So Mr. de la Garza returned from Houston and proudly promoted the Texas GOP platform. All delegates helped construct a platform that is decidedly authoritarian and undemocratic. They reject the certified results of the 2020 presidential election and think the deposed dictator is still president. We will wait to see his “evidence” that ballot harvesting helped only president Biden win in “key” states, but nowhere else.
They invoked God’s name eight times in 40 page pages. They tout Judeo/Christian family values which are left undefined. The God of the Old Testament favored the Jewish people when He delivered them from Egypt. Today’s hate groups strongly despise our Jewish brethren as we heard from the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. They forget that Christ was Jewish. They claim marriage is God-ordained. Reading Genesis I missed who married Adam and Eve. Marriage originated in Mesopotamia around 2350 BC. It was a social contract. By that ceremony a woman became property of her husband to ensure inheritance. The US Constitution is a secular document granting land owning white males certain rights. Women and slaves and Native Americans were excluded. They insist on a constitutional amendment to make English the “official” language of the US. If they hear any other language spoken by strangers especially Spanish they get upset. They reject the Equal Rights Amendment which was never ratified because it contained language that stated women should have the same rights as men. They demand equal protection for the pre-born but not for the woman carrying that child. They demand any person be allowed to sit for the Texas State Bar Exam regardless of educational background. Forget four years of college and three years of law school. Next they will demand anyone who has watched doctor shows on TV to take a medical exam to be licensed as your next doctor. They demand a law prohibiting the teaching of sex education in public school. Let kids learn on their own or on the streets. In the few weeks that this platform passed, the conservative anointed Supreme Court has answered a few of their prayers.
Roe v. Wade was overturned after 50 years. All the Catholic justices who swore to leave Roe v. Wade alone lied to get confirmed. They want all students to pledge allegiance to the flag that ends “with liberty and justice for all.” They insist the Affordable Care Act be abolished. Only the wealthy deserve health benefits. They oppose any further expansion of Medicaid. If a fellow Texan is poor and sick, they offer their thoughts and prayers. So for all Texas girls and women who find themselves pregnant by accident, rape, or incest — too bad. God will help. They consider gay folks abnormal although all God’s children are equal in His eyes. They demonize about 20% of the population. Apparently Mr. De La Garza is an expert in sexuality and informs all of us that it is a choice that an individual makes. No sir, choice is when seemingly intelligent folks choose to be Republicans when it benefits their pocket book or particular faith. Another one of their pipe dreams was granted. All Planned Parenthood clinics that accounted for only 3% of abortions will be closing down. Any woman is now on her own when it comes to preventing unwanted pregnancy.
They profess to adore the “pre-born” but once that child is born? They want to replace child protective services (CPS). They want capital punishment to be reasonably swift. Never mind the accused defendant may be totally innocent. Execute them quickly. This from the pro-life crowd. They oppose judicial activism but are celebrating the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Apparently it is acceptable when their Catholic justices do it. They want to repeal Hate Crime laws. Since most hate crime victims are minorities, people of color and non Christian, so be it. They want businesses to be free to discriminate against anyone if their religious beliefs are offended. They fail to mention that belief is Christian only. They want Texas to abolish gun free zones. They want to be able to carry AR-15s any place any time, except NRA meetings. They oppose the legalization of recreational marijuana. They oppose radical Islamic terrorism but conveniently exclude domestic terrorism usually composed of white Christian nationalists. They insist a border wall is the answer to illegal immigration but refuse to consider a sane immigration reform policy. They respect Israel’s right of sovereignty because God gave that land to the Jews as per Genesis. The Palestinians can go elsewhere because God favors the Hebrews. They decide which nations are considered sovereign and which ones the US can invade at will. They want to abolish the United Nations. In 1948, the UN passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. They rejected the bipartisan gun control agreement and attacked 9 Republican senators. AR-15s were not banished. They state that gun control is a violation of their Second Amendment “God given” right. I could not find that particular right in the Bible. They oppose riots but forget the January 6th insurrection and the cowardly Republicans that voted to overturn a legitimate election. You don’t have to read between the lines of this platform to realize that today’s Republican party wants to force all Americans to revert to the 1800s when women were supposed to be submissive and all minorities were expected to know their place and take whatever crumbs the party in power threw at them. They want Confederate monuments protected but will dismiss classroom teachers for telling students about years of legalized slavery and legal discrimination against all Americans who are not white. The 275 talking points seem to have been written by Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, and Rush Limbaugh, with help from Joseph Goebbels and Mussolini. It is a fascist states dream platform.
In liberty.
David Almaraz
Right on and to the point. The Texas Republican Party Convention repeated lunatic garbage. Only uneducated and hateful people could come out with unadulterated and un-American idiocy.