes, okay. But remember: your view is from the OUTSIDE of the White House.
1
True, Democratic voters have only themselves to blame for the takeover of local government, but that isn't going to last long if the Republican party continues to head over the right side of the cliff.
3
In case you thought the GOP couldn't get any more hateful...
They just did!
Be afraid! BE VERY AFRAID!!!
They just did!
Be afraid! BE VERY AFRAID!!!
5
The Republican Party becomes increasingly detached from the general public with a young generation tending to be more liberal than ever and diverse demographics increasing their portion of the overall population. The right leaning platform this year just shows how the Republican Party fails to reconnect with the general audience and adapt to demographic changes. And by failing to do so, the Republican Party faces many challenges even existential challenge as America moves forward.
Donald Trump, with his many liberal proposals, is not in accordance with the right leaning platform of the Republican Party. The difference between this year's platform and Donald Trump's policies confirm the thought that the Republican Party is very much fractured.
Donald Trump, with his many liberal proposals, is not in accordance with the right leaning platform of the Republican Party. The difference between this year's platform and Donald Trump's policies confirm the thought that the Republican Party is very much fractured.
3
I am 54 and the first election I could vote in was 1980, where the NeoConservatives took the White House, the Senate & started a full frontal assault on the 20th Century. The craziness we thought a short term fever has proven a chronic illness that has persisted for decades, has grown ever more harsh, ever less tolerant, more detached from reality & less willing to compromise.
Our nation's founders- as flawed as they were by slavery & racial hatred for the First Peoples- got some things right when they established a Federalist Representative Democratic Republic after the catastrophic period under the Articles of Confederation. State sovereignty had showed itself incapable of effectively running our nation & a strong central government began our nation's long journey to the county and the people we are now. Had America stayed under the Articles of Confederation this would not be one country and one could only speculate how the slave holding South would have turned out.
The Republican Party was once an agent of change and a home to many in the Progressive movement. Women's Rights, Civil Rights & other important social movements operated within the party. Republican Presidents signed the laws that brought us the EPA, the FDA, the National Park Service, Land Grant Colleges, Interstate Highways & other important landmark acts of government.
That party is gone, long gone. What exists today bears little resemblance to the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Ford.
Our nation's founders- as flawed as they were by slavery & racial hatred for the First Peoples- got some things right when they established a Federalist Representative Democratic Republic after the catastrophic period under the Articles of Confederation. State sovereignty had showed itself incapable of effectively running our nation & a strong central government began our nation's long journey to the county and the people we are now. Had America stayed under the Articles of Confederation this would not be one country and one could only speculate how the slave holding South would have turned out.
The Republican Party was once an agent of change and a home to many in the Progressive movement. Women's Rights, Civil Rights & other important social movements operated within the party. Republican Presidents signed the laws that brought us the EPA, the FDA, the National Park Service, Land Grant Colleges, Interstate Highways & other important landmark acts of government.
That party is gone, long gone. What exists today bears little resemblance to the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Ford.
3
I actually agree with much of their platform though it will never get anybody elected. Their platform doesn't matter anyway, since the GOP is going down in flames in November, and is unlikely to ever win the White House again. I'm a pragmatist and a single issue voter and couldn't care less about guns and gays. I hope the Democrats win, promote unions, tear up trade agreements, punish companies that move operations out of the U.S., continue Obama's record-setting deportations, let the middle-east solve their own problems, strengthen social security by eliminating the cap and making ALL income subject to the tax, tighten the approval process to collect disability since it seems to be the red states and their uneducated inhabitants who are the takers (go figure), begin massive infrastructure improvements, and increase taxes by double digits on the rich.
3
I have been, for most of my life, a Republican, a moderate Republican. Now it seems the way the GOP 2016 platform is coming together that I might not be able to claim that label. It used to be that the party was for fiscal conservancy and smaller government. Now, it seems to be that religious and racial conservancy is its claim to fame.
Religion and race have no place in running a country. There is too much need for good government to regulate spending and taxes, to build and maintain the infrastructure that allows people and business to function and to provide security to all of its citizens.
I hate to say it, but it seems the Democrats have at least as good a view toward this as does the GOP. At this point, maybe better.
