2006
FINAL VERSION
Adopted in Convention June 3, 2006

Preamble

1.   The North Carolina Republican Party represents the values of the majority of North Carolinians.

2.   We want to empower and free individuals.  We oppose all efforts to replace that power and freedom with undue governmental control.

3.   Our nation was founded on faith in God, family, country, and freedom.

4.  Our elected representatives must honor the original meaning of our Constitutions, and must protect the inalienable rights of the American people as recognized in the Bill of Rights and the North Carolina Declaration of Rights.

5.  The Republican Party is strong, principled and conservative.  It is the party that should lead the state of North Carolina .  We lead, not by patronage but by principle, and not by dividing interests but by serving the good of all.

6.  Membership in our Party is open to all citizens residing in our state who share the values and beliefs expressed in this document.  We welcome all who share these values including groups not traditionally associated with our Party.

1.   We believe our nation's strength lies with the family.  The family is 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 support all reasonable efforts to help families remain intact.  We praise the courageous efforts of single parents who work hard to provide stable homes.  We recognize that single parents often succeed and that two-parent families sometimes fail.

3.   We believe homosexual behavior is not normal and should not be taught as an acceptable "alternative" lifestyle either in public education or in public policy.  We do not believe public schools should be used to teach children that homosexual behavior is normal.  We do not believe that taxpayers should fund benefit plans for unmarried partners.  We oppose special treatment by law based on homosexual behavior or identity.  We support federal and state constitutional amendments to ensure that marriage is limited to the union of one man and one woman.  We oppose attempts to legitimize homosexual relationships by placing such relationships on an equal footing with marriage.  We oppose the adoption or foster parenting of children by same sex couples.

4.   Government cannot legislate love and compassion and should not preempt parental responsibility for children; however, government can protect children from abuse and neglect.  We support laws that balance parental rights with the protection of a child's life, safety and wellbeing.  We support efforts, including tax credits, to hasten the adoption of children into permanent, safe and nurturing homes.  We urge strong support for religious and private initiatives that seek to promote healthy, nurturing families and work to restore and rebuild dysfunctional families.

Article II: Economic Policy

1.   The free enterprise system is the most effective and just economic system.  Economic freedom is essential to human liberty.  Denying economic freedom diminishes individual human dignity as well as the general welfare.

2.   Government ought to provide an unencumbered environment for individual initiative and private enterprise.  Regulation and taxation reduce and redistribute income; they do not create it. 

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 immediate and permanent the tax changes of 2001 and 2003.  We urge complete elimination of the death tax.

5.   We pay taxes that exceed what is necessary.  We have the second-highest tax burden in the southeastern United States .  Government spending should not increase more than population growth and inflation combined.  We support a taxpayer's bill of rights, incorporating this principle, which would result in an overall reduction in tax rates.

6.   It is unfair to recruit out-of-state business with tax incentives when North Carolina-owned businesses must bear the burden of full taxation.  The best way to promote economic growth is to reduce our overall tax burden.    Raising taxes on many of us to provide preferential treatment for a few is unfair and violates the constitutional principle of equal protection.
 

Article III : Individual Liberty

1.   We embrace the vision for America established by our nation's founders — the authors of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the North Carolina Declaration of Rights.

2.   Our forefathers gave individuals four ways to protect themselves against the power of the state: (1) the soapbox (freedom of speech); (2) the ballot box (the right to vote); (3) the jury box (trial by peers); and (4) the cartridge box (right to bear arms).   We stand against efforts to erode these freedoms.

3.   The state must not control or interfere with our freedom of religion.   We oppose efforts to remove the recognition of God from our schools and courts and from our Pledge of Allegiance.  State colleges and universities should not discriminate for or against any religion.  They should not promote any religion nor should they deny religious organizations equal access to school resources.

4.   Individual liberty and redistribution of wealth are not compatible.  We oppose restricting the former for the sake of the latter.

5.   Government should treat all citizens fairly and impartially and should assure equal opportunity without regard to wealth, race, religion, sex, or national origin.  We oppose all forms of invidious discrimination.  We oppose efforts to include sexual orientation as a category for preferential status under civil rights laws.

6. We strongly support the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that guarantees the right of free and law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.  We oppose any government effort to restrict the ownership, sale, purchase and “lawful carry” of firearms by law-abiding citizens.
 

