August 15, 1992 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM: A SHARED VISION FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE A. Fam

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.

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