Religion and race have no place in running a country. There is too much need for good government to regulate spending and taxes, to build and maintain the infrastructure that allows people and business to function and to provide security to all of its citizens.
I hate to say it, but it seems the Democrats have at least as good a view toward this as does the GOP. At this point, maybe better.
2
I left the Republican party after G.W.'s first term and I'm not sorry.
2
Negative dialectics in action. The important thing here is the distance between Mr. Trump and the party, and the immoderate effect it will have on the future.
Trump's candidacy will actually liberate the most ruthless, revolutionary elements in the party, because they no longer concern themselves with the person or legitimacy of their candidate.
They will be free to abandon "the rules" of a two-party system and to launch the Real America party in a completely negative, revolutionary direction. Their sole purpose is that of most rightwing movements: to negate, wreck, create crisis, and open up a power vacuum.
The attack on Obama went beyond all reason and decorum. The attack on Hillary will be far worse. It will move inevitably beyond the legal system, science, the justice system, and any other remnants of the Enlightenment. Remember, all they want and need is crisis. Any crisis.
Trump's candidacy will actually liberate the most ruthless, revolutionary elements in the party, because they no longer concern themselves with the person or legitimacy of their candidate.
They will be free to abandon "the rules" of a two-party system and to launch the Real America party in a completely negative, revolutionary direction. Their sole purpose is that of most rightwing movements: to negate, wreck, create crisis, and open up a power vacuum.
The attack on Obama went beyond all reason and decorum. The attack on Hillary will be far worse. It will move inevitably beyond the legal system, science, the justice system, and any other remnants of the Enlightenment. Remember, all they want and need is crisis. Any crisis.
1
The surprising element of this article is the feigned umbrage and surprise that the Republican Party would consider a manifesto that was so beholden to Evangelical interests given the party's history. Frankly, this should come as no surprise because the "Grand Old Party's" foundation was largely the result of the moral indignation of anti-Slavery Evangelical campaigners in the North prior to the Civil War. That strain of moral righteousness has never left the party and now we're seeing its absurd results as the party platform encourages more and more pervasive encroachments into our bedrooms and our classrooms. To borrow a phrase from that Evangelical tradition, it would seem that the voices of secular humanism "crying out in the wilderness" have been left out in the cold during this convention. I expect this trend to continue.
The GOP has spoken to its base with its platform (GOP.com), which largely panders to its base's cultural fears and reinforces hatred of government.
Social change is coming much too fast for the GOP flat earthers, who are not even comfortable with the Enlightenment (1685-1815) values on which our country was constructed (the social contract, tolerance for differences, reason and science over dogmatism and superstition, etc.)
The platform also panders to big businesses' demands for deregulation. For example: There is no hope for those of us concerned about the environment. Consider the section in the platform about "Protecting the Environment."
After declaring how successful we have been in curbing environmental damage in this country, the platform goes on to say:
"...we need a dramatic change in the attitude of officials in Washington, a shift from a job-killing punitive mentality to a spirit of cooperation with producers, landowners, and the public. An important factor is full transparency in development of the data and modeling that drive regulations [???]. Legislation to restore the authority of States in environmental protection is essential."
The GOP is very big on going back to states rights. Never mind that a big reason the Articles of Confederation (1781-1787) failed was because too much power given to the states so the concept of a workable national government was undermined.
Backward march!
I doubt the GOP platform will attract many Indep. voters, now at 42%
Social change is coming much too fast for the GOP flat earthers, who are not even comfortable with the Enlightenment (1685-1815) values on which our country was constructed (the social contract, tolerance for differences, reason and science over dogmatism and superstition, etc.)
The platform also panders to big businesses' demands for deregulation. For example: There is no hope for those of us concerned about the environment. Consider the section in the platform about "Protecting the Environment."
After declaring how successful we have been in curbing environmental damage in this country, the platform goes on to say:
"...we need a dramatic change in the attitude of officials in Washington, a shift from a job-killing punitive mentality to a spirit of cooperation with producers, landowners, and the public. An important factor is full transparency in development of the data and modeling that drive regulations [???]. Legislation to restore the authority of States in environmental protection is essential."
The GOP is very big on going back to states rights. Never mind that a big reason the Articles of Confederation (1781-1787) failed was because too much power given to the states so the concept of a workable national government was undermined.
Backward march!
