From: lazarus@wixer.cactus.org (Michael Lax)
Subject: 1992 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM (1/5)
Organization: Real/Time Communications
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 92 04:20:16 GMT

THE
REPUBLICAN
PLATFORM
1992



Adopted
August 17, 1992




Richard N. Bond
Chairman, Republican National Committee

310 1st Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003                       THE VISION SHARED:
           UNITING OUR FAMILY, OUR COUNTRY, OUR WORLD



                            Preamble

     Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican President, expressed
the philosophy that inspires Republicans to this day:  "The
legitimate object of Government is to do for a community of
people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or
cannot so well do, for themselves in their separate and
individual capacities.  But in all that people can individually
do as well for themselves, Government ought not to interfere."

     We believe that most problems of human making are within the
capacity of human ingenuity to solve.

     For good reason, millions of new Americans have flocked to
our shores:  America has always been an opportunity society. 
Republicans have always believed that economic prosperity comes
from individual enterprise, not government programs.  We have
defended our core principles for 138 years; but never has this
country, and the world, been so receptive to our message.

     The Fall of the Berlin Wall symbolizes an epochal change in
the way people live.  More important, it liberates the way people
think.  We see with new clarity that centralized government
bureaucracies created in this century are not the wave of the
future.  Never again will people trust planners and paper
shufflers more than they trust themselves.  We all watched as the
statute of Soviet hangman Feliks Dzherzhinsky was toppled in
front of Moscow's KGB headquarters by the very people his evil
empire sought to enslave.  Its sightless eyes symbolized the
moral blindness of totalitarians around the world.  They could
never see the indomitable spirit of people determined to be free
from government control -- free to build a better future with
their own heads, hands, and hearts.

     We Republicans saw clearly the dangers of collectivism:  not
only the military threat, but the deeper threat to the souls of
people bound in dependence.  Here at home, we warned against Big
Government, because we knew concentrated decisionmaking, no
matter how well-intentioned, was a danger to liberty and
prosperity.  Republicans stood at the rampart of freedom,
defending the individual against the domineering state.  While we
did not always prevail, we always stood our ground, faithful to
our principles and confident of history's ultimate verdict.

     Our opponents declared the dogmas of the Left were the final
and victorious faith.  From kremlins and ivory towers, their
planners proclaimed the bureaucratic millennium.  But in a tragic
century of illusion, Five Year Plans and Great Leaps Forward
failed to summon a Brave New World.  One hundred and fifty years
of slogans and manifestos came crashing down in an ironic cascade
of unintended consequences.  All that is left are the ruins of a
failed scoundrel ideology.

     As May Day lapses back into just another spring festival,
the Fourth of July emerges as the common holiday of free men and
women.  Yet, in 1992, when the self-governing individual has
overcome the paternalistic state, liberals here at home simply do
not get it.  Indeed, their party seeks to turn the clock back. 
But their ideas are old and tired.  Like planets still orbiting a
dying star, the believers in state power turn their faces to a
distant and diminishing light.

     The Democrats would revise history to rationalize a return
to bigger government, higher taxes, and moral relativism.  The
Democrat Party has forgotten its origins as a party of work,
thrift, and self-reliance.  But they have not forgotten their art
of dissembling and distortion.   The Democrats are trapped in
their compact with the ideology of trickle-down government, but
they are clever enough to know that the voters would shun them if
their true markings were revealed.

     America had its rendezvous with destiny in 1980.  Faced with
crisis at home and abroad, Americans turned to Republican
leadership in the White House.  Presidents Reagan and Bush turned
our Nation away from the path of over-taxation, hyper-regulation,
and mega-government.  Instead, we moved in a new direction.  We
cut taxes, reduced red tape, put people above bureaucracy.  And
so we vanquished the idea of the almighty state as the supervisor
of our daily lives.  In choosing hope over fear, Americans raised
a beacon, reminding the world that we are a shining city on a
hill, the last best hope for man on earth.

     Contrary to statist Democrat propaganda, the American people
know that the 1980s were a rising tide, a magnificent decade for
freedom and entrepreneurial creativity.  We are confident that,
knowing this, they will never consciously retreat to the bad old
days of tax and spend.  Our Platform will clarify the choice
before our fellow citizens.

     We have learned that ideas do indeed have consequences. 
Thus, our words are important not for their prose but for what
they reveal about the thinking of our President and our Party.

