From: kadie@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.elections,alt.society.civil-liberty,uiuc.civil-liberty
Subject: [Republicans] On Civil Liberties and Drugs
Date: 6 Oct 92 21:52:12 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL

[From the Republican Platform posted to alt.politics.elections -cmk]

[...]
We support programs to help mothers and their
babies get a good start in life; and we call for strong action,
at all levels of government, to enforce parental responsibility
with regard to alcohol, drugs, and neglect.
[...]
     Congressional Democrats reject Republican reform of the
exclusionary rule that prohibits use of relevant evidence
obtained in good faith and allows criminals, even murderers, to
go free on a technicality.  They reject our reform of habeas
corpus law to prevent the appellate process from becoming a
lawyers' game to thwart justice through endless appeals and
procedural delays.  They refuse to enact effective procedures to
reinstate the death penalty for the most heinous crimes.  They
reject tougher, mandatory sentences for career criminals. 
Instead, Congressional Democrats actually voted to create more
loopholes for vicious thugs and fewer protections for victims of
crime and have opposed mandatory restitution for victims.  Their
crime legislation, which we emphatically reject, cripples law
enforcement by overturning over twenty United States Supreme
Court cases that have helped to reduce crime and keep violent
criminal offenders off the streets.
[...]
We also support
incentives to encourage personnel leaving the Armed Forces to
continue to defend their country -- against the enemy within --
by entering the law enforcement profession.

     Narcotics traffic drives street crime.  President Bush has,
for the first time, used the resources of our Armed Forces
against the international drug trade.  By our insistence,
multilateral control of precursor chemicals and money laundering
is now an international priority.  We decry efforts by
congressional Democrats to slash international anti-narcotics
funding and inhibit the most vital control efforts in Peru.  We
support efforts to work with South and Central American leaders
to eradicate crops used to produce illegal narcotics.

     The Republican Party is committed to a drug-free America. 
During the last twelve years, we have radically reversed the
Democrats' attitude of tolerance toward narcotics, vastly
increased federal operations against drugs, cleaned up the
military, and launched mandatory testing for employees in various
fields, including White House Personnel.  As a result, overall
drug abuse is falling.  We urge that States and communities
emphasize anti-drug education by police officers and others in
schools to educate young children to the dangers of the drug
culture.  Dope is no longer trendy.

     We oppose legalizing or decriminalizing drugs.  That is a
morally abhorrent idea, the last vestige of an ill-conceived
philosophy that counseled the legitimacy of permissiveness. 
Today, a similarly dysfunctional morality explains away drug-
dealing as an escape, and drive-by shootings as an act of
political violence.  There is no excuse for the wanton
destruction of human life.  We therefore support the stiffest
penalties, including the death penalty, for major drug
traffickers.

     Drug users must face punishment, including fines and
imprisonment, for contributing to the demand that makes the drug
trade profitable.  Among possible sanctions should be the loss of
government assistance and suspension of drivers' licenses. 
Residents of public housing should be able to protect their
families against drugs by screening out abusers and dealers.  We
support grassroots action to drive dealers and crack-houses out
of operation.

     Safe streets also mean highways that are free of drunken
drivers and drivers under the influence of illegal drugs. 
Republicans support the toughest possible State laws to deal with
drunken drivers and users of illegal drugs, who deserve no
sympathy from our courts or State legislatures.  We also oppose
the illicit abuse of legal drugs.
[...]
Tough laws for drug and alcohol
testing are making all modes of transportation safer than ever. 
[...]
 Drug trafficking and terrorism, often linked, menace
Americans at home and abroad.
[...]
     In the Western Hemisphere, as elsewhere, we must promote
democratic values.  We will continue to seek cooperation in the
common battle against the drug lords.
[...]
*Intelligence.*  Desert Storm reminded us that our intelligence
community is a national asset of critical importance to our
security.

     Assuring the availability of timely and reliable information
on regional threats and unrest, drug trafficking, terrorism,
technology transfer, proliferation, and a host of other issues
[...]
===============
--
Carl Kadie -- kadie@cs.uiuc.edu -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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