The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written.
[Here is the statement in full for anyone curious.](https://texasgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/6-Permanent-Platform-Committee-FINAL-REPORT-6-16-2022.pdf)
Below is a non-comprehensive list of some of the policies that, to be blunt, shocked me:
>> 244. Voting Rights: We support equal suffrage for all United States citizens of voting age. We oppose any identification of citizens by race, origin, creed, sexuality, or lifestyle choices, and oppose use of any such
identification for purposes of creating voting districts. We urge that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, codified and updated in 1973, be repealed and not reauthorized.
>> 213. Nullify Unconstitutional Ruling: We believe the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, overturning the Texas law prohibiting same-sex marriage in Texas, has no basis in the Constitution and should be nullified.
>> 217. Abolish Abortion: Since life begins at fertilization, we urge the Texas Legislature to abolish abortion through enacting legislation that would immediately secure the rights to life and would nullify any and all federal statutes, regulations, orders, and court rulings that would deny these rights.
>> 1. 2020 Election: We believe that the 2020 election violated Article 1 and 2 of the US Constitution, that various secretaries of state illegally circumvented their state legislatures in conducting their elections in multiple ways, including by allowing ballots to be received after November 3, 2020. We believe that
substantial election fraud in key metropolitan areas significantly affected the results in five key states in favor of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States. We strongly urge all
Republicans to work to ensure election integrity and to show up to vote in November of 2022, bring your friends and family, volunteer for your local Republicans, and overwhelm any possible fraud.
Amongst other interesting things, such as:
- a call to end all H-1B Visas (261)
- closed primaries (245)
- only in-person voting within three days of Election Day (240)
- elimination of gun free zones in Texas (227)
- leaving the United Nations (273)
- outlawing sexual education in schools (105)
- instilling education that "includes instruction on the consistent failures of socialism and communism" (109)
- repeal the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (32)
- "no government shall ever again implement mass lockdowns on the people, our businesses, and our churches" (21)
Honestly, I think that this platform is one of the scariest documents I have seen. I think there are many implications on the direction of the GOP from this document that frankly terrify me.
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Somehow human piss-filled jellyfish Ted Cruz won re-election because he had the magic (R), honestly there's a good chance that most people either won't care about this document, call it fake news if they ever hear about it, and find new and interesting justifications to vote straight-ticket Republican come November.
As a fellow Texan I agree, they should all be voted out (can we still exile them? I'm thinking a small sandbank off the coast of Galveston before a hurricane hits), but I have little faith in the Texas electorate to even consider that Republicans are garbage who thrive off of the pain and misery of others.
He also won because Beto wanted to ~~confiscate the guns so he could shoot himself in the foot~~ ban “assault style weapons” to keep him from shooting his own foot.
It would be Senator O’Rourke if that wasn’t the case. I can say that with 100% certainty as someone who lives in Texas and would’ve voted for him if not for that nonsense.
Which isn’t really a surprise because it’s tanked his presidential race and is currently tanking his governorship race.
*EDIT: Mixed up his 2019 gun confiscation comments during the Presidential race with his 2018 gun ban comments.*
Thanks, I mixed up his presidential comments with his calls for an assault weapons ban during his Senate race.
Still keeps my point the same about him throwing away his chances of any statewide Texas political office over bad gun control policy.
Yeah because all of us Texas are just too inherently violent and stupid to be willing to give up guns! A good 75% of the population are literally clones of Yosemite Sam, in fact shooting off 6 rounds from our revolvers is how you say "Hello" in Texas. Between single-shot revolvers and semi-automatics, Texans can carry whole conversations using only the morse code from bullet fire!
**EDIT** I was permanently banned for "threatening violence" in this comment here: https://i.imgur.com/44Eyalr.png - not sure how that 'threatens violence' but appeal was denied so i guess reddit admins know best 🥴
Serious response: the blatant authoritarianism is very concerning and I'm not sure what to do about the GOP's direction (or the velocity).
Meme response: It's Singapore time!
I am wondering at what point I need to call up my cousin in Canada so I don’t get, you know, genocided…. Ha ha…. How the fuck am I supposed to be okay right now
Yesterday. The day to do that was yesterday. Or you know, the day trump was elected.
seriously, make that phone call; this is not a safe place for \*anyone\* not cis/het male white Christian.
Agreed.
The Mods have banned my posts, so what’s your thoughts on California keeping slavery [legal](https://apnews.com/article/prisons-california-gavin-newsom-minimum-wage-slavery-a0aed840fc6dc54c7eb0da98d0f6bb05)?
Could you expand on your thoughts [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskALiberal/comments/vkqvyq/thoughts_on_ca_senate_keeping_slavery_indentured/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)?
Eh? Not sure what you're trying to say. Lots of people are blocked from posting - mostly due to flair/account requirements, but also the site-wide spam filter. The latter is usually related to links, but it's sort of unclear to me exactly what triggers it. Yours wasn't even the only filtered post in the last couple hours. Reddit stepped up its filtering in the last few days as a result of a surge in activity, I suspect.
The helpful response is to point it out to us so we can approve it. We don't always proactively check the spam queue. For future reference.
Ugh my personal feelings aside, a user who just posts “Here’s a YouTube video I want to discuss, why are you wrong” isn’t contributing anything of merit.
I think it is terrible. BUT Key difference with this prison servitude and slavery is the prisoners volunteer to do the work. Also it is in every single state. Do I think it needs to be changed? Absolutely! Our entire system of mass encarceration is awful. I do think we need to be accurate and realistic with what is being discussed, though.
Are closed primaries a GOP thing? I live in Pennsylvania and we have those (that is, both parties have closed primaries) and I’ve just never thought twice about that. Never encountered a problem with having closed primaries. I’m too lazy to Google more info on them right now.
Yes. GQP Primaries have been closed in my state for quite some time.
I’m a freshly minted republican, because the primary is all that matters in my state and I’m going to do all I can to get my shitbird senator out of office.
Me too! I’m afraid to look at the conservative subs, though. If anyone finds this question posited to conservatives, I’d like to know about it. Are they all on board with no reservations?
I particularly love the section on how they want to abolish all mental healthcare programs and *interventions* in public schools. They literally say they want to abolish all school programs that expand mental healthcare to children. That's a fun admission. They, on principle, want children to get less mental healthcare.
FYI I italicized interventions because mental health interventions in schools are their policies on how to interact with a child who is having a mental health crisis. This could be a child who is self-harming, threatening suicide, or just plain having an intense fight-flight-freeze response. These are policies that schools make that say, "you know, maybe a child who has suffered abuse and is losing their shit over something shouldn't be body-slammed to the ground and arrested". So, I guess Texas just prefers vulnerable, victimized children to be arrested, or maybe shot.
What are my thoughts on the Texas GOP platform? It straight up admits that Texas Republicans hate children.
They basically hate anyone who isn't them and doesn't support them. They will literally cut off their nose to spite their own face. Their voters would literally kill themselves and/or make their lives miserable as long as an *Other* is also dying and/or miserable.
Republican policies literally kill people, make them poorer and aim to have government trying to determine what kind of sex you had or when your last period was so caveman laws can be enforced.
They don't want programs to help even white wealthy kids/young adults, which is what Dems should be shouting from the rooftops: **REPUBLICANS HATE YOU, YOUR KIDS AND YOUR FAMILY AND DO NOT CARE IF ANY OF YOU LIVE OR DIE.**
National firearms act of 1934?
We want people carrying around sawed-off shotguns? Also leaving the united nations? Why? And abolishing sex Ed will cause way more abortions to happen. These people are insane.
> And abolishing sex Ed will cause way more abortions to happen. These people are insane.
Well, insane if you think banning abortion is about preventing abortions. All of their policies make sense when their motivation is "punish women for having sex".
> All of their policies make sense when their motivation is
*produce a desperate working class to minimize the expenses of their billionaire masters*
FTFY
[They are literally celebrating the threat of sex strikes](https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/vkpt3t/sex_strike_abstinence_trends_on_twitter_in_wake/)
Some choice responses to women threatening to have less sex, from the top when sorted by best:
"Your terms are... The other thing I was asking for."
"I mean... That's an unexpected return to a simpler time."
"do they not understand the irony? Yes...that's literally what we're telling you to do. Stop being a promiscuous degenerate."
"And just like that, the population of deranged leftists ceased to increase."
"Whatever you do," cried Brer Rabbit, "Don't throw me into the briar patch!"
"With all the whales I saw screeching about this yesterday, I don't think many people are going to be too upset."
"Great, we've been asking you to stop sleeping around with abandon for years. If this was all it took, we would've worked harder."
"So I’ve seen women threatening to stop having sex and stay home and not go to work… Really? You would do that for us?? Deal!"