Article IV: Sanctity of Life

1.  The North Carolina Republican Party believes strongly in the sanctity of all human life.

2.   We believe unborn children have constitutional rights to life and liberty, and we therefore urge the Supreme Court to overturn its decision in Roe vs. Wade .  We also support the adoption of a human life amendment to the constitution.  We stand with the overwhelming majority of Americans who oppose efforts to mandate legalized abortion or to fund local, national, or international organizations that provide or promote abortion services.  Abortion is never an acceptable method of birth control.

3.   We oppose the heinous procedure known as partial-birth abortion.  We applaud President Bush and the majority of the Congress who passed into law the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban.  We urge the North Carolina General Assembly to pass state legislation prohibiting this procedure.  Furthermore, we urge members of the Republican Party of North Carolina to support financially, or with in-kind contributions, only those candidates or nominees who support measures to end partial-birth abortions.

4.   We support and strongly encourage positive alternatives to abortion, such as adoption.  We believe that biases against intact, caring families should be eliminated from adoption laws and tax codes.  Adoption should be encouraged through significant tax credits, insurance reforms and legal reforms.

5.  We oppose the erosion of parental rights and responsibilities by agents of the state when it comes to pregnant unmarried minors.  Informed consent and parental consent should be prerequisite to any minor receiving family-planning services.

6.   We support all developments in biomedical research and technology that enhance and protect human life.  But we oppose any new development that does not treat all human life as a precious gift of God, or that does not treat every individual human life as a locus of unique and irreplaceable dignity no matter how weak, immature, or dependent.

7.   We oppose all procedures in research and medicine that involve the intentional destruction of innocent human life.  We oppose human cloning, and the destruction of human embryos.  We support adult stem cell research.

8. We support treating the infirm and elderly with love and respect, not as a burden.   We oppose euthanasia.

9.  We urge the recruitment and support of candidates who will work hard to protect all innocent human life.
 

Article V: State Government

1.   We expect the members of our state legislature to be efficient, effective, ethical, and responsive to the people as a part-time citizen legislature.

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 citizens to pursue happiness through honest, hard work and should not be in the business of subverting the rewards of honest labor.  Therefore, we oppose

any expansion of legally sanctioned gambling, including a state lottery. A state lottery turns government into a bookie, succeeds only on the basis of false advertising, capitalizes on broken dreams and personal irresponsibility, and places the burden of taxation most heavily on those who are least able to afford it.  We support a ban on video poker. 

4.   We oppose unfunded mandates at any level of government.  We call on each level of government to fund the programs they require of other levels of government.

5.   The General Assembly should adopt zero-based budgeting.  It should not automatically continue programs before establishing their efficacy.

6.   Elected officials should not appear in “public service ads” funded with state funds, unless that official has already announced retirement from all public office.

7.   No State funds should be spent without a clear appropriation.  We oppose reductions in the jurisdiction and resources of the State Auditor.  We oppose “slush funds” that are available to individual legislators to distribute as rewards for political support. Government raiding of dedicated funds should not be allowed except in an emergency as determined by the legislature, and only where allowed by law.

8.   Every bill should receive a hearing and recorded vote in the committee to which it was assigned. The main budget bill must be printed and distributed no less than forty-eight hours before the final vote.

9.   We support the issuance of N. C. drivers licenses only to U. S. citizens and those legally authorized to be here.

10.   We support ending all entitlements to illegal aliens except for life threatening emergencies.

11.   We support requiring the State Board of Elections to review the registration role and purge unauthorized voters.
 

Article VI: Election Laws

1.  The ballot box is the only true protection citizens have against tyrannical abuse of power by the state.  The Democratic Party has used insidious practices that deny the majority of North Carolinians the honest representation they deserve.  Unable to win elections in a fair fight, the Democratic Party has relied upon gerrymandering and manipulation of election laws. 

2.   Our laws should do everything possible, including the requirement of photo identification, to protect against voter fraud.  Voter registration forms for naturalized citizens should include either the naturalization certificate number or a United States passport number. We welcome naturalized citizens to join our Party.

3.   Voters should select government officials.  Officials should not select voters.  We support reasonable, compact, congressional districts and single-member legislative districts that do not split counties in accordance with the North Carolina State Constitution.  An independent redistricting commission is the best way to accomplish this.  When the legislature does not follow state and/or federal law when drawing legislative districts legal action should be pursued.

4.   We recognize the independence of the judicial branch of government and oppose the appointment of state judges.  The right to hold to account our state courts through regular, direct elections is a valuable right.

5. The voters of North Carolina will make the right choice at the ballot box when they have full and

timely information on candidates' campaign finances.  Prompt and accurate reporting is the best campaign finance reform.  We oppose funding any election campaign with public funds.

