1984 Republican Party Platform
(27,425 words, 85 pages)
PREAMBLE
This year, the American people will choose between two diametricallyopposed visions of what America should be.
The Republican Party looks at our people and sees a new dawn of the Americanspirit.
The Democratic Party looks at our nation and sees the twilight of theAmerican soul.
Republicans affirm that now, as throughout history, the spiritual andintellectual genius of the American people will create a better nation andmaintain a just peace. To Republicans, creativity and growth are imperativesfor a new era of opportunity for all.
The Republican Party's vision of America's future, the heart of our 1984Platform, begins with a basic premise:
From freedom comes opportunity; from opportunity comes growth; from growthcomes progress.
This is not some abstract formula. It is the vibrant, beating heart ofthe American experience. No matter how complex our problems, no matter howdifficult our tasks, it is freedom that inspires and guides the AmericanDream.
If everything depends on freedom ‹ and it does ‹ then securingfreedom, at home and around the world, is one of the most important endeavorsa free people can undertake.
Thus, the title of our Platform, "America's Future: Free and Secure,"is more than a summary of our Platform's message. It is the essence.
The Democratic Party understands none of this. It thinks our countryhas passed its peak. It offers Americans redistribution instead of expansion,contraction instead of growth, and despair instead of hope. In foreign policyit asserts the rhetoric of freedom, but in practice it follows a policyof withdrawal and isolation.
The Democratic Party, in its 1984 Platform, has tried to expropriatethe optimism and vision that marked the 1980 Republican Platform.
Rhetorical pilfering of Republican ideals cannot disguise one of history'smajor ironies: the party whose 1932 standard-bearer told the American people,as president, that all we have to fear is fear itself has itself becomethe party of fear.
Today we declare ourselves the Party of Hope ‹ not for some butfor all.
It has been said that mercy must have a human heart and pity a humanface. We agree. Democrats measure social programs in terms of governmentactivity alone. But the divine command to help our neighbor is directedto each individual and not to a bureaucratic machine. Not every problemcries out for a federal solution.
We must help the poor escape poverty by building an economy which createsmore jobs, the greatest poverty fighter of them all. Not to help the pooris to abandon them and demean our society; but to help the poor withoutoffering them a chance to escape poverty is ultimately to degrade us all.
The great tasks of compassion must be accomplished both by people whocare and by policies which foster economic growth to enhance all human development.
In all these areas, at home and abroad, Ronald Reagan has demonstratedthe boldness of vision, the optimism for our future, and the confidencein the American people that can transform human lives and the life of anation. That is what we expect from a President who, wounded by an assassin,walked his way into a hospital and cheerfully assured the world that heand his country would not be deterred from their destiny.
His example has shaped the 1984 Republican Platform, given it meaningand inspired its vision. We stand with President Reagan and with Vice PresidentBush to make it a reality.
ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY
Free Enterprise, Democracy, and the Role of Government
Free enterprise is fundamental to the American way of life. It is inseparablefrom the social, religious, political, and judicial institutions which formthe bedrock of a nation dedicated to individual freedom and human rights.
Economic growth enables all citizens to share in the nation's great physicaland spiritual wealth, and it is maximized by giving them the fullest opportunityto engage in economic activities and to retain the rewards of their labor.
Our society provides both a ladder of opportunity on which all can climbto success and a safety net of assistance for those who need it. To safeguardboth, government must protect property rights, provide a sound currency,and minimize its intrusions into individual decisions to work, save, invest,and take risks.
The role of the federal government should be limited. We reaffirm ourconviction that State and local governments closest to the people are thebest and most efficient. While President Reagan has done much to alleviatefederal regulatory and bureaucratic burdens on individuals and businesses,Congress has failed to act. The size and scope of the federal governmentremains much too large and must be reduced.
During the Carter-Mondale Administration, no group of Americans was sparedfrom the impact of a failing economy. Family budgets were stretched to thelimit to keep pace with increases in taxes and costs of food, energy, andhousing. For the first time, owning a home slipped out of reach for millions.Working people saw their wage increases outpaced by inflation. Older Americanssaw their savings and retirement incomes consumed by basic living costs.Young people found job opportunities narrowing. Disadvantaged Americansfaced an inefficient and wasteful bureaucracy which perpetuated programsof dependency. American business and industry faced recession, unemployment,and upheaval, as high interest rates, inflation, government regulation,and foreign competition combined to smother all enterprise and strike atour basic industries.
When President Reagan took office in 1981, our economy was in a disastrousstate. Inflation raged at 12.4 percent. The cost of living had jumped 45percent in the Carter-Mondale years. The prime rate was 21.5 percent. Federalspending increases of 17 percent per year, massive tax rate increases dueto inflation, and a monetary policy debasing the dollar had destroyed oureconomic stability.
We brought about a new beginning. Americans are better off than theywere four years ago, and they're still improving. Almost six and one-halfmillion have found jobs since the recovery began, the largest increase inour history. One and one-half million have come in manufacturing ‹a part of our economy designated for stagnation and government control byDemocrats. More than 107 million Americans, more than ever before, are working.Their industry proves that policies which increase incentives for work,saving, and investment do lead to economic growth, while the redistributionistpolicies of the past did cause unemployment, declining incomes, and idleindustries.
We will therefore continue to return control over the economy to thepeople. Our policies will maximize the role of the individual and buildon the success of the past four years: (a) the most rapid decline in unemploymentof any post-World War II recovery; (b) inflation dramatically reduced; (c)interest rates significantly cut; (d) a 25 percent cut in federal tax rates;(e) automatic tax increases eliminated by indexing tax rates; (f) the financialholdings of American families increased by over $1.8 trillion; (g) oil pricesdown 35 percent in real terms; and (h) 300 million hours once devoted togovernment paperwork returned to individuals and business.
Our most important economic goal is to expand and continue the economicrecovery and move the nation to full employment without inflation. We thereforeoppose any attempts to increase taxes, which would harm the recovery andreverse the trend to restoring control of the economy to individual Americans.We favor reducing deficits by continuing and expanding the strong economicrecovery brought about by the policies of this Administration and by eliminatingwasteful and unnecessary government spending. Mondale-Ferraro, by contrast,boast that they will raise taxes with ruinous effects on the economy.
To assure workers and entrepreneurs the capital required to provide jobsand growth, we will further expand incentives for personal saving. We willexpand coverage of the Individual Retirement Account, especially to homemakers,and increase and index the annual limits on IRA contributions. We will increasethe incentives for savings by moving toward the reduction of taxation ofinterest income. We will work for indexation of capital assets and eliminationof the double taxation of dividends to increase the attractiveness of equityinvestments for small investors.
We oppose withholding on dividend and interest income. It would discouragesaving and investment, create needless paperwork, and rob savers of theirdue benefits. A higher personal savings rate is key to deficit control.We therefore oppose any disincentives to thrift.
History has proven again and again that wage and price controls willnot stop inflation. Such controls only cause shortages, inequities, andultimately high prices. We remain firmly opposed to the imposition of wageand price controls.
We are committed to bringing the benefits of economic growth to all Americans.Therefore, we support policies which will increase opportunities for thepoorest in our society to climb the economic ladder. We will work to establishenterprise zones in urban and rural America; we will work to enable thoseliving in government-owned or subsidized housing to purchase their homes.
As part of our effort to reform the tax system, we will reduce disincentivesto employment which too often result in a poverty trap for poor Americanfamilies.
Fiscal and Monetary Policy
Taxation
A major goal of all Republicans in 1980 was to reduce the oppressivetax rates strangling Americans. The tax burden which had increased steadilyduring the Carter-Mondale Administration, was at a record high and scheduledto go even higher. Taxes as a percentage of GNP rose from 18.2 percent in1976 to 21 percent in 1981 and would have reached 24 percent by 1984. Thetax bill for the median-income family of four had risen from $1,713 in 1976to $2,778 in 1980 and would have reached $3,943 in 1984.
Double-digit inflation had pushed individuals into ever higher marginaltax brackets. High marginal tax rates reduced the incentive for work, saving,and investment, and retarded economic growth, productivity, and job creation.
With the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, we carried out the firstphase of tax reduction and reform by cutting marginal tax rates by 25 percent.Tax brackets were indexed to prevent tax hikes through bracket creep. Inaddition, families received further relief by reducing the marriage penaltyand lowering estate and gift taxes.
Businesses and workers benefitted when we replaced outdated depreciationsystems with the accelerated cost recovery system, reduced capital gainstax rates, and lowered the pressures which high tax rates place on wagedemands. Investment in plants and equipment has increased 16.5 percent since1982, resulting in 6.3 million new jobs.
In 1980, we promised the American people a tax cut which would be progressiveand fair, reducing tax rates across-the-board. Despite Democrat oppositionwe succeeded in reducing the tax rates of all taxpayers by about 25 percentwith low-income taxpayers receiving a slightly larger percentage tax reductionthan high-income taxpayers. These sound economic policies have succeeded.We will continue our efforts to further reduce tax rates and now foreseeno economic circumstances which would call for increased taxation.
The bulk of the tax cut goes to those who pay most of the taxes: middle-incometaxpayers. Nearly three-fourths of its benefits go to taxpayers earningless than $50,000. In fact, these taxpayers now pay a smaller percentageof total income taxes than they did in 1980; and those earning more than$50,000 pay a larger percentage of total income taxes than they did in 1980.
As a result, the income tax system is fairer now than it was under Carter-Mondale.To keep it fair, Republicans indexed the tax code: starting in 1985, individualtax brackets, the zero bracket amount, and the personal exemption will beadjusted annually for inflation. As a result, cost of living raises willno longer push taxpayers into higher brackets.
For years, congressional big spenders used inflation as a silent partnerto raise taxes without taking the heat for passing tax increases. With indexing,taxpayers will be protected against that theft. Low- and moderate-incometaxpayers benefit the most from indexing and would bear the brunt of thehidden tax increases if it were repealed.
Nearly 80 percent of the tax increase from the repeal of indexing wouldfall on taxpayers earning less than $50,000. For a family of four earning$10,000, repeal of indexing would result in a staggering 40 percent taxincrease over the next five years. We pledge to preserve tax indexing. Wewill fight any attempt to repeal, modify, or defer it.
The Republican Party pledges to continue our efforts to lower tax rates,change and modernize the tax system, and eliminate the incentive-destroyingeffects of graduated tax rates. We therefore support tax reform that willlead to a fair and simple tax system and believe a modified flat tax ‹with specific exemptions for such items as mortgage interest ‹ is amost promising approach.
For families, we will restore the value of personal exemptions, raisingit to a minimum of $2,000 and indexing to prevent further erosion. We willpreserve the deduction for mortgage interest payments. We will propose anemployment income exclusion to assure that tax burdens are not shifted tothe poor. Tax reform must not be a guise for tax increases. We believe suchan approach will enhance the income and opportunities of families and low-and middle-income Americans.
We oppose taxation of churches, religious schools, or any other religiousinstitutions. However, we do believe that any business income unrelatedto the religious function of the institution should be subject to the sametaxes paid by competing businesses.
We oppose the setting of artificially high interest rates which woulddrastically curtail the ability of sellers to finance sales of their ownproperty. Rather, we encourage marketplace transfer of homes, farms, andsmaller commercial properties.
Spending and Budget
The Republican Party believes the federal budget must be balanced. Weare committed to eliminating deficits and the excessive spending that causesthem. In 1980, federal spending was out of control, increasing at a rateof over 17 percent. We have cut that growth rate by almost two-thirds.
But Congress ignored many of the President's budget reforms. It scaledback and delayed the tax cuts. As a result, we began to pay the price forthe irresponsible spending and tax policies of the Carter-Mondale Administration.The resulting recession dramatically increased the deficit, and governmentspending continues at an unacceptable level.
Democrats claim deficits are caused by Americans' paying too little intaxes. Nonsense. We categorically reject proposals to increase taxes ina misguided effort to balance the budget. Tax and spending increases wouldreduce incentives for economic activity and threaten the recovery.
Even when we achieve full employment and with robust economic growth,federal spending ‹ including credit programs and other off-budget items‹ will remain too high. As a percentage of GNP, it must be reduced.
The congressional budget process is bankrupt. Its implementation hasnot brought spending under control, and it must be thoroughly reformed.We will work for the constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federalbudget passed by the Republican Senate but blocked by the Democrat-controlledHouse and denounced by the Democrat Platform. If Congress fails to act onthis issue, a constitutional convention should be convened to address onlythis issue in order to bring deficit spending under control.
The President is denied proper control over the federal budget. To remedythis, we support enhanced authority to prevent wasteful spending, includinga line-item veto.
Monetary Policy
Our 1980 Platform promised to bring inflation under control. We did it.This cruelest tax ‹ hitting hardest at the poor, the aged, and thoseon fixed incomes ‹ raged up to 13.3 percent under Carter-Mondale. Wehave brought it down to about 4 percent and we strive for lower levels.
The effects of our program have been dramatic. Real, after-tax incomesare rising. Food prices are stable. Interest rates have fallen dramatically,leading to a resurgence in home building, auto purchases, and capital investment.
Just as our tax policy has only laid the groundwork for a new era ofprosperity, reducing inflation is only the first step in restoring a stablecurrency. A dollar now should be worth a dollar in the future. This allowsreal economic growth without inflation and is the primary goal of our monetarypolicy.
The Federal Reserve Board's destabilizing actions must therefore stop.We need coordination between fiscal and monetary policy, timely informationabout Fed decisions, and an end to the uncertainties people face in obtainingmoney and credit. The Gold Standard may be a useful mechanism for realizingthe Federal Reserve's determination to adopt monetary policies needed tosustain price stability.
Domestically, a stable dollar will mean lower interest rates, risingreal wages, guaranteed value for retirement and education savings growthof assets through productive investment, affordable housing, and greaterjob security.
Internationally, a stable dollar will mean stable exchange rates, protectionfor contract prices, commodity prices which change only when real productionchanges, greater resources devoted to job-creating investment, less protectionistpressure, and increased trade and income for all nations.
Regulatory Reform
Our 1980 Platform declared that "excessive regulation remains amajor component of our nation's spiraling inflation and continues to stifleprivate initiatives, individual freedom, and State and local governmentautonomy." President Reagan's regulatory reform program contributedsignificantly to economic recovery by removing bureaucratic roadblocks andencouraging efficiency. In many fields, government regulation either didnot achieve its goals or made limited improvements at exorbitant cost. Wehave worked with industry and labor to get better results through cooperationrather than coercion.
The flood of regulation has stopped. The number of new regulations hasbeen halved. Unrestrained growth in the size and spending of the regulatoryworkforce has stopped. Some $150 billion will thereby be saved over thenext decade by consumers and businesses. In the past four years alone, 300million hours of government-mandated paperwork were eliminated. We havereduced the regulatory burden on Americans by making government rules ascost-effective as possible. We must maintain this progress through comprehensiveregulatory reform legislation and a constitutional procedure which willenable Congress to properly oversee executive branch rules by reviewingand, if necessary, overturning them.
So consumers can have the widest choice of services at the lowest possibleprices, Republicans commit themselves to breaking down artificial barriersto entry created by antiquated regulations. With the explosion of computertechnologies just beginning to enhance our way of life, we will encouragerather than hinder innovative competition in telecommunications and financialservices.
There are still federal statutes that keep Americans out of the workforce.Arbitrary minimum wage rates, for example, have eliminated hundreds of thousandsof jobs and, with them, the opportunity for young people to get productiveskills, good work habits, and a weekly paycheck. We encourage the adoptionof a youth opportunity wage to encourage employers to hire and train inexperiencedworkers.
We demand repeal of prohibitions against household manufacturing. Restrictionson work in the home are intolerable intrusions into our private lives andlimit economic opportunity, especially for women and the homebound.
Support For Small Business
America's small business entrepreneurs have led the way in fueling economicrecovery. Almost all the 11 million non-farm businesses in the United Statesare small, but they provide over 50 million jobs. We must keep them strongto ensure lasting prosperity. Republicans reaffirm our historic ties withindependent business people and pledge continued efforts to help this energeticsegment of our economy.
We have created a climate conducive to small business growth. Our taxrate reductions increased incentives for entrepreneurial activity and providedinvestment capital through incentives to save. Reduced capital gains taxesfurther stimulated capital formation and increased the return on small businessinvestment. Greater depreciation allowances encouraged modernization. Estatetax changes will allow families to keep the rewards of their labors.
We have insisted on less federal interference with small business. Asa result burdensome regulations were reduced. and runaway agencies likeOSHA were reined in. We have ensured that the federal government pays itsbills on time or pays interest penalties.