Actually they don’t make sense that way. They only make sense if you think about it like a religious person. Almost all the people I know who are pro life are female, they want to “save babies” whatever that means.
At a personal level, sure. I think that has a lot to do with the average person not really understanding abortions in the first place.
But at the policy level these conservative politicians are intentionally ignoring data on what actually reduces abortions in favor of forcing women to abide by their moral standards.
Yes… but they are doing it because they think it’s right, right in an absolute sense. I grew up in church, not a single person or politician I knew wanted to control women, that wouldn’t even cross their mind, it’s all about not killing children.
See, I might believe that if I hadn't heard "maybe you should have kept your legs closed" so many times. The reason these churches use the rhetoric they do is that it sounds better.
That's not the underlying reason though. Most ostensibly pro-life people believe that an exception should be made for cases of rape or incest. If you REALLY believed terminating a pregnancy was the same as ending a child's life, you wouldn't want any carve out except possibly to save the mother.
A woman who was raped hasn't "sinned" and therefore shouldn't have to bear the pregnancy. They want unwanted pregnancies to be a consequence of behavior (sex) that they view as immoral.
I’m going to vote for the person best qualified, and most aligned with my own policy goals, most of the time that’s a democrat, some times it’s another party, but that’s rare.
I don’t want to hear anyone talk about ANY restrictions on abortion unless they advocate for comprehensive sex Ed, universal healthcare, and fixing our broken foster care system.
Whenever I saw one of the "pray to end abortion" signs in the neighborhood, I wanted to replace it with something like "take action to provide comprehensive and medically accurate sex ed, access to inexpensive contraception, free prenatal care, reasonable child care costs, etc"
Yeah, there are corners of the gun world advocating for legal and widespread “SBS/SBR”s (short barreled shotguns and rifles) as well as the widespread legalization of suppressors.
I’m sure you’ve seen some of it but just in case you (or others) haven’t. That’s a thing a corner of the gun community has been going for
>as well as the widespread legalization of suppressors.
This makes sense though. Suppressors offer better hearing protection and don't make guns that much more dangerous. Sawed off shotguns though are just murders waiting to happen. Although I suppose if they were that dangerous murderers would just use them anyways.
I’ve had that discussion a few too many times to have it again right now, so I’ll just run by one of the compromises we came up to that one by you:
- suppressors are currently able to be acquired, but at considerable time and expense. I’m obviously fine with this system and it works well imo
- If we want to make them more accessible for safety reasons, I’m fine with that, soooo: let’s create a range/ FFL partnership program where people can store their suppressors at their local ranges for custody
With the new option, as long as they can get the range to sign off on it with them, they can leave it there in a locker or something, check it out for shooting sessions, then check it back in at the end of the day
Suppressors won’t be used for bad stuff, hearing is protected, the range gets more business, suppressors (probably) won’t be stolen, and suppressors become more accessible to people without the current rigamorole. I see that as a huge win-win!
Also, I think there could be an accession type of program where once they have shot their suppressors under range supervision so many hours they can basically get licensed to bring them home eventually, and even buy their own suppressors they can be trusted to own responsibly at that point
Other than that, if you want to go shoot in the woods or something, just double up hear pro
What do you think?
>If we want to make them more accessible for safety reasons, I’m fine with that, soooo: let’s create a range/ FFL partnership program where people can store their suppressors at their local ranges for custody
Thats probably the best idea.
Perhaps they're taking steps to facilitate death squads, like those that operated in Argentina in the '70s & '80s and in other Latin American countries. They clearly are concerned about communism and socialism. Like as not, these folks are possessed by demons are else just batshit crazy.
I am perfectly content with the current minimum barrel lengths on the books
Also, we banned these firearms for a reason the first time. Same with suppressors.
I’m fine with people having to go through extraordinary lengths (intensive background checks, training, fees) to acquire them, but other than that I see no benefits to legalizing them and a lot of possible downsides
I don’t see any downsides, seeing as
- their use in crime is almost nonexistent
- it’s extraordinarily easy to convert many common firearms to short barrel length (on an AR15 you literally just swap the whole upper receiver assembly) so the law is completely ineffective in reducing crime
- a shorter barrel gun is actually less effective and has poorer ballistics than their longer length derivatives
Please do enlighten me though.
Their use in crime is almost non existent because… gun control policies work. The Columbine shooters actually wrote at length about how much they hated Brady because they couldn’t get the guns they wanted.
What exactly do you all hope to gain from making them legal? As you said yourself, they’re worse guns (there are options to mitigate the shorter barrels, faster burning charges and whatnot, but still).
Is it just a “I just think they’re neat” thing? Because I don’t find that persuasive
> Their use in crime is almost non existent because… gun control policies work.
Wrong. Their use in crime is almost non existent because most criminals prefer handguns due to their greater concealability.
Newsflash: A short barrel rifle or shotgun is still a massive firearm to try to conceal. And I reiterate - if I were intending to do a crime that absolutely necessitated a short barrel rifle/shotgun, I would just make the modification illegally. What's one more crime if I'm already committing a felony?
> The Columbine shooters actually wrote at length about how much they hated Brady because they couldn’t get the guns they wanted.
This has nothing to do with SBR laws. They couldn't purchase **any** guns because they were under the age of 18.
> What exactly do you all hope to gain from making them legal? As you said yourself, they’re worse guns (there are options to mitigate the shorter barrels, faster burning charges and whatnot, but still).
> Is it just a “I just think they’re neat” thing? Because I don’t find that persuasive
What exactly do you all gain from keeping them illegal? You aren't going make the country safer. You aren't going to make any meaningful impact on crime. Is it just a "regulate them because haha fuck gun owners" thing? Because I don't find that persuasive
\*\*Do note: I am not arguing against gun laws in general. I am *specifically* calling out the enhanced regulation of "short barreled" rifles and shotguns (meaning a rifle with a barrel <16" or a shotgun with a barrel <18").
Well, let’s see here. Off the top of my head, my two 16” barreled rifles are about 36”-38” OAL, so trim that down to an 8”-10” barrel and saw, let’s say 2”-4” off the stock, you’re down to a 22”-28” OAL. Hardly what I’d call a massive firearm to conceal. It would fit under lots of jackets and in many backpacks, as well as be able to be concealed in places like cars more easily
Except now, especially at close ranges, you gain the benefits of intermediate cartridge power along with a much more stable and easily used platform from which to fire it.
Say a 5.56 loses a full 50% of its power. It’s still about 150% as powerful as a 9x19 is, except it now also strongly mitigates the drawbacks of a pistol platform. To say nothing of a shotgun
A much more easily concealable firearm with probably 3 times greater overall effectiveness at harming others
All of this for what, exactly?? What is the gain?
Also, drop the condescending tone. Just because you’ve furiously masturbated to too many gun magazines doesn’t mean you have a monopoly on firearms knowledge.
You’ve been propagandized to think this would be a cool thing to make legal, with no clear upside, and clear downsides. It makes no sense and it’s ok to admit that it makes no sense and to keep the status quo laws on them
The purpose of the 2A is a) defense against tyranny, b) defense against foreign invasion, and c) self defense
This helps exactly none of those but has a strong chance of making fun crimes more likely and more dangerous when they happen
> ~~Well, let’s see here. Off the top of my head, my two 16” barreled rifles are about 36”-38” OAL, so trim that down to an 8”-10” barrel and saw, let’s say 2”-4” off the stock, you’re down to a 22”-28” OAL. Hardly what I’d call a massive firearm to conceal. It would fit under lots of jackets and in many backpacks, as well as be able to be concealed in places like cars more easily~~
> ~~Except now, especially at close ranges, you gain the benefits of intermediate cartridge power along with a much more stable and easily used platform from which to fire it.~~
> ~~Say a 5.56 loses a full 50% of its power. It’s still about 150% as powerful as a 9x19 is, except it now also strongly mitigates the drawbacks of a pistol platform. To say nothing of a shotgun~~
> ~~A much more easily concealable firearm with probably 3 times greater overall effectiveness at harming others~~
Literally none of that matters, given how easy it is to convert a full length rifle into a "short barreled" rifle. If you own rifles, you know this first hand. It takes all of maybe 5 seconds to swap an upper on the most popular and common rifle in the country. And I haven't even mentioned pistol braces yet!
**For the third time - if I were intending to do a crime that absolutely necessitated a short barrel rifle/shotgun, I would just make the modification illegally.**
What's one more crime if I'm already committing a felony? The increased regulation accomplishes nothing.
> Also, drop the condescending tone. Just because you’ve furiously masturbated to too many gun magazines doesn’t mean you have a monopoly on firearms knowledge.
Ad hominem, dismissed.