     Two years ago, President Bush described the key elements of
what he called "our new paradigm," a fresh approach that aims to
put new ideas to work in the service of enduring principles --
principles we upheld throughout the long twilight struggle,
principles George Bush has acted decisively to advance.  Thus we
honor the Founders and their vision.

     Unlike our opponents, we are inspired by a commitment to
profound change.  Our mission combines timeless beliefs with a
positive vision of a vigorous America: prosperous and tolerant,
just and compassionate.  We believe that individual freedom, hard
work, and personal responsibility -- basic to free society -- are
also basic to effective government.  We believe in the
fundamental goodness of the American people.  We believe in
traditional family values and in the Judeo-Christian heritage
that informs our culture.  We believe in the Constitution and its
guarantee of color-blind equal opportunity.  We believe in free
markets.  We believe in constructive change, in both true
conservatism and true reform.  We believe government has a
legitimate role to play in our national life, but government must
never dominate that life.

     While our goals are constant, we are willing to innovate,
experiment, and learn.  We have learned that bigger is not
better, that quantity and quality are different things, that more
money does not guarantee better outcomes.  We have learned the
importance of individual choice -- in education, health care,
child care -- and that bureaucracy is the enemy of initiative and
self-reliance.  We believe in empowerment, including home
ownership for as many as possible.  We believe in decentralized
authority, and a bottom-line, principled commitment to what works
for people.

     We believe in the American people:  free men and women with
faith in God, working for themselves and their families,
believing in the value of every human being from the very young
to the very old.

     We believe the Founders intended Congress to be responsive,
flexible, and foresighted.  After decades of Democrat misrule,
the Congress is none of these things.  Dominated by
reactionaries, obsessed with the failed policies and structures
of the past, the Democrat majority displays a "do-nothing"
doggedness: they intend to learn nothing and forget nothing. 
Seeking to build a better America, we seek to elect a better
Congress.

     Finally, we believe in a President who represents the
national interest, not just the aggregation of well-connected
special interests; a President who brings unity to the American
purpose.

     America faces many challenges.  Republicans, under the
strong leadership of President Bush, are responding with this
bold Platform of new ideas that infuses our commitment to
individual freedom and market forces with an equal commitment to
a decent, just way of life for every American.

     With a firm faith that the American people will always
choose hope over fear, we Republicans dedicate ourselves to this
forward-looking agenda for America in the 1990s, transcending
old, static ideas with a shared vision of hope, optimism, and
opportunity.                       UNITING OUR FAMILY

     As the family goes, so goes the Nation.  Strong families and
strong communities make a strong America.  An old adage says,
"America is great because she is good; if America ceases to be
good, she will cease to be great."

     Our greatness starts at home -- literally.  So Republicans
believe government should strengthen families, not replace them. 
Today, more than ever, the traditional family is under assault. 
We believe our laws should reflect what makes our Nation
prosperous and wholesome:  faith in God, hard work, service to
other, and limited government.

     Parents bring reality to these principles when they pass
them on to their children.  As the Book of Proverbs proclaims,
"Train up a child in the way he should go:  and when he is old,
he will not depart from it."

     Imagine the America we could create if all parents taught
their children the importance of honesty, work, responsibility,
and respect for others.  We would have less violence in our homes
and streets; less illegal drug use; fewer teen pregnancies
forcing girls and boys to be adults before they have graduated
from high school.  Instead, we would have an America of families,
friends, and communities that care about one another.

     That kind of future is not a matter of chance; it is a
question of personal responsibility.  Barbara Bush captured the
importance of that stewardship when she said, "At the end of your
life you will never regret not having passed one more test, not
winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal.  You will
regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a
parent."

     The Republican Party has espoused these principles since its
founding.  Families built on solid, spiritual foundations are
central to our Party's inspiration.  At this time of great
national and global transition, we renew our commitment to these
fundamental principles, which will guide our family, our country,
our world into the next century.

                 *Family:  The Home of Freedom*

*The Rights of the Family.*  Our national renewal starts with the
family.  It is where each new generation gains its moral anchor. 
It is the school of citizenship, the engine of economic progress,
a permanent haven when everything is changing.

     Change can be good, when it liberates the energy and
commitment of family members to build better futures.  We welcome
change that corrects the mistakes of the past, particularly those
at war against the family.  For more than three decades, the
liberal philosophy has assaulted the family on every side.

