GOP Platform

Platform’s are not binding on anyone, but they are ardently fought out among party activists. They offer a good indication of the issues on which a president will get pressure from within his party. Here are highlights from the Republican platform, adopted by the convention Monday:

PREAMBLE QUOTE:

“We offered cooperation and consensus. Now the asking is over. The Clinton administration cannot be reinvented, it must be replaced.”

ECONOMIC ISSUES:

TAXES

* Across-the-board 15% reduction in marginal tax rates.

* $500-per-child family tax credit.

* Supports legislation requiring a “super-majority vote in both houses” to raise taxes.

* Supports a balanced-budget amendment, phased in over a short period and with safeguards for national emergencies.

* Vows to curb growth of entitlement programs, such as Social Security, Medicare and farm subsidies by taking them “off automatic pilot and mak[ing] Congress accountable for their funding.”

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TRADE

* Pledges to “vigorously implement” the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico “while carefully monitoring its its progress.”

SOCIAL ISSUES:

ABORTION

* Supports a human life amendment to the Constitution that would outlaw abortion, without exceptions.

* Revokes federal grants to any organization that advocates abortion.

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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

* Endorses Proposition 209, the proposed California ballot initiative that would end government affirmative action programs.

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GAY RIGHTS

* Opposes extending anti-discrimination laws to cover gays.

* Endorses federal legislation saying that states need not recognize same-sex marriages.

* Says homosexuality is incompatible with military service.

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GUN CONTROL

* Pledges to “defend the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

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IMMIGRATION

* Denies public benefits except emergency aid to illegal immigrants.

* Calls for children of illegal immigrants not be eligible for public benefits.

* Amends the Constitution to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents here illegally.

* Officially recognizes English as the nation’s common language.

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CRIME

* Requires adult trials for juveniles who commit adult crimes.

* Calls for federal three-strikes law for child pornographers.

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EDUCATION

* Supports educational initiatives to promote chastity until marriage as the expected standard of behavior.

* Backs parents rights for the option of home schooling.

* Supports voluntary prayer in school and equal access to school facilities by student religious groups.

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FEDERAL PROGRAMS

* Eliminate departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education and Energy.

* Defund or privatize the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Legal Services Corporation.

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JUDICIARY

* Eliminates the role of the American Bar Assn. in helping screen judicial nominees. The platform accuses the ABA of “meddl[ing] in a way that distorts a nominee’s credentials and advances the liberal agenda.”

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PUBLIC LANDS/ENVIRONMENT

* Allow states and localities to have a greater role in setting and maintaining natural resource standards.

* Protect private property rights by making environmental decisions in concert with those whose homes, businesses and communities are directly affected.

* Support tranferring some federal lands to state, county or municipal governments.

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FOREIGN/MILITARY AFFAIRS

* Endorses national missile defense system for all 50 states by the year 2003.

* Increases military spending.

* Opposes commitment of American troops to U.N. peacekeeping operations under foreign commanders.

* Opposes women in ground combat.

* Ends sales of pornographic materials at military facilities.

* Moves U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem by 1999.

HENRY HYDE QUOTE:

“If you want a rebirth of self-government, limited but efficient government, this is your charter. And if you want to return character and conscience to the White House, if you want Bob Dole in the White House, we have this platform.”