Guest Columnist: Andy Brown, Chair of the Travis County Dems
Some think there is little difference between our two main political parties. But anyone who has read the Texas Democratic and Texas Republican party platforms, passed at recent state conventions, knows that is not remotely true.
As Democrats, we believe in public schools, small class sizes, religious freedom, small business and the value of all families. At our state convention in Corpus Christi, we affirmed those beliefs and expressed our strong support for policies that uphold them in our platform.
But Republicans approved a platform at their meeting in Dallas last month (June) that is narrow-minded and extreme. For example, they declare that the official language of Texas is “American English.” Did you know that? Do you speak it fluently?
Those of us in the mainstream of Texas politics have a hard time believing most Republicans in our state support such extremism. We would like to believe they do not. We Texas Democrats certainly do not.
The Republican platform pounds away on its favorite issues of homosexuality and marriage, defining marriage as a “God-ordained legal and moral commitment between a natural man and a natural woman.” Anything outside of that definition is criminal. Homosexuality, the platform insists, “tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases.”
Seriously? We think poverty, an alarming school dropout rate and high unemployment are the culprits threatening families and society.
Perhaps the most extreme Republican hate statement is this: “We oppose any penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction or belief in traditional values.” Does this mean they won’t prosecute an allegedly religious person who attacks someone simply because of their sexual orientation? This particular platform sentence is breathtaking in its meanness and offensive to anyone whose religion holds that we should “love our neighbors as ourselves.”
Arizona’s extreme immigration laws are a national and unconstitutional disgrace. However, the Texas Republican Party also supports locking up our borders and saddling our hard-working local law enforcement with checking citizenship papers. They oppose amnesty in any form, along with citizenship for children born in this country of undocumented immigrants. Their platform even states that day labor centers should be eliminated, too.
The Republican platform goes beyond attacking what they call “illegal aliens” and insists that all immigrants drop cultural references to their country of origin. No more Mexican Americans or Japanese Americans; definitely no more Spanish spoken. Here is more of the chilling language:
“Anyone who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t American at all. We have room but for one flag, the American Flag. There can be no divided allegiance. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.”
Gov. Perry has been waging his well-publicized battle with Washington for years and has even suggested that Texas should secede from the United States. Although he insists he does not need the federal government, he certainly used federal funds when the bad economy hit Texas. And his high-profile appearances with Sarah Palin seem to signal a desire on his part to actually run the federal government.
So it’s not surprising that the Republican platform reflects Gov. Perry’s conflicting views on the federal government and the use of our fair share of federal resources. Their platform supports the abolition of the Department of Energy and doesn’t look too kindly on the Environmental Protection Agency either. We’ll see how the Republicans feel about the Feds when the BP oil spill washes up on our coast or a strong hurricane hits.
Their party platform is filled with many deeply troubling statements, such as support for “dispelling the myth of separation of church and state.” I urge everyone to read the document, which, by the way, is not on the Texas Republican Party’s web site (www.texasgop.org) as of this writing. The Democratic Party platform is available on the Texas Democratic Party site. Please read both documents and compare.