I doubt the GOP platform will attract many Indep. voters, now at 42%
4
People have mentioned the year 1968 recently, and I think it's a good idea to look at that chaotic summer especially to see where we stand today. In that year, we saw, for the first time in such great numbers, minorities demand a seat at the table, on a nationwide political stage. Obviously there were other issues, but it seems to me that year marked the beginning of the end for pure white rule. And now, in 2016, we have the bookend year, in which those who benefited the most from the old white power structure are demanding THEIR seat at the table. In other words, we've come full circle. This year is essentially the backlash to 1968.
I've often thought that the most pressing issue facing our country is how we as a nation move from a power structure that has always been white, male, heterosexual, mostly married, and wealthy to one that better reflects the diversity of the country as a whole. And how do we do that without buying the country to the ground in the process? How we address that issue will determine how we deal with everything else. And it's pretty clear from the GOP platform this year that they're not wiling to move one inch in that direction.
I've often thought that the most pressing issue facing our country is how we as a nation move from a power structure that has always been white, male, heterosexual, mostly married, and wealthy to one that better reflects the diversity of the country as a whole. And how do we do that without buying the country to the ground in the process? How we address that issue will determine how we deal with everything else. And it's pretty clear from the GOP platform this year that they're not wiling to move one inch in that direction.
1
I'm reminded of many of my religious friends who pretty much live their lives however they want, disregarding their church's teachings and policies when it is convenient to do so. The same thing is done by members of political parties. Virtually no one I know reads a party platform, and if they do and they disagree with it they simply disregard it. Many people will call themselves Republicans and will pretend that this agenda simply doesn't exist. They may hold positions completely antithetical to this platform, yet still see themselves as Republican. I hope people will take a minute to read what the party they support actually endorses. I think it would be a revelation for some of the people I know, particularly Sanders’ supporters who are leaning toward Trump. How the leap from Sanders to Trump can be made, particularly in light of this Republican Platform, is beyond me.
5
Please take care. As a true southerner, I am getting antsy. God has been trying to warn us with torrential rains, floods and beset us with pestilence. This summer, God is further displaying his wrath by the fire of the sun with exceptional heat. God has been gradually turning up the heat, the storms and the diseases he hath wrought upon us. Our true God is trying to communicate with us. He hath further coordinated with Mother Nature. He and She have been delicate so far. The Devil is deceiving us in the form of circuses and employing portable distraction devices to keep us from seeing the warnings of God and Mother Nature. He hath revived Satan in the form of a gold pated aging serial philanderer. Do not yield to the trumpet. Heck, I'm heading for the wilderness.
2
Please, please tell me that you're being funny.
2
Most scholars today believe that Jefferson derived the most famous ideas in the Declaration of Independence from the writings of English philosopher John Locke.
Locke wrote that “all individuals are equal” in the sense that they are born with certain "inalienable" natural rights. That is, rights that are God-given and can never be taken or even given away. Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are "life, liberty, and property."
Locke reasoned, individuals have both a right and a duty to preserve their own lives.
He also argued that individuals should be free to make choices about how to conduct their own lives as long as they do not interfere with the liberty of others. Is not the “staunchly conservative” republican platform contradictory to these pursuits?
By "property," Locke referred to ownership of one's self, which included a right to personal well being. Jefferson, however, substituted the phrase, "pursuit of happiness,". Somehow Americans, Blacks, Latinos and women weren't entitled to this precept.
Locke concluded, if a government persecutes its people with "a long train of abuses" [white privilege]over an extended period[since 1521], those who are a disenfranchised people, have the right to resist that government, alter or abolish it, and create a new political system.
#excludedlivesmatter
Locke wrote that “all individuals are equal” in the sense that they are born with certain "inalienable" natural rights. That is, rights that are God-given and can never be taken or even given away. Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are "life, liberty, and property."
Locke reasoned, individuals have both a right and a duty to preserve their own lives.
He also argued that individuals should be free to make choices about how to conduct their own lives as long as they do not interfere with the liberty of others. Is not the “staunchly conservative” republican platform contradictory to these pursuits?
By "property," Locke referred to ownership of one's self, which included a right to personal well being. Jefferson, however, substituted the phrase, "pursuit of happiness,". Somehow Americans, Blacks, Latinos and women weren't entitled to this precept.