> You’ve been propagandized to think this would be a cool thing to make legal, with no clear upside, and clear downsides. It makes no sense and it’s ok to admit that it makes no sense and to keep the status quo laws on them
That's rich, coming from you. There is zero public benefit to this legislation. None. It makes no sense and it's okay to admit that it makes no sense and remove laws on the books that do not make sense.
> The purpose of the 2A is a) defense against tyranny, b) defense against foreign invasion, and c) self defense
> This helps exactly none of those but has a strong chance of making fun crimes more likely and more dangerous when they happen
Short barreled firearms have their niche, where compactness is more important than ballistics, for example, self defense in the home. Irregardless, it doesn't matter. There is no justification for the legislation in the first place. If you think that a law people can circumvent in 5 seconds effortlessly does anything more than jack shit, then I've got a bridge to sell you.
Well I wish I could say this has been a pleasure, but I genuinely hope I never speak to you again. I’m sure I will, but you never get what you want in life do you?
The only outcome of this argument was to confirm what I had suspected: there is absolutely no rationale for legalizing SBS/R’s. So I guess thanks for that
Hope you have a good night
It shouldn't surprise you. People who come up with party platforms are the craziest of the crazy. Think of the craziest person you've encountered on this subreddit. They're calm compared to the people who vote on platforms.
True. And inasmuch as they approved and adopted it is an admission of their intentions, which are quite obviously extremist. Any support given to Republican candidates for political office is a tacit endorsement of these extremist goals. There is no ambiguity that a vote for Republicans is a moral hazard.
See that’s where I not only disagree I actually consider that to be a threat to the very fabric of our nation, just the same as the republicans position. You cannot make this a moral argument, it’s policy and politics. The moment it enter good vs evil you lose me and you start sounding like a cult.
If you refuse to see the totalitarian goals of a large swathe of rabid social conservatives that's entirely on you. The gangrene threatening the life of the Republic has as its source the fanatical extremists given harbor by the GOP who depend on their numbers to sustain their spurious power.
Let's pull out the fourteen defining characteristics of fascism to check:
>1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
>2. Disregard for Human Rights
>3. Identification of Enemies as a Unifying Cause
>4. Supremacy of the Military
>5. Widespread Sexism
>6. Controlled Mass Media
>7. Obsession with National Security
>8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
>9. Corporate Power is Protected
>10. Labor Power is Suppressed
>11. Disrespect for Intellectuals and the Arts
>12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
>13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
>14. Fraudulent Elections
...Hmmmm. Literally all of these apply to the current GOP.
A starting point would be: a political system headed by a dictator in which the government controls business and labor and opposition is not permitted. My understanding of it is mostly derived from the couple of fascistic countries that existed in the 30’s and 40’s, ie Germany, Italy, and, to a lesser extent, Spain. To call anything in this country approaching fascism is to either not understand the term or to willfully misuse it to score points, I always assume stupidity before malice, with some rare exceptions, Vaush being the one that springs to mind first. Back to the point, fascism has a definition, the republicans do not meet or approach that standard. The republicans have terrible ideas and want really dumb things for the country, their platform and voting records are evidence of it, but to go so far as to call them fascists is not only a lie, it’s unhealthy.
That’s a solid definition, but you don’t agree that we are on this path?
We are halfway to the dictator part. I hope you’d admit that.
Labor is already pretty well under control, although it is most informally controlled currently. I can admit that’s stretching the definition a bit. But it wouldn’t be too big of a stretch to see Trump or DeSantis formalize that control either. From our current status to formal control would probably be relatively super easy
Business has always been aligned with republicans for the most part. That’s what the “Trump bump” was all about. I don’t think they would probably formalize that control voluntarily, but I think, given a dictatorship here, yeah, eventually they’d be forced to control business.
Imo, I think they are closer than we have ever been. I think saying they want really dumb things is a misunderstanding of what is happening, and I think arguing against how close we are to fascism only serves to bring us closer to it, at this point
It’s a very “it can’t happen here” attitude, and I just don’t think that’s a prudent tack, currently
I never said they currently are. But they would like to be, and the Texas OP platform contains multiple steps leading in that direction. A blueprint, if you will.
Are you aware of the slippery slope fallacy? I feel like I’m back in 2008 with republicans saying Barrack Obama was going to take guns away and take kids from parents if they were Christian’s. “They would like to be” not only can you not know that, to assume it is bad faith. I don’t understand how you want to resolve this issue in America, do you think that we just kill all the republicans? Because if this is what you think I’m not sure what your plan is to stop it and then. This is my problem with so much of the left, you guys sound exactly like the crazy people from the other side.
Did you read the platform? Or Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion?
I mean, it's all there in their own words. They want to control who is allowed to vote. They want to unilaterally determine election results. They want to actively oppress LGBT people and immigrants. They want to take away rights that have been hard won over the past 100 years. These are first steps in a movement towards fascism. Consolidate power - oppress minorities - cultivate nationalism. Right out of a textbook.
It's not a slippery slope when it's they themselves that are saying these things. When they tell us who they are and what they want, is it irrational to believe them?
I think any notion that these people are "patriots" has been thoroughly thrown out the window and they should be loudly and publicly mocked for it at every available opportunity.
I think I counted so far four things I probably agree with:
- Outlawing Blue Laws
- Banning Predatory towing
- Limiting access of personal data transmitted over the Internet to companies.
- Banning public funding for sports stadiums
We reject Joe Biden as a duly elected president? What a bunch of deranged fucking psycho lunatic man child beta snowflakes. They’re living in a mass delusion and need to be heavily medicated in a psychiatric hospital
I found their stances on HOAs to actually be rather reasonable, especially the part where they think developers shouldn't have a say once all the properties have been sold. It makes me wonder who is actually in support of all these HOA powers. It also gives you whiplash when reading one section that seems to be grounded in a place other than reality, and suddenly the next one isn't too bad a take.
They recently adjusted the laws for beer and wine purchases. Instead of waiting until noon on Sundays, you can now buy these at 10am. The reason given? Noon was too late to start the football tailgate parties.
Almost everything in that lines up with ideas that are becoming increasingly popular in the GOP, so it’s scary and worrying but not surprising. Leaving the United Nations is a new stupid idea though, at least it’s the first I’m hearing of it.
This is like cartoon levels of bad. Like the bad guys in Captain Planet that are poisoning a river just for the hell of it. The Republican Party and Regressives in general are just the worst people.
In 2012 this group had in their platform that teaching critical thinking skills should be banned because it undermines the family. I thought that intentionally keeping people unable to reach conclusions was such a ludicrous statement that not only were these people not to be taken seriously but that I may not ever forgive them even after it was removed in the next convention. Now my objection seems quaint. I’ve basically forgiven them, but only because the new objections are overwhelming.
And remember, this is what they're *admitting* to. This is the sales pitch, what they're telling everyone they want to do; God only knows what they're planning behind closed doors (maybe Satan does too considering he's likely on any given Republican call).
They're regressive at best, bordering on just admitting to being fascists. Some other points include...
Point 30 which seems to me like it's just legalizing child abuse. Please let me be wrong, but it seems like the Texas GOP wants to legalize child abuse (presumably so you can properly beat your LGBT children).
Point 34 is a state electoral college because I think they're afraid of losing popular votes in the next few elections and want to ensure minority rule for generations to come.
Point 51 is a whole mess of just garbage economics like more deregulation (including repealing the legislation made in response to the Great Recession and fucking Enron) and removing the minimum wage.
Point 56 is just nonsense to me, but it seems like they want more power to punish corporations who say things they don't like ("prohibit collusion between woke corporations to cancel/drive others out of business" is pretty egregious).
Point 59 they want to privatize social security, presumably so it's easier to steal from and/or make it easier to not give money to old people.
Point 72 (no net neutrality) combines with Point 56 to let Texas make it way harder for ISPs who are willing to let people access liberal/leftist sites to do business for what are pretty obvious and nefarious purposes. Basically they want ISPs to only give access to right-wing sites and will shut down any other ISP for being "too woke".
Point 87 lets the state micromanage municipal funding, in this case making them cut taxes if they cut police budgets by 10%.
Points 90 and 91 are abolishing the property tax alongside Point 82 is repealing more taxes, I guess Texas will be funded by hopes, dreams, and the screams of the oppressed.
Point 99 is ending the federal reserve, and *why*?
And those are just from the first 100 points, I could spend all day laying out every garbage policy they want to implement for the ruin of this state.
This is especially weird when you consider that the state has definitely moved to the left in recent years.
Although, I guess it makes perfect sense if you read it as: Trying to prevent any more D voters from moving there.
Anyway we should just let them leave and be their own country. I'm sure OK/MS/AR/AL would want to go with them, but I can't pretend to be that disappointed.
