Historical political party platforms, 1840-2008

[OSR stands with Israel]

Other then social issues the parties basically have been the same for the past 100 years

[OSR stands with Israel]

The Iconic 1980 GOP platform -

For too many years, the political debate has been conducted in terms set by the Democrats. They believe that every time new problems arise beyond the power of men and women as individuals to solve, it becomes the duty of government to solve them. Republicans disagree and have always taken the side of the individual, whose freedoms are threatened by the big government that Democratic idea has spawned. A defense of the individual against government was never more needed. Presently, the aggregate burden of taxation is so great that the average American spends a substantial part of every year, in effect, working for government.

These same tax policies subsidize debt, unemployment, and consumption. The present structure of the personal income tax system is designed to broaden the gap between effort and reward. Therefore, the Republican Party supports across-the-board reductions in personal income tax rates, phased in over three years, which will reduce tax rates from the range of 14 to 70 percent to a range from 10 to 50 percent.

The Democratic Congress has produced a jumble of degrading, dehumanizing, wasteful, overlapping, and inefficient programs that invite waste and fraud. For two generations, especially since the mid-1960s, the Democrats have deliberately perpetuated a status of federally subsidized poverty and manipulated dependency. For those on welfare, our nation's tax policies provide a penalty for getting a job. If necessary, the Republican Party will seek to adopt a Constitutional amendment to limit federal spending and balance the budget, except in time of national emergency as determined by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

The Democrats have presided over—and must take the blame for—the most monstrous expansion and abuse of the food stamp program to date. They have sacrificed the needy to the greedy, and sent the welfare bills to the taxpayers. End welfare fraud by removing ineligibles from the welfare rolls, tightening food stamp eligibility requirements, and ending aid to illegal aliens and the voluntarily unemployed. We oppose federalizing the welfare system. We support a block grant program that will help return control of welfare programs to the states. Decisions about who gets welfare, and how much, can be better made on the local level.

The Republican Party vigorously supports the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted into the Union as a fully sovereign state after they freely so determine. We believe that the statehood alternative is the only logical solution to the problem of inequality of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico within the framework of the federal Constitution.

While we recognize differing views on this question among Americans in general—and in our own Party—we affirm our support of a constitutional amendment to restore protection of the right to life for unborn children. Next to religious training and the home, education is the most important means by which families hand down to each new generation their ideals and beliefs. But today, parents are losing control of their children's schooling. That is why we condemn the forced busing of school children to achieve arbitrary racial quotas. We will halt the unconstitutional regulatory vendetta launched by Mr. Carter's IRS Commissioner against independent schools.

We advocate the reform of Medicare to encourage home-based care whenever feasible. These programs need the careful, detailed reevaluation they have never received from the Democrats, who have characteristically neglected their financial stability. We believe that the needs of those who depend upon these programs, particularly the elderly, can be better served, especially when a Republican Administration cracks down on fraud and abuse so that program can be directed toward those truly in need. In the case of Medicaid, we will aid the states in restoring its financial integrity and its local direction.

Government's power to take and tax, to regulate and require, has already reached extravagant proportions. Republicans support a comprehensive program of regulatory reform, improved incentives, and revision of cumbersome and overly stringent Clean Air Act regulations. While the new environmental policies have resulted in improving air quality, cleaner waters, and more careful analysis of toxic chemicals, the price paid has far exceeded the direct and necessary cost of designing and installing new control technology.

We deplore Mr. Carter's personal attempts to rewrite history on defense budgets. His tough speeches before military audiences cannot hide his continuing opposition to Congressional defense increases. We associate ourselves with the characterization by Democratic Congressional leaders of the President's behavior on defense as "hypocritical." We would go further; it is disgraceful.

Holy Shi* Reagan, what a butcher. He is Super Trump minus the racism, sexism !

That's a pretty good platform