Locke concluded, if a government persecutes its people with "a long train of abuses" [white privilege]over an extended period[since 1521], those who are a disenfranchised people, have the right to resist that government, alter or abolish it, and create a new political system.
#excludedlivesmatter
1
The GOP may have a problem with a platform that veers to far to the right when it has a candidate that veers to the left of party principles. The Democrats have no such problem since the Bernie Sanders Campaign has insured that that the Democratic platform will stand firmly to the left as a progressive document. The American people as a whole are neither left nor right. The country has evolved over time as more progressive and diverse while maintaining the constitutional principles of our founders. I see no reason why the voting public will not maintain a centrist position this year, notwithstanding the current temporary turmoil that exists.
1
These people are not 'conservative'. They are radical, every bit as much as the Maoists and the Jacobins, and every bit as destructive.
The 'conventional wisdom' has often been that platforms are mere general statements of direction, wish lists, and rhetoric to stir up enthusiasm among the booboisie; as such, they often incorporate extreme policies that the candidates know will never be enacted, or be watered down in Congressional give and take.
That may be how it used to work; not since Reagan, at least.
My fear is not so much the presidency, since, as Obama's supporters have learned, there's only so much an executive can do. My fear is Congress.
As a moderate independent who leans leftish on some issues, rightish on others, and enters most discussions by beginning 'well, yes, but ...,' I think we may be seeing a sea change, in which a major party either realigns and redefines itself or goes into the dustbin of history with the Whigs and Know-Nothings. If the latter, something on the 'conservative' side will arise to take its place. Let's hope it is a sane center-right party comprising people of conscience and intelligence, what we used to call 'Rockefeller Republicans', as a necessary counterbalance to the center-left.
The 'conventional wisdom' has often been that platforms are mere general statements of direction, wish lists, and rhetoric to stir up enthusiasm among the booboisie; as such, they often incorporate extreme policies that the candidates know will never be enacted, or be watered down in Congressional give and take.
That may be how it used to work; not since Reagan, at least.
My fear is not so much the presidency, since, as Obama's supporters have learned, there's only so much an executive can do. My fear is Congress.
As a moderate independent who leans leftish on some issues, rightish on others, and enters most discussions by beginning 'well, yes, but ...,' I think we may be seeing a sea change, in which a major party either realigns and redefines itself or goes into the dustbin of history with the Whigs and Know-Nothings. If the latter, something on the 'conservative' side will arise to take its place. Let's hope it is a sane center-right party comprising people of conscience and intelligence, what we used to call 'Rockefeller Republicans', as a necessary counterbalance to the center-left.
2
"And what Republicans will probably end up with when they formally vote next week to ratify the platform approved in committee on Tuesday is a text that can seem almost Victorian in its moralizing and deeply critical of how the modern American family has evolved.
The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”
It also encourages the teaching of the Bible in public schools because, the amendment said, a good understanding of its contents is “indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry.”"
I'm thinking that we should get started on that wall along the 49th parallel.
The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”
It also encourages the teaching of the Bible in public schools because, the amendment said, a good understanding of its contents is “indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry.”"
I'm thinking that we should get started on that wall along the 49th parallel.
5
Politico reported "the Republican Party is considering an even stronger pro-life platform this summer that would call for an end to taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and a ban on the use of aborted babies' body parts in research."
As a pro life woman, I do hope this is included in the Republican platform as this is extremely important for the babies in the womb. We have already lost over 50 million babies to the effects of abortion and we need to protect them.
They are our future presidents, doctors, lawyers, etc. and it would be tragic to lose these very important persons. Please Republicans make a difference to babies and do the right thing by including a pro-life platform on your agenda. Our future generation will thank you.
As a pro life woman, I do hope this is included in the Republican platform as this is extremely important for the babies in the womb. We have already lost over 50 million babies to the effects of abortion and we need to protect them.
They are our future presidents, doctors, lawyers, etc. and it would be tragic to lose these very important persons. Please Republicans make a difference to babies and do the right thing by including a pro-life platform on your agenda. Our future generation will thank you.
1
Republicans don't want parents to have good health care, a living wage or a clean safe environment. They don't want comprehensive sex education or affordable contraception. Republicans could care less about children born or unborn and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you'll be able to stop wasting time and money supporting them.