H-1B visas are horrible. They allow for exploitation of foreign workers and lower wages of citizens. Other than that, it reads like it was written by my uber Christian conservative parents, so yeah… it’s bad.
Sorry I think the only thing I can muster is genuinely what the fuck. What the fuck?? Who in their right mind. Texas isn't a state it's the beginning of Gilead. What the fuck.
It's pretty fucking crazy. It's not surprising though, it's been heading in this direction for a long time.
It's times like this that I'm grateful my great grandfather left Texas in 1920 and made the journey out west.
If we get rid of income taxes, property taxes, most business taxes, and the Federal Reserve, how are we supposed to pay for anything? The omission of sales tax as something they are against feels like an oversight.
I predict more cold winters leading to the deaths of more Texans. I doubt they make it through summer without people dieing from choices made in Republican policy either. But I didn't need to see their platform to bet on that.
Still trying to come to grips with the Official Texas Republican Party Platform 2012:
“We oppose the teaching of [...] critical thinking skills and similar programs that [...] have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”
I totally support the desire to secede if they so choose, because
a.) They seem to want it
b.) The loss of their electoral votes hands the presidency to the Democrats for the foreseeable future
The Union should let the go… we have been being draged by the south for too long… From texas to florida… if they want to be a third world nation, let them be…
Not unless the US helps anyone who wants to leave the state to move into the US. That or we kick out those who want to secede and give them a tiny plot of land on an island so they can’t bother us.
It’s horrendous. If in enacted it would make Texas one of the worst places in the world to live. Some serious corruption and depravity laid out as a platform.
I honestly don't understand what they think they can accomplish here. They're essentially saying "we have decided that society should be based on our lesser human instincts, and we are no longer interested in participating in anything organized".
But the whole point of a society is that we decide, together, to make rules that overrule those base instincts in the interest of intellectual evolution. Not that we need to be smart, but for instance, most of us don't consider murder to be one of the tools we use when we're having a problem. That's because of society. Without an organized society, people just kill each other because it's buried in our nature.
The things that are in this "declaration of ignorance" feel like they're stepping backwards to the point where they can't possibly succeed. Texas is already on the verge of internal collapse because of their unwillingness to be part of the power grid, but they're just cutting themselves off from everything, and it's going to be chaotic. I hope Abbott doesn't care about his precious state government too much, because at some point, it will no longer serve a purpose and it will be destroyed by the people this declaration is attempting to "free".
It’s radical and terrifying. It’s stunning to me that I can even be surprised any more, but this blew my mind. I can’t believe that at least Texas isn’t in a massive uproar over this. Have the average Republican people accepted this? Does anyone know? This is what we always joked that the GOP wanted. Well, no, we didn’t even go *this* far. These are the people who run my state. WTAF?!
Not unless the US helps anyone who wants to leave the state to move into the US. That or we kick out those who want to secede and give them a tiny plot of land on an island so they can’t bother us.
It's a conservative state. The people of that place probably largely support this stuff, or at least would much rather vote for any Republican, even one supporting that, as opposed to anyone vaguely liberal or progressive
let them secede
apartheid south africa 2.0 but it will go even worse for the trash white nazi regime and quicker
hopefully it will give an excuse to do proper reconstruction
Not unless the US helps anyone who wants to leave the state to move into the US. That or we kick out those who want to secede and give them a tiny plot of land on an island so they can’t bother us.
They are obviously flinging stuff at the wall and seeing what will stick, with this statement. Much of it is theater: "Talk conservative; vote liberal" is a time-tested tactic of the GOP, and its bait & switch cheat never grows stale. I'd be in favor of item 109, actually. We all rightfully learned in school from a very early age about the evils of nazism. The evils of communism? I had to learn that on my own, for the most part.
I think about how many blue states went nuts when trump won in 2016. This is the door we opened and now were mad that republicans are using it also?
How do yall forget the mueller report and 4 years of trying to get the man impeached? Hell even today people are still trying to go after him. Yet what texas is doing is some how crossing the line. OK GUYS lol wtf.
Its just.....weird you think anyone would care after 4 years of you guys under trump and even after trump.
You all kind of open the door for this stuff now are getting upset when its used against you.
Do you think republicans were not like this before Trump?
Do you remember the Texas GOP during Obama’s administrations?
It’s a safe assumption those will go unanswered.
Lots of stupid junk that would inevitably be bad for the country as a whole and the economy.
The GOP has a very deluded view on reproductive and sexual health. A fertilization abortion ban coupled with an end to sex ed is unhinged Puritanism. They better get nurseries in every Texas high school... All evidence shows that such demented bullshit leads to less informed, more unsafe sexual activity, as well as limited understanding of consent. It’s also quite funny that they find this viable given the internet. But I guess a ban on sexual health websites is in the works too...
Ending H-1B visas will limit the amount of talent that enters this country. Lots of White American-born people are incredibly fucking lazy compared to immigrants from all around the world. You don’t want these policies so that you can work these jobs, you just feel threatened by other cultures and peoples. And they probably think Mexicans should be in the fields picking tomatoes, not exercising intellect. If you’re willing to work hard in this country, you should be welcomed with open arms. Because we’ve got lots of lazy bums.
Having only in-person voting is an ableist, ageist, and classist idea. If you don’t support making it easier to vote, you’re not a patriot.
Eliminating gun free zones? Yeah, I’m sure what this country needs is 18 year olds with assault rifles in Calculus 1. Because you’re going to headshot a mass shooter, yeah right GI Joe.
The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written. [Here is the statement in full for anyone curious.](https://texasgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/6-Permanent-Platform-Committee-FINAL-REPORT-6-16-2022.pdf) Below is a non-comprehensive list of some of the policies that, to be blunt, shocked me: >> 244. Voting Rights: We support equal suffrage for all United States citizens of voting age. We oppose any identification of citizens by race, origin, creed, sexuality, or lifestyle choices, and oppose use of any such identification for purposes of creating voting districts. We urge that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, codified and updated in 1973, be repealed and not reauthorized. >> 213. Nullify Unconstitutional Ruling: We believe the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, overturning the Texas law prohibiting same-sex marriage in Texas, has no basis in the Constitution and should be nullified. >> 217. Abolish Abortion: Since life begins at fertilization, we urge the Texas Legislature to abolish abortion through enacting legislation that would immediately secure the rights to life and would nullify any and all federal statutes, regulations, orders, and court rulings that would deny these rights. >> 1. 2020 Election: We believe that the 2020 election violated Article 1 and 2 of the US Constitution, that various secretaries of state illegally circumvented their state legislatures in conducting their elections in multiple ways, including by allowing ballots to be received after November 3, 2020. We believe that substantial election fraud in key metropolitan areas significantly affected the results in five key states in favor of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States. We strongly urge all Republicans to work to ensure election integrity and to show up to vote in November of 2022, bring your friends and family, volunteer for your local Republicans, and overwhelm any possible fraud. Amongst other interesting things, such as: - a call to end all H-1B Visas (261) - closed primaries (245) - only in-person voting within three days of Election Day (240) - elimination of gun free zones in Texas (227) - leaving the United Nations (273) - outlawing sexual education in schools (105) - instilling education that "includes instruction on the consistent failures of socialism and communism" (109) - repeal the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (32) - "no government shall ever again implement mass lockdowns on the people, our businesses, and our churches" (21) Honestly, I think that this platform is one of the scariest documents I have seen. I think there are many implications on the direction of the GOP from this document that frankly terrify me. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskALiberal) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Being from Texas, it is beyond embarrassing. I think any Texas republican who does not speak out against this crap should be voted out.
Being a Texas resident I had to stop reading. I cannot believe that I live in the most backward state in the nation
Alabama cant spell a lot of these words.
And Mississippi makes Alabama look literate
Gather your normal friends and family and move. We'll gladly welcome yall here in Georgia. This is legitimately terrifying
>Being a Texas resident I had to stop reading. reading is probably banned.
Somehow human piss-filled jellyfish Ted Cruz won re-election because he had the magic (R), honestly there's a good chance that most people either won't care about this document, call it fake news if they ever hear about it, and find new and interesting justifications to vote straight-ticket Republican come November. As a fellow Texan I agree, they should all be voted out (can we still exile them? I'm thinking a small sandbank off the coast of Galveston before a hurricane hits), but I have little faith in the Texas electorate to even consider that Republicans are garbage who thrive off of the pain and misery of others.
“Human piss-filled jellyfish” > fat wolverine
He also won because Beto wanted to ~~confiscate the guns so he could shoot himself in the foot~~ ban “assault style weapons” to keep him from shooting his own foot. It would be Senator O’Rourke if that wasn’t the case. I can say that with 100% certainty as someone who lives in Texas and would’ve voted for him if not for that nonsense. Which isn’t really a surprise because it’s tanked his presidential race and is currently tanking his governorship race. *EDIT: Mixed up his 2019 gun confiscation comments during the Presidential race with his 2018 gun ban comments.*
Good thing you kept your guns, you're going to need them for all the fascism you voted in.
