We, the Republicans of Whitman County, believe that all people are endowed by their Creator with the Rights of free men and that these rights must be respected by government and restricted only as necessary to ensure a civil society. We believe that all laws must align with the Washington State and United States Constitutions. We call for local solutions to local problems. We also call for character and integrity in all of our elected representatives and for the elimination of waste and fraud in government. We look forward to a Republican Congress complemented by a Republican Administration and its leadership of this great nation. Fiscal responsibility, national preparedness, respect and prestige for our country will continue to be goals.

AGRICULTURE

We call on all levels of government to take affirmative steps to protect and preserve the agricultural economy including the family farm. These programs must emphasize the growth in foreign markets and other policies which will assist the American farmer to be competitive in the world economy. We call on our nation’s trade representatives to vigorously seek the lowering of trade barriers and continued expansion of markets for agricultural products from the State of Washington. We support the harvesting of damaged and diseased timber for the promotion of forest recovery and reduction of fire danger. We urge the elimination of wasteful programs. We oppose companies using foreign grown products for export with Federal Government subsidies. We support food labeling as to country of origin.

CHARACTER AND HUMAN VALUE

We recognize the traditional family as the basic unit of our society. We oppose taxpayer funded abortions and euthanasia and support the protection and sanctity of Human Life. We oppose using embryos to extract stem cells for research purposes. We support notification to parents of juveniles seeking abortion. We oppose legalization of doctor assisted euthanasia. Furthermore, we submit that the character and integrity of those whom we elect to public office does and must count.

EDUCATION

We believe that K-12 public education and higher education are vitally important to the continuance of the United States as a world leader. We urge the basics of education to include competency in reading, literature, language arts, history, government, mathematics, the arts and social and physical science. We support a rigorous math and science curriculum. We support the teaching of U.S. history beginning with the founding fathers and foundational documents. We insist on excellence in education and an end to social advancement and grade inflation. We support competition in education to include vouchers, tax credits and home schooling. We support local control of the education of our children. We encourage active family participation in the education of our children.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

We strongly oppose the drawdown of the Snake River and/or breaching or removal of the existing dams. We support a balanced approach to environmental issues accompanied by a cost-benefit analysis of all environmental proposals. We believe that property owners should be compensated if the use of their property is restricted or reduced in value because of environmental regulations or other governmental actions. We call for simplified definitions of wetlands, and support efforts to map wetlands so that property owners in non-wetland areas will be protected from any future wetland designations and a one step permitting process. No designated wetland in Whitman County shall be less than 25 acres. We support adequate fish ladders on major river dams. We call for a reasonable indiscriminate catch policy of harvesting salmon and other fish. We support changes to the Endangered Species Act to incorporate common sense and a cost benefit analysis before the inclusion of any species. The state should always maintain final discretion on these decisions.

INFRASTRUCTURE

We support the development of a robust infrastructure including, but not limited to, highways, waterways, airways, communication, and power generation and distribution. We call for higher funding for infrastructure by all levels of government.

NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION

We support the concept of recycling. We support undertaking a careful cost benefit analysis before initiating any new solid waste disposal alternatives. We propose studying the Oregon style container deposit/return system as an option.

PARENTING

We defend the rights of parents to be responsible for raising their children and their right to administer reasonable discipline.

CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY

We encourage a review of existing and proposed laws to determine their constitutionality.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

We encourage the Legislature to make Washington State actively pro-business by revising the existing B&O tax, prevailing wage, minimum wage and other fees and regulations that have led to the decline of the state’s economy; and to the same end, encourage industrial insurance and paid family leave expenditures by employees be optioned to the private sector. We support the revocation of the tax on estates of 2 million dollars or more ( i.e. the death tax). We support the current state tax structure that protects agriculture from B&O and sales tax and oppose any new taxes that would negatively impact agriculture. We oppose state and federal climate change legislation (e.g. Cap and Trade) that would hinder our economic competitiveness and raise energy prices.

ENTITLEMENTS

We oppose all increases in entitlement programs and the creation of such new programs. Public assistance and other such entitlements should be for a specified period not to exceed a lifetime eligibility of three years.

ENGLISH AS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

English should be the official language of the State of Washington and of the United States with efforts to integrate diverse groups as quickly and efficiently as possible. All ballots must be printed in English only.

GUN CONTROL

We oppose gun control legislation and laws which restrict our U.S. Constitution Second Amendment right of individual ownership of firearms. We support crime control, the enforcement of existing laws and more severe penalties for violent crimes. We encourage all individuals and parents to participate in education regarding gun use and safety. We support state reciprocity of concealed carry. We support the rights of concealed carry license holders to be upheld in all locations including all public universities. We support the creation of additional private marksmanship training facilities.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

We call for the effectiveness of the Department of Social and Health Services be evaluated and ineffective programs be eliminated.

