Articles


2009 North Carolina Republican Party Platform
Adopted in Convention
June 12, 2009
Raleigh, NC

| Family | The Economy | Individual Liberty | Sanctity of Life |
| State Government | Elections | Education | Justice | Environment |
| National Policy | Conclusion |

Article I: Family

  1. Our nation’s strength lies with the family where each new generation gains its moral anchor. It is the first school of good citizenship, the engine of economic progress, and a haven of security and understanding.
  2. The ideal environment for raising children is a two-parent family where a husband and wife live in harmony in one home. We praise the courageous efforts of single parents who work hard
  3. Government cannot legislate love or compassion. It should not preempt parental responsibility for children; however, government should protect children from abuse and neglect. Laws should balance parental rights with the protection of a child’s life, safety and wellbeing. We support tax credits for the adoption of children into permanent homes. We support private initiatives that promote healthy, nurturing families and provide services to dysfunctional families.
  4. Homosexual behavior is not the norm. Public schools should not be used to teach children about homosexual behavior. Taxpayers should not fund benefit plans for unmarried partners. We support federal and state constitutional amendments to ensure that marriage is limited to the union of one man and one woman. We oppose adoption or foster parenting by same sex couples.

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Article II: The Economy

  1. The free enterprise system is the most effective and just economic system. Economic freedom is essential to human liberty and dignity.
  2. Government ought to provide an environment for individual initiative and enterprise unencumbered by excessive regulation and taxation.
  3. Growth in employment and personal income requires expanding capital formation. We oppose the taxation of capital gains as ordinary income.
  4. We urge Congress to make permanent the tax changes of 2001 and 2003. We urge elimination of the death tax.
  5. We pay more taxes than necessary with the highest tax rates in the southeast. Government spending should not increase more than population growth and inflation combined. We support zero-based budgeting and a taxpayer’s bill of rights incorporating these principles.
  6. It is contrary to the free enterprise system to recruit or retain businesses with tax incentives when other businesses bear the full burden of taxation. The best way to promote economic growth is to reduce our overall tax burden. Raising tax rates on many of us to provide preferential treatment for a few is unfair.

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Article III: Individual Liberty

  1. We embrace the vision for America established by our Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, and the North Carolina Constitution, including its Declaration of Rights.
  2. The state must not interfere with freedom of religion. We oppose efforts to remove the recognition of Almighty God from our schools, courts and our Pledge of Allegiance. Public schools should not discriminate for or against any religion nor deny equal access to school facilities.
  3. Government should treat all citizens fairly and impartially without regard to wealth, race, religion, sex, political affiliation, or national origin. We oppose all forms of invidious discrimination. We oppose efforts to include sexual orientation as a category under civil rights laws.
  4. We support the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantees the right of free citizens to keep and bear arms. We oppose further restriction on the ownership, sale, purchase and “lawful carry” of firearms by law-abiding citizens. We support eliminating North Carolina’s statewide “no carry” zones that disarm law abiding and duly licensed concealed carry permit holders.
  5. Private property should not be taken by condemnation except for a legitimate public use, and upon prompt payment of just compensation. A state constitutional amendment should be submitted promptly to the people.
  6. Annexation laws should be reformed to eliminate involuntary annexation.

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Article IV: Sanctity of Life

  1. We believe in the sanctity of all human life.
  2. Unborn children have constitutional rights to life and liberty. We urge the Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade. We support a human life amendment. We oppose efforts to mandate the provision of abortion or to fund organizations that provide or promote abortion services. Abortion is never an acceptable method of birth control.
  3. We oppose partial-birth abortion. We urge the General Assembly to prohibit this procedure which would complement the federal law.
  4. We support adoption through significant tax credits and insurance reform.
  5. We respect and defend parental rights and responsibilities with respect to their minor children. Informed consent and parental consent should be prerequisite to any minor receiving family-planning services.
  6. We support all developments in biomedical research that enhance and protect human life. We oppose developments that do not treat each individual human life as a locus of unique and irreplaceable God-given dignity, no matter how weak, immature, or dependent.
  7. We encourage organizations and individuals that support women who carry their babies to delivery.
  8. We oppose all procedures that intentionally destroy innocent human life. We oppose human cloning and the destruction of human embryos. We support adult stem cell research.
  9. We support treating the infirm and elderly with love and respect, not as a burden. We oppose euthanasia.
  10. We urge the recruitment and support of candidates who will work hard to protect all innocent human life.

