EQUALITY - All people are created equal and have the right to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No one should be discriminated against because of race, creed, religion, gender or national origin.
EDUCATION - All people derserve the right and the access to a good education. Teachers and administrators must have the right to maintain discipline in our schools.
EMPLOYMENT - Every person that has the desire and the ability to work should have access to a job with fair compensation and safe working conditions. The government should do its part to provide ample job opportunities by refusing to give tax breaks to companies that export jobs overseas.
RELIGION - We firmly support our country's founding principle of religious freedom. All people should be free to practice the religion of their choice. Freedom of religion does not, however, entitle individuals to harm others.
MILITARY - We fully support our military personnel in any and all endeavors. We owe it to our brave men and women to provide everything necessary to enable them to carry out all assigned missions.
WAR - We believe the war against terrorism is a necessary war, but the war with Iraq was unjustified and unnecessary. Since our country is at war, however, our desire is to see a peaceful solution to the conflict.
We further believe the nation should only go to war as a last resort. Irrational fears and misinformation must never be the impetus for war. Furthermore, our leaders should not ignore sound counsel of historical allies when making a decision to commit our nation to war.
The United States of America should never start a war with an insufficient number of troops, thereby necessitating reliance on the National Guard and Reserves for a large part of our fighting force. We should always have a sufficient number of troops on hand both for our own defense and for the ability to respond to crises in other parts of the world.
Finally, we should never go to war, absent an emergency situation, without a fully developed exit strategy.
NATIONAL SECURTIY - It is possible to have national security without destroying the basic freedoms of our citizens. It makes no sense to fight for freedom in a foreign country and lose our freedom at home.
FOREIGN RELATIONS - The United States should make every effort to work with foreign governments and to act in concert with them rather than acting as an arrogant superpower. We should heed their advice when our actions affect their area of the world.
| ENERGY POLICY - It is imperative that we develop an energy policy that lessens our dependence on foreign oil supplies. Our energy policy goal should be the attainment of self-sufficiency. Domestic energy suppliers should not be allowed to hinder or to dominate the attainment of alternate energy sources.
BALANCED BUDGET - The government should maintain a balanced budget and should reduce the national debt. There is no excuse for reckless spending that burdens future generations.
FOREIGN TRADE - The present trade imbalance is unhealthy for the nation and efforts should be made to bring it back in balance. All trade policies should be favorable to the nation as a whole and not only to multi-national corporations.
TAXES - The tax system must be fair to all persons and must not show preference to wealthy individuals or to corporations. Taxes should be based on people's ability to pay.
IMMIGRATION - All people immigrating to this country should do so legally as defined by our present laws. Amnesty for illegal aliens only encourages violation of our laws.
CRIME - Criminal laws must be enforced fairly, regardless of an individual's financial status, race, color, creed or national origin. Alternatives to imprisonment for non-violent crimes should be considered as a means of reducing the strain on our overburdened, overcrowded prison system.
ENVIRONMENT - Clean air, water and land are the birthright of every American citizen. Environmental laws should not be weakened to enrich large corporations. We seek a reasonable balance between the environmental concerns of individuals and those of industry.
ABORTION - We feel that abortion is morally wrong. WE SUPPORT THE CHOICE, NOT THE ACT. We support a woman's right to make the personal decision to choose abortion, based on her consideration of her options and their possible consequences. Rather than condemn a woman for seeking abortion, we feel that women should be educated and counseled on the alternatives to abortion, such as adoption or job training for the mother to enable her to support her children. We are concerned for the lives of women and we fear that denial of the right to choose will mean a return to the past, wherein wealthy women obtained safe abortions while poor women often died from unsafe, illegal abortions. We know that attempting to make laws, banning abortions, will never stop women from getting abortions by other means.
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Issues