     Today, its more vocal advocates believe children should be
able to sue their parents over decisions about schooling,
cosmetic surgery, employment, and other family matters.  They
deny parental authority and responsibility, fracturing the family
into isolated individuals, each of them dependent upon -- and
helpless before -- government.  This is the ultimate agenda of
contemporary socialism under all its masks:  to liberate youth
from traditional family values by replacing family functions with
bureaucratic social services.  That is why today's liberal
Democrats are hostile toward any institution government cannot
control, like private childcare or religious schools.

     The Republican Party responds, as it has since 1980, with an
unabashed commitment to the family's economic liberty and moral
rights.  Republicans trust parents and believe they, not courts
and lawyers, know what is best for their children.  That is why
we will work to ensure that the Congress and the States shall
enact no law abridging the rights of the family formed by blood,
marriage, adoption, or legal custody -- rights which are anterior
and superior to those of government.  Republicans oppose and
resist the efforts of the Democrat Party to redefine the
traditional American family.

*The Right to a Family.*  Every child deserves a family in a home
filled with love and free from abuse.  Today, many children do
not enjoy that right.  We are determined to change that.  While
government cannot legislate love and compassion, we can provide
the leadership to encourage the development of healthy, nurturing
families.  We applaud the fine example of family values and
family virtue as lived by the President and the First Lady.

     We will promote whole, caring families by eliminating biases
that have crept into our legal and tax codes.  We will advance
adoption through significant tax credits, insurance reforms, and
legal reforms.  We encourage adoption for those unprepared or
unwilling to bear the emotion, financial, or physical demands of
raising a child and will work to revive maternity homes to ensure
care for both mothers and babies.

     We applaud the commitment of foster care parents who provide
family environments for foster care children.  We abhor the
disgraceful bureaucratic mismanagement of foster care.  Big city
mayors have spent billions on social service bureaucrats who have
lost track of many children.  Many have no health records, no
real residence, not even the simplest personal possessions. 
Shuttled from house to house, they lack discipline and identity
and are ripe for lives of crime.  We are determined to reform
this system to help these children.

     Broken homes can have a devastating emotional and economic
impact upon children and are the breeding ground for gang
members.  We urge State legislatures to explore ways to promote
marital stability.  Because the intergenerational family is a
vital element of social cohesion, we urge greater respect for the
rights and roles of grandparents.

     Republicans recognize the importance of having fathers and
mothers in the home.  The two-parent family still provides the
best environment of stability, discipline, responsibility, and
character.  Documentation shows that where the father has
deserted his family, children are more likely to commit a crime,
to drop out of school, to become violent, to become teen parents,
to take illegal drugs, to become enmired in poverty, or to have
emotional or behavioral problems.  We support the courageous
efforts of single-parent families to have a stable home.

*Caring for Children.*  George Bush secured the American family's
most important victory for the last for years:  his child care
bill.  He won landmark legislation -- a voucher system for low-
income households, allowing parents to choose what's best for
their children, including care given by neighbors or churches. 
The Democrat Party opposed that legislation and instead sought
government control of childcare and fewer choices for parents.

     The President also advanced equity for families that forego
a second income to care for their children at home through his
Young Child Tax Credit.  Congressional Democrats are already
trying to repeal it.

     The demands of employment and commuting often make it hard
for parents to spend time with their children.  Republicans
advocate maximum flexibility in working and child care
arrangements so that families can make the most of their
schedules.  We support pro-family policies:  job sharing,
telecommuting, compressed work weeks, parental leave negotiated
between employer and employees, and flextime.  We reject the
Democrats' one-size-fits-all approach that puts mandates on
employers and takes choices away from employees.

     Most parents prefer in-home care of their children but often
encounter government obstacles.  Republicans will promote in-home
care by allowing payment annually, instead of quarterly, of
income taxes by employees and withholding taxes by employers. 
Our proposals for tort reform, now blocked by the Democrat
Congress, will prevent excessive litigation that hampers the
growth of child care opportunities.  By taking care of our
children, we are taking care of our future.

*Family Security.*  Over the last several decades, liberal
Democrats have increasingly shifted economic burdens onto the
American family.  Indeed, the liberal Democrat tax-and-spend
policies have forced millions of women into the workplace just to
make ends meet.  Because of their policies in Congress, fathers
and mothers have a tougher time bring home what they work so hard
for.