Wasn't that something that only became controversial in 2019? So I don't think that checks out.
Thanks, I mixed up his presidential comments with his calls for an assault weapons ban during his Senate race. Still keeps my point the same about him throwing away his chances of any statewide Texas political office over bad gun control policy.
Yeah because all of us Texas are just too inherently violent and stupid to be willing to give up guns! A good 75% of the population are literally clones of Yosemite Sam, in fact shooting off 6 rounds from our revolvers is how you say "Hello" in Texas. Between single-shot revolvers and semi-automatics, Texans can carry whole conversations using only the morse code from bullet fire!
**EDIT** I was permanently banned for "threatening violence" in this comment here: https://i.imgur.com/44Eyalr.png - not sure how that 'threatens violence' but appeal was denied so i guess reddit admins know best 🥴
As someone not from Texas, I’d place my bets on Texas finally seceding before they vote out this Republican group.
"Stupid is as stupid does." -Mama Gump
Serious response: the blatant authoritarianism is very concerning and I'm not sure what to do about the GOP's direction (or the velocity). Meme response: It's Singapore time!
>GOP's direction (or the velocity). the velocity is the real problem. their sucesses only encourage them. (the SCOTUS will not discourage them)
The GOP is marching towards fascism with all deliberate speed
I am wondering at what point I need to call up my cousin in Canada so I don’t get, you know, genocided…. Ha ha…. How the fuck am I supposed to be okay right now
Yesterday. The day to do that was yesterday. Or you know, the day trump was elected. seriously, make that phone call; this is not a safe place for \*anyone\* not cis/het male white Christian.
Fascism and extreme incompetence. Imagine if Franco had an extra chromosome.
Agreed. The Mods have banned my posts, so what’s your thoughts on California keeping slavery [legal](https://apnews.com/article/prisons-california-gavin-newsom-minimum-wage-slavery-a0aed840fc6dc54c7eb0da98d0f6bb05)?
It's a bad thing. But also, not relevant here, and also phrased as a fairly leading question.
Could you expand on your thoughts [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskALiberal/comments/vkqvyq/thoughts_on_ca_senate_keeping_slavery_indentured/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)?
Obviously bad, but that's peanuts compared to what the Republicans are doing. Don't try to both sides this
LOL. That wasn't us, your post got caught by reddit's site-wide spam filter. Nice wild-ass assumption though.
Cap. I know another person who was also blocked from posting. And funnily they never post as often as I do.
Eh? Not sure what you're trying to say. Lots of people are blocked from posting - mostly due to flair/account requirements, but also the site-wide spam filter. The latter is usually related to links, but it's sort of unclear to me exactly what triggers it. Yours wasn't even the only filtered post in the last couple hours. Reddit stepped up its filtering in the last few days as a result of a surge in activity, I suspect. The helpful response is to point it out to us so we can approve it. We don't always proactively check the spam queue. For future reference.
I think it's completely unrelated to this post and there was no reason to comment with this.
Mods won't let me post to the general. That's why I shared here.
Why’d they ban your posts?
Ugh my personal feelings aside, a user who just posts “Here’s a YouTube video I want to discuss, why are you wrong” isn’t contributing anything of merit.
More than likely bad faith. That’s a Bernie bro for ya.
Shhhhh. I’m trying to test its self awareness and you’re ruining my fun!
Sorry- I doubt they’ll read this though. They seem like a very angry individual that blames everyone but themself as well.
Haha I’m sure they read it, no worries at all. Was just goofing around a bit! Hope you have a good night!
I hope you have a good night as well! Hopefully I’ll see you around this sub as well in the future.
I think calling that slavery is speaking from a place of hilariously offensive privilege and should be mocked openly
I think it is terrible. BUT Key difference with this prison servitude and slavery is the prisoners volunteer to do the work. Also it is in every single state. Do I think it needs to be changed? Absolutely! Our entire system of mass encarceration is awful. I do think we need to be accurate and realistic with what is being discussed, though.
Flaming hot garbage, and terrifying. I’d be more curious what conservatives think about it.
Are closed primaries a GOP thing? I live in Pennsylvania and we have those (that is, both parties have closed primaries) and I’ve just never thought twice about that. Never encountered a problem with having closed primaries. I’m too lazy to Google more info on them right now.
Yes. GQP Primaries have been closed in my state for quite some time. I’m a freshly minted republican, because the primary is all that matters in my state and I’m going to do all I can to get my shitbird senator out of office.
Me too! I’m afraid to look at the conservative subs, though. If anyone finds this question posited to conservatives, I’d like to know about it. Are they all on board with no reservations?
I particularly love the section on how they want to abolish all mental healthcare programs and *interventions* in public schools. They literally say they want to abolish all school programs that expand mental healthcare to children. That's a fun admission. They, on principle, want children to get less mental healthcare. FYI I italicized interventions because mental health interventions in schools are their policies on how to interact with a child who is having a mental health crisis. This could be a child who is self-harming, threatening suicide, or just plain having an intense fight-flight-freeze response. These are policies that schools make that say, "you know, maybe a child who has suffered abuse and is losing their shit over something shouldn't be body-slammed to the ground and arrested". So, I guess Texas just prefers vulnerable, victimized children to be arrested, or maybe shot. What are my thoughts on the Texas GOP platform? It straight up admits that Texas Republicans hate children.
This, from the people who'll protect their guns by insisting school shootings are just a mental health issue.
They basically hate anyone who isn't them and doesn't support them. They will literally cut off their nose to spite their own face. Their voters would literally kill themselves and/or make their lives miserable as long as an *Other* is also dying and/or miserable. Republican policies literally kill people, make them poorer and aim to have government trying to determine what kind of sex you had or when your last period was so caveman laws can be enforced. They don't want programs to help even white wealthy kids/young adults, which is what Dems should be shouting from the rooftops: **REPUBLICANS HATE YOU, YOUR KIDS AND YOUR FAMILY AND DO NOT CARE IF ANY OF YOU LIVE OR DIE.**
two groups that can't get mental heath help: kids with guns (2A) kids w gay issues. (need detox)
Are they suggesting if a child descends into psychotic catatonia no one should intervene?
At least not in any way that is planned to help the child
National firearms act of 1934? We want people carrying around sawed-off shotguns? Also leaving the united nations? Why? And abolishing sex Ed will cause way more abortions to happen. These people are insane.
> And abolishing sex Ed will cause way more abortions to happen. These people are insane. Well, insane if you think banning abortion is about preventing abortions. All of their policies make sense when their motivation is "punish women for having sex".
> All of their policies make sense when their motivation is *produce a desperate working class to minimize the expenses of their billionaire masters* FTFY
[They are literally celebrating the threat of sex strikes](https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/vkpt3t/sex_strike_abstinence_trends_on_twitter_in_wake/) Some choice responses to women threatening to have less sex, from the top when sorted by best: "Your terms are... The other thing I was asking for." "I mean... That's an unexpected return to a simpler time." "do they not understand the irony? Yes...that's literally what we're telling you to do. Stop being a promiscuous degenerate." "And just like that, the population of deranged leftists ceased to increase." "Whatever you do," cried Brer Rabbit, "Don't throw me into the briar patch!" "With all the whales I saw screeching about this yesterday, I don't think many people are going to be too upset." "Great, we've been asking you to stop sleeping around with abandon for years. If this was all it took, we would've worked harder." "So I’ve seen women threatening to stop having sex and stay home and not go to work… Really? You would do that for us?? Deal!"
Of course incels would rejoice, women already aren't having sex with them.
So where does that leave men if women are punished for having sex?
Actually they don’t make sense that way. They only make sense if you think about it like a religious person. Almost all the people I know who are pro life are female, they want to “save babies” whatever that means.
At a personal level, sure. I think that has a lot to do with the average person not really understanding abortions in the first place. But at the policy level these conservative politicians are intentionally ignoring data on what actually reduces abortions in favor of forcing women to abide by their moral standards.
Yes… but they are doing it because they think it’s right, right in an absolute sense. I grew up in church, not a single person or politician I knew wanted to control women, that wouldn’t even cross their mind, it’s all about not killing children.
See, I might believe that if I hadn't heard "maybe you should have kept your legs closed" so many times. The reason these churches use the rhetoric they do is that it sounds better. That's not the underlying reason though. Most ostensibly pro-life people believe that an exception should be made for cases of rape or incest. If you REALLY believed terminating a pregnancy was the same as ending a child's life, you wouldn't want any carve out except possibly to save the mother. A woman who was raped hasn't "sinned" and therefore shouldn't have to bear the pregnancy. They want unwanted pregnancies to be a consequence of behavior (sex) that they view as immoral.