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Article V: State Government

  1. We expect legislators to be efficient, effective, ethical, and responsive.
  2. Legislative session limits must be accompanied by measures to ensure that policy decisions are made by elected legislators and are not made by unelected state employees or legislative staff.
  3. Government should encourage honest, productive work. We oppose any expansion of legal gambling, including the state lottery. The state lottery monopoly turns government into a bookie, operates only by false advertising, capitalizes on broken dreams and personal irresponsibility. A lottery places the burden of taxation most heavily on those who are least able to afford it.
  4. We oppose unfunded mandates. Each level of government should fund the programs it requires of other levels of government.
  5. Elected officials should not appear in “public service ads”.
  6. No State funds should be spent without an explicit appropriation. We oppose “slush funds” as rewards for political support. Raiding of dedicated funds should not be allowed except in an emergency as determined by law.
  7. Every bill should receive a recorded vote in committee. The budget bill must be made public two days before the final vote.
  8. We support the issuance of a driver’s license only to those who are legally here. We should end all subsidies to illegal aliens, except in life threatening emergencies. Taxpayers should not pay for higher education for illegal aliens.
  9. Democratic leaders have thoroughly mismanaged reform of the State mental health system. The needs of patients must be the first priority. This requires diagnosis, a comprehensive care plan, regular follow-up, and accountability at every level and stiff penalties for those who abuse or exploit patients.
  10. We encourage transparency at all levels of government with easy disclosure and access to all government budgets, including the compensation of employees.

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Article VI: Elections

  1. We support photo identification to deter voter fraud. Only qualified citizens should be allowed to vote.
  2. We welcome naturalized citizens to our Party.
  3. We support compact contiguous single-member districts that do not split counties or precincts drawn by an independent redistricting commission. When the legislature does not follow the state and federal Constitution legal action should be pursued.
  4. We recognize the independence of the judiciary and oppose the appointment of state judges. To hold to account our trial courts through regular, direct elections is a valuable right.
  5. Voters should have full and timely information on candidates' campaign finances. We oppose funding election campaigns with public funds.
  6. The public is ill served by nonpartisan judicial elections. The party affiliation of judicial candidates should appear on the ballot.
  7. We are aware that the Campaign Finance Reform Act is the law of the land. But we can read the Constitution for ourselves. The Act obviously abridges our freedom to speak on core political subjects. We urge Congress to repeal it and to reject other assaults on freedom of speech.

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Article VII: Education

  1. We believe in an excellent system of public education. Parents, not the state, should control their children’s education.
  2. Choice and competition have served the state well in higher education and should be used to improve education at primary and secondary levels as well. We support tax credits for parents who relieve the burden on our public schools by lawfully educating their children in private or home schools. There should be no additional restrictions on parents’ option to educate their children at home.
  3. We support charter schools. The cap on the number of charter schools should be removed. Existing charter schools with a record of success should be duplicated, regardless of any cap.
  4. Our schools should be independent of the federal government by keeping education dollars at home without going to bureaucrats at the national level.
  5. Real education reform requires local control of curriculum, budget, textbook selection, and personnel in the public schools. Parents must have complete access to all curricula and to materials used for teacher development.
  6. Reform requires nationally normed tests, cutting administrative waste, and facilitating alternative teacher certification. Students must have the best possible teachers in the classroom, whether physically present or by use of technology. Teachers should be paid, retained, and promoted based on the quality of their work, not on longevity. All teachers should be trained in the subject matter they are actually teaching. Highly qualified teachers and principals in low performing schools should receive additional pay if their students show academic progress.
  7. Children should be able to read and write at grade level. High school graduates should be proficient at the twelfth grade level. Social promotion should be eliminated.
  8. Schools should encourage patriotism and the traditional values of Western civilization. They should teach the true facts of the history of the United States. Schools should require a course on economics and government so that students will be prepared to vote as informed citizens.
  9. We support daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in our schools, display of an American and North Carolina flag and our national motto — “In God We Trust.”
  10. We oppose mandatory sex education in public schools. Sex education should not be included in any public school program without prior approval from parents. No birth control devices or drugs should be distributed in or by state schools. We support teaching abstinence until marriage as the expected norm for sexual behavior and the most effective way to prevent teenage pregnancies, abortion, and sexually transmitted diseases, and to create healthy relationships and self-esteem.
  11. We oppose social and medical services which bypass parents.
  12. We support the right of students, regardless of faith, to pray in school and the right of others to pray at public occasions without censorship of the content of those prayers.
  13. We oppose the restriction of free speech and free assembly by public educational insitutions on ideological or religious grounds.
  14. Universities should teach a rigorous curriculum emphasizing liberty and free markets.
  15. We support community based schools.
  16. We encourage expanding vocational opportunities within our public schools.