Presidential action has focused needed attention on increased governmentprocurement from small and minority businesses. In FY 1983 the Small BusinessAdministration directed $2.3 billion in federal sole-source contracts tominority firms through its 8(a) program ‹ a 45 percent increase over1980. This record amount was achieved along with management improvementsthat eliminated past abuses in that program.
Three million women business owners are generating $40 billion in annualreceipts and creating many new jobs. Yet, their enterprises face barriersin credit, access to capital, and technical assistance. They lag far behindin federal procurement contracts. We are dedicated to helping them becomefull partners in the economic mainstream of small business.
To them and to all who make America grow, we reaffirm our commitmentto reduce marginal tax rates further. We oppose any scheme to roll backthe estate tax cuts and will seek further reductions for family businesses.Moreover, we support lower capital gains tax rates and indexation of assetvalues to protect investors from inflation.
We will create enterprise zones to revitalize economically depressedareas by offering simplified regulation and lower taxes for small businessesthat relocate there.
We will make it easier for small businesses to compete for governmentcontracts, not only to assist the private sector but also to provide competitionand greater cost control in federal purchases.
In a continuing effort to offset our balance of trade, we reaffirm ourstrong support for this nation's tourism industry.
Science and Technology
We pledge to continue the Reagan Administration's science and technologypolicies, which have enhanced economic recovery and our nation's researchcapability.
We have refocused federal research and development spending on basicresearch, and it has increased more than 50 percent.
We propose to extend the incremental research and development tax creditto stimulate greater activity in the private sector.
To allow U.S. firms to compete on an equal footing with foreign companies,we will permit U.S. firms to cooperate in joint research and developmentprojects.
Energy
In 1980, energy prices were at all-time highs and rising rapidly. TheOPEC cartel had an iron grip on free world economies. Oil imports rose,and domestic production fell under Carter-Mondale price controls and allocations.Competition in energy markets declined.
We have all but eliminated those disastrous policies. President Reagan'simmediate decontrol of oil prices precipitated a decline in real oil pricesand increased competition in all energy markets. Oil price decontrol crippledthe OPEC cartel.
The results have been dramatic. Imported oil prices are down 35 percentin real terms. The real price of gasoline is at a five-year low. Energyconsumption has declined relative to economic growth. Energy efficiencyincreased by 12 percent since 1980, with lower costs to businesses and families.The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is now four times larger than in 1980, providingsignificant protection against any disruption in imports.
We will complete America's energy agenda. Natural gas should be responsiblydecontrolled as rapidly as possible so that families and businesses canenjoy the full benefits of lower prices and greater production, as withdecontrolled oil. We are committed to the repeal of the confiscatory windfallprofits tax, which has forced the American consumer to pay more for lessand left us vulnerable to the energy and economic stranglehold of foreignproducers.
While protecting the environment, we should permit abundant Americancoal to be mined and consumed. Environmentally sound development of oiland natural gas on federal properties (which has brought the taxpayers $20billion in revenue in the last four years) should continue. We believe thatas controls have been lifted from the energy marketplace, conservation andalternative sources of energy, such as solar, wind, and geothermal, havebecome increasingly cost-effective. We further take pride in the fact thatReagan Administration economic policies have created an environment mostfavorable to the small businesses that pioneer these alternative technologies.
We now have a sound, long-term program for disposal of nuclear waste.We will work to eliminate unnecessary regulatory procedures so that nuclearplants can be brought on line quickly, efficiently, and safely. We callfor an energy policy, the stability and continuity of which will restoreand encourage public confidence in the fiscal stability of the nuclear industry.
We are committed to the termination of the Department of Energy. PresidentReagan has succeeded in abolishing that part which was telling Americanswhat to buy, where to buy it, and at what price ‹ the regulatory partof DOE. Then he reduced the number of bureaucrats by 25 percent. Now isthe time to complete the job.
Agriculture
Securing a Prosperous Rural America
The Republican Party is thankful for, and proud of, the ability of Americanfarmers and ranchers to provide abundant, high quality, and nutritious foodand fiber for all our citizens and millions more throughout the world. Thisunmatched ability to produce is basic to this country's high standard ofliving. We recognize that a prosperous agriculture is essential to the futureof America and to the health and welfare of its people. We have set thestage for securing prosperity in rural America. In 1979, farm and ranchproduction costs increased 19 percent, in 1983 they actually declined byalmost 3 percent. The prime interest rate has been brought down from 21.5percent to 13 percent. Our reputation as a reliable world food and fibersupplier has been restored. Despite that remarkable beginning, much remainsto be done.
We believe well managed, efficient American farm and ranch operationsare the most cost-effective and productive food and fiber suppliers in theworld, and therefore have the inherent economic capability and right tomake a profit from their labor, management, and investments. The primaryresponsibility of government with respect to agriculture is to create theopportunity for a free and competitive economic and policy environment supportiveof the American farmers' and ranchers' industrious and independent spiritand innovative talent. We further believe that, to the extent some well-managedand efficient farms and ranches are temporarily unable to make a profitin the marketplace, it is in the public interest to provide reasonable andtargeted assistance.
The Carter-Mondale Administration, and 28 years of a Congress rigidlycontrolled by the Democrats and out of touch with the people, brought farmersand ranchers to the hardest times since the Great Depression. Farm and ranchincomes fell to disastrous levels. Uncontrolled inflation and the highestinterest rates in over a century prevented farmers from operating at a profit,and 300,000 of them went out of business under Carter-Mondale.
In the span of but four devastating years, the Carter-Mondale Administrationmanaged to jeopardize this country's agricultural heritage by putting America'sfarmers $78 billion further in debt (a 75 percent increase) and inflatingfarmers' annual food and fiber production costs by $46 billion (55 percentincrease). These irresponsible inflationary policies led to spiraling landvalues and to the illusion of enhanced debt-bearing wealth. This paper wealthwas converted into very real and unavoidable debt. Debt payments, combinedwith record cost of production levels, have presented many farmers and rancherswith severe cash flow problems. On top of all that came the Carter-Mondalegrain embargo of 1980. Thus, one begins to understand the origins of thefinancial stress farmers and ranchers are experiencing today. Adding insultto injury, farmers and ranchers found themselves blamed as Carter-Mondaleinflation ballooned consumer food costs by $115 billion, a 50 percent increasein four years.
Republicans support a sound agricultural credit policy, including theFarm Credit System, to meet agriculture's expanding credit needs. We supportan extensive examination of agricultural and rural credit and crop insuranceprograms to assure they are adequately serving our farmers and rural residents.
Interest Rates and Farm and Ranch Indebtedness
The magnitude of indebtedness and the level of interest rates significantlyinfluence farm and ranch profitability. The interrelationship between highinterest rates and the high value of the dollar has caused an erosion inour competitive position in export markets. Republicans recognize that lowerinterest rates are vital to a healthy farm and ranch economy and pledgethat an economic priority of the first order will be the further loweringof interest rates by intensifying our efforts to cut federal spending toachieve a balanced budget and reform Federal Reserve policy.
Republicans are very much aware of the devastating impact which highinterest rates have had, and continue to have, on the viability of America'sfarmers and ranchers. We also realize that, unless interest rates declinesignificantly in the near future, the character of American agricultureand rural life will be tragically changed. For these reasons, we pledgeto pursue every possible course of action, including the consideration oftemporary interest rate reductions, to ensure the American farmer or rancheris not a patient that dies in the course of a successful economic operation.
Republicans are cognizant that there are many well-managed, efficient,farm and ranch operations which face bankruptcy and foreclosure. The foreclosuresand resulting land sales will jeopardize the equity positions of neighboringfarms and ranches, compounding financial problems in agriculture. Republicanspledge to implement comprehensive Farmers Home Administration and commercialfarm and ranch debt restructuring procedures, including the establishmentof local community farm and ranch finance committees which shall adviseborrowers, lenders, and government officials regarding debt restructuringalternatives and farmer and rancher eligibility.
Setting the Stage for Farm and Ranch Recovery
Sensitive to the needs of farmers and ranchers, we have made the bestof the tools available to deal with the Carter-Mondale failure. Among themany specific accomplishments of the Reagan Administration in agriculture,Republicans are proud to have:
We want real profits for farmers and ranchers We have begun the turnaroundon farm and ranch incomes. Sound fiscal, monetary, and growth-oriented taxpolicies are essential if farmers are to realize sufficient and enduringprofits. We support legislation to permit farmers, ranchers, and other self-employedindividuals to deduct from their gross income up to one-half of the costof their personal hospitalization Insurance premiums.
Government policies should strengthen the ability of farmers and ranchersto provide quality products at reasonable rates of return in an expandingeconomy. We believe that federal farm programs should be tailored to meeteconomic needs and requirements of today's structurally diverse and internationallyoriented agriculture. These programs must be sensitive to potential impactson all agriculture, especially non-program commodities, livestock, agribusinessand rural communities.
Republicans believe that the future of American agriculture lies in theutilization of our rich farmland, advanced technology, and hard workingfarm and ranch people, to supply food and fiber to the world. Traditionalfarm programs have threatened the confidence of America's farmers and ranchersand exhausted the patience of American taxpayers. We reject the policy ofmore of the same, and we further reject the Democrats' public utility visionof agriculture which views it as a problem to be minimized by further politicaland bureaucratic management. Our new programs will bring the flexibilityto adjust to rapidly changing export market conditions and opportunities,and, in a timely and effective manner, respond to the inherent, uncontrollablerisks of farming and ranching.
Rural Americans impart a special strength to our national character,important to us all. Whether farmers or not, all rural citizens should havethe same consideration as those who live in towns and cities in economicdevelopment, energy, credit, transportation availability, and employment.Opportunities for non-farm jobs have become increasingly important to farmand ranch families, enhancing life and work in rural America.
Toward Fair and Expanded Markets and Responding to Hunger
Agriculture is an international advantage for the United States. Buta successful farm and ranch policy demands earnest attention to buildingon the strength of our domestic production capacity and to developing worldmarkets, for American agriculture cannot be prosperous without exports.
Our farmers and ranchers must have full access to world markets and shouldnot have to face unfair export subsidies and predatory dumping by otherproducing nations without redress. Republicans believe that unfair tradepractices and non-tariff barriers are so serious that a comprehensive renegotiationof multilateral trade arrangements must be undertaken to revitalize thefree, fair, and open trade critical to worldwide economic growth.
The Republican Party is unalterably opposed to the use of embargoes ofgrain or other agricultural products as a tool of foreign policy. The Carter-Mondalegrain embargo is still ‹ more than any other factor ‹ the causeof the present difficulties in American agriculture and possibly the irretrievableloss of foreign markets. Republicans say "Never again." The DemocraticPlatform says nothing.
America has a long history of helping those in need, and the responsibilityfor food assistance has been shared by federal and State governments andneighborhood volunteers. Federal expenditures in this area exceeded $19billion in 1983 the highest amount ever. Numerous private and public effortsassure that adequate food is available. This expresses faith in our futureand reflects our people's goodness.
We will provide adequate resources in programs ranging from food stampsto school lunches for the truly needy. We also recognize that fraud andabuse must be eliminated from those programs. We stress maximum local controlconsistent with national objectives.
Reducing Excessive Regulation in Agriculture
Excessive federal regulations, many imposed by the Carter-Mondale Administration,have been a crushing burden.
In 1980, we pledged to make sensible reductions in regulations that drainedthe profitability from farming, ranching, and commercial fishing. We didjust that. We restored balance to the Interior Department's ineffectivepredator-control policies, and we moderated the EPA's and the FDA's excessiveadherence to "zero risk" standards concerning the use of pesticides,antibiotics, food additives, and preservatives.
Republicans favor modernizing our food-safety laws, providing guidelinesfor risk-benefit assessment, peer review, and regulatory flexibility consistentwith other health and safety policies.
Soil and Water Conservation
Agriculture must be both economically and environmentally sustainable.The soil and water stewardship of our farmers, ranchers, watermen, and ruralpeople is commendable. Republicans believe that long-term soil, water, andother conservation policies, emphasizing environmentally sound agriculturalproductivity, rangeland protection, fish and wildlife habitat, and balancedforestry management, must be a top priority. Conservation practices mustbe intensified and integrated with farm programs to safeguard our most valuableresources. Volunteer participation, emphasizing State and local controland adequate incentives, is essential to effective conservation.
Water Policy
In 1980, we pledged a water policy which addressed our national diversityin climate, geography, reclamation needs, and patterns of land ownership.We promised a partnership between the States and federal government whichwould not destroy traditional State supremacy in water law, and which wouldavert a water crisis in the coming decades. That partnership is now workingto meet these challenges.
The Future of Farming
American agriculture is the world's most successful because of the hardwork and creativity of family farmers and ranchers. They have benefittedimmensely from agricultural research, extension, and teaching, unequalledin the world. Cooperative extension, operating in every county, brings theresults of USDA and Land Grant University research to rural America. Wesupport these programs, with special attention to marketing efficiencies,reduced production costs, and new uses for farm and ranch commodities. Wealso encourage the establishment of regional international research andexport trade centers.
Our agricultural people have developed the ideals of free enterpriseand have based their enterprise on our culture's basic element, the family.The family farm and ranch is defined as a unit of agriculture productionmanaged as an enterprise where labor and management have an equity interestin the business and a direct gain or loss from its operation. Family farmsand ranches are the heart, soul, and backbone of American agriculture; itis the family farm that makes our system work better than any other.
Our rural and coastal people developed a great diversity of support organizations.They organized farm and ranch cooperatives, and rural electric and telephonecooperatives to provide essential services. They established farm and ranchorganizations to work for better farm policies and to improve the qualityof rural life. Republicans note with particular pride and enthusiasm thevital impact women have always had in American farming and ranching, andwe support efforts to increase their role.
American agriculture has always relied upon the hardworking people whoharvest seasonal and perishable crops. Republicans support comprehensivefarm-labor legislation, fair to workers and employers, to protect consumersfrom work stoppages which disrupt the flow of food.
Republicans also recognize the tremendous efforts of commercial fishersto bring nutritious seafood products to market, thus strengthening America'sfood base.
Our agriculture is both a global resource and a tremendous opportunity.Only America possesses the natural, technological, management, and laborresources to commercially develop agriculture's next frontier.
We are encouraged by innovation in agriculture, and applaud its diversity,creativity, and enterprise. Commercial applications of new technology andmarketing and management innovations are creating additional opportunitiesfor farming and ranching. Republicans have set the stage for building anew prosperity into our fundamentally strong agricultural system. We renewour national commitment to American farmers and ranchers.
International Economic Policy
The recent tremendous expansion of international trade has increasedthe standard of living worldwide. Our strong economy is attracting investmentin the United States, which is providing capital needed for new jobs, technology,higher wages, and more competitive products.
We are committed to a free and open international trading system. AllAmericans benefit from the free flow of goods, services and capital, andthe efficiencies of a vigorous international market. We will work with allof our international trading partners to eliminate barriers to trade, bothtariff and non-tariff. As a first step, we call on our trading partnersto join in a new round of trade negotiations to revise the General Agreementon Tariffs and Trade in order to strengthen it. And we further call on ourtrading partners to join us in reviewing trade with totalitarian regimes.
But free trade must be fair trade. It works only when all trading partnersaccept open markets for goods, services, and investments. We will reviewexisting trade agreements and vigorously enforce trade laws including assuranceof access to all markets for our service industries. We will pursue domesticand international policies that will allow our American manufacturing andagricultural industries to compete in international markets. We will nottolerate the loss of American jobs to nationalized, subsidized, protectedforeign industries, particularly in steel, automobiles, mining, footwear,textiles, and other basic industries. This production is sometimes financedwith our own tax dollars through international institutions. We will workto stop funding of such projects that are detrimental to our own economy.
The greatest danger today to our international trade is a growing protectionistsentiment. Tremendous fluctuations in exchange rates have rendered long-terminternational contracts virtually useless. We therefore urge our tradingpartners to join us in evaluating and correcting the structural problemsof the international monetary system, to base it on more stable exchangerates and free capital markets.
Further, we support reorganization of trade responsibilities in orderto reduce overlap, duplication, and waste in the conduct of internationaltrade and industry.
Revisions in that system will stabilize trade relations so that debtornations can repay their debts. These debts are the direct result of theirdomestic policies, often mandated by multilateral institutions, combinedwith the breakdown of the international monetary system. Slower economicgrowth, reduced imports, and higher taxes will not relieve debt burdens,but worsen them. The only way to repay the debts is to create productivecapacity to generate new wealth through economic expansion, as America hasdone.
Austerity should be imposed not on people, but on governments. Debtornations seeking our assistance must increase incentives for growth by encouragingprivate investment, reducing taxes, and eliminating subsidies, price controls,and politically motivated development projects.
SECURITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
America was built on the institutions of home, family, religion, andneighborhood. From these basic building blocks came self-reliant individuals,prepared to exercise both rights and responsibilities.
In the community of individuals and families, every generation has relearnedthe art of self-government. In our neighborhoods, Americans have traditionallytaken care of their needs and aided the less fortunate. In the process wedeveloped, independent of government, the remarkable network of "mediatinginstitutions" ‹ religious groups, unions, community, and professionalassociations. Prominent among them have been innumerable volunteer groups,from fire departments and neighborhood-watch patrols to meals-on-wheelsand the little leagues.
Public policy long ignored these foundations of American life. Especiallyduring the two decades preceding Ronald Reagan's election, the federal governmenteroded their authority, ignored their rights, and attempted to supplanttheir functions with programs at once intrusive and ineffectual. It therebydisrupted our traditional patterns of caring, sharing, and helping. It elbowedout the voluntary providers of services and aid instead of working throughthem.
By centralizing responsibility for social programs in Washington, liberalexperimenters destroyed the sense of community that sustains local institutions.In many cases, they literally broke up neighborhoods and devastated ruralcommunities.
Washington's governing elite thought they knew better than the peoplehow to spend the people's money. They played fast and loose with our schools,with law enforcement, with welfare, with housing. The results were decliningliteracy and learning, an epidemic of crime, a massive increase in dependency,and the slumming of our cities.
Worst of all, they tried to build their brave new world by assaultingour basic values. They mocked the work ethic. They scorned frugality. Theyattacked the integrity of the family and parental rights. They ignored traditionalmorality. And they still do.
Our 1980 Republican Platform offered a renewed vision. We based it uponhome, family, and community as the surest guarantees of both individualrights and national greatness. We asserted, as we do now, the ethical dimensionof public policy: the need to return to enduring principles of conduct andfirm standards of judgment.
The American people responded with enthusiasm. They knew that our roots,in family, home, and neighborhood, do not tie us down. They give us strength.Once more we call upon our people to assert their supervision over government,to affirm their rights against government, to uphold their interests withingovernment.
Housing and Homeownership
Homeownership is part of the American Dream. For the last two decades,that dream has been endangered by bad public policy. Government unleasheda dreadful inflation upon homebuyers, driving mortgage rates beyond thereach of average families, as the prime rate rose more than 300 percent(from 6.5 percent to 21.5 percent). The American worker's purchasing powerfell every year from 1977 through 1980.
No wonder the housing industry was crippled. Its workers faced recurrentrecessions. The boom-and-bust cycle made saving foolish, investment risky,and housing scarce.
Federal housing blighted stable low-income neighborhoods, disruptingcommunities which people had held together for generations. Only governmentcould have wasted billions of dollars to create the instant slums whichdisgrace our cities.
In our 1980 Platform, we pledged to reverse this situation. We have begunto do so, despite obstructionism from those who believe that the taxpayer'shome is government's castle.
We attacked the basic problem, not the symptoms. We cut tax rates andreduced inflation to a fraction of the Carter-Mondale years. The medianprice house that would cost $94 800 if Carter-Mondale inflation had continuednow costs $74,200. The average monthly mortgage payment, which rose by $342during the Carter-Mondale years, has increased just $24 since January 1981.The American Dream has made a comeback.
To sustain it, we must finish the people's agenda.
We reaffirm our commitment to the federal-tax deductibility of mortgageinterest payments. In the States, we stand with those working to lower propertytaxes that strike hardest at the poor, the elderly, and large families.We stand. as well, with Americans earning possession of their homes through"sweat-equity" programs.
We will, over time, replace subsidies and welfare projects with a vouchersystem returning public housing to the free market.
Despite billions of dollars poured into public housing developments,conditions remain deplorable for many low-income Americans who live in them.These projects have become breeding grounds for the very problems they weremeant to eliminate. Their dilapidated and crumbling structures testify todecades of corrupt or incompetent management by poverty bureaucrats.
Some residents of public housing developments have reversed these conditionsby successfully managing their own housing units through creative self-helpefforts. It is abundantly clear that their pride of ownership has been themost important factor contributing to the efficiency of operation, enhancingthe quality of housing, improving community morale, and providing incentivesfor their self-improvement. The Republican Party therefore supports thedevelopment of programs which will lead to homeownership of public housingdevelopments by current residents.
We strongly believe in open housing. We will vigorously enforce all fairhousing laws and will not tolerate their distortion into quotas and controls.
Rent controls promise housing below its market cost but inevitably resultin a shortage of decent homes. Our people should not have to underwriteany community which erodes its own housing supply by rent control.
Sound economic policy is good housing policy. In our expanding economy,where people are free to work and save, they will shelter their familieswithout government intrusion.
Welfare
Helping the less fortunate is one of America's noblest endeavors, madepossible by the abundance of our free and competitive economy. Aid shouldbe swift and adequate to ensure the necessities of a decent life.
Over the past two decades, welfare became a nightmare for the taxpayerand the poor alike. Fraud and abuse were rampant. The costs of public assistanceare astronomical, in large part because resources often benefit the welfareindustry rather than the poor.
During the 1970s, the number of people receiving federal assistance increasedby almost 300 percent, from 9 million to 35 million, while our populationincreased by only 11.4 percent. This was a fantastic and unsustainable universalizationof welfare.
Welfare's indirect effects were equally bad. It became a substitute forurgently needed economic reforms to create more entry-level jobs. Governmentcreated a hellish cycle of dependency. Family cohesion was shattered, bothby providing economic incentives to set up maternal households and by usurpingthe breadwinner's economic role in intact families.
The cruelest result was the maternalization of poverty, worsened by thebreakdown of the family and accelerated by destructive patterns of conducttoo long tolerated by permissive liberals. We endorse programs to assistfemale-headed households to build self-sufficiency, such as efforts by localitiesto enable participants to achieve permanent employment.
We have begun to clean up the welfare mess. We have dramatically reducedthe poor's worst enemy ‹ inflation ‹ thereby protecting theirpurchasing power. Our resurgent economy has created over six million newjobs and reduced unemployment by 30 percent.
We have launched real welfare reforms. We have targeted benefits to theneedy through tighter eligibility standards, enforced child-support laws,and encouraged "workfare" in the States. We gave States more leewayin managing welfare programs, more assistance with fraud control, and moreincentives to hold down costs.
Only sustained economic growth, continuing our vigorous recovery, cangive credible hope to those at the bottom of the opportunity ladder.
The working poor deserve special consideration, as do low-income familiesstruggling to provide for their children. As part of comprehensive simplificationof the federal tax code, we will restore the real value of their personaltax exemptions so that families, particularly young families, can establishtheir economic independence.
Federal administration of welfare is the worst possible, detached fromcommunity needs and careless with the public's money. Our long traditionof State and local administration of aid programs must be restored. Programsand resources must be returned to State and local governments and not merelyexchanged with them. We will support block grants to combine duplicativeprograms under State administration.
We must also recognize and stimulate the talents and energy of low-incomeneighborhoods. We must provide new incentives for self-help activities thatflow naturally when people realize they can make a difference. This is especiallycritical in foster care and adoption.
Because there are different reasons for poverty, our programs addressdifferent needs and must never be replaced with a unitary income guarantee.That would betray the interest of the poor and the taxpayers alike.
We will employ the latest technology to combat welfare fraud in orderto protect the needy from the greedy.
Whenever possible, public assistance must be a transition to the worldof work, except in cases, particularly with the aged and disabled, wherethat is not appropriate. In other cases, it is long overdue.
Remedying poverty requires that we sustain and broaden economic recovery,hold families together, get government's hand out of their pocketbooks,and restore the work ethic.
Health
Our tremendous investment in health care has brought us almost miraculousadvances. Although costs are still too high, we have dramatically enhancedthe length and quality of life for all.
Faced with Medicare and Medicaid mismanagement, government tried to rationhealth care through arbitrary cuts in eligibility and benefits. Meanwhile,inflation drove up medical bills for us all. Economic incentives were backwards,with little awareness of costs by individual patients. Reimbursement mechanismswere based on expenses incurred, rather than set prospectively. Conspicuouslyabsent were free-market incentives to respond to consumer wishes. Instead,government's heavy hand was everywhere.
We narrowly averted disaster. We moved creatively and carefully to restructureincentives, to free competition, to encourage flexible new approaches inthe States, and to identify better means of health-care delivery. Applyingthese principles, we will preserve Medicare and Medicaid. We will eliminatethe excesses and inefficiencies which drove costs unacceptably high in thoseprograms. In order to assure their solvency and to avoid placing undue burdenson beneficiaries, reform must be a priority. The Republican Party reaffirmsits commitment to assure a basic level of high quality health care for allAmericans. We reaffirm as well our opposition to any proposals for compulsorynational health insurance.
While Republicans held the line against government takeover of healthcare, the American people found private ways to meet new challenges. Therehas been a laudable surge in preventive health care and an emphasis uponpersonal responsibility for maintaining one's health. Compassionate innovationhas developed insurance against catastrophic illness, and capitated "atrisk" plans are encouraging innovation and creativity.
We will maintain our commitment to health excellence by fostering researchinto yet-unconquered diseases. There is no better investment we as a nationcan make than in programs which hold the promise of sounder health and longerlife. For every dollar we spend on health research, we save many more inhealth care costs. Thus, what we invest in medical research today will yieldbillions of dollars in individual productivity as well as savings in Medicareand Medicaid. The federal government has been the major source of supportfor biomedical research since 1945. That research effort holds great promisefor combatting cancer, heart disease, brain disorders, mental illness, diabetes,Alzheimer's disease, sickle cell anemia and numerous other illnesses whichthreaten our nation's welfare. We commit to its continuance.
Many health problems arise within the family and should be dealt withthere. We affirm the right and responsibility of parents to participatein decisions about the treatment of children. We will not tolerate the useof federal funds, taxed away from parents, to abrogate their role in familyhealth care.
Republicans have secured for the hospice movement an important role infederal health programs. We must do more to enable persons to remain withinthe unbroken family circle. For those elderly confined to nursing homesor hospitals, we insist that they be treated with dignity and full medicalassistance.
Discrimination in health care is unacceptable; we guarantee, especiallyfor the handicapped, non-discrimination in the compassionate healing thatmarks American medicine.
Government must not impose cumbersome health planning that causes majordelays, increases construction costs, and stifles competition. It shouldnot unduly delay the approval of new medicines, nor adhere to outdated safetystandards hindering rapidly advancing technology.
We must address ailments, not symptoms, in health-care policy. Drug andalcohol abuse costs thousands of lives and billions of dollars every year.We reaffirm our vigorous commitment to alcohol and drug abuse preventionand education efforts. We salute the citizens' campaign, launched from America'sgrassroots, against drunk driving. We applaud those States which raisedthe legal drinking age.
Much illness, especially among the elderly, is related to poor nutrition.The reasons are more often social than economic: isolation, separation fromfamily, and often a mismatch between nutritional needs and available assistance.This reinforces our efforts to protect federal nutrition programs from fraudand abuse, so that their benefits can be concentrated upon the truly needy.
A supportive environment linking family, home, neighborhood, and workplaceis essential to sound health policy. The other essential step is to encouragethe individual responsibility and group assistance that are uniquely American.
Environment
It is part of the Republican philosophy to preserve the best of our heritage,including our natural resources. The environment is not just a scientificor technological issue, it is a human one. Republicans put the needs ofpeople at the center of environmental concerns. We assert the people's stewardshipof our God-given natural resources. We pledge to meet the challenges ofenvironmental protection, economic growth, regulatory reform, enhancementof our scenic and recreational areas, conservation of our non-renewableresources, and preservation of our irreplaceable natural heritage.
Americans were environmentalists long before it became fashionable. Ourfarmers cared for the earth and made it the world's most bountiful. Ourfamilies cared for their neighborhoods as an investment in our children'sfuture. We pioneered the conservation that replenished our forests, preservedour wildlife, and created our national park system.
The American people have joined together in a great national effort toprotect the promise of our future by conserving the rich beauty and bountyof our heritage. As a result, by almost any measure, the air is cleanerthan it was 10 years ago, and fish are returning to rivers where they hadnot been seen for generations.
Within the last four years, dramatic progress has been made in protectingcoastal barrier islands, and we began the Park Preservation and RestorationProgram to restore the most celebrated symbols of our heritage. We supportprograms to restore and protect the nation's estuaries, wetland resources,and beaches.
The Republican Party endorses a strong effort to control and clean uptoxic wastes. We have already tripled funding to clean up hazardous wastedumps, quadrupled funding for acid rain research, and launched the rebirthof the Chesapeake Bay.
The environmental policy of our nation originated with the RepublicanParty under the inspiration of Theodore Roosevelt. We hold it a privilegeto build upon the foundation which we have laid. The Republican Party supportsthe continued commitment to clean air and clean water. This support includesthe implementation of meaningful clean air and clean water acts. We willcontinue to offer leadership to reduce the threat to our environment andour economy from acid rain, while at the same time preventing economic dislocation.
Even as many environmental problems have been brought under control,new ones have been detected. And all the while, the growth and shifts ofpopulation and economic expansion, as well as the development of new industries,will further intensify the competing demands on our national resources.
Continued progress will be much more difficult. The environmental challengesof the 1980s are much more complex than the ones we tried to address inthe 1970s, and they will not yield quickly to our efforts. As the scienceand administration of environmental protection have become more sophisticated,we have learned of many subtle and potentially more dangerous threats topublic health and the environment.
In setting out to find solutions to the environmental issues of the 1980sand 1990s, we start with a healthy appreciation of difficulties involved.Detecting contamination, assessing the threat, correcting the damage, settingup preventive measures, all raise questions of science, technology, andpublic policy that are as difficult as they are important. However, thehealth and well being of our citizens must be a high priority.
The number of people served by waste water treatment systems has nearlydoubled just since 1970. The federal government should offer assistanceto State and local governments in planning for the disposal of solid andliquid wastes. A top priority nationwide should be to eliminate the dumpingof raw sewage.
We encourage recycling of materials and support programs which will allowour economic system to reward resource conservation.
We also commit ourselves to the development of renewable and efficientenergy sources and to the protection of endangered or threatened speciesof plants and wildlife.
We will be responsible to future generations, but at the same time, wemust remember that quality of life means more than protection and preservation.As Teddy Roosevelt put it, conservation means development as much as itdoes protection." Quality of life also means a good job, a decent placeto live, accommodation for a growing population, and the continued economicand technological development essential to our standard of living, whichis the envy of the whole world.
Transportation
America's overall transportation system is unequalled. Generating over20 percent of our GNP and employing one of every nine people in the workforce, it promotes the unity amid diversity that uniquely characterizesour country. We travel widely, and we move the products of field and factorymore efficiently and economically than any other people on earth.
And yet, four years ago, the future of American transportation was threatened.Over several decades, its vigor and creativity had been stunted by the intrusionof government regulation. The results were terribly expensive, and consumerspaid the price. Our skies and highways were becoming dangerous and congested.With the same vision that marked President Eisenhower's beginning of theInterstate Highway System, the Reagan Administration launched a massivemodernization of America's transport systems.
An expanded highway program is rebuilding the nation's roads and bridgesand creating several hundred thousand jobs in construction and related fields.Driving mileage has increased by 8 percent, but greater attention to safetyhas led to a 17 percent reduction in fatalities, saving more than 8,000lives yearly.
In public transit, we have redefined the federal role to emphasize supportfor capital investment, while restoring day-today responsibility to localauthorities.
Our National Airspace Plan is revolutionizing air traffic control. Itwill improve flight safety and double the nation's flight capacity, providingbetter air service and stimulating economic growth.
Regulatory reform is revitalizing American transportation. Federal agencieshad protected monopolies by erecting regulatory barriers that hindered theentry of new competitors. Small businesses and minority enterprises werevirtually excluded. Prices were set, not by the public through free exchange,but by Washington clerks through green eyeshades.
Republicans led the successful fight to break government's stranglehold.The deregulation of airline economics (not their safety!) will be completedon December 30 1984, when the Civil Aeronautics Board closes its doors forever.Through our regulatory reform efforts, the rail and trucking industriesare now allowed to compete in both price and service. We also led the fightto deregulate interstate bus operations by enacting the Bus Regulatory ReformAct of 1982. While returning to a more free and competitive marketplace,we have ensured that small communities in rural America will retain necessaryservices through transitional assistance like the Essential Air ServiceProgram, which will continue for four more years.