     Between 1948 and 1990, under the Democrat-controlled
Congress for most of those years, federal taxes on the average
family of four rose from two percent to 24 percent of income. 
When State and local levies are included, the tax burden exceeds
one-third of family income.  The increase in the effective
federal tax rate since 1950 has now swallowed up an ever-
increasing share of a family's earnings.  Instead of working to
improve their family's standard of living, they must work to feed
government's gluttonous appetite.

     This is a scandal.  In the 1980s, two Republican Presidents
kept Democrats from making matters worse.  Presidents Reagan and
Bush led the way to increase the personal exemptions for
dependents.  We pledge to go farther to restore the value, as a
percentage of average household income, it had 50 years ago.  The
value of the dependent deduction has eroded to a fraction of its
original worth to families.  Republicans call for a complete
restoration, in real dollars, to its original value.  Rather than
fatten government bureaucracies with new programs to "help"
families, we want to expand the Young Child Tax Credit to $500
per child and make it available to all families with children
under the age of ten.

     When the Democrats establish tax policy that makes marriage
more expensive than living together, they discourage traditional
commitment and stable home life.  We will remove the marriage
penalty in the tax code, so a married couple will receive as
large a standard deduction as their unmarried counterparts. 
Together, these changes will empower parents to care for their
families in a way public services never can.

*Achieving Educational Excellence.*  In the earliest American
communities, pioneers would establish a church, then a school. 
Parents wanted their children to have the best possible
education, to learn what they needed to know to make a better
life.  Virtually every newly arrived immigrant family thought of
education as the American way from the back to the front of the
line.  Americans have come to believe that only a country that
successfully educates its sons and daughters can count on a
strong, competitive economy, a vibrant culture, and a solid civic
life.

     As a result of this popular demand for education, Americans
have created the most extensive and widely accessible educational
system in the world.  The people have insisted that primary
responsibility for education properly remain with families,
communities, and States, although, from early times, the national
government has played a role in encouraging innovation and
access.  In the 18th century, the Northwest Ordinance assured
that school bells would ring amid frontier forests.  In the 19th
century, President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act establishing 50
land-grant colleges.  In the 20th century, President Eisenhower
signed the National Defense Education Act, providing millions
with a chance at higher education; and President Nixon signed
legislation that today provides federal grants and loans to half
our full-time college students.  In the 21st century, the
promotion of educational excellence will be more crucial than
ever before in our Nation's history.

     Recognizing what every parent knows, that our current
educational system is not educating our children, President Bush
is leading an education revolution.  We applaud the President's
bold vision to change radically our education system.  Our
parents want it, our communities want it, our States want it, and
our children want it -- but the Democrat leadership in the House
and the Senate continue to thwart the will of the American people
for radical change in the way we educate our children.

     The Republican strategy is based on sound principle. 
Parents have the right to choose the best school for their
children.  Schools should teach right from wrong.  Schools should
reinforce parental authority, not replace it.  We should increase
flexibility from federal regulation.  We should explore a new
generation of break-the-mold New American Schools.  Standards and
assessments should be raised, not reduced to a lowest common
denominator.  Communities should be empowered to find what works. 
The pursuit of excellence in education is a fundamental goal. 
Good teachers should be rewarded for teaching well.  Alternative
certification can bring desperately-needed new people into the
teaching profession.  America needs public, private, and
parochial schools.

     Education is a joint responsibility of the individual, the
family, and the community.  Parents are the first and most
important teachers of their children.  They should have the right
not only to participate in their child's education, but to choose
for the children among the broadest array of educational choices,
without regard to their income.  We also support the right of
parents to provide quality education through home-based schools.

     The Bush Administration has sent to Congress several
legislative proposals embodying these principles.  The proposals,
in spite of the fact that 1500 communities across the Nation have
developed local committees to support them through the AMERICA
2000 strategy, languish in the Democrat Congress.  And they are
opposed by special interest unions which have a power-grip on the
failed policies of the past.

*Improving America by Improving our Schools.*  For America to
maintain her preeminence into the next century, our educational
system must be revolutionized.  Too many schools still teach in
an outdated manner.  Too many government and union rules have
burdened our schools.  And too much influence by lobbyists has
blocked true reform.  Even the most inspiring teachers are
working within a system that stymies their creativity and fails
to challenge their students.

*Creating the Best Schools in the World.*  We applaud President
Bush's consistent and determined leadership in setting a new
direction for American education.  Our overriding purpose is
clear; to create the best schools in the world for our children
by the turn of the century.