BTW, do you mourn for the children mowed down by guns the way you do for the unborn?
BTW, do you mourn for the children mowed down by guns the way you do for the unborn?
9
Depriving poor women of healthcare services and contraception counseling will definitely NOT reduce the demand for abortions.
Think about what you are saying. Are you really serious????
Think about what you are saying. Are you really serious????
1
I applaud the Republican Party for creating a political platform that in every way represents the core of the Grand Old Party.
Of course it violates many of out Constitutional rights, greats a 'Big Brother' government with control over the most private and intimate aspects of our lives and would result in a religious based government where all decisions would have to satisfy a core group of like minded zealots.
FYI The Iranian government has been replacing the old guard ultra-right religious zealots with younger, progressive and more moderate leadership.
What a world we live in.
Of course it violates many of out Constitutional rights, greats a 'Big Brother' government with control over the most private and intimate aspects of our lives and would result in a religious based government where all decisions would have to satisfy a core group of like minded zealots.
FYI The Iranian government has been replacing the old guard ultra-right religious zealots with younger, progressive and more moderate leadership.
What a world we live in.
3
if this weren't so serious an attack on intelligence I could laugh at the stupidity. Unfortunately this proposed document is being promoted by men who represent a large segment of our population which has never accepted the truth of actual reality, opting for the comforting fictions of belief.
Most people think of themselves as tolerant which is fine so long as one tolerates the foibles of childhood knowing growth will bring a form of maturity, but when children are raised with the thought of fictional belief to be true, there will not be any maturation beyond the body
I respect those with whom I disagree, but when premises based on no actual demonstrable and observable truth are offered I will no longer even engage. This thought is based on the fact I could, as some may, but will not deny my intelligence
it appears those who write the Republican platform are doing their best to eliminate intelligent thought from the political platform they are constructing.
If any society truly wishes to represent all people both religious belief and militarism have no place in their government
Regardless therir education, there is an aura of madness in the truest sense of the word among those men who promote belief above observable reality.
It appears many men, not just those who embrace religious belief, are frightened and fearful of life which constitutes a real danger for those of us who accept the logic of existence.
The way men, not women, think is at the root of the problem
Most people think of themselves as tolerant which is fine so long as one tolerates the foibles of childhood knowing growth will bring a form of maturity, but when children are raised with the thought of fictional belief to be true, there will not be any maturation beyond the body
I respect those with whom I disagree, but when premises based on no actual demonstrable and observable truth are offered I will no longer even engage. This thought is based on the fact I could, as some may, but will not deny my intelligence
it appears those who write the Republican platform are doing their best to eliminate intelligent thought from the political platform they are constructing.
If any society truly wishes to represent all people both religious belief and militarism have no place in their government
Regardless therir education, there is an aura of madness in the truest sense of the word among those men who promote belief above observable reality.
It appears many men, not just those who embrace religious belief, are frightened and fearful of life which constitutes a real danger for those of us who accept the logic of existence.
The way men, not women, think is at the root of the problem
7
For all those who are concerned about the GOP platform, bear in mind that these documents and policies are largely ignored once they are elected.
All of Washington has been bought by special interests and big money. Pre-election promises (made by either party) are meaningless.
The popularity of Trump and Bernie are due the public's recognition of the complete failure of our democratic process.
It is a great pity that this issue is not championed by more capable leaders.
It is a great puzzle that, in a democracy, "populism" is held in contempt.
All of Washington has been bought by special interests and big money. Pre-election promises (made by either party) are meaningless.
The popularity of Trump and Bernie are due the public's recognition of the complete failure of our democratic process.
It is a great pity that this issue is not championed by more capable leaders.
It is a great puzzle that, in a democracy, "populism" is held in contempt.
1
I've felt since early in the primaries the Donald Trump did not really want to be president. His outrageous comments, personal attacks and bullying tactics were meant to gain attention, but even he did not expect to strike a chord that has resonated so strongly with so many people.
But looking at the prospective conservative platform that he seems to be accepting, one that is so exclusive and out of touch with modern America (and even many of his own stated values), is further evidence of his candidacy being a charade and another attempt on his part of subtly sabotaging his own campaign. This entire endeavor has been "The Donald's" personal ego massage run amok. And he's getting desperate to bail out.