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Article VIII: Justice

  1. The first duty of government is maintaining law and order, allowing citizens freedom to pursue the blessings of life and liberty and to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
  2. We support the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
  3. The death penalty deters murder. Premeditated and deliberate murder calls for the death penalty, which is directly proportional to the wrong perpetrated against its victim. We should drastically reduce the time between death sentence and execution.
  4. We support effective educational and treatment programs for drug and alcohol abuse. Stiff punishment for those who drive while impaired by drugs or alcohol is appropriate. We oppose legalizing illegal drugs. Drug dealers must face stiff punishment.
  5. We are repulsed by the rise of gratuitous violence and pornography in literature and music and the electronic media. We support mandatory labeling of these products. We oppose using tax dollars to buy them. Laws should control obscene or sadistic materials that degrade men, women and children.
  6. We want enforced stiff penalties for abducting, exploiting or abusing children. We abhor domestic violence and spousal abuse. We support organizations that provide effective solutions for domestic violence.
  7. Prisons should pay less attention to inmate comfort and more to security, education and labor. Inmates should be required to work without competing with private enterprises.
  8. "Dead-beat" parents should be forced to meet their obligations.
  9. We support tort reform, including a cap on awards for pain and suffering, reform in the collateral source rule, allowing more of the award for the victim, and structured payments of awards.
  10. Records of violent juvenile crime should be available to the courts.

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Article IX: Environment

  1. We are stewards of our God-given natural heritage. We have a duty to protect the air and water, productive forests, and abundant wildlife.
  2. If regulation is needed to protect the environment the government should not proceed without evidence that the benefits warrant the cost.
  3. When government takes the economic value of property by regulatory action, it should compensate landowners for their loss. Local governments are adversely affected when land is removed from the local tax base by environmental “set-asides” for conservation.
  4. We support efforts to become energy independent. Drilling for oil and natural gas offshore and inland, nuclear power, solar, wind and alternative fuels will improve our economy, prevent us from being held hostage to oil producing countries, and give jobs to our citizens. It will also keep cost of power/energy affordable.

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Article X: National Policy

  1. We support the war against terrorism (even if our current President does not recognize it), including preventing rogue nations from obtaining weapons of mass destruction. Denying reinforcements to our troops should never be considered as “supporting the troops.” Americans owe our continued freedom and security to these brave men and women.
  2. The most important responsibility of the federal government is “to provide a common defense”. Our borders must be made secure. The federal government should actively enforce its immigration laws. Opposing “profiling” is neither wise nor moral if imposed at the expense of national security.
  3. English must be made the official language of the United States of America.
  4. America's defense must be second to none. The ban against known homosexuals should be retained. The armed forces should be maintained at full combat readiness.
  5. We oppose any foreign effort to influence our elections.
  6. American participation in any international body must never sacrifice the sovereignty of the United States. We oppose relinquishing our freedom to any organization claiming authority to propose, legislate, or to enforce global regulations. The United States has the absolute right to defend itself. It does not need permission from the United Nations or any other international body.
  7. We recognize the need for treaties. We support efforts to revise or withdraw from any treaty that compromises our sovereignty or undermines national defense. Foreign court decisions are not relevant to interpretation of the U.S. Constitution except when construing terms known at the time of ratification.
  8. We support a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. We support spending cuts as the right means to balance the federal budget and tax rate reductions as the right way to stimulate the economy.
  9. Individuals should work in return for public assistance. Our nation needs to change from a welfare state to an opportunity society.
  10. Social Security must be placed on a sound basis. The federal budget should be balanced without using Social Security reserves. These reserves should be dedicated toward meeting future obligations. We support offering workers more choice and control over their own retirement security, but in ways that do not harm anyone already on Social Security or within a few years of retirement.
  11. Wise health choices are best made by individuals and doctors who are guided by sound medical opinion. We reject universal national healthcare. Choice for patients, with better information about health care, will allow a reduction in costs. We support medical savings accounts which combine personal responsibility with access to affordable healthcare.
  12. We call on Congress, the President, the courts, and the states to abide by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. We oppose governmental encroachments upon all powers and rights which the Constitution of the United States has reserved to the states, or to the people.
  13. .
  14. The Republican Party was born out of the abolition movement of the 1850’s. Slavery has been abolished in the United States. However, millions of people around the world continue to live in bondage. Our foreign policy should encourage freedom from slavery for all peoples.
  15. We oppose federal “card check” legislation that denies workers a free and fair election with a secret ballot on the fundamental question whether they choose to be represented by a union.

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Conclusion

         Respectfully submitted the 14th day of March, 2009.

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2009 Platform Committee:

Bob Steinburg Edenton District 1
Mark Edwards Nashville District 2
Perry White Nags Head District 3
Jan Pueschel Raleigh District 4
Buck Golding Lowgap District 5
David Ruden High Point District 6
Mitchell Mercer Chadbourn District 7
Ron Crawley New London District 8
Neil Moore Belmont District 9
Sandi Walker Valdese District 10
Bill Lack Asheville District 11
Patricia Armstrong Charlotte District 12
Becky Gray Raleigh District 13
Ann Sullivan Goldsboro Member at Large
David Black Concord Member at Large
Paul Stam Apex Chairman


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