6.   The public is not well served by nonpartisan judicial elections.  We urge the General Assembly to allow the party affiliation of judicial candidates to appear on the ballot and to allow nominees for election to be selected by the parties.

7.   We will follow the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act as the law of the land.  However, despite the Supreme Court's ruling we can read the Constitution for ourselves.  We observe that the Act quite obviously abridges our freedom to speak on core political subjects.  We urge Congress to repeal this Act.
 

Article VII: Education

1.   We believe in the value of maintaining a good system of public education.  Good public education is impossible unless parents, not the state, have control of their children's education. 

2.   Choice and competition have served the state well in higher education.  We believe choice and competition should be used to improve public 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 not be any additional legal restrictions on parents' option to educate their children at home.  We support charter schools and we urge the legislature to remove the cap that limits the number of charter schools.  Parents are the best judges of what kind of schooling is best for their children. 

3.   The current system of top-heavy, bureaucratic, centrally planned public education fails to ensure the quality of education our children need and deserve.  Incremental change to this failing system augmented by higher taxes, higher spending, and more regulation will not meet the needs of North Carolina 's future citizens.

4.   We support measures that maintain the independence of our schools from the federal government.  We support keeping our education dollars in North Carolina without going to maintain unneeded bureaucrats at the national level.

5.   Real education reform means local control of curriculum, budget, textbook selection, and personnel in the public schools.  We believe parents must have complete access to all information concerning curriculum and to materials used for teacher development.

6.   Real reform includes defining academic performance standards, cutting administrative waste, and establishing part-time and alternative teacher certification.  Our students must have the best possible teachers in the classroom, whether physically present or by use of technology.  Teachers and principals should be paid, retained, and promoted based on the quality of their work, not on the length of their service.  All teachers, especially of high school math and science, should be trained in the subject matter they are actually teaching. All highly qualified teachers and principals in low performing schools should receive additional pay if their students show academic progress.

7.  All children should be able to read and write at grade level.  All high school graduates should  be proficient at the twelfth grade level rather than lower levels currently allowed by the state.  We believe the “No Child Left Behind” law has the correct goal of requiring schools to educate all children to grade level.  Social promotion should be eliminated.

8.   All schools should encourage patriotism and knowledge of the traditional values of Western civilization upon which our republic is based and the true facts of the history of the United States .  Schools should require a semester long course on economics and U.S. Government, which emphasize constitutional principles, in either the Junior or Senior Year, so that students will be prepared to vote as informed citizens. 

9.   We oppose using public dollars to fund liberal attempts at social engineering contrary to the foundations on which our nation rests.  We support daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in our schools. We believe every classroom should display an American flag and a copy of 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 provision for prior approval from parents or guardians.  We support teaching abstinence until marriage as required by state law, and as the expected norm for acceptable sexual behavior.    Abstinence until marriage is the most effective   way to prevent teenage pregnancies, absentee fathers, abortion, and sexually transmitted diseases.  It is also the most effective way to create healthy relationships and healthy self-esteem among young people.

11. We oppose those school-based social services, including school-based clinics and mental health programs which bypass parents.

12.   We support the right of students to engage in voluntary prayer in school and the right of others to pray as well at public occasions such as commencement exercises.

13.   We oppose the restriction of free speech and free assembly by public educational institutions on ideological or religious grounds.

14.    North Carolina provides affordable higher education to its citizens.  But taxpayers should not be required to fund higher education for illegal aliens.
 

Article VIII: Justice

1.   One of the first duties of government is maintaining law and order, thereby allowing citizens freedom to pursue the blessings of life and liberty.

2.   We support the principle of victim's rights, including restitution and notification.

3.   We believe the death penalty deters murder.   Premeditated and deliberate murder calls for punishment directly proportional to the wrong perpetrated against its victim and against the moral order.  The death penalty is the right punishment for premeditated murder.  We call for legislation to drastically reduce the time between death sentence and executions.

4.   Drug and alcohol abuse are major problems in North Carolina .  We support effective educational and treatment programs to address these problems.  We call for stiff punishment for those who drive while impaired by drugs or alcohol.  We oppose decriminalizing or legalizing drugs that are currently illegal.  Drug dealers must face stiff punishment for contributing to the supply of these poisonous products..

5.   We are repulsed by the rise of gratuitous violence and pornography in literature, music and the electronic media.  We support mandatory labeling of these products.  We oppose using tax dollars to buy them.   We also vigorously endorse constitutional laws to control obscene and sadistic materials that degrade anyone — particularly women and children.

6.   We endorse stiff penalties for abducting, exploiting or abusing children.  We abhor domestic violence and spousal abuse.  We support community organizations that provide efficient and effective solutions for family members facing domestic violence and abuse.