     To do so, the President has established a bold strategy,
AMERICA 2000, which challenges communities in every State to take
charge to achieve our ambitious national education goals.  The
success of America 2000 will depend upon the local community,
where implementation and ultimate responsibility rest.

     We have seen real progress.  Perhaps most important, though,
is that President Bush has fostered a national debate on
education that has challenged every American to get involved.  He
has called forth American traits of ingenuity and ambition to
create better lives for our children.  As a result, a new
generation of break-the mold New American Schools is taking
shape.  New and tougher standards and assessments are being
established for what our children should know.  The number of
strings attached to federal school aid is being reduced.

     The President has shown unprecedented leadership for the
most important education goal of all:  helping middle and low
income families enjoy the same choice of schools -- public,
private, or religious -- that families with more resources
already have.  The President's proposed "GI Bill for Children"
will provide $1,000 scholarships to middle and low income
families, enabling their children to attend the school of their
choice.  This innovative plan will not only drive schools to
excel as they compete, but will also give every parent consumer
power to obtain an excellent education for his or her child.

     Republican leadership has nearly doubled funds for Head
Start, making it possible, for the first time, for all eligible
four-year-olds to participate, should their parents choose to
enroll them.  The Bush Administration has put a college education
within reach of millions more students, young and old.  The
President has proposed allowing families to deduct the interest
they pay on student loans, and penalty-free withdrawal of IRA
funds for educational expenses.

*Ensuring High Standards in Knowledge and Skills.*  For America
to compete in a world where 85 percent of all jobs will require
high skills, we believe that students not planning to attend
college need better opportunities.  America's college graduates
set the world pace for knowledge and skills.  But we also have a
strong commitment to the "forgotten half" of the students in our
schools, students who will graduate from high school ill-prepared
for work.  We must build a well-educated, high-skills workforce
to ensure a new century of prosperity for America.

     The President has developed a sweeping youth apprenticeship
strategy to meet this goal.  His plan will ensure that students
meet the high standards demanded of all high school students,
while training them with a skill as well.  We strongly support
youth apprenticeships that include a year of college, to
encourage a lifetime of learning and opportunity for students.


*Our Educational Beliefs.*  We are confident that the United
States can, by the end of this decade, reach the six national
education goals that President Bush and the Nation's Governors
have established:  that all children should arrive at school
ready to learn; that high school graduation rates should be at
least 90 per cent; that all children should learn challenging
subject matter and become responsible citizens; that American
children should be first in the world in math and science; that
there must be a literate and skilled workforce; and that schools
must be disciplined and free of drugs and violence.

     We have an uncompromising commitment to improve public
education -- which means assuring that our schools produce well-
educated, responsible citizens -- not the maintenance of a
government monopoly over the means of educating.  American
families must be given choice in education.  We value the
important role played by our private, independent, and parochial
schools, colleges, and universities.  We believe that their
quality is best encouraged by minimizing government regulation.

     We believe distance learning is a valuable tool in the fight
to bring equal educational opportunity to every student
regardless of wealth or geographic location.  Distance learning
provides students access to the vast educational resources of our
Nation.

     We encourage the use of modern technology to meet the goal
of educational excellence.  We support policies that provide
access for all instructional and educational programmers to
permit them to provide the greatest choice of programming and
material to schools and teachers.  We also support policies which
will encourage the use of all advanced technologies for the
delivery of educational and instructional programming in order to
give schools and teachers the greatest flexibility in providing
creative and innovative instruction.  We encourage local school
boards to ensure review of these materials by parents and
educators.

     We support efforts to open the teaching profession by
reforming the certification system now barring many talented men
and women from the classroom.

     Schools should be -- as they have been traditionally --
academic institutions.  Families and communities err when by
neglect or design they transfer to the school responsibilities
that belong in the home and in the community.  Schools were
created to help and strengthen families, not to undermine or
substitute for them.

     Accordingly, we oppose programs in public schools that
provide birth control or abortion services or referrals. 
Instead, we encourage abstinence education programs with proven
track records in protecting youth from disease, pregnancy, and
drug use.

     The critical public mission in education is to set tough,
clear standards of achievement and ensure that those who educate
our children are accountable for meeting them.  This is not just
a matter of plans or dollars.  Competency testing and merit pay
for teachers are essential elements of such accountability.