But looking at the prospective conservative platform that he seems to be accepting, one that is so exclusive and out of touch with modern America (and even many of his own stated values), is further evidence of his candidacy being a charade and another attempt on his part of subtly sabotaging his own campaign. This entire endeavor has been "The Donald's" personal ego massage run amok. And he's getting desperate to bail out.
70
The platform is obscene. That people who back it call themselves "christian" is an affront to Jesus.
1
I think the structure of politics never really changes. Political parties are electoral machines...at least that is what I learned when I studied the origins of political parties in the United States in the 19th century. Our two party system mobilizes constituencies that assert perceived group interests. So the Democrats mobilize most nonwhites and Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, and avowed secularists, the highly educated especially those who work in the public and nonprofit sectors, labor union leaders, low income voters, single women, college students, especially those not majoring in business, environmentalists, LGBT members, artists and various other subgroups with liberal or radical leanings, and most of Hollywood.
And the Republicans? White Evangelicals, military families, business people in general, other conservative Christians including Mormons and devout Catholics, other religious conservatives, white men in general but especially blue collar workers, married white women, white senior citizens.
If it were up to just the non Hispanic white population, which still constitutes 68 percent of the electorate this fall, Donald Trump wins in a landslide. White men are almost as strong for Trump as Hispanic Americans are for Clinton.
Why the division? Divergent ethnocultural, ideological, sectarian and class interests articulated by political parties. Trump inherits his electoral portfolio of group interests as does Clinton. Our elections are usually very close.
And the Republicans? White Evangelicals, military families, business people in general, other conservative Christians including Mormons and devout Catholics, other religious conservatives, white men in general but especially blue collar workers, married white women, white senior citizens.
If it were up to just the non Hispanic white population, which still constitutes 68 percent of the electorate this fall, Donald Trump wins in a landslide. White men are almost as strong for Trump as Hispanic Americans are for Clinton.
Why the division? Divergent ethnocultural, ideological, sectarian and class interests articulated by political parties. Trump inherits his electoral portfolio of group interests as does Clinton. Our elections are usually very close.
30
One change to the platform, that was over looked, that would make winning any election by the conservatives much easier would be the repeal of the 19 Amendment. If the suggested amendment were removed, white men would once again become the dominant electorate force and social conservatism would reign.
This old white woman is not voting for Trump.
Catholics traditionally vote Democrat.
The archaic two party system triumphs once again, with their primaries and caucuses that foster a steady movement to the polar ends of the political spectrum. The delegates seem to mirror what I believe is a minority of people who would classify themselves as Republicans, not the mainstream Republican voter. I know plenty of Republicans who simply define themselves as fiscally conservative (lower taxes across the board, not just for the rich) and socially middle of the road (I don't hear much gay bashing though there is still plenty pro-life talk). Unfortunately, our system doesn't allow for a diaspora of political candidacies at a national level, not in any realistic sense. I think the rise of Trump and Sanders clearly signals that people want greater freedom of choice regarding the people who represent them. The longer that the two party system holds the greater and more lasting the damage to our country. We need independent thinkers who represent the majority of people in their constituencies, some who are very liberal, some who are very conservative, most who are somewhere along the spectrum. Diversity of opinions should be what Americans demand from their representatives to ensure that the laws of the land reflect the desires of the majority, while still giving voice to the minority (a la the Federalist Papers). Overturning Citizens United is a crucial step in making this a possibility. Of course, all this presumes that the people actually vote.
48
I completely agree with your sentiment. The disadvantage of your idea is that if no candidate gets 270 electoral votes, then the house of representatives elects the next president from the top three candidates. It seems clear that today, that would be the Republican candidate regardless of the popular vote, or even the plurality of the electoral college.
Let me see...the Republican Party has for 30 years has rocketed off to the right. The Democratic party has moderated it's views substantially (IE welfare reform, deregulation, moderation of entitlements and lukewarm support for unions) and yet we are talking about polarization as if it is a two party problem. That is the mother of all false equivalences. This is not about the two party system or polarization, it is about the Republican party going off of the rails.
2
Mainstream Republicans blatantly courted the racist and religious vote since Nixon and God Reagan. Now they have it. What's their complaint?