HAZARDOUS WASTE

We support reasonable regulation of farmers and non-farmers concerning the storage, use and movement of hazardous materials accompanied by a careful cost-benefit analysis.

LABOR & INDUSTRIES

We call for a complete outcome based performance audit of the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.

PROPERTY RIGHTS & EMINENT DOMAIN

We oppose the taking of private property for the development by other private interests with the justification of increased tax revenue, which is misuse of the purpose of the state’s eminent domain privilege.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

We support the designation of hydroelectric power as a renewable energy source.

RIGHT-TO-WORK

Employees in this state should have the right to work without having to join, belong to or pay dues to a union. We support the repeal of the requirement of prevailing wage on government tax supported projects and on private contractors.

SOVEREIGNITY

We assert our state right under the Constitution that all powers not specifically delineated to the federal government are reserved to the State.

SPECIAL PREFERENCES

We oppose special rights and privileges that are granted for any reason not directly related to an individual’s ability.

TRANSPORTATION

We call on the Washington Transportation Commission to make the maintenance of farm-to-market modes of transportation a higher funding and maintenance priority. We call for higher funding for transportation infrastructure by the Legislature. We support establishing entities to collect tolls to build and maintain highway/bridge projects.

UNFUNDED MANDATES

We oppose unfunded mandates from the state.

VOTER REGISTRATION & ELECTIONS

We support stringent measures in registering and identifying voters in order to eliminate voter fraud. We support stringent measures to ensure an accurate vote count.

WASHINGTON STATE LIQUOR CONTROL BOARD

We support the privatization of liquor sales in Washington State.

ENERGY

We support energy independence by balancing environmentally responsible exploration and production of fossil fuels and the use of alternative fuels that can be produced profitably by agriculture, forestry and other processing entities and possible tax incentives, not subsidies, to enable private agriculture and processing entities to that end. We recognize nuclear, wind, solar, and hydro power as a clean form of energy production and encourage further development of nuclear technology.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS

We would like to see the use of executive orders narrowed in scope to issues of national emergencies.

FOREIGN POLICY

We support a strong foreign policy based on the principles of consistency, liberty and peace through strength. We oppose any policies that undermine our national sovereignty in favor of globalism and United Nations/World Trade Organization control. We oppose the use of embargoes of agricultural products and medical aid as an instrument of State Department foreign policy. We support strengthening American manufacturing and jobs and request that this be given greater consideration in economic and foreign trade policies. We oppose the imposition of family planning policies as an instrument of United States foreign policy.

GOVERNMENT LARGESS

We support a balanced budget. We call for the adoption of corporate accounting practices for government. We support the Line Item Veto. We support limiting each appropriation bill to a single subject and forbidding any unrelated amendment. We support a reduction in the size of the bureaucracy and urge the privatization of governmental services where appropriate. We oppose federal bailouts and acknowledge that in a free-market system, businesses must be allowed to fail. It should be taken for granted that no lawmaker or representative is above the law and that all lawmakers and representatives are bound by the Constitution of the United States.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

We strongly support tighter restriction of our borders and the denial of all benefits, incentives and entitlements to illegal immigrants – except for emergency medical care. We require that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement enforce the laws dealing with illegal entry and be given sufficient resources to do so. We welcome all immigrants who wish to legally emigrate and become taxpaying United State Citizens.

MILITARY DEFENSE

We support the restoration of our military defense capabilities including a missile defense system. We also support an effective war on terror in order to ensure the safety of the citizens of the United States of America.

NATIONAL MONUMENTS

We oppose the taking of private and state land or other properties for creation of national monuments by Executive order.

PUBLIC HEALTH

We oppose the concept of socialized medicine both on the federal and state level. We support tort and medical malpractice reform. We support CDC guidelines for testing and prevention of the spread of communicable diseases.

TAXATION

We affirm that the existing tax system is flawed and we support examining possible replacement options. We support the permanent elimination of the capital gains tax and inheritance tax. We encourage the Congress and the President to acknowledge that the Social Security System was originally intended to be a dedicated fund fiscally sound and only meant as a supplement to private retirement funds. The funds collected must not be used as income to balance the national budget. We support the option of privately investing Social Security funds. We oppose unfunded mandates by the federal government on state, county, and local governments.

Download 2010 Whitman County Republican Platform
Washington State Republican Party Platform
National Republican Party Platform