The Shipping Act of 1984 secured the first major reform of maritime law,as it applies to the U.S. liner trade, since 1916. This major step introducesgenuine competition to the maritime industry, while enhancing our abilityto compete against international cartels. Important in peacetime, criticalin times of conflict, one of our proudest industries had long been neglected.We have expanded employment and brought hope of a future worthy of its past.The Reagan defense program now provides more work for our shipyards thanat any time since World War II. We seek to halt the decline of our commercialfleet and restore it to economic strength and strategic capacity to fulfillits national obligations. We also seek to maximize the use of our nation'sexisting port facilities and shipbuilding and repair capability as a vitaltransportation resource that should be preserved in the best long-term interestof this country.
The American people benefit from regulatory reform. Air travelers nowhave a remarkable range of options, and flight is within reach of the averagefamily budget. In the trucking business, increased competition has loweredprices and improved service.
The future of America's freight rail system is again bright. As a resultof our reforms, the major private railroads have climbed back to profitability.Government red tape caused their red ink; by cutting the former, we arewiping out the latter. In addition, we transformed Conrail from a multi-billiondollar drain on the taxpayers into an efficient, competitive freight railroad.Returning Conrail as a financially sound single entity to private ownership,with service and jobs secure, will provide the nation with an improved railfreight system to promote economic growth. It will also return to the Treasurya significant portion of the taxpayers' investment, virtually unheard offor a federal project. We support improved passenger rail service whereeconomically justified. We have made substantial progress in reducing thetaxpayers' subsidy to Amtrak while maintaining services for which thereis genuine demand. The Reagan Administration is selling the Alaska Railroadto the State of Alaska and transferring Conrail's commuter lines to thejurisdictions they serve.
The Republican Party believes that the nation's long-term economic growthwill depend heavily on the adequacy of its public works infrastructure.We will continue to work to reverse the long-term decline that has occurred.We should foster development of better information on the magnitude andeffectiveness of current federal, State and local government capital expendituresand innovative financing mechanisms which would improve our capacity toleverage limited federal funds more effectively.
America's leadership in space depends upon the vitality of free enterprise.That is why we encourage a commercial space-transportation industry. Weshare President Reagan's vision of a permanent manned space station withina decade, viewing it as the first stepping stone toward creating a multi-billiondollar private economy in space. The permanent presence of man in spaceis crucial both to developing a visionary program of space commercializationand to creating an opportunity society on Earth of benefit to all mankind.We are, after all, the people who hewed roads out of the wilderness. Ourfamilies crossed ocean, prairie, and desert no less dangerous than today'sspace frontier to reach a new world of opportunity. And every route theytook became a highway of liberty. Like them, we know where we are going:forward, toward a future in our hands. Because of them, and because of usour children's children will use space transportation to build both prosperityand peace on earth.
Education and Youth
Our children are our hope and our future. For their sake, President Reaganhas led a national renewal to get back to the "basics" and excellencein education. Young people have turned away from the rebellion of the 1960sand the pessimism of the 1970s. Their hopeful enthusiasm speaks better fora bright future than any government program.
During the Reagan Administration, we restored education to prominencein public policy. This change will clearly benefit our youth and our country.By using the spotlight of the Oval office, the Reagan Administration turnedthe nation's attention to the quality of education and gave its supportto local and State improvement efforts. Parents and all segments of Americansociety responded overwhelmingly to the findings of the National Commissionon Excellence in Education, appointed by President Reagan. Its report, alongwith others from prominent experts and foundations, provided the impetusfor educational reform.
Ronald Reagan's significant and innovative leadership has encouragedand sustained the reform movement. He catapulted education to the forefrontof the national agenda and will be remembered as a president who improvededucation.
Unlike the Carter-Mondale Democrats, Republicans have levelled with parentsand students about the problems we face together. We find remedies to theseproblems in the common sense of those most concerned: parents and localleaders. We support the decentralization necessary to put education backon the right track. We urge local school communities, including parents,teachers, students, administrators, and business and civic leaders, to evaluateschool curricula ‹ including extra-curricular activities and the timespent in them ‹ and their ultimate effect upon students and the learningprocess. We recognize the need to get "back to basics" and applaudthe dramatic improvements that this approach has already made in some jurisdictions.
In schools, school districts, and States throughout our land, the pastyear and one-half has been marked by unprecedented response to identifiededucation deficiencies. The Nation Responds, a recent report by the ReaganAdministration, referred to a "tidalwave of school reform which promisesto renew American education." According to that report:
Education is a matter of choice, and choice in education is inevitablypolitical. All of education is a passing on of ideas from one generationto another. Since the storehouse of knowledge is vast, a selection mustbe made of what to pass on. Those doing the selecting bring with them theirown politics. Therefore, the more centralized the selection process, thegreater the threat of tyranny. The more diversified the selection process,the greater the chance for a thriving free marketplace of ideas as the bestinsurance for excellence in education.
We believe that education is a local function, a State responsibility,and a federal concern. The federal role in education should be limited.It includes helping parents and local authorities ensure high standards,protecting civil rights, and ensuring family rights. Ignoring that principle,from 1965 to 1980, the United States indulged in a disastrous experimentwith centralized direction of our schools. During the Carter-Mondale Administration,spending continued to increase, but test scores steadily declined.
This decline was not limited to academic matters. Many schools lost sightof their traditional task of developing good character and moral discernment.The result for many was a decline in personal responsibility.
The key to the success of educational reform lies in accountability:for students, parents, educators, school boards, and all governmental units.All must be held accountable in order to achieve excellence in education.Restoring local control of education will allow parents to resume the exerciseof their responsibility for the basic education, discipline, and moral guidanceof their children.
Parents have the primary right and responsibility for the education oftheir children; and States, localities, and private institutions have theprimary responsibility for supporting that parental role. America has beena land of opportunity because America has been a land of learning. It hasgiven us the most prosperous and dynamic society in the world.
The Republican Party recognizes the importance of good teachers, andwe acknowledge the great effort many put forth to achieve excellence inthe classroom. We applaud their numerous contributions and achievementsin education. Unfortunately, many teachers are exhausted by their effortsto support excellence and elect to leave the classroom setting. Our bestteachers have been frustrated by lowered standards, widespread indifference,and compensation below the true value of their contribution to society.In 1980-81 alone, 4 percent of the nation's math and science teachers quitthe classroom. To keep the best possible teachers for our children, we supportthose education reforms which will result in increased student learning,including appropriate class sizes, appropriate and adequate learning andteaching materials, appropriate and consistent grading practices, and properteacher compensation, including rewarding exceptional efforts and resultsin the classroom.
Classroom materials should be developed and produced by the private sectorin the public marketplace, and then selections should be made at the State,local, and school levels.
We commend those States and local governments that have initiated challengingand rigorous high school programs, and we encourage all States to take initiativesthat address the special educational needs of the gifted and talented.
We have enacted legislation to guarantee equal access to school facilitiesby student religious groups. Mindful of our religious diversity, we reaffirmour commitment to the freedoms of religion and speech guaranteed by theConstitution of the United States and firmly support the rights of studentsto openly practice the same, including the right to engage in voluntaryprayer in schools.
While much has been accomplished, the agenda is only begun. We must completethe block-grant process begun in 1981. We will return revenue sources toState and local governments to make them independent of federal funds andof the control that inevitably follows.
The Republican Party believes that developing the individual dignityand potential of disabled Americans is an urgent responsibility. To thisend, the Republican Party commits itself to prompt and vigorous enforcementof the rights of disabled citizens, particularly those rights establishedunder the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, Section 504 of theRehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Civil Rights of Institutionalized PersonsAct. We insist on the highest standards of quality for services supportedwith federal funds.
In addition, government should seek out disabled persons and their parentsto make them knowledgeable of their rights.
We will work toward providing federal funds to State and local governmentssufficient to meet the degree of fiscal participation already promised inlaw.
We are committed to excellence in education for all our children withintheir own communities and neighborhoods. No child should be assigned to,or barred from, a school because of race.
In education, as in other activities, competition fosters excellence.We therefore support the President's proposal for tuition tax credits. Wewill convert the Chapter One grants to vouchers, thereby giving poor parentsthe ability to choose the best schooling available. Discrimination cannotbe condoned, nor may public policies encourage its practice. Civil rightsenforcement must not be twisted into excessive interference in the educationprocess.
Teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn in an undisciplined environment.We applaud the President's promise to provide protection to teachers andadministrators against suits from the unruly few who seek to disrupt theeducation of the overwhelming majority of students.
We urge the aggressive enforcement of the Protection of Pupil Rightsamendment (also known as the Hatch Amendment, 20 U.S.C. 1232h) in orderto protect pupils' and parents' rights. The amendment prohibits requiringany pupil to reveal personal or family information as part of any federallysupported program, test, treatment, or psychological examination unlessthe school first obtains written consent of the pupil's parents.
The recent Grove City and Hillsdale College cases have raised questionsabout the extension of federal interference with private colleges, universities,and schools. Since federal aid, no matter how indirect, is now being linkedto nearly every aspect of American life, great care must be taken in definingsuch terms as "federal financial assistance," "indirect"assistance, and "recipient" of assistance. We are deeply concernedthat this kind of federal involvement in the affairs of some of the nation'sfine private universities, colleges, and schools, many of which have remainedstubbornly free of federal entanglements can only bring with it unintendedresults. As the historical party of Lincoln and individual rights, we supportenactment of legislation which would ensure protection of those coveredunder Title IX.
We urge States to establish partnerships with the scientific and businessworlds to increase the number of teachers in these critical areas of learning.We also recognize a vast reservoir of talent and experience among retireesand other Americans competent to teach in these areas and ready to be tapped.
We endorse experiments with education such as enterprise zones and Cities-in-Schools.We reaffirm our commitment to wipe out illiteracy in our society. Further,we encourage the Congress and the States to reassess the process for aidingeducation, awarding funds on the basis of academic improvement rather thanon daily attendance.
We are aware that good intentions do not always produce the desired results.We therefore urge our schools to evaluate their sex education programs todetermine their impact on escalating teenage pregnancy rates. We urge thatschool officials take appropriate action to ensure parent involvement andresponsibility in finding solutions to this national dilemma.
We support and encourage volunteerism in the schools. President Reagan'sAdopt-a-School program is an example of how private initiative can revitalizeour schools, particularly inner-city schools, and we commend him for hisexample.
Our emphasis on excellence includes the nation's colleges and universities.Although their achievements are unequalled in the world ‹ in research,in proportion of citizens enrolled, in their contribution to our democraticsociety ‹ we call upon them for accountability in good teaching andquality curricula that will ensure competent graduates in the world of work.
We pledge to keep our colleges and universities strong. They have beenfar too dependent on federal assistance and thus have been tied up in federalred tape. Their independence is an essential part of our liberty. Throughregulatory reform, we are holding down the costs of higher education andreestablishing academic freedom from government. This is especially importantfor small schools, religious institutions, and the historically black colleges.for which President Reagan's Executive Order 12320 has meant new hope andvigor. We further reaffirm and support a regular Black College Day whichhonors a vital part of our educational community.
Republicans applaud the information explosion. This literacy-based knowledgerevolution, made possible by computers, tapes, television, satellites, andother high technology innovations, buttressed by training programs throughthe business sector and foundations, is a tribute to American ingenuity.We urge our schools to educate for the ever-changing demands of our societyand to resist using these innovations as substitutes for reasoning, logic,and mastery of basic skills.
We encourage excellence in the vocational and technical education thathas contributed to the self-esteem and productivity of millions. We believethe best vocational and technical education programs are rooted in strongacademic fundamentals. Business and industry stand ready to establish trainingpartnerships with our schools. Their leadership is essential to keep Americacompetitive in the future.
In an age when individuals may have four or five different jobs in theirworking careers vocational education and opportunities for adult learningwill be more important than ever. The challenge of learning for citizenshipand for work in an age of change will require new adaptations and innovationsin the process of education. We urge the teaching profession and educationalinstitutions at all levels to develop the maximum use of new learning opportunitiesavailable through learning-focused high technology. This technology in educationand in the workplace is making possible, and necessary, the continuing educationof our adult population. The participation by adults in educational offeringswithin their communities will strengthen the linkages among the places whereAmericans live, work, and study.
Important as technology is, by itself it is inadequate for a free society.The arts and humanities flourish in the private sector, where a free marketin ideas is the best guarantee of vigorous creativity. Private support forthe arts and humanities has increased over the last four years, and we encourageits growth.
We support the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities in theirefforts to correct past abuses and focus on developing the cultural valuesthat are the foundation of our free society. We must ensure that these programsbring the arts and humanities to people in rural areas, the inner city poor,and other underserved populations.
Crime
One of the major responsibilities of government is to ensure the safetyof its citizens. Their security is vital to their health and to the well-beingof their neighborhoods and communities. The Reagan Administration is committedto making America safe for families and individuals. And Republican programsare paying dividends.
For the first time in the history of recorded federal crime statistics,rates of serious crime have dropped for two consecutive years. In 1983,the overall crime rate dropped 7 percent; and in 1982, the overall crimerate dropped 3 percent. In 1982 (the latest year for which figures are available),the murder rate dropped 5 percent, the robbery rate was down 6 percent,and forcible rape dropped 5 percent. Property crimes also declined: burglarydecreased 9 percent, auto theft declined 2 percent, and theft dropped 1percent.
Republicans believe that individuals are responsible for their actions.Those who commit crimes should be held strictly accountable by our systemof justice. The primary objective of the criminal law is public safety;and those convicted of serious offenses must be jailed swiftly, surely,and long enough to assure public safety.
Republicans respect the authority of State and local law enforcementofficials. The proper federal role is to provide strong support and coordinationfor their efforts and to vigorously enforce federal criminal laws. By concentratingon repeat offenders, we are determined to take career criminals off thestreet.
Additionally, the federal law enforcement budget has been increased bynearly 50 percent. We added 1,900 new investigators and prosecutors to thefederal fight against crime. We arrested more offenders and sent more ofthem to prison. Convictions in organized crime cases have tripled underthe Reagan Administration. We set up task forces to strike at organizedcrime and narcotics. In the year since, 3,000 major drug traffickers havebeen indicted, and nearly 1,000 have already been convicted. We are helpinglocal authorities search for missing children. We have a tough new law againstchild pornography. Republicans initiated a system for pooling informationfrom local, State and federal law enforcement agencies: the Violent CriminalApprehension Program (VI-CAP). Under this program, State and local agencieshave the primary law enforcement responsibility, but cross-jurisdictionalinformation is shared rapidly so that serial murderers and other violentcriminals can be identified quickly and then apprehended.
Under the outstanding leadership of President Reagan and Vice PresidentBush's Task Force on Organized Crime, the Administration established theNational Narcotics Border Interdiction System. We set up an aggressive MarijuanaEradication and Suppression Program, gave the FBI authority to investigatedrugs, and coordinated FBI and DEA efforts. We reaffirm that the eradicationof illegal drug traffic is a top national priority.
We have levelled with the American people about the involvement of foreigngovernments, especially Communist dictators, in narcotics traffic: Cuba,the Soviet Union, Bulgaria ‹ and now the Sandinistas in Nicaragua ‹are international "pushers," selling slow death to young Americansin an effort to undermine our free society.
The Republican Party has deep concern about gratuitous sex and violencein the entertainment media, both of which contribute to the problem of crimeagainst children and women. To the victims of such crimes who need protection,we gladly offer it.
We have begun to restore confidence in the criminal justice system. TheCarter-Mondale legal policy had more concern for abstract criminal rightsthan for the victims of crime. It hurt those least able to defend themselves:the poor, the elderly school children, and minorities. Republican leadershiphas redressed that imbalance. We have advanced such reforms as restitutionby convicted criminals to their victims; providing victims with full explanationsof what will occur before, during, and after trial; and assuring that theymay testify at both trial and sentencing.
The Republican Senate has twice passed, with one dissenting vote, a comprehensivefederal anti-crime package which would:
of society to recoup ill-gotten gains from drug trafficking;
In addition, the Republican Senate has overwhelmingly passed Administration-backedlegislation which would:
The Democrat bosses of the House of Representatives have refused to allowa vote on our initiatives by the House Judiciary Committee, perennial graveyardfor effective anti-crime legislation, or by the full House despite our pressureand the public's demand.
The best way to deter crime is to increase the probability of detectionand to make punishment certain and swift. As a matter of basic philosophy,we advocate preventive rather than merely corrective measures. Republicansadvocate sentencing reform and secure, adequate prison construction. Weconcur with the American people's approval of capital punishment where appropriateand will ensure that it is carried out humanely.
Republicans will continue to defend the constitutional right to keepand bear arms. When this right is abused and armed felonies are committed,we believe in stiff, mandatory sentencing. Law-abiding citizens exercisingtheir constitutional rights must not be blamed for crime. Republicans willcontinue to seek repeal of legislation that restrains innocent citizensmore than violent criminals.