     We are proud of our many dedicated, professional teachers
and educators who have committed their lives to educating
America's children.  We also believe that powerful unions and
liberal special interest groups should not be the driving force
in education reform.

     Just as spiritual principles -- our moral compass -- help
guide public policy, learning must have a moral basis.  America
must remain neutral towards particular religions, but we must not
remain neutral toward religion itself or the values religion
supports.  Mindful of our country's Judeo-Christian heritage and
rich religious pluralism, we support the right of students to
engage in voluntary prayer in schools and the right of the
community to do so at commencements or other occasions.  We will
strongly enforce the law guaranteeing equal access to school
facilities.  We also advocate recitation of the Pledge of
Allegiance in schools as a reminder of the principles that
sustain us as one Nation under God.

     Our ambitious vision for America works, however, only in a
society of well-educated citizens.  The Democrat party, beholden
to the special interests who resist change, can never accomplish
the improvements in education which our schools and our children
so desperately need.  Indeed, they have no plan.  The Republican
Party has started an education revolution.  We have presented a
detailed plan which is even no becoming reality.  The future of
our Nation demands no less.  The President is leading the country
on an education crusade, a crusade the American people have
joined.


*For Healthier Families:  Promote Health, Prevent Disease, Reform
Health Care.*  Americans receive the finest medical care in the
world.  We have the best health care providers, the best
hospitals, and the best medical technology.  People come here
from Canada, from Europe, from every part of the globe, to seek
procedures and treatments that are either unavailable or strictly
rationed in their home countries.

     But we must do better.  Costs are soaring.  Many Americans,
responsible for children and aging parents, worry about the
quality and price of care.  The 1992 election presents all of us
with a clear choice.  Democrats want a costly, coercive system,
imported from abroad, with a budget set by Congress and policies
set by bureaucrats.  That is a prescription for misery.  It would
imperil jobs, require billions in new taxes, lower the quality of
health care overall, drive health care providers out of the
profession, and result in rationing.

     The congressional Democrats' health care reform proposal
would exclude themselves from coverage under their own program. 
They refuse to live with the scheme they are trying to force on
the rest of the country.

     Republicans believe government control of health care is
irresponsible and ineffective.  We believe health care choice
should remain in the hands of the people, not government
bureaucrats.  This issue truly represents a fundamental
difference between the two parties.

     We endorse President Bush's comprehensive health care plan,
which solves the two major problems of the current system --
access and affordability -- while preserving the high quality
care Americans now enjoy.  The President's plan will make health
care _more affordable_ through tax credits and deductions that
will offset insurance costs for 95 million Americans; and make
health care _more accessible_, especially for small businesses,
by reducing insurance costs and eliminating workers' worries of
losing insurance if they change jobs.  This plan will expand
access to health care by:

*    Creating new tax credits and deductions to help low- and
     middle- income Americans.  These tax credits would be
     available in the form of vouchers for low-income people who
     work.

*    Providing insurance security for working Americans by
     requiring insurers to cover preexisting conditions.

*    Making health insurance premiums fully deductible for the
     self-employed.

*    Making it easier for small firms to purchase coverage for
     their employees.  The proposal would allow small businesses
     to form health insurance purchasing pools that would make
     insurance more affordable.  It also would guarantee the
     availability and renewability of insurance for small firms,
     set premium standards, preempt State mandated-benefit laws,
     establish minimum coverage plans, and require States to
     establish risk pools to spread risks broadly across health
     insurers.

*    Addressing the medical malpractice problem by a cap on
     noneconomic damage recoveries in malpractice claims and an
     alternative dispute resolution before going to court.

     In short, the President aims to make coverage available to
all, guaranteed, renewable, with no preconditions.  Under his
plan, no one will have to go broke to get well.

     The Democrats' plan stands in stark philosophical contrast. 
Instead of preserving individual options, it would rely on
government bureaucrats.  Instead of preserving quality care, it
would lead to rationing and waiting lines.  And instead of
enhancing the health care security of American workers, it would
require a massive increase in payroll taxes that would destroy
hundreds of thousands of jobs.

     The Democrats' so called "play or pay" proposal would
require employers either to provide health insurance for their
workers or pay a new tax that would fund in part a new
government-run health program.  According to a study prepared by
the Urban Institute, this mandate would require new federal taxes
-- or new federal borrowing -- of *$36 billion* in the first year
alone.  Nearly 52 million Americans who now have private health
insurance would be dumped by their employers onto the government-
run plan.  Additional costs to employers -- particularly small
employers -- would total an estimated *$30 billion* in the first
year.  The Republican staff of Congress' Joint Economic Committee
estimates that 712,000 people would lose their jobs because of
the "play or pay" mandate.

