August 15, 1992 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM: A SHARED VISION FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE A. Family Values, Education and Health Care: This section discusses President Bush's child care, education, and health care plans, emphasizing both values-oriented and empowerment themes, (e.g. the importance of "two-parent families" in transmitting the values of work and discipline, and the need for flexible government policies that maximize Americans' choices). The platform endorses the President's: Child Care Bill of 1990 for preserving parental choice and providing affordable child care without imposing federal mandates or new licensing requirements. AMERICA 2000 strategy: The need for educational reform takes up six pages -- more than any other single subject in the platform -- with two pages dedicated to the President's AMERICA 2000 strategy to achieve educational excellence. G.I. Bill for Children and proposal to allow penalty-free IRA withdrawals as ways to make quality education affordable. The need for moral instruction in schools, including recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, is also stressed. Health Care plan: In addition to making clear that the President's plan makes health care affordable without reducing the quality of care, the shortcomings of play-or-pay -- tax hikes, lower wages, and job losses -- are discussed. Efforts to combat AIDS, including the $4.2 billion the President has spent since 1988 on AIDS research and treatment, and calls for AIDS education that stresses "marital fidelity, abstinence, and a drug-free lifestyle." Creation of new opportunities for Older Americans, such as repealing the earnings limitation that penalize those Older Americans who want to go back to work. B. Individual Rights, Good Homes and Safe Streets: This section outlines Republicans' empowerment agenda. The individual rights section replicates the 1988 platform's language on abortion and includes a strong articulation of individuals' property rights. The platform endorses the President's: HOPE and HOME housing programs that increase home ownership and tenant management, and thereby promote personal responsibility. Welfare reforms, arguing that our present welfare system fosters family break-up and dependency. In keeping with the need for parental responsibility, the Platform also endorses stronger enforcement of child support laws. Anti-crime initiatives especially appointment of tough, law and order judges. The Platform also applauds the President's increase in aid to State and local law enforcement -- important because Clinton has falsely contended that the President has tried to cut such aid. Property rights: In endorsing the need to respect Fifth Amendment property rights, the Platform advocates reduction of federally-owned lands in Western states (apart from National parks) and prompt payment for private lands added to National parks. C. Economy, Trade, Jobs and Budget: The economic section strongly endorses fiscal conservative policies: deficit reduction brought about by spending cuts, and incentives for job creation and growth through tax incentives and rate reductions. The Platform highlights the President's economic achievements -- lowering inflation and interest rates, cutting burdensome regulation, and opening foreign markets to American goods. Expansion of the 1980's: The Platform praises the Reagan-Bush economic expansion, and reiterates the need for fiscal conservatism. Economic growth: The Platform strongly endorses the President's economic growth plan and details each of its provisions. A separate plank on home ownership reiterates the need for the President's home-buyers' credit. Taxes: The Platform cites the President's March 20th veto of the Democrats' tax bill as a strong, defining contrast between President Bush and Clinton (who has proposed a $150 billion tax hike). The Platform counsels that as the deficit is reduced, tax rate reductions should be enacted. Other tax provisions: In seeking to cut the tax burden on America's families, the Platform also endorses deductibility of IRAs for all Americans. Similarly, the Platform calls for an immediate $500 increase in the dependent exemption (which the President has proposed) and an eventual restoration of the inflation-adjusted value of the personal exemption. Small Businesses: The Platform addresses small business' needs -- new opportunities for investment and growth -- by advocating creation of enterprise zones and applauding the President's efforts to alleviate the credit crunch. D. Reforming Government and the Legal System: This section encapsulates the Republican Party's government reform agenda, addressing the need for institutional reform in the Congress, the federal bureaucracy, and in the legal system. Congressional reform: This section endorses the government reforms outlined by the President earlier this year in Philadelphia. This section also endorses President Bush's campaign finance reforms and decries taxpayer financing of congressional campaigns. Bureaucratic reform: The Platform calls for a more responsive, customer-friendly bureaucracy that focuses on the quality of services it delivers, and provides accountability when it fails. Legal reform: This section endorses the Council on Competitiveness' recommendations on reforming the legal system, and applauds the Vice President's challenge to the American Bar Association to get its own house in order. E. Our Land, Food, and Resources: This section discusses the need for wise stewardship of America's land, including policies that promote rural development and American agriculture, wise use of land, and energy policies that decrease government controls while providing for America's future energy needs. The Platform endorses the President's: Efforts to open markets for agricultural products including the need to create new uses for agricultural products. Efforts in the Persian Gulf to ensure energy security, and emphasizes the need for further decontrol of natural gas, and tax incentives for domestic oil and gas production. Stewardship of the environment including increased conservation and investment in environmental protection, and determination to resist Rio Conference treaties that would have penalized America's biotechnology industry, cost jobs, and sapped economic growth. F. Foreign Policy, National Defense and Intelligence: This section complements the President's leadership in successfully ending the Cold War, as well as demonstrating unparalleled steadiness, foresight, and prudence. Middle East: The Platform strongly endorses the need to maintain a close, strategic relationship between the United States and Israel, and applauds the President's extensive efforts to re-energize the Arab-Israeli peace process. The Platform also quotes the President on the need to maintain Jerusalem as an open city -- that "no genuine peace would deny Jews the right to live anywhere in the special city of Jerusalem." National defense: The Platform commends the President's "careful" reductions in defense spending and attacks Democrats for wanting to slash defense outlays by nearly $60 billion, which will put one million Americans out of work. # # #