Older Americans
We reaffirm our commitment to the financial security, physical well-being,and quality of life of older Americans. Valuing them as a treasure of wisdomand experience, we pledge to utilize their unique talents to the fullest.
During the Carter-Mondale years, the silent thief of inflation ruthlesslypreyed on the elderly's savings and benefits, robbing them of their retirementdollars and making many dependent on government handouts.
No more. Due to the success of Reaganomics, a retiree's private pensionbenefits are worth almost $1,000 more than if the 1980 inflation rate hadcontinued. Average monthly Social Security benefits have increased by about$180 for a couple and by $100 a month for an individual. Because PresidentReagan forged a hard-won solution to the Social Security crisis, our elderlywill not be repeatedly threatened with the program's impending bankruptcyas they were under the irresponsible policies of the Carter-Mondale Administration.We will work to repeal the Democrats' Social Security earnings-limitation,which penalizes the elderly by taking one dollar of their income for everytwo dollars earned.
Older Americans are vital contributors to society. We will continue toremove artificial barriers which discourage their participation in communitylife. We reaffirm our traditional opposition to mandatory retirement.
For those who are unable to care for themselves, we favor incentivesto encourage home-based care.
We are combatting insidious crime against the elderly, many of whom arevirtual prisoners in their own homes for fear of violence. We demand passageof the President's Comprehensive Crime Control package, stalled by the Democrat-controlledHouse Judiciary Committee. We support local initiatives to fight crime againstthe elderly.
Older Americans want to contribute to live with the dignity and respectthey have earned, and to have their special needs recognized. The RepublicanParty must never turn its back on our elderly and we ensure that we willadequately provide for them during their golden years so they can continueto enjoy our country's high standard of living, which their labors havehelped provide.
Advancing Opportunity
Throughout this Platform are initiatives to provide an opportunity ladderfor the poor, particularly among minorities, in both urban and rural areas.Unlike the Carter-Mondale Administration that locked them into the welfaretrap, Republicans believe compassion dictates our offering real opportunitiesto minorities and the urban poor to achieve the American Dream.
We have begun that effort; and as a pledge of its continuance, this Platformcommits us, not to a war of class against class, but to a crusade for prosperityfor all.
For far too long the poor have been trapped by the policies of the DemocraticParty which treat those in the ghetto as if their interests were somehowdifferent from our own. That is unfair to us all and an insult to the needy.Their goals are ours; their aspirations we share.
To emphasize our common bond, we have addressed their needs in virtuallyevery section of this Platform, rather than segregating them in a tokenplank. To those who would see the Republican future for urban America, andfor those who deserve a better break, we offer the commitments that makeup the sinew of this Platform.
Congress must pass enterprise zones, to draw a green line of prosperityaround the red-lined areas of our cities and to help create jobs and entrepreneurialopportunities.
We offer the boldest breakthrough in housing policy since VA mortgages:we offer opportunities for private ownership of housing projects by thepoor themselves.
We pledge comprehensive tax reform that will give America back what wasits post-war glory: a pro-family tax code with a dramatic work incentivefor low-income and welfare families.
We offer hope, not despair; more opportunities for education throughvouchers and tuition tax relief; and increased participation in the privateenterprise system through the reform of counterproductive taxes and regulations.
Together with our emphatic commitment to civil rights, Republican programswill achieve, for those who feel left out of our society's progress, whatPresident Reagan has already secured for our country: a new beginning tomove America to full employment and honest money for all.
A FREE AND JUST SOCIETY
In 1980, the Republican Party offered a vision of America's future thatapplied our traditions to today's problems It is the vision of a societymore free and more just than any in history. It required a break with theworn-out past, to redefine the role of government and its relationship withindividuals and their institutions. Under President Reagan's leadership,the American people are making that vision a reality.
The American people want an opportunity society, not a welfare state.They want government to foster an environment in which individuals can developtheir potential without hindrance.
The Constitution is the ultimate safeguard of individual rights. As weapproach the Constitutional Bicentennial in 1987, Republicans are restoringits vitality, which had been transgressed by Democrats in Congress, theexecutive, and in the courts.
We are renewing the federal system, strengthening the States, and returningpower to the people. That is the surest course to our common goal: a freeand just society.
Individual Rights
The Republican Party is the party off equal rights. From its foundingin 1854, we have promoted equality of opportunity.
The Republican Party reaffirms its support of the pluralism and freedomthat have been part and parcel of this great country. In so doing, it repudiatesand completely disassociates itself from people, organizations, publications,and entities which promulgate the practice of any form of bigotry, racism,anti-semitism, or religious intolerance.
Americans demand a civil rights policy premised on the letter of theCivil Rights Act of 1964. That law requires equal rights; and it is ourpolicy to end discrimination on account of sex, race, color, creed, or nationalorigin. We have vigorously enforced civil rights statutes. The Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission has recovered record amounts of back pay and othercompensation for victims of employment discrimination.
Just as we must guarantee opportunity, we oppose attempts to dictateresults. We will resist efforts to replace equal rights with discriminatoryquota systems and preferential treatment. Quotas are the most insidiousform of discrimination: reverse discrimination against the innocent. Wemust always remember that, in a free society, different individual goalswill yield different results.
The Republican Party has an historic commitment to equal rights for women.Republicans pioneered the right of women to vote, and our party was thefirst major party to advocate equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex.
President Reagan believes, as do we, that all members of our party arefree to work individually for women's progress. As a party, we demand thatthere be no detriment to that progress or inhibition of women's rights tofull opportunity and advancement within this society.
Participation by women in policymaking is a strong commitment by theRepublican Party and by President Reagan. He pledged to appoint a womanto the United States Supreme Court. His promise was not made lightly; andwhen a vacancy occurred, he quickly filled it with the eminently qualifiedSandra Day O'Connor of Arizona.
His Administration has also sought the largest number of women in historyto serve in appointive positions within the executive branch of governmentThree women serve at Cabinet level, the most ever in history. Jeane Kirkpatrick,the U.S. Representative to the United Nations, Elizabeth Dole, Secretaryof Transportation, and Margaret Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services,head a list of over 1,600 women who direct policy and operations of thefederal government.
The Republican Party continues to search for interested and qualifiedwomen for all government positions. We will continue to increase the numberof first-time appointments for women serving in government at all levels.
Our record of economic recovery and growth is an additional importantaccomplishment for women. It provides a stark contrast to the Carter-Mondalelegacy to women: a shrinking economy, limited job opportunities and a decliningstandard of living.
Whether working in or outside the home, women have benefitted enormouslyfrom the economic progress of the past four years. The Republican economicexpansion added over six million new jobs to the economy It increased laborforce participation by women to historic highs. Women's employment has risenby almost four and one-half million since the last Carter-Mondale year.They obtained almost one million more new jobs than men did. Economic growthdue to Republican economic policies has produced a record number of Jobsso that women who want to work outside the home now have unmatched opportunities.In fact, more than 50 percent of all women now have jobs outside the home.
The spectacular decline in inflation has immeasurably benefitted womenworking both in and outside the home. Under President Reagan, the cost increasein everyday essentials ‹ food, clothing, housing, utilities ‹has been cut from the Carter-Mondale highs of over 10 percent a year tojust over 4 percent today. We have ushered in an era of price stabilitythat is stretching take-home pay hundreds of dollars farther. In 1982, forthe first time in 10 years, women experienced a real increase in wages overinflation.
Lower interest rates have made it possible for more women, single andmarried, to own their homes and to buy their own automobiles and other consumergoods.
Our 25 percent reduction in marginal tax rates provided important benefitsto women, as did the virtual elimination of the "widow's tax"which had jeopardized retirement savings of senior women. At the same time,we raised the maximum child care tax credit from $400 to $720 per family.We will continue to actively seek the elimination of discrimination againsthomemakers with regard to Individual Retirement Accounts so that single-incomecouples can invest the same amount in IRAs as two-income couples.
In addition, President Reagan has won enactment of the Retirement EquityAct of 1984. That legislation, strongly supported by congressional Republicans,makes a comprehensive reform of private pension plans to recognize the specialneeds of women.
Our record of accomplishment during the last four years is clear, butwe intend to do even better over the next four.
We will further reduce the "marriage penalty," a burden upontwo-income, working families. We will work to remove artificial impedimentsin business and industry, such as occupational licensing laws, that limitjob opportunities for women, minorities, and youth or prevent them fromentering the labor force in the first place.
For low-income women, the Reagan Administration has already given Statesand localities the authority, through the Job Training Partnership Act,to train more recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children forpermanent, not make-work, jobs. We have increased child support collectionsfrom $1.5 billion to $2.4 billion and enacted a strong child support enforcementlaw. We will continue to stress welfare reforms which promote individualinitiative, the real solution to breaking the cycle of welfare dependency.
With women comprising an increasing share of the work force, it is essentialthat the employment opportunities created by our free market system be opento individuals without regard to their sex, race, religion, or ethnic origin.We firmly support an equal opportunity approach which gives women and minoritiesequal access to all jobs‹including the traditionally higher-payingtechnical, managerial, and professional positions‹and which guaranteesthat workers in those jobs will be compensated in accord with the laws requiringequal pay for equal work under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
We are creating an environment in which individual talents and creativitycan be tapped to the fullest, while assuring that women have equal opportunity,security, and real choices for the promising future. For all Americans,we demand equal pay for equal work. With equal emphasis, we oppose the conceptof "comparable worth." We believe that the free market systemcan determine the value of jobs better than any government authority.
The Department of Justice has identified 140 federal statutes with gender-baseddistinctions. Proposed legislation will correct all but 18; six are stillunder study the rest, which actually favor women, will remain as is. PresidentReagan's Fifty States Project, designed to identify State laws discriminatingagainst women, has encouraged 42 States to start searches, and 26 have begunamending their laws. The Department has filed more cases dealing with sexdiscrimination in employment than were filed during a comparable periodin the Carter-Mondale Administration.
Working with Republicans in Congress, President Reagan has declared 1983-1992the Decade of Disabled Persons. All Americans stand to gain when disabledcitizens are assured equal opportunity.
The Reagan Administration has an outstanding record in achieving accessibilityfor the handicapped. During the past two years, minimum guidelines haveat last been adopted, and the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standard hasbecome fact.
The Republican Party realizes the great potential of members of the disabledcommunity in this country. We support all efforts being made at the federallevel to remove artificial barriers from our society so that disabled individualsmay reach their potential and participate at the maximum level of theirabilities in education, employment, and recreation. This includes the removal,in so far as practicable, of architectural, transportation, communicationand attitudinal barriers. We also support efforts to provide disabled Americansfull access to voting facilities.
We deplore discrimination because of handicap. The Reagan Administrationwas the first to combat the insidious practice of denying medical care oreven food and water to disabled infants. This issue has vast implicationsfor medical ethics, family autonomy, and civil rights. But we find no basis,whether in law or medicine or ethics, for denying necessities to an infantbecause of the child's handicap.
We are committed to enforcing statutory prohibitions barring discriminationagainst any otherwise qualified handicapped individuals, in any programreceiving federal financial assistance, solely by reason of their handicap.
We recognize the need for watchful care regarding the procedural dueprocess rights of persons with handicaps both to prevent their placementinto inappropriate programs or settings and to ensure that their rightsare represented by guardians or other advocates, if necessary
For handicapped persons who need care, we favor family-based care wherepossible, supported by appropriate and adequate incentives. We increasedthe tax credit for caring for dependents or spouses physically or mentallyunable to care for themselves. We also provided a deduction of up to 81,500per year for adopting a child with special needs that may otherwise makeadoption difficult.
We are committed to seeking out gifted children and their parents tomake them knowledgeable of their educational rights.
We reaffirm the right of all individuals freely to forms join, or assistlabor organizations to bargain collectively, consistent with State lawsand free from unnecessary government involvement. We support the fundamentalprinciple of fairness in labor relations. We will continue the Reagan Administration's"open door" policy toward organized labor and its leaders. Wereaffirm our long-standing support for the right of States to enact "Right-to-Work"laws under section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act.
The political freedom of every worker must be protected. Therefore, westrongly oppose the practice of using compulsory dues and fees for partisanpolitical purposes. Also, the protection of all workers must be secured.Therefore, no worker should be coerced by violence or intimidation by anyparty to a labor dispute.
The healthy mix of America's ethnic, cultural, and social heritage hasalways been the backbone of our nation and its progress throughout our history.Without the contributions of innumerable ethnic and cultural groups, ourcountry would not be where it is today.
For millions of black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans,and members of other minority groups, the past four years have seen a dramaticimprovement in their ability to secure for themselves and for their childrena better tomorrow.
That is the American Dream. The policies of the Reagan Administrationhave opened literally millions of doors of opportunity for these Americans,doors which either did not exist or were rapidly being slammed shut by theno-growth policies of the Carter-Mondale Administration.
We Republicans are proud of our efforts on behalf of all minority groups,and we pledge to do even more during the next four years.
We will continue to press for enactment of economic and social policiesthat promote growth and stress individual initiative of minority Americans.Our tax system will continue to be overhauled and reformed by making itfairer and simpler, enabling the families of minorities to work and savefor their future. We will continue to push for passage of enterprise zonelegislation, now bottled up in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.That bill, discussed elsewhere in this platform, will help minority Americansliving in cities and urban areas to get jobs, to start their own businesses,and to reap the fruits of entrepreneurship by tapping their individual initiative,energy, and creativity.
We honor and respect the contributions of minority Americans and willdo all we can to see that our diversity is enhanced during the next fouryears. Active contributions by minorities are the threads that weave thefabric that is America and make us stronger as a nation. We recognize theseindividuals and their contributions and will continue to promote the kindsof policies that will make their dreams for a better America a reality.The party of Lincoln will remain the party of equal rights for all.
We continue to favor whatever legislation may be necessary to permitAmerican citizens residing in the Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Ricoto vote for president and vice president in national elections.
We support the right of Indian Tribes to manage their own affairs andresources. Recognizing the government-to-government trust responsibility,we are equally committed to working towards the elimination of the conditionsof dependency produced by federal control. The social and economic advancementof Native Americans depends upon changes they will chart for themselves.Recognizing their diversity, we support the President's policy of responsiblyremoving impediments to their self-sufficiency. We urge the nations of theAmericas to learn from our past mistakes and to protect native populationsfrom exploitation and abuse.
Native Hawaiians are the only indigenous people of our country who arenot officially designated as Native Americans. They should share that honoredtitle. We endorse efforts to preserve their culture as a unique elementin the human tapestry that is America.
Family Protection
Republicans affirm the family as the natural and indispensable institutionfor human development. A society is only as strong as its families, forthey nurture those qualities necessary to maintain and advance civilization.
Healthy families inculcate values ‹ integrity, responsibility, concernfor others ‹ in our youth and build social cohesion. We give high priorityto their well-being. During the 1970s, America's families were ravaged byworsening economic conditions and a Washington elite unconcerned with them.
We support the concept of creating Family Education Accounts which wouldallow tax-deferred savings for investment in America's most crucial asset,our children, to assist low- and middle-income families in becoming self-reliantin meeting the costs of higher education.
In addition, to further assist the young families of America in securingthe dream of homeownership, we would like to review the concept of FamilyHousing Accounts which would allow tax-exempt savings for a family's firsthome.
Preventing family dissolution, a leading cause of poverty, is vital.It has had a particularly tragic impact on the elderly, women, and minorities.Welfare programs have devastated low-income families and induced singleparenthood among teens. We will review legislation and regulations to examinetheir impact on families and on parental rights and responsibilities. Weseek to eliminate incentives for family break-up and to reverse the alarmingrate of pregnancy outside marriage. Meanwhile, the Republican Party believesthat society must do all that is possible to guarantee those young parentsthe opportunity to achieve their full educational and parental potential.
Because of Republican tax cuts, single people and married people withoutdependents will have in 1984 basically the same average tax rates they hadin 1960. The marriage penalty has been reduced. However, a couple with dependentsstill pays a greater portion of their income in taxes than in 1960. We reaffirmthat the personal exemption for children be no less than for adults, andwe will at least double its current level. The President's tax program alsoincreased tax credits for child care expenses. We will encourage privatesector initiatives to expand on-site child care facilities and options forworking parents.
The problem of physical and sexual abuse of children and spouses requirescareful consideration of its causes. In particular, gratuitous sex and violencein entertainment media contribute to this sad development.
We and the vast majority of Americans are repulsed by pornography. Wewill vigorously enforce constitutional laws to control obscene materialswhich degrade everyone, particularly women, and depict the exploitationof children. We commend the Reagan Administration for creating a commissionon pornography and the President for signing the new law to eliminate childpornography. We stand with our President in his determination to solve theproblem.