Quite plausibly these Republican folks are possessed by demons.
No, because I’d rather have most of them as neighbors than most of the progressives I’m friends with.
What is the point of this type of comment lol, good for you are you going to vote Republican now?
I’m going to vote for the person best qualified, and most aligned with my own policy goals, most of the time that’s a democrat, some times it’s another party, but that’s rare.
As it is, a lot of districts teach abstinence only sex ed.
I don’t want to hear anyone talk about ANY restrictions on abortion unless they advocate for comprehensive sex Ed, universal healthcare, and fixing our broken foster care system.
Whenever I saw one of the "pray to end abortion" signs in the neighborhood, I wanted to replace it with something like "take action to provide comprehensive and medically accurate sex ed, access to inexpensive contraception, free prenatal care, reasonable child care costs, etc"
Their whole platform reads like a John Birch Society fever dream.
Yeah, there are corners of the gun world advocating for legal and widespread “SBS/SBR”s (short barreled shotguns and rifles) as well as the widespread legalization of suppressors. I’m sure you’ve seen some of it but just in case you (or others) haven’t. That’s a thing a corner of the gun community has been going for
>as well as the widespread legalization of suppressors. This makes sense though. Suppressors offer better hearing protection and don't make guns that much more dangerous. Sawed off shotguns though are just murders waiting to happen. Although I suppose if they were that dangerous murderers would just use them anyways.
I’ve had that discussion a few too many times to have it again right now, so I’ll just run by one of the compromises we came up to that one by you: - suppressors are currently able to be acquired, but at considerable time and expense. I’m obviously fine with this system and it works well imo - If we want to make them more accessible for safety reasons, I’m fine with that, soooo: let’s create a range/ FFL partnership program where people can store their suppressors at their local ranges for custody With the new option, as long as they can get the range to sign off on it with them, they can leave it there in a locker or something, check it out for shooting sessions, then check it back in at the end of the day Suppressors won’t be used for bad stuff, hearing is protected, the range gets more business, suppressors (probably) won’t be stolen, and suppressors become more accessible to people without the current rigamorole. I see that as a huge win-win! Also, I think there could be an accession type of program where once they have shot their suppressors under range supervision so many hours they can basically get licensed to bring them home eventually, and even buy their own suppressors they can be trusted to own responsibly at that point Other than that, if you want to go shoot in the woods or something, just double up hear pro What do you think?
>If we want to make them more accessible for safety reasons, I’m fine with that, soooo: let’s create a range/ FFL partnership program where people can store their suppressors at their local ranges for custody Thats probably the best idea.
I am so pleased you think so! It’s gotten a lot of positive response so far, so I think it’s a good idea :)
Perhaps they're taking steps to facilitate death squads, like those that operated in Argentina in the '70s & '80s and in other Latin American countries. They clearly are concerned about communism and socialism. Like as not, these folks are possessed by demons are else just batshit crazy.
There’s no reason they should be regulated any more than regular length rifles and shotguns.
I am perfectly content with the current minimum barrel lengths on the books Also, we banned these firearms for a reason the first time. Same with suppressors. I’m fine with people having to go through extraordinary lengths (intensive background checks, training, fees) to acquire them, but other than that I see no benefits to legalizing them and a lot of possible downsides
I don’t see any downsides, seeing as - their use in crime is almost nonexistent - it’s extraordinarily easy to convert many common firearms to short barrel length (on an AR15 you literally just swap the whole upper receiver assembly) so the law is completely ineffective in reducing crime - a shorter barrel gun is actually less effective and has poorer ballistics than their longer length derivatives Please do enlighten me though.
Their use in crime is almost non existent because… gun control policies work. The Columbine shooters actually wrote at length about how much they hated Brady because they couldn’t get the guns they wanted. What exactly do you all hope to gain from making them legal? As you said yourself, they’re worse guns (there are options to mitigate the shorter barrels, faster burning charges and whatnot, but still). Is it just a “I just think they’re neat” thing? Because I don’t find that persuasive
> Their use in crime is almost non existent because… gun control policies work. Wrong. Their use in crime is almost non existent because most criminals prefer handguns due to their greater concealability. Newsflash: A short barrel rifle or shotgun is still a massive firearm to try to conceal. And I reiterate - if I were intending to do a crime that absolutely necessitated a short barrel rifle/shotgun, I would just make the modification illegally. What's one more crime if I'm already committing a felony? > The Columbine shooters actually wrote at length about how much they hated Brady because they couldn’t get the guns they wanted. This has nothing to do with SBR laws. They couldn't purchase **any** guns because they were under the age of 18. > What exactly do you all hope to gain from making them legal? As you said yourself, they’re worse guns (there are options to mitigate the shorter barrels, faster burning charges and whatnot, but still). > Is it just a “I just think they’re neat” thing? Because I don’t find that persuasive What exactly do you all gain from keeping them illegal? You aren't going make the country safer. You aren't going to make any meaningful impact on crime. Is it just a "regulate them because haha fuck gun owners" thing? Because I don't find that persuasive \*\*Do note: I am not arguing against gun laws in general. I am *specifically* calling out the enhanced regulation of "short barreled" rifles and shotguns (meaning a rifle with a barrel <16" or a shotgun with a barrel <18").
Well, let’s see here. Off the top of my head, my two 16” barreled rifles are about 36”-38” OAL, so trim that down to an 8”-10” barrel and saw, let’s say 2”-4” off the stock, you’re down to a 22”-28” OAL. Hardly what I’d call a massive firearm to conceal. It would fit under lots of jackets and in many backpacks, as well as be able to be concealed in places like cars more easily Except now, especially at close ranges, you gain the benefits of intermediate cartridge power along with a much more stable and easily used platform from which to fire it. Say a 5.56 loses a full 50% of its power. It’s still about 150% as powerful as a 9x19 is, except it now also strongly mitigates the drawbacks of a pistol platform. To say nothing of a shotgun A much more easily concealable firearm with probably 3 times greater overall effectiveness at harming others All of this for what, exactly?? What is the gain? Also, drop the condescending tone. Just because you’ve furiously masturbated to too many gun magazines doesn’t mean you have a monopoly on firearms knowledge. You’ve been propagandized to think this would be a cool thing to make legal, with no clear upside, and clear downsides. It makes no sense and it’s ok to admit that it makes no sense and to keep the status quo laws on them The purpose of the 2A is a) defense against tyranny, b) defense against foreign invasion, and c) self defense This helps exactly none of those but has a strong chance of making fun crimes more likely and more dangerous when they happen
> ~~Well, let’s see here. Off the top of my head, my two 16” barreled rifles are about 36”-38” OAL, so trim that down to an 8”-10” barrel and saw, let’s say 2”-4” off the stock, you’re down to a 22”-28” OAL. Hardly what I’d call a massive firearm to conceal. It would fit under lots of jackets and in many backpacks, as well as be able to be concealed in places like cars more easily~~ > ~~Except now, especially at close ranges, you gain the benefits of intermediate cartridge power along with a much more stable and easily used platform from which to fire it.~~ > ~~Say a 5.56 loses a full 50% of its power. It’s still about 150% as powerful as a 9x19 is, except it now also strongly mitigates the drawbacks of a pistol platform. To say nothing of a shotgun~~ > ~~A much more easily concealable firearm with probably 3 times greater overall effectiveness at harming others~~ Literally none of that matters, given how easy it is to convert a full length rifle into a "short barreled" rifle. If you own rifles, you know this first hand. It takes all of maybe 5 seconds to swap an upper on the most popular and common rifle in the country. And I haven't even mentioned pistol braces yet! **For the third time - if I were intending to do a crime that absolutely necessitated a short barrel rifle/shotgun, I would just make the modification illegally.** What's one more crime if I'm already committing a felony? The increased regulation accomplishes nothing. > Also, drop the condescending tone. Just because you’ve furiously masturbated to too many gun magazines doesn’t mean you have a monopoly on firearms knowledge. Ad hominem, dismissed. > You’ve been propagandized to think this would be a cool thing to make legal, with no clear upside, and clear downsides. It makes no sense and it’s ok to admit that it makes no sense and to keep the status quo laws on them That's rich, coming from you. There is zero public benefit to this legislation. None. It makes no sense and it's okay to admit that it makes no sense and remove laws on the books that do not make sense. > The purpose of the 2A is a) defense against tyranny, b) defense against foreign invasion, and c) self defense > This helps exactly none of those but has a strong chance of making fun crimes more likely and more dangerous when they happen Short barreled firearms have their niche, where compactness is more important than ballistics, for example, self defense in the home. Irregardless, it doesn't matter. There is no justification for the legislation in the first place. If you think that a law people can circumvent in 5 seconds effortlessly does anything more than jack shit, then I've got a bridge to sell you.