7.   We support prisons with less attention to inmate comfort and more to security, labor, and education.  Prison labor should be used for construction when possible.  All inmates should be required to work and pay for their incarceration, including reasonable payment for health and dental care.

8.  We support efforts to force "dead-beat" parents to meet their financial obligations.

9.   We support tort reform, including a cap on awards for pain and suffering, reform in the collateral source rule, limiting fees to attorneys, allowing more of the award for the victim, and structured payments of awards.
 

Article IX: Environment

1.   We affirm our continuing commitment to stewardship of our God-given natural heritage. We all have a duty to protect air and water quality, productive forests, and abundant wildlife.

2.   To the extent government regulation is needed to protect the environment, it should be flexible and should never proceed without first proving that the ecological benefits of new regulations warrant the cost.

3. When government takes the economic value of property by regulatory action, it should compensate landowners in proportion to their loss.  We recognize that local economies and local levels of government are both adversely affected when land is removed from the local tax base by environmental “set-asides” for conservation or easements.

4.   Environmental policy should be based on sound science.  We should be more concerned with measurable results than with the good intentions of the regulations.
 

Article X: National Policy

1.   We support our President in all phases of the war against terrorism, including preventing rogue nations from having or obtaining weapons of mass destruction.  We support our troops as they fight our enemies.  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” for the states and the nation.  Our borders must be made more secure.  The federal  government should actively enforce its immigration laws.  Opposing “racial profiling” in absolute terms 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.  We oppose any attempt to weaken our national defense.  We support efforts to: (1) restore the ban against known homosexuals in the military; (2) prevent women from being assigned to front-line combat roles; (3) maintain the American armed forces at full combat readiness.

5.   We oppose any foreign effort to influence our elections.

6.   American participation in the United Nations, or any other international body, must never sacrifice the constitutional sovereignty of the United States .  Therefore, we oppose relinquishing U.S. freedom and independence to any organization or agency claiming authority to impose and enforce global regulations or standards upon the United States of America .  The United States will never require a permission slip from the United Nations in matters affecting its national security.   

7.  We recognize the need for legally binding treaties between nations which preserve American freedom and independence and are consistent with serving the common good.  We support efforts to revise or withdraw from any treaty that compromises our constitutional sovereignty, that undermines national defense, or that hinders American companies from competing internationally. Foreign court decisions are not relevant to interpretation of the U.S. Constitution except when construing terms known at the time of ratification, such as “ex post facto” or “letters of marque and reprisal.”

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 but spending restrictions on workfare workers should be abolished.  Our nation needs to change from a welfare state to an opportunity society.

10.  We share President George W. Bush's commitment to put Social Security on a sound basis.   Congress should protect Social Security funds by balancing the federal budget without using Social Security reserves.  These reserves should be entirely dedicated toward meeting future obligations.  We support offering today's workers more choice and control over their own retirement security, but in ways that do not harm anyone already on Social Security or anyone who is within a few years of retirement.

11.   Early intervention and wise health choices are best made by individuals and doctors who are guided by sound medical opinion.  We encourage adoption of the President's plan to reform health care by improving access to health care and by speeding compensation to injured patients.

12.   Greater choice for patients, with better information about health care prices, will allow the market to reduce health care costs.  We support medical savings accounts which combine personal responsibility with access to affordable healthcare.

13.   We call on Congress, the President, the courts, and the states to abide by the Ninth and Tenth Amendment according to their original intent limiting governmental power. We oppose governmental encroachments upon all powers and rights the Constitution of the United States has reserved to the states, or to the people.

14.   We encourage the United States Senate to modify its rules to prevent the filibuster of judicial candidates.

Respectfully submitted the 3rd day of June, 2006.

 

2005 Platform Committee:

Ed Warton, Goldsboro, District 1
Dan Maynard, Bunnlevel, District 2
Bob Pruett, Beaufort, District 3
John Williams, Fuquay Varina, District 4
Linda Petrou, Winston-Salem, District 5
Marcus Kindley, Gibsonville, District 6
Zeb Wright, Wilmington, District 7
Lee Butler, Hoffman, District 8
Neil Moore, Belmont, District 9
Richard Epley, Morganton, District 10
Sue Lynn Ledford, Murphy, District 11
Bud Royster, Lexington, District 12
Andrew Karras, Raleigh, District 13
Neal Hunt, Raleigh, Member at Large
Barbara Holt, Elon, Member at Large
Paul Stam, Apex, Member at Large, Chairman