We call upon the Federal Communications Commission, and all other federal,State, and local agencies with proper authority, to strictly enforce thelaw regarding cable pornography and to implement rules and regulations toclean up cable pornography and the abuse of telephone service for obscenepurposes.
Immigration
Our history is a story about immigrants. We are proud that America stillsymbolizes hope and promise to the world. We have shown unparalleled generosityto the persecuted and to those seeking a better life. In return, they havehelped to make a great land greater still.
We affirm our country's absolute right to control its borders. Thosedesiring to enter must comply with our immigration laws. Failure to do sonot only is an offense to the American people but it is fundamentally unjustto those in foreign lands patiently waiting for legal entry. We will preservethe principle of family reunification.
With the estimates of the number of illegal aliens in the United Statesranging as high as 12 million and better than one million more enteringeach year, we believe it is critical that responsible reforms of our immigrationlaws be made to enable us to regain control of our borders.
The flight of oppressed people in search of freedom has created pressuresbeyond the capacity of any one nation. The refugee problem is global andrequires the cooperation of all democratic nations. We commend the Presidentfor encouraging other countries to assume greater refugee responsibilities.
Our Constitutional System
Our Constitution, now almost 200 years old, provides for a federal system,with a separation of powers among the three branches of the national government.In that system, judicial power must be exercised with deference towardsState and local officials, it must not expand at the expense of our representativeinstitutions. It is not a judicial function to reorder the economic, political,and social priorities of our nation. The intrusion of the courts into suchareas undermines the stature of the judiciary and erodes respect for therule of law. Where appropriate, we support congressional efforts to restrictthe jurisdiction of federal courts.
We commend the President for appointing federal judges committed to therights of law-abiding citizens and traditional family values. We share thepublic's dissatisfaction with an elitist and unresponsive federal judiciary.If our legal institutions are to regain respect, they must respect the people'slegitimate interests in a stable, orderly society. In his second term, PresidentReagan will continue to appoint Supreme Court and other federal judges whoshare our commitment to judicial restraint.
The Republican Party firmly believes that the best governments are thosemost accountable to the people. We heed Thomas Jefferson's warning: "Whenall government, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washingtonas the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks providedof one government on another . "
For more responsible government, non-essential federal functions shouldbe returned to the States and localities wherever prudent. They have thecapability, knowledge, and sensitivity to local needs required to betteradminister and deliver public services Their diverse problems require localunderstanding. The transfer of rights responsibilities, and revenues tothe "home frontal will recognize the abilities of local governmentand the limitations of a distant federal government.
We commend the President for the bold initiatives of his "New Federalism."The enacted block grants discussed elsewhere in this Platform are a positivestep. But the job of making government more accountable to the people hasjust begun. We strongly favor the expansion of block-grant funding and othermeans to restore our nation's federal foundation.
More than 40 years ago, a grave injustice was done to many Americansof Japanese ancestry. Uprooted from their homes in a time of crisis, loyalcitizens and residents were treated in a way which contravened the fundamentalprinciples of our people. We join them and their descendants in assuringthat the deprivation of rights they suffered shall never again be permittedin this land of liberty.
To benefit all Americans, we support the privatization of governmentservices whenever possible. This maximizes consumer freedom and choice.It reduces the size and cost of government, thus lessening the burden ontaxpayers. It stimulates the private sector, increases prosperity, and createsjobs. It demonstrates the primacy of individual action which, within a freemarket economy, can address human needs most effectively.
Within the executive branch, the Reagan Administration has made governmentwork more efficiently. Under the direction of the Office of Personnel Management,non-defense government employment was reduced by over 100,000. The overwhelmingmajority of federal employees are dedicated and hard-working. Indeed, wehave proposed to base their pay and retention upon performance so that outstandingfederal employees may be properly rewarded.
The federal government owns almost a third of our nation's land. Withdue recognition of the needs of the federal government and mindful of environmental,recreational, and national defense needs, we believe the sale of some surplusland will increase productivity and increase State and local tax bases.It will also unleash the creative talents of free enterprise in defenseof resource and environmental protection.
The expression of individual political views is guaranteed by the FirstAmendment; government should protect, not impinge upon First Amendment rights.Free individuals must have unrestricted access to the process of self-government.We deplore the growing labyrinth of bewildering regulations and obstacleswhich have increased the power of political professionals and discouragedthe participation of average Americans. Even well-intentioned restrictionson campaign activity stifle free speech and have a chilling effect on spontaneouspolitical involvement by our citizens.
The holding of public office in our country demands the highest degreeof commitment to integrity, openness, and honesty by candidates runningfor all elective offices. Without such a commitment, public confidence rapidlyerodes. Republicans, therefore, reaffirm our commitment to the fair andconsistent application of financial disclosure laws. We will continue oursupport for full disclosure by all high officials of the government andcandidates in positions of public trust. This extends to the financial holdingsof spouses or dependents, of which the official has knowledge financialinterest, or benefit. We will continue to hold all public officials to thehighest ethical standards and will oppose the inconsistent application ofthose standards on the basis of gender.
Republicans want to encourage, not restrict, free discourse and association.The interplay of concerned individuals, sometimes acting collectively topursue their goals, has led to healthy and vigorous debate and better understandingof complex issues. We will remove obstacles to grassroots participationin federal elections and will reduce, not increase, the federal role.
Republicans believe that strong, competitive political parties contributemightily to coherent national policies, effective representation, and responsivegovernment. Forced taxpayer financing of campaign activities is politicaltyranny. We oppose it.
In light of the inhibiting role federal election laws and regulationshave had, Congress should consider abolishing the Federal Election Commission.
We are the party of limited government. We are deeply suspicious of theamount of information which governments collect. Governments limited insize and scope best ensure our people's privacy. Particularly in the computerage, we must ensure that no unnecessary information is demanded and thatno disclosure is made which is not approved. We oppose national identificationcards.
We support reasonable methods to fight those who undermine national security,prevent crosschecks of government benefit records to conceal welfare fraud,or misuse financial secrecy laws to hide their narcotics profits under theguise of a right to privacy.
Private property is the cornerstone of our liberty and the free enterprisesystem. The right of property safeguards for citizens all things of value:their land, merchandise and money, their religious convictions, their safetyand liberty, and their right of contract to produce and sell goods and services.Republicans reaffirm this God-given and inalienable right.
The unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannotbe infringed. We therefore reaffirm our support for a human life amendmentto the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the FourteenthAmendment's protections apply to unborn children. We oppose the use of publicrevenues for abortion and will eliminate funding for organizations whichadvocate or support abortions. We commend the efforts of those individualsand religious and private organizations that are providing positive alternativesto abortion by meeting the physical, emotional, and financial needs of pregnantwomen and offering adoption services where needed.
We applaud President Reagan's fine record of judicial appointments, andwe reaffirm our support for the appointment of judges at all levels of thejudiciary who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocenthuman life.
AMERICA SECURE AND THE WORLD AT PEACE
The Future of Our Foreign Policy
President Reagan has restored the American people's faith in the principlesof liberal democracy. Today, we have more confidence in the self-evidenttruths of democracy than at any time since World War II.
The first principle of that faith is that all human beings are createdequal in the natural human right to govern themselves.
Just as we assert the right of self-government, it follows that all peoplethroughout the world should enjoy that same human right This moral principlemust be the ideal by which our policy toward other nations is directed
We Republicans emphasize that there is a profound moral difference betweenthe actions and ideals of Marxist-Leninist regimes and those of democraticgovernments, and we reject the notions of guilt and apology which animateso much of the foreign policy of the Democratic Party. We believe Americanforeign policy can only succeed when it is based on unquestioned faith ina single idea: the idea that all human beings are created equal, the foundingidea of democracy.
The supreme purpose of our foreign policy must be to maintain our freedomin a peaceful international environment in which the United States and ourallies and friends are secure against military threats, and democratic governmentsare flourishing in a world of increasing prosperity.
This we pledge to our people and to future generations: we shall keepthe peace by keeping our country stronger than any potential adversary.
The Americas
Our future is intimately tied to the future of the Americas. Family,language, culture, and trade link us closely with both Canada, our largesttrading partner, and our southern neighbors.
The people of both Mexico and Canada are of fundamental importance tothe people of the United States of America, not just because we share acommon border, but because we are neighbors who share both history and acommon interest for the present and future. Under President Reagan, ourrelations with both countries are being carried out in a serious, straight-forwardmanner in a climate of mutual respect. As our countries seek solutions tocommon problems on the basis of our mutual interests, we recognize thateach country has a unique contribution to make in working together to resolvemutual problems.
The security and freedom of Central America are indispensable to ourown. In addition to our concern for the freedom and overall welfare of ourneighbors to the south, two-thirds of our foreign trade passes through theCaribbean and the Panama Canal. The entire region, however, is gravely threatenedby Communist expansion, inspired and supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba.We endorse the principles of the Monroe Doctrine as the strongest foundationfor United States policy throughout the hemisphere.
We encourage even closer ties with the countries of South America andconsider the strengthening of representative governments there as a contributionto the peace and security of us all. We applaud the Organization of AmericanStates for its efforts to bring peace and freedom to the entire hemisphere.
Republicans have no illusions about Castro's brutal dictatorship in Cuba.Only our firmness will thwart his attempts to export terrorism and subversion,to destroy democracy, and to smuggle narcotics into the United States. Butwe also extend a constructive, hopeful policy toward the Cuban people. Castroresents and resists their desire for freedom. He fears Radio Marti, PresidentReagan's initiative to bring truth to our Cuban neighbors. He is humiliatedby the example of Cuban-born Americans, whose spiritual and material accomplishmentscontrast starkly with Communist failures in their birthplace. We believein friendship between the Cuban and the American peoples, and we envisiona genuine democracy in Cuba's future.
We support the President in following the unanimous findings of the BipartisanCommission on Central America, first proposed by the late Senator Henry"Scoop" Jackson of Washington.
Today, democracy is under assault throughout the hemisphere. MarxistNicaragua threatens not only Costa Rica and Honduras, but also El Salvadorand Guatemala. The Sandinista regime is building the largest military forcein Central America, importing Soviet equipment, Eastern bloc and PLO advisers,and thousands of Cuban mercenaries. The Sandinista government has been increasinglybrazen in its embrace of Marxism-Leninism. The Sandinistas have systematicallypersecuted free institutions, including synagogue and church, schools, theprivate sector, the free press, minorities, and families and tribes throughoutNicaragua. We support continued assistance to the democratic freedom fightersin Nicaragua. Nicaragua cannot be allowed to remain a Communist sanctuary,exporting terror and arms throughout the region. We condemn the Sandinistagovernment's smuggling of illegal drugs into the United States as a crimeagainst American society and international law.
The heroic effort to build democracy in El Salvador has been brutallyattacked by Communist guerrillas supported by Cuba and the Sandinistas.Their violence jeopardizes improvements in human rights, delays economicgrowth, and impedes the consolidation of democracy. El Salvador is nearerto Texas than Texas is to New England, and we cannot be indifferent to itsfate. In the tradition of President Truman's postwar aid to Europe, PresidentReagan has helped the people of El Salvador defend themselves. Our opponentsobject to that assistance, citing concern for human rights. We share thatconcern, and more than that, we have taken steps to help curb abuses. Wehave firmly and actively encouraged human rights reform, and results havebeen achieved. In judicial reform, the murderers of the American nuns in1980 have been convicted and sentenced; and in political reform, the rightto vote has been exercised by 80 percent of the voters in the fair, openelections of 1982 and 1984. Most important, if the Communists seize powerthere, human rights will be extinguished, and tens of thousands will bedriven from their homes. We, therefore, support the President in his determinationthat the Salvadoran people will shape their own future.
We affirm President Reagan's declaration at Normandy: there is a profoundmoral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use offorce for conquest and territorial expansion. We applaud the liberationof man and mind from oppression everywhere.
We applaud the liberation of Grenada, and we honor those who took partin it. Grenada is small, and its people few; but we believe the principleestablished there, that freedom is worth defending, is of monumental importance.It challenges the Brezhnev doctrine. It is an example to the world.
The Caribbean Basin Initiative is a sound program for the strengtheningof democratic institutions through economic development based on free peopleand free market principles. The Republican Party strongly supports thisprogram of integrated, mutually reinforcing measures in the fields of trade,investment, and financial assistance.
We recognize our special-valued relationship with Puerto Rico and theVirgin Islands; and we will support special measures to ensure that theywill benefit Andy prosper from the Caribbean Basin Initiative, thereby reinforcinga stronghold of democracy and free enterprise in the Caribbean. The RepublicanParty reaffirms its support of the right of Puerto Rico to be admitted intothe Union after it freely so determines, through the passage of an admissionbill which will provide for a smooth fiscal transition, recognize the conceptof a multicultural society for its citizens, and secure the opportunityto retain their Spanish language and traditions.
The Soviet Union
Stable and peaceful relations with the Soviet Union are possible anddesirable, but they depend upon the credibility of American strength anddetermination. As our power waned in the 1970s, our very weakness was provocative.The Soviets exploited it in Afghanistan, the Middle East, Africa, SoutheastAsia, and the Western Hemisphere. Our policy of peace through strength encouragesfreedom-loving people everywhere and provides hope for those who look forwardone day to enjoying the fruits of self-government.
We hold a sober view of the Soviet Union. Its globalist ideology andits leadership obsessed with military power make it a threat to freedomand peace on every continent. The Carter-Mondale Administration ignoredthat threat, and the Democratic candidates underestimate it today. The Carter-Mondaleillusion that the Soviet leaders share our ideals and aspirations is notonly false but a profound danger to world peace.
Republicans reaffirm our belief that Soviet behavior at the negotiatingtable cannot be divorced from Soviet behavior elsewhere. Over-eagernessto sign agreements with the Soviets at any price, fashionable in the Carter-MondaleAdministration, should never blind us to this reality. Any future agreementwith the Soviets must require full compliance, be fully verifiable, andcontain suitable sanctions for non-compliance. Carter-Mondale efforts tocover up Soviet violations of the 1972 Strategic Arms Limitations agreementand Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty emboldened the Soviets to strengthen theirmilitary posture. We condemn these violations, as well as recent violationsof chemical and toxic weapons treaties in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, andthe Iran-Iraq war. We insist on full Soviet compliance with all treatiesand executive agreements.
We seek to deflect Soviet policy away from aggression and toward peacefulinternational conduct. To that end, we will seek substantial reductionsin nuclear weapons, rather than merely freezing nuclear weapons at theirpresent dangerous level. We will continue multilateral efforts to deny advancedWestern technology to the Soviet war machine.
We will press for Soviet compliance with all international agreements,including the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the U.N. Declaration on HumanRights. We will continue to protest Soviet anti-semitism and human rightsviolations. We admire the courage of such people as Andrei Sakharov, hiswife Yelena Bonner, Anatole Shcharansky, Ida Nudel and Josef Begun, whosedefiance of Soviet repression stands as a testament to the greatness ofthe human spirit. We will press the Soviet Union to permit free emigrationof Jews, Christians, and oppressed national minorities. Finally, becausethe peoples of the Soviet empire share our hope for the future, we willstrengthen our information channels to encourage them in their strugglefor individual freedom, national self-determination, and peace.
Europe
Forty years after D-Day, our troops remain in Europe. It has been a longwatch but a successful one. For four decades, we have kept the peace where,twice before, our valiant fought and died. We learned from their sacrifice.
We would be in mortal danger were Western Europe to come under Sovietdomination. Fragmenting NATO is the immediate objective of the Soviet militarybuildup and Soviet subversion. During the Carter-Mondale years, the Sovietsgained a substantial military and diplomatic advantage in Europe. They nowhave three times as many tanks as we do and almost a monopoly on long-rangetheater nuclear forces. To keep the peace, the Reagan-Bush Administrationis offsetting the Soviet military threat with the defensive power of theAlliance. We are deploying Pershing II and Cruise missiles. Rememberingthe Nazi Reich, informed voters on both sides of the Atlantic know theycannot accept Soviet military superiority in Europe. That is why the British,Italian, and West German parliaments have approved Euromissile deployments,and why new NATO base agreements were concluded successfully in Portugal,Spain, Turkey, and Greece. This is a victory for the Reagan-Bush Administrationand our European friends.
The United States again leads the Alliance by offering hope of a saferfuture. As America's strength is restored, so is our allies' confidencein the future of freedom. We will encourage them to increase their contributionsto our common defense.