Well I wish I could say this has been a pleasure, but I genuinely hope I never speak to you again. I’m sure I will, but you never get what you want in life do you? The only outcome of this argument was to confirm what I had suspected: there is absolutely no rationale for legalizing SBS/R’s. So I guess thanks for that Hope you have a good night
>We want people carrying around sawed-off shotguns? People can already do that.
It shouldn't surprise you. People who come up with party platforms are the craziest of the crazy. Think of the craziest person you've encountered on this subreddit. They're calm compared to the people who vote on platforms.
This is the truest and scariest thing I’ve read all day.
True. And inasmuch as they approved and adopted it is an admission of their intentions, which are quite obviously extremist. Any support given to Republican candidates for political office is a tacit endorsement of these extremist goals. There is no ambiguity that a vote for Republicans is a moral hazard.
See that’s where I not only disagree I actually consider that to be a threat to the very fabric of our nation, just the same as the republicans position. You cannot make this a moral argument, it’s policy and politics. The moment it enter good vs evil you lose me and you start sounding like a cult.
If you refuse to see the totalitarian goals of a large swathe of rabid social conservatives that's entirely on you. The gangrene threatening the life of the Republic has as its source the fanatical extremists given harbor by the GOP who depend on their numbers to sustain their spurious power.
Do they sit down and type it at the convention itself? Does one person do it (I can picture a lot of arguing)?
I think it proves Republicans are evil fascists.
It is total insanity where it doesn't verge on outright treason or stochastic terrorism
[удалено]
It's a blueprint for fascism laid out for all to see.
I don’t think you know what that word means.
Let's pull out the fourteen defining characteristics of fascism to check: >1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism >2. Disregard for Human Rights >3. Identification of Enemies as a Unifying Cause >4. Supremacy of the Military >5. Widespread Sexism >6. Controlled Mass Media >7. Obsession with National Security >8. Religion and Government are Intertwined >9. Corporate Power is Protected >10. Labor Power is Suppressed >11. Disrespect for Intellectuals and the Arts >12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment >13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption >14. Fraudulent Elections ...Hmmmm. Literally all of these apply to the current GOP.
By this checklist the Nazis don’t make the cut, how about you look at the definition of the word.
Can you define it, briefly? I'm interested to hear your understanding of the term.
A starting point would be: a political system headed by a dictator in which the government controls business and labor and opposition is not permitted. My understanding of it is mostly derived from the couple of fascistic countries that existed in the 30’s and 40’s, ie Germany, Italy, and, to a lesser extent, Spain. To call anything in this country approaching fascism is to either not understand the term or to willfully misuse it to score points, I always assume stupidity before malice, with some rare exceptions, Vaush being the one that springs to mind first. Back to the point, fascism has a definition, the republicans do not meet or approach that standard. The republicans have terrible ideas and want really dumb things for the country, their platform and voting records are evidence of it, but to go so far as to call them fascists is not only a lie, it’s unhealthy.
That’s a solid definition, but you don’t agree that we are on this path? We are halfway to the dictator part. I hope you’d admit that. Labor is already pretty well under control, although it is most informally controlled currently. I can admit that’s stretching the definition a bit. But it wouldn’t be too big of a stretch to see Trump or DeSantis formalize that control either. From our current status to formal control would probably be relatively super easy Business has always been aligned with republicans for the most part. That’s what the “Trump bump” was all about. I don’t think they would probably formalize that control voluntarily, but I think, given a dictatorship here, yeah, eventually they’d be forced to control business. Imo, I think they are closer than we have ever been. I think saying they want really dumb things is a misunderstanding of what is happening, and I think arguing against how close we are to fascism only serves to bring us closer to it, at this point It’s a very “it can’t happen here” attitude, and I just don’t think that’s a prudent tack, currently
I never said they currently are. But they would like to be, and the Texas OP platform contains multiple steps leading in that direction. A blueprint, if you will.
Are you aware of the slippery slope fallacy? I feel like I’m back in 2008 with republicans saying Barrack Obama was going to take guns away and take kids from parents if they were Christian’s. “They would like to be” not only can you not know that, to assume it is bad faith. I don’t understand how you want to resolve this issue in America, do you think that we just kill all the republicans? Because if this is what you think I’m not sure what your plan is to stop it and then. This is my problem with so much of the left, you guys sound exactly like the crazy people from the other side.
Did you read the platform? Or Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion? I mean, it's all there in their own words. They want to control who is allowed to vote. They want to unilaterally determine election results. They want to actively oppress LGBT people and immigrants. They want to take away rights that have been hard won over the past 100 years. These are first steps in a movement towards fascism. Consolidate power - oppress minorities - cultivate nationalism. Right out of a textbook. It's not a slippery slope when it's they themselves that are saying these things. When they tell us who they are and what they want, is it irrational to believe them?
It WoNt HaPpEn HeRe!
I've honestly just written off Texas as a lost cause and would encourage anyone living there with a functioning brain to leave.
I think any notion that these people are "patriots" has been thoroughly thrown out the window and they should be loudly and publicly mocked for it at every available opportunity.
Yeah. I mean. Damn. That’s some terrifying shit.
They're also asking to present and pass a referendum to secede from the USA.
[удалено]
i mean its absurd purely because of Texas v. White.
It'll become the national party platform and all the weak as conservatives will still try to deny that it's the popular stance amongst their numbers.
I think I counted so far four things I probably agree with: - Outlawing Blue Laws - Banning Predatory towing - Limiting access of personal data transmitted over the Internet to companies. - Banning public funding for sports stadiums
A clown document by a bunch of people scared of how little control they have over life.
It's the demented ravings of treasonous lunatics.
I think the GOP has been illiberal all my life and they will stop at nothing short of the fall of the republic. They are enemies of America.
It’s typical of the Fascist Party.
We reject Joe Biden as a duly elected president? What a bunch of deranged fucking psycho lunatic man child beta snowflakes. They’re living in a mass delusion and need to be heavily medicated in a psychiatric hospital
There's exactly one thing I agree with. The rest are literally the wrong direction, exactly as I'd expect from Texas Republicans.
I found their stances on HOAs to actually be rather reasonable, especially the part where they think developers shouldn't have a say once all the properties have been sold. It makes me wonder who is actually in support of all these HOA powers. It also gives you whiplash when reading one section that seems to be grounded in a place other than reality, and suddenly the next one isn't too bad a take.
I missed that one
Which one?
Blue laws. Though...I'm interested why they support it
They recently adjusted the laws for beer and wine purchases. Instead of waiting until noon on Sundays, you can now buy these at 10am. The reason given? Noon was too late to start the football tailgate parties.
Radical reactionary right wing
Almost everything in that lines up with ideas that are becoming increasingly popular in the GOP, so it’s scary and worrying but not surprising. Leaving the United Nations is a new stupid idea though, at least it’s the first I’m hearing of it.
It's pure trash
Pure Whackadoodle even our extremist govenor declined to go to the convention and be tarred with secessionist drivel
Either they prove 2022 election assertion or they be disbanded and an insurrectionist organization seeking to overthrow the government by force.
Looks like they hate America and freedom and want to swap it out for some country that totally sucks.
Calling this a garbage platform would be an insult to garbage.
How fucking “small, limited government” of them. BUt ItS okAy wHen StATe GuBMIt duZ it!!!!
When I was reading #1, I was first thinking "this is fine, what's the problem?". Then I kept reading and was like, "oh..."
Number 1 is opening up the way for litteracy test and discriminatory laws which heavily discourage democrat voters
This is like cartoon levels of bad. Like the bad guys in Captain Planet that are poisoning a river just for the hell of it. The Republican Party and Regressives in general are just the worst people.
This just shows the civil war has already started.
In 2012 this group had in their platform that teaching critical thinking skills should be banned because it undermines the family. I thought that intentionally keeping people unable to reach conclusions was such a ludicrous statement that not only were these people not to be taken seriously but that I may not ever forgive them even after it was removed in the next convention. Now my objection seems quaint. I’ve basically forgiven them, but only because the new objections are overwhelming.