     Republicans are also determined to resolve the crisis in
medical liability, allowing physicians and certified midwives to
deliver babies and practice in underserved areas.  Meaningful
medical tort reform would assure that doctors would not have to
practice medicine under a cloud of potential litigation.  We will
reduce administrative expenses and paperwork by adopting a
uniform claim and data system.  We pledge our support for
rehabilitation and long-term care coverage.  We will curb costs
through better prenatal and other preventive care.  We encourage
the application of Good Samaritan law to protect health care
providers who wish to volunteer their time to provide patient
care to the community.  We encourage coordinated care in public
programs and private insurance.  We further support regulatory
reforms to speed the development of new drugs and medical
technology.

     The health care safety net must be secure for those who need
preventive, acute, and long-term care.  Special consideration
should be given to abolishing or reforming programs which
prohibit or discourage individuals from seeking to work their way
out of poverty and dependency.  We will reduce paperwork burdens
and redirect those resources to actual services.  We will enhance
access to medical care through community health centers, which
provide primary care in medically underserved areas.  We will
modify outdated antitrust rules that prohibit hospitals from
merging their resources to provide improved, cost-effective
health care.

     We encourage the use of telecommunications technology to
link hospitals in larger communities with health facilities in
smaller communities.  Advanced communications networks will
facilitate the sharing of resources, will improve access to
affordable health care through the transmission of medical
imaging and diagnostics, and will ensure that Americans living in
rural areas have the same access to doctors and the latest
medical procedures as Americans living in urban areas.

     Republicans focus on health, not just health care.  We want
not only to treat disease and disability, but to reduce and
prevent them.  Through funding for NIH, we invest in research to
cure a range of diseases, from cancer to heart disease, from
multiple sclerosis to lupus.  We support efforts which foster
early cancer detection.  Even more important, we rely on
individuals to lower the incidence of preventable illness and
injury.  A large part of our health care costs, public and
private, is caused by behavior.  Good judgment can save billions
of dollars -- and perhaps millions of lives.

*AIDS*.  The HIV/AIDS epidemic has exploded over the past decade
into a crisis of tragic proportions.  In our country, AIDS has
already claimed more than 150,000 lives, and as many as one
million more Americans may have been infected with the virus.

     Epidemics have, throughout history, challenged governments,
which have too often been powerless to combat them.  Science --
and human wisdom -- have advanced, however, and we have met this
crisis not only with a massive commitment of resources but also
with a personal determination on the part of the President.  That
commitment and leadership will continue.

     AIDS should be treated like any other communicable or
sexually transmitted disease, while at the same time preserving
patient confidentiality.  We are committed to ensure that our
Nation's response to AIDS is shaped by compassion, not fear or
ignorance, and will oppose, as a matter of decency and honor, any
discrimination against Americans who are its victims.

     We encourage State legislature to enact legislation which
makes it a criminal act for anyone knowingly to transmit the AIDS
virus.

     We will seek to ensure that medical personnel, and the
people who trust in their care, will be protected against
infection.

     This disease also challenges America scientifically.  We
must succeed in slowing the epidemic's spread.  The
Administration has thus placed great emphasis on a variety of
prevention efforts to do so.  We must recognize, also, that
prevention is linked ultimately to personal responsibility and
moral behavior.  We reject the notion that the distribution of
clean needles and condoms are the solution to stopping the spread
of AIDS.  Education designed to curb the spread of this disease
should stress marital fidelity, abstinence, and a drug-free
lifestyle.  There must be a means for successfully treating the
virus, and this has led to a threefold increase in research and
steps to speed the approval process for new drugs that could make
a crucial difference to those infected.  Above all, a cure must
be found.  We have committed enormous resources -- $4.2 billion
over the past four years for research alone, more than for any
disease except cancer.  In keeping with the American spirit, our
fellow citizens with HIV/AIDS deserve our compassion and our
care, and they deserve our united commitment to a cure.


*Healthy Families.*  Responsible families are the key to
wellness.  They are the best guard against infant mortality and
child abuse.  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.