3
I believe religion is harmful to children. It places then in a position to become subservient to a vengeful and cruel imaginary friend. Always watching and judging everything you do. It's no wonder people grow up to be paranoid conspiracy theory followers.
5
I disagree with many of the GOP's social positions. Abortion is legal and they could do a lot to reduce abortions by promoting adoption. LGBT? Who cares? Leave the gays alone. They aren't bothering anyone.
Now, on economics, capitalism, low taxes and leaving government out of our lives, they are spot on.
Give up the social platform GOP. The Democrats are crushing you on gay marriage and abortion and you have nothing to gain by continuing the support these positions.
Now, on economics, capitalism, low taxes and leaving government out of our lives, they are spot on.
Give up the social platform GOP. The Democrats are crushing you on gay marriage and abortion and you have nothing to gain by continuing the support these positions.
You seem to have missed the fact that Republicans want to get into people's bedrooms, marriages etc.
Go spend time in a red state and look at how low taxes for the wealthy are working out, ditto for the capitalism that offshores jobs and keeps wages here in the U.S. too low to live on.
Economics? Did you miss the great recession?
BTW, the answer to reducing the number of abortions isn't adoption, it's sex education, birth control and health care.
Go spend time in a red state and look at how low taxes for the wealthy are working out, ditto for the capitalism that offshores jobs and keeps wages here in the U.S. too low to live on.
Economics? Did you miss the great recession?
BTW, the answer to reducing the number of abortions isn't adoption, it's sex education, birth control and health care.
3
I often wonder if it's possible to deal with them. Can we give them something on abortion if they'll give us something on guns? But the answer is probably that they wouldn't consider any such thing. They'd have to sell it to their constituents, which would be too much like work.
1
Right! I think they should change the symbol of their party from an elephant to a dinosaur.
266
Jonathan, to your point, I'd suggest conservatives really don't care about the loss of innocent life, as the say, when it comes to abortion. Otherwise, how can they ignore the loss of lives to mass killings? Their abortion argument is rooted in the control of other people's lives. It's really sick.
15
Most Republicans of the type who wrote the 2016 GOP Platform believe that the earth was created in 4004 BC...and that the dinosaurs co-habited with humans at that time.
1
Does anyone NOT see the insanity of this party NOW?
13
Words fail me.
8
Any and all disenchanted GOPers, sick of their party's messages of fear and division, are welcome to join the Democrats, no matter your gender, race, religion, education, or sexual preference. We don't care who you marry and which god you worship; we do care about creating more jobs, raising the minimum wage, ensuring that all have access to health care, combating climate change and making good education a right, not a privilege.
20
Interesting how a platform that would be considered "Mainstream" in 2008 is now seen as "Victorian"...
1
Naw, it was nuts in 2008, too. And a little iffy even in Victorian England, in case you know what that was.
4
Leave it to Republicans - the greatest science deniers in the history of the plant (well, maybe right behind the Catholic Church) - to declare that coal is a “clean” energy source.
9
It seems as though the GOP have learned nothing from the last two drubbings in a general election, and much like their presumptive nominee, are doubling down on bad ideas.
3
Trump is using the GOP as nothing more than a vehicle to the White House. Regardless of the party's platform, Trump will speak his mind and ask voters to vote against Hillary.
Trump's mind is a dark, scary, broken place.
2
"Bathroom use"? The Republican Party of 2106 mentions bathroom use in its platform? What would Abraham Lincoln think?
9
I am not gay but have many dear friends who are and who have made the choice to become parents. Their kids play with my kids. These kids are all terrific kids. I am stunned by the GOP platform language that asserts - ' stated that “natural marriage” between a man and a woman is most likely to result in offspring who do not become drug-addicted or otherwise damaged.' Really? Now we are attacking children? I have never seen any proof that children of gay marriage have higher rates of drug addiction. Shame on you, Republican Party.
16
Coal is a clean source of energy??? If that plank reflects the overall platform's validity then the document is deeply flawed. Global warming and the consequences of it, is the most critical problem humanity faces in the next four years. Yet the GOP signals they will continue to deny the problem at the behest of fossil fuel producers. It is sad when people who cannot deal with the realities of today's world think they can turn back the clock to an imagined idyllic world they think existed in the 1950s. That world was a myth as is their platform.
8