To strengthen NATO's Southern Flank, we place the highest priority onresolving the Cyprus dispute and maintaining our support for both Greeceand Turkey, with non-recognition of regimes imposed in occupied territory.We share a deep concern for peace and justice in Northern Ireland and condemnall violence and terrorism in that strife-torn land.
We stand in solidarity with the peoples of Eastern Europe: the Poles,Hungarians, East Germans, Czechs, Rumanians, Yugoslavs, Bulgarians, Ukrainians,Baltic peoples, Armenians, and all captive nations who struggle daily againsttheir Soviet masters. The heroic efforts of Lech Walesa and the Solidaritymovement in Poland are an inspiration to all people yearning to be free.We are not neutral in their struggle, wherever the flame of liberty brightensthe black night of Soviet oppression.
The tragic repression of the Polish people by the Soviet-inspired militarydictatorship in Poland has touched the American people. We support policiesto provide relief for Polish nationals seeking asylum and refuge in theUnited States.
The Middle East
President Reagan's Middle East policy has been flexible enough to adaptto rapidly changing circumstances, yet consistent and credible so that allnations recognize our determination to protect our vital interests. ThePresident's skillful crisis management throughout the Iran-Iraq war haskept that conflict from damaging our vital interests. His peace effortshave won strong bipartisan support and international applause. And his willingnessto stand up to Libya has made peace-loving states in the region feel moresecure.
The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which surprised the Carter-MondaleAdministration, brought Soviet forces less than 400 miles from the strategicStraits of Hormuz. The seizure of American hostages in Iran that year caughtthe United States unprepared and unable to respond. Lebanon is still inturmoil, despite our best efforts to foster stability in that unhappy country.With the Syrian leadership increasingly subject to Soviet influence, andthe Palestine Liberation Organization and its homicidal subsidiaries takingup residence in Syria, U.S. policy toward the region must remain vigilantand strong. Republicans reaffirm that the United States should not recognizeor negotiate with the PLO so long as that organization continues to promoteterrorism, rejects Israel's right to exist, and refuses to accept U.N. Resolutions242 and 338.
The bedrock of that protection remains, as it has for over three decades,our moral and strategic relationship with Israel. We are allies in the defenseof freedom. Israel's strength, coupled with United States assistance, isthe main obstacle to Soviet domination of the region. The sovereignty, security,and integrity of the state of Israel are moral imperatives. We pledge tohelp maintain Israel's qualitative military edge over its adversaries.
Today, relations between the United States and Israel are closer thanever before. Under President Reagan, we have moved beyond mere words toextensive political, military, and diplomatic cooperation. U.S.-Israelistrategic planning groups are coordinating our joint defense efforts, andwe are directly supporting projects to augment Israel's defense industrialbase. We support the legislation pending for an Israel-U.S. free trade area.
We recognize that attacks in the U.N. against Israel are but thinly disguisedattacks against the United States, for it is our shared ideals and democraticway of life that are their true target. Thus, when a U.N. agency deniedIsrael's right to participate, we withheld our financial support until thataction was corrected. And we have worked behind the scenes and in publicin other international organizations to defeat discriminatory attacks againstour ally.
Our determination to participate actively in the peace process begunat Camp David has won us support over the past four years from moderateArab states. Israel's partner in the Camp David accords, Egypt, with Americansupport, has been a constructive force for stability. We pledge continuedsupport to Egypt and other moderate regimes against Soviet and Libyan subversion,and we look to them to contribute to our efforts for a long-term settlementof the region's destructive disputes.
We believe that Jerusalem should remain an undivided city with free andunimpeded access to all holy places by people of all faiths.
Asia and the Pacific
Free Asia is a tremendous success. Emulating the United States economicallyand politically, our friends in East Asia have had the world's highest economicgrowth rates. Their economies represent the dynamism of free markets andfree people, in stark contrast to the dreary rigidity and economic failuresof centrally planned socialism. U.S. investments in Asia now exceed $30billion, and our annual trade surpasses that with any other region.
Unable to match this progress, the Soviet Union, North Korea, and Vietnamthreaten the region with military aggression and political intimidation.The Soviet rape of Afghanistan, the criminal destruction of the KAL airliner,the genocide in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. the steady growth of SovietSS-20 forces in East Asia, the rapid increase of the Soviet Pacific Fleet,the continuing build-up of North Korean forces and the brutal bombing ofSouth Korean leaders in Rangoon, the recent deployment of Soviet forcesat Cam Ranh Bay, the continued occupation of Cambodia by the Vietnamese,and chemical and biological weapons attacks against defenseless civilianpopulations in Afghanistan and Southeast Asia are some of the more obviousthreats to the peace of Asia and to America's friends there.
Republicans salute the brave people of Afghanistan, struggling to regaintheir freedom and independence. We will continue to support the freedomfighters and pledge our continuing humanitarian aid to the thousands ofAfghan refugees who have sought sanctuary in Pakistan and elsewhere.
To preserve free Asia's economic gains and enhance our security, we willcontinue economic and security assistance programs with the frontline statesof Korea, Thailand, and Pakistan. We will maintain defense facilities inKorea, Japan, the Philippines, and the Indian Ocean to protect vital sealanes
We will promote economic growth while we strengthen human rights andthe commitment to both democracy and free markets. We will help friendlynations deal with refugees and secure their help against drug cultivationand trafficking.
Our relations with Japan are central to America's role in the Far East,and they have never been better. The world's second-largest industrial powercan make an increasingly important contribution to peace and economic developmentover much of Asia. We applaud Japan's commitment to defend its territory,air space, and sea lanes. We are heartened by its increases in defense spendingand urge Japan to further expand its contribution to the region's defense.We have made progress in our trade relations and affirm that, with goodwill on both sides, broader agreement is likely.
In keeping with the pledge of the 1980 Platform, President Reagan hascontinued the process of developing our relationship with the People's Republicof China. We commend the President's initiatives to build a solid foundationfor the long-term relations between the United States and the People's Republic,emphasizing peaceful trade and other policies to promote regional peace.Despite fundamental differences in many areas, both nations share an importantcommon objective: opposition to Soviet expansionism.
At the same time, we specifically reaffirm our concern for, and our moralcommitment to, the safety and security of the 18 million people on Taiwan.We pledge that this concern will be constant, and we will continue to regardany attempt to alter Taiwan's status by force as a threat to regional peace.We endorse, with enthusiasm, President Reagan's affirmation that it is thepolicy of the United States to support and fully implement the provisionsof the Taiwan Relations Act. In addition, we fully support self determinationfor the people of Hong Kong.
The Republic of Korea is a stalwart ally. To deter aggression, we willmaintain our forces there which contribute to our common defense. Our growingeconomic relations are good for both countries and enhance our influenceto foster a democratic evolution there.
We prize our special relationship with the Philippines. We will makeevery effort to promote the economic development and democratic principlesthey seek. Because the Clark and Subic Bay bases are vital to American interestsin the Western Pacific, we are committed to their continued security.
We recognize the close and special ties we have maintained with Thailandsince the days of Abraham Lincoln. Thailand stands tall against the imperialistaggression of Vietnam and the Soviet Union in Southeast Asia.
We hail the economic achievements of the Association of Southeast AsianNations. We will strengthen economic and political ties to them and supporttheir opposition to the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia.
Almost a decade after our withdrawal from Vietnam, thousands of Americansstill do not know the fate of their fathers, brothers, and sons missingin action. Our united people call upon Vietnam and Laos with one voice:return our men, end the grief of the innocent, and give a full accountingof our POW-MIAs. We will press for access to investigate crash sites throughoutIndochina. We support the efforts of our private citizens who have workedtirelessly for many years on this issue.
Africa
Africa faces a new colonialism. The tripartite axis of the Soviet Union,Cuba, and Libya has unleashed war and privation upon the continent. We arecommitted to democracy in Africa and to the economic development that willhelp it flourish. That is why we will foster free-market, growth-oriented,and liberalized trading policies.
As part of reforming the policies of the International Development Association,we have assisted in directing a larger proportion of its resources to sub-SaharanAfrica. To nurture the spirit of individual initiative in Africa, our newlycreated African Development Foundation will work with African entrepreneursat the village level. In addition, through our rejection of the austerityprograms of international organizations, we are bringing new hope to thepeople of Africa that they will join in the benefits of the growing, dynamicworld economy.
We will continue to provide necessary security and economic assistanceto African nations with which we maintain good relations to help them developthe infrastructure of democratic capitalism so essential to economic growthand individual accomplishment. We will encourage our allies in Europe andeast Asia to coordinate their assistance efforts so that the industrializedcountries will be able to contribute effectively to the economic developmentof the continent. We believe that, if given the choice, the nations of Africawill reject the model of Marxist state-controlled economies in favor ofthe prosperity and quality of life that free economies and free people canachieve.
We will continue to assist threatened African governments to protectthemselves and will work with them to protect their continent from subversionand to safeguard their strategic minerals. The Reagan-Bush Administrationwill continue its vigorous efforts to achieve Namibian independence andthe expulsion of Cubans from occupied Angola.
We reaffirm our commitment to the rights of all South Africans. Apartheidis repugnant. In South Africa, as elsewhere on the continent, we supportwell-conceived efforts to foster peace, prosperity, and stability.
Foreign Assistance and Regional Security
Developing nations look to the United States for counsel and guidancein achieving economic opportunity, prosperity, and political freedom. Democraticcapitalism has demonstrated, in the United States and elsewhere, an unparalleledability to achieve political and civil rights and long-term prosperity forever-growing numbers of people. We are confident that democracy and freeenterprise can succeed everywhere. A central element in our programs ofeconomic assistance should be to share with others the beneficial ideasof democratic capitalism, which have led the United States to economic prosperityand political freedom.
Our bilateral economic assistance program should be directed at promotingeconomic growth and prosperity in developing nations. Therefore, we supportrecently enacted legislation untying our programs from the policies of austerityof international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund.
We have changed the Carter-Mondale policy of channeling increasing proportionsof U.S. assistance through multinational institutions beyond our control.We strongly support President Reagan's decision not to increase fundingfor the International Development Association because of its predilectionfor nations with state-dominated economic systems. Our contribution to theInternational Fund for Agricultural Development will be eliminated due toits consistent bias toward non-market economies. And the anti-American bureaucracyof the U.N.'s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)will no longer be supported by U.S. taxpayers. We will not support internationalorganizations inconsistent with our interests. In particular, we will workto eliminate their funding of Communist states.
Prominent among American ideals is the sanctity of the family. Decisionson family size should be made freely by each family. We support effortsto enhance the freedom of such family decisions. We will endeavor to assurethat those who are responsible for our programs are more sensitive to thecultural needs of the countries to which we give assistance.
As part of our commitment to the family and our opposition to abortion,we will eliminate all U.S. funding for organizations which in any way supportabortion or research on abortion methods.
To strengthen bilateral foreign assistance, we will reduce or eliminateassistance to nations with foreign policies contrary to our interests andstrengthen the Secretary of State's hand by ensuring his direct controlover assistance programs.
Foreign military assistance strengthens our security by enabling friendlynations to provide for their own defense, including defense against terrorism.
Terrorism is a new form of warfare against the democracies. Supportedby the Soviet Union and others, it ranges from PLO murder to the attemptedassassination of the Pope. Combatting it requires an integrated effort ofour diplomacy, armed forces, intelligence services, and law-enforcementorganizations. Legislative obstacles to international cooperation againstterrorism must be repealed, followed by a vigorous program to enhance friendlynations' counter-terrorist forces. In particular, we seek the cooperationof our hemispheric neighbors to deal comprehensively with the Soviet andCuban terrorism now afflicting us.
International Organizations
Americans cannot count on the international organizations to guaranteeour security or adequately protect our interests. The United States hoststhe headquarters of the United Nations, pays a fourth of its budget, andis proportionally the largest contributor to most international organizations;but many members consistently vote against us. As Soviet influence in theseorganizations has grown, cynicism and the double standard have become theirway of life.
This is why President Reagan announced that we will leave the worst ofthese organizations, UNESCO. He has put the U.N. on notice that the U.S.will strongly oppose the use of the U.N. to foster anti-semitism, Sovietespionage, and hostility to the United States. The President decisivelyrejected the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and embarked insteadon a dynamic national oceans policy, animated by our traditional commitmentto freedom of the seas. That pattern will be followed with regard to U.N.meddling in Antarctica and outer space. Enthusiastically endorsing thosesteps, we will apply the same standards to all international organizations.We will monitor their votes and activities, and particularly the votes ofmember states which receive U.S. aid. Americans will no longer silentlysuffer the hypocrisy of many of these organizations.
Human Rights
The American people believe that United States foreign policy shouldbe animated by the cause of human rights for all the world's peoples.
A well-rounded human rights policy is concerned with specific individualswhose rights are denied by governments of the right or left, and with entirepeoples whose Communist governments deny their claim to human rights asindividuals and acknowledge only the "rights" derived from membershipin an economic class. Republicans support a human rights policy which includesboth these concerns.
Republican concern for human rights also extends to the institutionsof free societies ‹ political parties, the free press, business andlabor organizations‹which embody and protect the exercise of individualrights. The National Endowment for Democracy and other instruments of U.S.diplomacy foster the growth of these vital institutions.
By focusing solely on the shortcomings of non-Communist governments,Democrats have missed the forest for the trees, failing to recognize thatthe greatest threat to human rights is the Communist system itself.
Republicans understand that the East-West struggle has profound humanrights implications. We know that Communist nations, which profess dedicationto human rights, actually use their totalitarian systems to violate humanrights in an organized, systematic fashion.
The Reagan-Bush Administration has worked for positive human rights changesworldwide. Our efforts have ranged from support for the Helsinki Accordsto our support of judicial and political reform in El Salvador.
The Republican Party commends President Reagan for accepting the HonoraryChairmanship of the campaign to erect a U.S. Holocaust Memorial in Washington,D.C. and supports the efforts of the U.S. Holocaust Council in erectingsuch a museum and educational center. The museum will bear witness to thevictims and survivors of the Holocaust.
For Republicans, the struggle for human freedom is more than an end initself. It is part of a policy that builds a foundation for peace. Whenpeople are free to express themselves and choose democratic governments,their free private institutions and electoral power constitute a constraintagainst the excesses of autocratic rulers. We agree with President Truman,who said: "In the long run our security and the world's hopes for peacelie not in measures of defense or in the control of weapons, but in thegrowth and expansion of freedom and self-government."
To this end, we pledge our continued effort to secure for all peoplethe inherent, God-given rights that Americans have been privileged to enjoyfor two centuries.
Advocacy for Democracy
To promote and sustain the cause of democracy, America must be an activeparticipant in the political competition between the principles of Communismand of democracy.
To do this, America needs a strong voice and active instruments of publicdiplomacy to counter the Communist bloc's massive effort to disinform anddeceive world public opinion. Republicans believe that truth is America'smost powerful weapon.
The Reagan-Bush Administration has elevated the stature of public diplomacyin the councils of government and increased the United States InformationAgency budget by 44 percent in four years. New programs have been launchedin television, citizen exchanges, and dissemination of written information.The National Endowment for Democracy has enlisted the talent of privateAmerican institutions, including the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,to educate our friends overseas in the ways of democratic institutions.A sustained billion-dollar effort is modernizing and expanding the Voiceof America, strengthening the Voice's signal, lengthening its broadcasts,improving its content, adding new language services and replacing antiquatedequipment. Radio Marti, the new broadcast service to Cuba, will begin tobroadcast the truth about Cuba to the Cuban people.
Initial steps have been taken to improve the capabilities of Radio FreeEurope and Radio Liberty, which serve the captive nations of the Sovietbloc. We pledge to carry out a thorough improvement program for these radios,including new transmitters and other means of penetrating the jamming whichdenies the RFE/RL signal to millions of captive people, including the increasinglydiscontented Soviet minorities, behind the Iron Curtain.
Because of the importance we place on people-to-people exchange programs,Republicans support the dedicated work of Peace Corps volunteers. Americamust nurture good relations not only with foreign governments but with otherpeoples as well. By encouraging the free flow of ideas and information,America is helping to build the infrastructure of democracy and demonstratingthe strength of our belief in the democratic example. The United StatesPeace Corps, reflecting traditional American values, will follow the WhiteHouse initiative promoting free enterprise development overseas in thirdworld countries.
The tradition of addressing the world's peoples, advocating the principlesand goals of democracy and freedom, is as old as our Republic. Thomas Jeffersonwrote the Declaration of Independence "with a decent respect to theopinions of mankind." This popular advocacy is even more importanttoday in the global struggle between totalitarianism and freedom.
