Christopher Daly A s the Republicans prepared for their national convention, the party's official Web site welcomed party members to Philadelphia and pointed out helpfully that the city has two airports. Once they get off their jets, the Republicans will engage in ideological time travel and proceed to hash out a platform from the days of the horse and buggy. The official statement of party principles, full of platitudes and hedged with the rhetoric of compromise, is likely to be soon forgotten. But before that happens, it's worth imagining how the platform would read if it were put in plain English and boiled down to its essentials. Consequently, the federal government is drastically smaller.
Abortion is a crime and, thus, very rare.
There are no restrictions on private gun ownership. American public schools do not teach biological evolution, and they require daily recitation of Christian prayer. There is no such thing as affirmative action, quotas, or minority set-asides. Christian leaders confidently and successfully assert their values. A militant clergy does not hesitate to shape legislation or to censor unwelcome views.