Henry Ruppenthal Conservative Democrat Platform

Of course, I am not running for President but, if I were, this is my platform . . .
  1. A constitutional amendment that declares a human life begins at conception, a fact already established by science.
  2. A constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, a fact of history since the beginning of human life on this planet.
  3. Oppose Hate Crimes legislation as this is an encroachment of individual freedom of speech. This is an attempt at government regulation of thought. One may not agree with the thoughts and speech of others but our freedom requires protecting the right for opposing opinion regardless of whether the speech is 'politically correct'.
  4. Oppose any 'Fairness Doctrine' where speech on the airways requires equal time for opposing viewpoints. We have plenty of avenues in the United States to be heard. Requiring equal time policies to be really fair would need to include every type of media including the print media. Fairness, however, in this context is not fair.
  5. Tax and fiscal responsibility including the elimination of our vast tax codes. A good beginning would be some kind of flat tax or national sales tax. No corporation tax but taxing the gross income of individuals without deductions of any kind except for a floor where the tax begins as a protection for 'low' income citizens. This includes stopping the practice of 'earmarks' by our Congress. Every legislative authorization should be accepted by the criteria that an expenditure of public funds from the national treasury should only be in the national interest and every authorization by Congress should be done 'in the light'.
  6. The less government we have is the best government. We do not need to be highly regulated by the government as we are nor do the citizens need to be heavily taxed. Citizens do need to accept individual responsibility for their lives. We should have a national goal for a balanced budget.
  7. Emphasis on national security by the federal government to return to the original constitutional reason for having a federal government in the first place. A downsized federal government outside of security of our nation would be a less costly and more effective government. We must secure our borders, yet insofar as our neighbors are concerned, we should have easy paths for bringing immigrant workers to fill needs of our farmers and fill jobs where a labor pool of citizens does not exist for certain occupations.
  8. Victory in Iraq before we leave. Continue the president's policy of creating a friendly nation in the middle east. Do not withdraw troops until the government of Iraq can 'honestly' do it for themselves. As part of this, we need to be supportive of our troops. Oppose appeasement of dictators of the world in places such as Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.
  9. Oppose nationalized health care. Government is incapable of running a program of this type where private interests are better suited. Other countries have tried national health care and they have suffered reduced quality and quantity of medical services. We need to look for Free-Market solutions to the problems facing the Healthcare industry.
  10. A new look at the elimination of poverty. In any help program, the recipient should be required to contribute toward their future insofar as they can. Allow government assistance to continue but expect all to contribute in earning that assistance according to their abilities and their physical condition. Work is not bad and we should remove any excuse for not working by tying government issued benefits to programs designed toward moving adults to work and educating children for work. All welfare and subsidy programs need to be combined into one eighteen-year program with the goal of everyone out of poverty by 2027. The education, social services/welfare, and employment sectors need to team up and develop sensible programs designed to meet the eighteen-year goal. This would be a 'single-payer' welfare program recognizing that all citizens not able to compete in the job market needs a single plan to move them out of poverty. Begin by taking care of needs but through education, training, social services, and employment services move families toward productive lives.
  11. Tap our own oil reserves to move toward 'Energy Independence'. We have known for a long time that foreign countries can use oil for blackmail if we are dependent upon them for our supply. This must stop. Along with drilling our own oil, we need to develop nuclear power, develop more of our energy needs from coal, and develop alternative energy sources including wind and solar.
  12. Appointment of judges who recognize their job is to interpret the Constitution in a strict construction way. We have a legislative branch whose job is to legislate. Whenever the courts overstep their job description, the Congress and the President needs to push the courts back to their proper place.
  13. Salvage social security and Medicare and move it to a sound basis. Include all workers, including government workers and Congress, into the program. Prevent Congress from spending social security and Medicare funds for non-retirement/medical purposes and invest the funds collected so that the future will be sound.
  14. Acknowledge that our education system needs overhauled to place the emphasis on being a responsible citizen and the development of skills for economic survival. Education should be a mix of public and private schools where parents can shop for the best education available for their children. Competition in education could improve the quality of education if parents are allowed to engage the best schools for their children. There is nothing sacred about government-run schools.
  15. Freedom is not free. All citizens need to realize that danger will always exist and that a strong defense is needed to address the challenges of our enemies. There also needs to be a realization that individuals are responsible for the welfare of their families and government is limited in accepting responsibility for providing for our existence. We live in a capitalist system not a socialist system. We believe in freedom from government and that with adequate education, abilities and encouragement, we should be able to provide for our own welfare as productive citizens.

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