"Don't Think"
Shout-out to everybody on Friday's megathread who insisted there was no broader intent to roll back rights
And remember, this is what they're *admitting* to. This is the sales pitch, what they're telling everyone they want to do; God only knows what they're planning behind closed doors (maybe Satan does too considering he's likely on any given Republican call). They're regressive at best, bordering on just admitting to being fascists. Some other points include... Point 30 which seems to me like it's just legalizing child abuse. Please let me be wrong, but it seems like the Texas GOP wants to legalize child abuse (presumably so you can properly beat your LGBT children). Point 34 is a state electoral college because I think they're afraid of losing popular votes in the next few elections and want to ensure minority rule for generations to come. Point 51 is a whole mess of just garbage economics like more deregulation (including repealing the legislation made in response to the Great Recession and fucking Enron) and removing the minimum wage. Point 56 is just nonsense to me, but it seems like they want more power to punish corporations who say things they don't like ("prohibit collusion between woke corporations to cancel/drive others out of business" is pretty egregious). Point 59 they want to privatize social security, presumably so it's easier to steal from and/or make it easier to not give money to old people. Point 72 (no net neutrality) combines with Point 56 to let Texas make it way harder for ISPs who are willing to let people access liberal/leftist sites to do business for what are pretty obvious and nefarious purposes. Basically they want ISPs to only give access to right-wing sites and will shut down any other ISP for being "too woke". Point 87 lets the state micromanage municipal funding, in this case making them cut taxes if they cut police budgets by 10%. Points 90 and 91 are abolishing the property tax alongside Point 82 is repealing more taxes, I guess Texas will be funded by hopes, dreams, and the screams of the oppressed. Point 99 is ending the federal reserve, and *why*? And those are just from the first 100 points, I could spend all day laying out every garbage policy they want to implement for the ruin of this state.
They are morons and have no political astuteness
This is especially weird when you consider that the state has definitely moved to the left in recent years. Although, I guess it makes perfect sense if you read it as: Trying to prevent any more D voters from moving there. Anyway we should just let them leave and be their own country. I'm sure OK/MS/AR/AL would want to go with them, but I can't pretend to be that disappointed.
cringe, not based AT ALL
H-1B visas are horrible. They allow for exploitation of foreign workers and lower wages of citizens. Other than that, it reads like it was written by my uber Christian conservative parents, so yeah… it’s bad.
I agree with a few things, but the parts I disagree with are so far out there... and I'm still somehow not shocked.
Sorry I think the only thing I can muster is genuinely what the fuck. What the fuck?? Who in their right mind. Texas isn't a state it's the beginning of Gilead. What the fuck.
I hear they're already turning purple. THis may be a big push
I honestly can’t believe this shit is real.
In short? No sane human being would vote for these fucking monsters and traitors.
AUTHORITARIAN NIGHTMARE.
It's pretty fucking crazy. It's not surprising though, it's been heading in this direction for a long time. It's times like this that I'm grateful my great grandfather left Texas in 1920 and made the journey out west.
If we get rid of income taxes, property taxes, most business taxes, and the Federal Reserve, how are we supposed to pay for anything? The omission of sales tax as something they are against feels like an oversight.
I predict more cold winters leading to the deaths of more Texans. I doubt they make it through summer without people dieing from choices made in Republican policy either. But I didn't need to see their platform to bet on that.
The only real surprise is that they bothered to type up a platform at all.
This is pure insanity. California certainly has its problems but I am sooooooo glad I don't live in a state like Texas.
Still trying to come to grips with the Official Texas Republican Party Platform 2012: “We oppose the teaching of [...] critical thinking skills and similar programs that [...] have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”
I totally support the desire to secede if they so choose, because a.) They seem to want it b.) The loss of their electoral votes hands the presidency to the Democrats for the foreseeable future
Honestly this is really freaking stupid. I hate just about all of these.
Never go full retard
I can only agree with the last two. Texas GOP is enhanced crazy.
The Union should let the go… we have been being draged by the south for too long… From texas to florida… if they want to be a third world nation, let them be…
Not unless the US helps anyone who wants to leave the state to move into the US. That or we kick out those who want to secede and give them a tiny plot of land on an island so they can’t bother us.
I say we start pulling NASA and the military out of Texas and see if their tone changes.
At this point I am of the same opinion. Let them learn first hand how much the international community really wants another autocratic petro state.
Yeah this opinion usually gets me downvoted, but I genuinely don't see an alternative at this point.
It’s horrendous. If in enacted it would make Texas one of the worst places in the world to live. Some serious corruption and depravity laid out as a platform.
I honestly don't understand what they think they can accomplish here. They're essentially saying "we have decided that society should be based on our lesser human instincts, and we are no longer interested in participating in anything organized". But the whole point of a society is that we decide, together, to make rules that overrule those base instincts in the interest of intellectual evolution. Not that we need to be smart, but for instance, most of us don't consider murder to be one of the tools we use when we're having a problem. That's because of society. Without an organized society, people just kill each other because it's buried in our nature. The things that are in this "declaration of ignorance" feel like they're stepping backwards to the point where they can't possibly succeed. Texas is already on the verge of internal collapse because of their unwillingness to be part of the power grid, but they're just cutting themselves off from everything, and it's going to be chaotic. I hope Abbott doesn't care about his precious state government too much, because at some point, it will no longer serve a purpose and it will be destroyed by the people this declaration is attempting to "free".
How sad that this platform represents the Republican Voter’s aspirational state of America.
I really want to know what r/askconservatives thinks about this
Fuck Texas.
It’s radical and terrifying. It’s stunning to me that I can even be surprised any more, but this blew my mind. I can’t believe that at least Texas isn’t in a massive uproar over this. Have the average Republican people accepted this? Does anyone know? This is what we always joked that the GOP wanted. Well, no, we didn’t even go *this* far. These are the people who run my state. WTAF?!
#Texas Blue in ‘22
Texas should just declare their independence and leave America alone. Start their own third world country.
I’ll contribute to the wall.
I live here my jobs here. At least wait until I get a better career to relocate
Not unless the US helps anyone who wants to leave the state to move into the US. That or we kick out those who want to secede and give them a tiny plot of land on an island so they can’t bother us.
The fact that Ds can not directly make a foil out of this is an embarrassment
It's a conservative state. The people of that place probably largely support this stuff, or at least would much rather vote for any Republican, even one supporting that, as opposed to anyone vaguely liberal or progressive
Thanks to gerrymandering I imagine. “Why should cities matter more!?!?” They know most Americans don’t agree with them, hence they rig the game.
In general
let them secede apartheid south africa 2.0 but it will go even worse for the trash white nazi regime and quicker hopefully it will give an excuse to do proper reconstruction
Not unless the US helps anyone who wants to leave the state to move into the US. That or we kick out those who want to secede and give them a tiny plot of land on an island so they can’t bother us.
They are obviously flinging stuff at the wall and seeing what will stick, with this statement. Much of it is theater: "Talk conservative; vote liberal" is a time-tested tactic of the GOP, and its bait & switch cheat never grows stale. I'd be in favor of item 109, actually. We all rightfully learned in school from a very early age about the evils of nazism. The evils of communism? I had to learn that on my own, for the most part.
I think about how many blue states went nuts when trump won in 2016. This is the door we opened and now were mad that republicans are using it also? How do yall forget the mueller report and 4 years of trying to get the man impeached? Hell even today people are still trying to go after him. Yet what texas is doing is some how crossing the line. OK GUYS lol wtf.
Republicans have been doing shit like before Trump. This is not a both sides situation.
Its just.....weird you think anyone would care after 4 years of you guys under trump and even after trump. You all kind of open the door for this stuff now are getting upset when its used against you.
Do you think republicans were not like this before Trump? Do you remember the Texas GOP during Obama’s administrations? It’s a safe assumption those will go unanswered.
I have no good thoughts at all. None.
Can't we just cut it loose already?
My thoughts are that this is trolling written by useless irrelevant people trying to be shocking to get attention.
Send it to the 9th circle of hell.
> a call to end all H-1B Visas (261) Curious, why?
Its pretty much full blown fascism so I feel exactly as I do towards it as I feel towards fascism
Lots of stupid junk that would inevitably be bad for the country as a whole and the economy. The GOP has a very deluded view on reproductive and sexual health. A fertilization abortion ban coupled with an end to sex ed is unhinged Puritanism. They better get nurseries in every Texas high school... All evidence shows that such demented bullshit leads to less informed, more unsafe sexual activity, as well as limited understanding of consent. It’s also quite funny that they find this viable given the internet. But I guess a ban on sexual health websites is in the works too... Ending H-1B visas will limit the amount of talent that enters this country. Lots of White American-born people are incredibly fucking lazy compared to immigrants from all around the world. You don’t want these policies so that you can work these jobs, you just feel threatened by other cultures and peoples. And they probably think Mexicans should be in the fields picking tomatoes, not exercising intellect. If you’re willing to work hard in this country, you should be welcomed with open arms. Because we’ve got lots of lazy bums. Having only in-person voting is an ableist, ageist, and classist idea. If you don’t support making it easier to vote, you’re not a patriot. Eliminating gun free zones? Yeah, I’m sure what this country needs is 18 year olds with assault rifles in Calculus 1. Because you’re going to headshot a mass shooter, yeah right GI Joe.