The Future of Our National Security
Republicans look to the future with confidence that we have the will,the weapons, and the technology to preserve America as the land of the freeand the home of the brave. We stand united with President Reagan in hishope that American scientists and engineers can produce the technology andthe hardware to make nuclear war obsolete.
The prospect for peace is excellent because America is strong again.America's defenses have only one purpose: to assure that our people andfree institutions survive and flourish.
Our security requires both the capability to defend against aggressionand the will to do so. Together, will and capability deter aggression. Thatis why the danger of war has grown more remote under President Reagan.
When he took office, defense policy was in disarray. The Carter-MondaleAdministration had diminished our military capability and had confused thepursuit of peace with accommodating totalitarianism. It could not respondto the determined growth of Soviet military power and a more aggressiveSoviet foreign policy.
We are proud of a strong America. Our military strength exists for thehigh moral purpose of deterring conflict, not initiating war. The deterrenceof aggression is ethically imperative. That is why we have restored America'sdefense capability and renewed our country's will. Americans are again proudto serve in the Armed Forces and proud of those who serve.
We reaffirm the principle that the national security policy of the UnitedStates should be based upon a strategy of peace through strength, a goalof the 1980 Republican Platform.
Maintaining a technological superiority, the historical foundation ofour policy of deterrence, remains essential. In other areas, such as ourmaritime forces, we should continue to strive for qualitative superiority.
President Reagan committed our nation to a modernized strategic and theaternuclear force sufficient to deter attack against the United States and ourallies, while pursuing negotiations for balanced, verifiable reductionsof nuclear weapons under arms control agreements.
In order to deter, we must be sufficiently strong to convince a potentialadversary that under no circumstances would it be to its advantage to initiateconflict at any level.
We pledge to do everything necessary so that, in case of conflict, theUnited States would clearly prevail.
We will continue to modernize our deterrent capability while negotiatingfor verifiable arms control. We will continue the policies that have givenfresh confidence and new hope to freedom-loving people everywhere.
Arms Control for the Future
Americans, while caring deeply about arms contrail realize that it isnot an end in itself, but can be a major component of a foreign and defensepolicy which keeps America free, strong, and independent.
Sharing the American people's realistic view of the Soviet Union, theReagan Administration has pursued arms control agreements that would reducethe level of nuclear weaponry possessed by the superpowers. President Reaganhas negotiated with flexibility, and always from a position of strength.
In the European theater, President Reagan proposed the complete eliminationof intermediate-range nuclear missiles. In the START talks with the SovietUnion, he proposed the "build-down" which would eliminate fromthe U.S. and Soviet arsenals two existing nuclear warheads for each newwarhead.
The Soviet Union has rejected every invitation by President Reagan toresume talks, refusing to return unless we remove the Pershing II and Cruisemissiles which we have placed in Europe at the request of our NATO allies.Soviet intransigence is designed to force concessions from the United Stateseven before negotiations begin. We will not succumb to this strategy. TheSoviet Union will return to the bargaining table only when it recognizesthat the United States will not make unilateral concessions or allow theSoviet Union to achieve nuclear superiority.
The Soviet Union, by engaging in a sustained pattern of violations ofarms control agreements, has cast severe doubt on its own willingness tonegotiate and comply with new agreements in a spirit of good faith. Agreementsviolated by the Soviet Union include SALT, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treatyof 1972, the Helsinki Accords, and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Conventionof 1972. This pattern of Soviet behavior is clearly designed to obtain aSoviet strategic advantage.
To deter Soviet violations of arms control agreements, the United Statesmust maintain the capability to verify, display a willingness to respondto Soviet violations which have military significance, and adopt a policywhereby the defense of the United States is not constrained by arms controlagreements violated by the Soviet Union.
We support the President's efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weaponsand to improve international controls and safeguards over sensitive nucleartechnologies. The President's non-proliferation policy has emphasized results,rather than rhetoric, as symbolized by the successful meeting of nuclearsupplier states in Luxembourg in July of this year. We endorse the President'sinitiative on comprehensive safeguards and his efforts to encourage othersupplier states to support such measures.
Defense Resources
The first duty of government is to provide for the common defense. Thatsolemn responsibility was neglected during the Carter-Mondale years. Atthe end of the Eisenhower era, nearly 48 percent of the federal budget wasdevoted to defense programs, representing 9.1 percent of our gross nationalproduct. By 1980, under Carter-Mondale, defense spending had fallen to only5 percent of gross national product and represented only 24 percent of thefederal budget. The Reagan Administration has begun to correct the weaknessescaused by that situation by prudently increasing defense resources. We mustcontinue to devote the resources essential to deter a Soviet threat ‹a threat which has grown and should be met by an improved and modernizedU.S. defense capability. Even so, the percentage of the Reagan Administrationbudget spent on defense is only about half that of the Eisenhower-Kennedyera.
Readiness
In 1980, our military forces were not ready to perform their missionsin the event of emergency. Many planes could not By for lack of spare parts;ships could not sail for lack of skilled personnel; supplies were insufficientfor essential training or sustained combat. Today, readiness and sustainabilityhave improved dramatically. We not only have more equipment, but it is inoperating condition. Our military personnel have better training, pride,and confidence. We have improved their pay and benefits. Recruiting andretaining competent personnel is no longer a problem.
Under the Democrats, the All-Volunteer Force was headed for disastrousfailure. Because of the Carter-Mondale intransigence on military pay andbenefits, we saw the shameful spectacle of patriotic service families beingforced below the poverty level, relying on food stamps and other welfareprograms. The quality of life for our military has been substantially improvedunder the Reagan Administration. We wholeheartedly support the all-volunteerarmed force and are proud of our historic initiative to bring it to pass.
From the worst levels of retention and recruiting in post-war historyin 1979, we have moved to the highest ever recorded. We are meeting 100percent of our recruiting needs, and 92 percent of our recruits are highschool graduates capable of mastering the skills needed in the modern armedservices. In 1980, 13 percent of our ships and 25 percent of our aircraftsquadrons reported themselves not combat ready because of personnel shortages.Today, those figures have dropped to less than I percent and 4 percent respectively.
Today, the United States leads the world in integrating women into themilitary. They serve in a variety of non-combat assignments. We have madesignificant strides in numbers of women and their level of responsibility.Female officer strength has grown by 24 percent under the Reagan Administrationand is projected to increase, with even greater increases for non-commissionedofficers.
Conventional and Strategic Modernization
In 1980, we had a "hollow Army," a Navy half its numbers ofa decade earlier, and an Air Force badly in need of upgrading. The Armyis now receiving the most modern tanks, fighting vehicles, and artillery.The Navy has grown to 513 ships with 79 more under construction this year,well on its way toward the 600-ship, 15-carrier force necessary for ourmaritime strategy. The Air Force has procured advanced tactical aircraft.By decade's end, our inter-theater lift capacity will have increased by75 percent. We pledge to rescue a shipbuilding industry consigned to extinctionby the Carter-Mondale team.
Since the end of World War II, America's nuclear arsenal has caused theSoviet Union to exercise caution to avoid direct military confrontationwith us and our close allies.
Our nuclear arms are a vital element of the Free World's security system.
Throughout the 1970s and up to the present, the Soviet Union has engagedin a vast buildup of nuclear arms. In the naive hope that unilateral restraintby the United States would cause the Soviet Union to reverse course, theCarter-Mondale Administration delayed significant major features of thestrategic modernization our country needed. There was no arms race becauseonly the Soviet Union was racing, determined to achieve an intimidatingadvantage over the Free World. As a result, in 1980, America was movingtoward a position of clear nuclear inferiority to the Soviets.
President Reagan moved swiftly to reverse this alarming situation andto reestablish an effective margin of safety before 1990. Despite obstructionfrom many congressional Democrats, we have restored the credibility of ourdeterrent.
Reserve and Guard Forces
We salute the men and women of the National Guard and the Reserves. TheCarter-Mondale team completely neglected our vital Reserve and Guard forces,leaving them with obsolete equipment, frozen pay, and thousands of vacancies.
The Reagan Administration has transformed our Reserve and National Guard.The Naval Reserve will ultimately operate 40 of the fleet's 600 ships. Navyand Marine Air Reserve units now receive the most modern aircraft, as dothe Air Force Reserve and Guard. Army Reserve and Guard units now receivethe latest tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and artillery. Reserve payhas increased 30 percent, and reserve components are having record successin filling their positions. Our country counts on the Reserves and the Guard,and they can count on us.
Management Reform
The Republican Party advocates a strong defense and fiscal responsibilityat the same time. This Administration has already made major advances ineliminating the deep-rooted procurement problems we inherited. Republicanshave changed the way the Pentagon does business, encouraging greater economyand efficiency, stretching the taxpayer's dollar.
Learning nothing from past mistakes, the Carter-Mondale Administrationreturned to centralized defense management. The predictable result: competitionfell to only 15 percent of Pentagon procurement; programs were mired indisastrous cost overruns and disputes; outrageous and exorbitant priceswere paid for spare parts; and the taxpayers' money was wasted on a grandscale.
We have tackled this problem head-on. We returned management to the Servicesand began far-reaching reforms. To hold down costs, we more than doubledcompetition in Pentagon procurement. We appointed Competition Advocate Generalsin each Service and an overall Inspector General for the Pentagon. We increasedincentives for excellent performance by contractors, and we have appliedimmediate penalty for poor performance. Our innovative approaches have alreadysaved the taxpayers billions of dollars.
Spare parts acquisition has undergone thorough reform. Improving spareparts management, involving a Department of Defense inventory of almostfour million items, is a complex and massive management challenge. The Pentagon'snew 10-point program is already working. Old contracts are being revampedto allow competition, high prices are being challenged, and rigorous auditsare continuing. As an example, a stool cap for a navigator's chair, oncepriced at $1,100, was challenged by an alert Air Force Sergeant. It nowcosts us 31 cents. The Pentagon obtained a full refund and gave the Sergeanta cash reward.
Our men and women in uniform deserve the best and most reliable weaponsthat this country can offer. We must improve the reliability and performanceof our weapons systems, and warranties can be a very positive contributionto defense procurement practices, as can be the independent office of operationaltesting and evaluation, which was another positive Republican initiative.
The acquisition improvement program now includes program stability, multi-yearprocurement, economic production rates, realistic budgeting, and increasedcompetition. The B-1B bomber, replacing our aging B-52 force, is ahead ofschedule and under cost. We support our anti-submarine warfare effort andurge its funding at its current level. For the last two years, the Navyhas received nearly 50 ships more than three years ahead of schedule andnearly $1 billion under budget. The U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, our newestaircraft carrier, is 17 months ahead of schedule and almost $74 millionunder cost.
We have reformed inefficient procurement practices established decadesago, and we will continue to ensure the most gain from each defense dollar.
The Tasks Ahead
The damage to our defenses through unilateral disarmament cannot be repairedquickly. The hollow Army of the Carter-Mondale Administration is hollowno more, and our Navy is moving toward a 600-ship force.
We share President Reagan's determination to restore credible securityfor our country. Our choice is not between a strong defense or a strongeconomy; we must succeed in both, or we will succeed in neither.
Our forces must be second to none, and we condemn the notion that one-sidedmilitary reduction will induce the Soviets to seek peace. Our military strengthnot only provides the deterrent necessary for a more peaceful world, butit is also the best incentive for the Soviets to agree to arms reduction.
Veterans
America is free because of its veterans. We owe them more than thanks.After answering the call to arms, they brought leadership and patriotismback to their communities. They are a continuing resource for America. Throughtheir membership in veterans' service activities, they have strongly supportedPresident Reagan's defense policy. Knowing firsthand the sacrifices of war,they have spoken out frequently for a strong national defense.
Veterans have earned their benefits; these must not be taken away. Thehelp we give them is an investment which pays our nation unlimited dividends.
We have accomplished a great deal. We are meeting the needs of womenveterans and ensuring them equal treatment. We must prepare to meet theneeds of aging veterans.
We are addressing the unique readjustment problems of Vietnam veteransby expanding the store-front readjustment counseling program, extendingvocational training and job placement assistance, and targeting researchtoward understanding delayed stress reaction in combat veterans. We havemoved to alleviate the uncertainty of veterans exposed to Agent Orange byproviding nearly 129,000 medical exams and by launching an all-out, government-wideresearch effort.
We are making major strides in improving health care for veterans. VAhospital construction has expanded to meet community needs, and benefitsfor disabled veterans have been improved.
We will maintain the veterans' preferences for federal hiring and willimprove health, education, and other benefits. We support the Reagan Administration'sactions to make home ownership attainable by more veterans, as well as ourprogram to help veterans in small business compete for government contracts.We will extend to all veterans of recent conflicts, such as Lebanon andGrenada, the same assistance.
In recognition of the unique commitment and personal sacrifices of militaryspouses, President Reagan has called upon the nation to honor them and proclaimeda day of tribute. We will remember them and advance their interests.
National Intelligence
Knowing our adversaries' capabilities and intentions is our first lineof defense A strong intelligence community focuses our diplomacy and savesbillions of defense dollars This critical asset was gravely weakened duringthe Carter-Mondale years.
We will continue to strengthen our intelligence services. We will removestatutory obstacles to the effective management, performance, and securityof intelligence sources and methods. We will further improve our abilityto influence international events in support of our foreign policy objectives,and we will strengthen our counterintelligence facilities.
Strategic Trade
By encouraging commerce in militarily significant technology, the Carter-MondaleAdministration actually improved Soviet military power. Because of thatterrible error, we are now exposed to significant risk and must spend billionsof defense dollars that would otherwise have been unnecessary
The Reagan Administration halted the Carter-Mondale folly We have strengthenedcooperative efforts with our allies to restrict diversion of militarilycritical technologies. We will increase law-enforcement and counterintelligenceefforts to halt Soviet commercial espionage and illegal exploitation ofour technology.
Terrorism
International terrorism is not a random phenomenon but a new form ofwarfare waged by the forces of totalitarianism against the democracies.
In recent years, certain states have sponsored terrorist actions in pursuitof their strategic goals. The international links among terrorist groupsare now clearly understood; and the Soviet link, direct and indirect, isalso clearly understood. The Soviets use terrorist groups to weaken democracyand undermine world stability.
Purely passive measures do not deter terrorists. It is time to thinkabout appropriate preventive or pre-emptive actions against terrorist groupsbefore they strike.
Terrorism is an international problem. No one country can successfullycombat it. We must lead the free nations in a concerted effort to pressuremembers of the League of Terror to cease their sponsorship and support ofterrorism.
A Secure Future
During the Carter-Mondale Administration, the Soviets built more weapons,and more modern ones, than the United States. President Reagan has begunto reverse this dangerous trend. More important, he has begun a processthat, over time, will gradually but dramatically reduce the Soviet Union'sability to threaten our lives with nuclear arms.
His leadership came none too soon. The combined damage of a decade ofneglect and of relentless Soviet buildup, despite treaties and our restraint,will not be undone easily.
Today, the Soviet Union possesses over 5,000 intercontinental nuclearwarheads powerful and accurate enough to destroy hard military targets,and it is flight-testing a whole new generation of missiles. The Carter-MondaleAdministration left this country at a decided disadvantage, without a credibledeterrent. That is why President Reagan embarked on a modernization programcovering all three legs of the strategic triad.
Republicans understood that our nuclear deterrent forces are the ultimatemilitary guarantor of America's security and that of our allies. That iswhy we will continue to support the programs necessary to modernize ourstrategic forces and reduce the vulnerabilities. This includes the earliestpossible deployment of a new small mobile ICBM.
While the Carter-Mondale team hid beneath an umbrella of wishful thinking,the Soviet Union made every effort to protect itself in case of convict.It has an operational anti-satellite system; the United States does not.A network of huge ultramodern radars, new anti-missile interceptors, newsurface-to-air missiles, all evidence the Soviet commitment to self-protection.
President Reagan has launched a bold new Strategic Defense Initiativeto defend against nuclear attack. We enthusiastically support PresidentReagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. We enthusiastically support the developmentof non-nuclear, space-based defensive systems to protect the United Statesby destroying incoming missiles.
Recognizing the need for close consultation with our allies, we supporta comprehensive and intensive effort to render obsolete the doctrine ofMutual Assured Destruction (MAD). The Democratic Party embraces Mutual AssuredDestruction. The Republican Party rejects the strategy of despair and supportsinstead the strategy of hope and survival.
We will begin to eliminate the threat posed by strategic nuclear missilesas soon as possible. Our only purpose (one all people share) is to reducethe danger of nuclear war. To that end, we will use superior American technologyto achieve space-based and ground-based defensive systems as soon as possibleto protect the lives of the American people and our allies.
President Reagan has asked, "Would it not be better to save livesthan to avenge them?" The Republican Party answers, "Yes!"