     We applaud the President's initiatives to require the
involvement of more women in clinical trials and to create within
NIH a center to combat breast and cervical cancer.  We also call
for expanded research on various diseases, common to both men and
women, but whose effects on women have yet to be determined.  We
call for fetal protection in the workplace and in scientific
research.


*The Homeless.*  The Bush Administration has worked vigorously to
address this tragedy, believing that involuntary homelessness in
America is unacceptable.  Accordingly, the Administration has
proposed $4 billion in homeless assistance, an amount cut back by
the Democrat-controlled Congress.  We have also implemented a
SHELTER PLUS CARE program designed to assist homeless persons who
are mentally ill, chemically dependent, or stricken with AIDS. 
Republicans remain determined to help the homeless as a matter of
ethical commitment as well as sound public policy.


*Older Americans.*  The interests of older Americas are addressed
throughout this Platform, for the elderly play an honored role in
all walks of American life.  From reducing inflation to fighting
crime, from quality health care to a cleaner environment, the
Republican agenda for all has particular relevance to those who
have worked the longest and grown the wisest.

     We reaffirm our commitment to a strong Social Security
system.  To stop penalizing grandparents and other seniors who
care for children, we pledge to continue the Republican crusade
to end the earnings limitation for Social Security recipients. 
More than ever, our Nation needs older Americans in its schools
and workplaces.  There should be no barriers to their full
participation in our country's future.  We pledge support for
greater availability of long-term care and for research to combat
Alzheimer's disease.  Republicans also took the lead in expanding
home health care in government programs, and we want to build on
that accomplishment.


*Promoting Cultural Values.*  The culture of our Nation has
traditionally supported those pillars on which civilized society
is built: personal responsibility, morality, and the family. 
Today, however, these pillars are under assault.  Elements within
the media, the entertainment industry, academia, and the Democrat
Party are waging a guerrilla war against American values.  They
deny personal responsibility, disparage traditional morality,
denigrate religion, and promote hostility toward the family's way
of life.  Children, the members of our society most vulnerable to
cultural influences, are barraged with violence and promiscuity,
encouraging reckless and irresponsible behavior.  This undermines
the authority of parents, the ones most responsible for passing
on to their offspring a sense of right and wrong.  The lesson our
Party draws is important -- that all of us, individuals and
corporations alike, have a responsibility to reflect the values
we expect our fellow citizens to exhibit.  And if children grow
to adulthood reflecting not the values of their parents but the
amorality with which they are bombarded, those who send such
messages cannot duck culpability.

     One example is the advocacy of violence against law
enforcement officers, promoted by a corporation more interested
in profits than the possible consequences of such a message.  We
believe, in the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt, that corporations,
like individuals, have responsibilities to society, and that
conscience alone should prevent such outrages.

     We also stand united with those private organizations, such
as the Boy Scouts of America, who are defending decency in
fulfillment of their own moral responsibilities.  We reject the
irresponsible position of those corporations that have cut off
contributions to such organizations because of their courageous
stand for family values.  Moreover, we oppose efforts by the
Democrat Party to include sexual preference as a protected
minority receiving preferential status under civil rights
statutes at the federal, State, and local level.

     We oppose any legislation or law which legally recognizes
same-sex marriages and allows such couples to adopt children or
provide foster care.

     We must recognize that the time has come for a national
crusade against pornography.  Some would have us believe that
obscenity and pornography have no social impact.  But if hard-
core pornography does not cheapen the human spirit, then neither
does Shakespeare elevate it.  We call on federal agencies to halt
the sale, under government auspices, of pornographic materials. 
We endorse Republican legislation, the Pornography Victims
Compensation Act, allowing the victims of pornography to seek
damages from those who make or sell it, especially since the
Commission on Pornography, in 1986, found a direct link between
pornography and violent crimes committed against women and
children.  Further, we propose a computerized federal registry to
track persons convicted of molesting children.  We also believe
that the various State legislatures should create a civil cause
of action against makers and distributors of pornography when
their material incites a violent crime.

     Government has a responsibility, as well, to ensure that it
promote the common moral values that bind us together as a
Nation.  We therefore condemn the use of public funds to
subsidize obscenity and blasphemy masquerading as art.  The fine
arts, including those with public support, can certainly enrich
our society.  However, no artist has an inherent right to claim
taxpayer support for his or her private vision of art if that
vision mocks the moral and spiritual basis on which our society
is founded.  We believe a free market in art -- with neither
suppression nor favoritism by government -- is the best way to
foster the cultural revival our country needs.