The 2016 Republican Party Platform is extreme, there’s no doubt about that. But perhaps the most extreme section of the platform, titled “A Rebirth of Constitutional Government,” has been almost completely ignored by the media.
This section, the second in the final draft of the platform, is dedicated to ideologically rewriting the United States Constitution to reflect the interests and beliefs of Christian conservatives. It does far more than advocate inserting “God” or a variation of the word “religion” into every sentence; it calls for the fundamental reinterpretation of the Constitution to ban abortion, legalize anti-LGBTQ discrimination, end affirmative action, stop considering foreign laws in the justice system, suppress voters through ID laws that target the poor and minorities, reject any gun restrictions whatsoever, keep the Electoral College in favor of more democratic systems such as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, allow unlimited campaign spending, and deregulate the market.
The platform frames progressive judicial rulings as “a critical threat to our country’s constitutional order,” citing Roe, Obergefell, and the Obamacare cases in particular. Obviously, it advocates for a conservative Supreme Court replacement for Antonin Scalia, but it also calls for Congress to impeach liberal judges who conservatives perceive to “unconstitutionally usurp Article I powers.”
The first subsection after “We the People” also takes on an oddly isolationist stance, a shift towards Donald Trump and away from the neoconservatism Republicans are known for. Trump does not care whatsoever about America’s allies, going so far as to say that he would not defend our NATO allies, leaving them vulnerable to Russia, whose dictatorial regime he admires. The Republican Platform reflects this by calling “to avoid foreign entanglements and unnecessary alliances.” It also advocates for ignoring “foreign laws and precedents” “to interpret our Constitution or laws” as well as invalidating existing national agreements unless they are approved by two-thirds of the United States Senate.
Two sections of “A Rebirth of Constitutional Government” are dedicated to legalizing anti-LGBTQ discrimination. The first, titled “Defending Marriage Against an Activist Judiciary,” claims that allowing same-sex marriage “twist[s] the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment” and violates “constitutional limits.”
The next section endorses the legal oppression of LGBTQ people under the guise of “religious liberty.” The Republican platform states that “individuals, businesses, and institutions” should be able to reject LGBTQ people in any capacity they see fit. It continues to say that the federal government should continue to grant tax-exempt status to places of worship that discriminate as long as they claim to be doing so based on sincerely held religious convictions or beliefs. The First Amendment Defense Act has also now become an official part of the Republican Platform. FADA is one of the most extreme pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation in United States history, as it would legalize anti-LGBTQ discrimination on a federal level, even allowing religious persons to win taxpayer money if they sued the federal government claiming that they were forced to treat LGBTQ equally, literally forcing taxpayers to pay for anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
The next section argues that unlimited campaign spending should be considered a form of “constitutionally protected speech.” And of course, it argues that “advocacy groups, corporations, and labor unions” should be granted the same rights.
Unsurprisingly, there is a section dedicated to the Second Amendment, rejecting any gun control legislation besides restricting the sale of guns to “known violent criminals.”
The section on the Fifth Amendment is all about banning abortion, claiming that fetuses are humans whose rights cannot be infringed upon. It calls for an end to federal funding of Planned Parenthood, citing debunked videos as proof of how evil the women’s health organization is. One step short of repealing Roe v. Wade, the Republican Platform praises both intense abortion restrictions and the Texas anti-choice law so extreme that many conservatives have called it ridiculous:
“We salute the many states that now protect women and girls through laws requiring informed consent, parental consent, waiting periods, and clinic regulation. We condemn the Supreme Court’s activist decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt striking down commonsense Texas laws providing for basic health and safety standards in abortion clinics.”
It goes on to advocate “prohibiting abortion after twenty weeks” and banning “sex-selection abortions and abortions based on disabilities.” It then clarifies the Republican Party’s position on stem cell research:
“We oppose embryonic stem cell research. We oppose federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. We support adult stem cell research and urge the restoration of the national placental stem cell bank created by President George H.W. Bush but abolished by his Democrat successor, President Bill Clinton. We oppose federal funding for harvesting embryos and call for a ban on human cloning.”
The final two sections focus on “Honest Elections,” in which the Republican Platform advocates instituting voter identification laws throughout the country. These Republican laws are not actually meant to address voter fraud, which is a non-existent problem in the United States; rather, they are meant to suppress minorities, students, and the poor, and actually succeed in doing so. Recently, one of the most conservative federal appeals court in the United States established that a Texas voter identification law violated the Voting Rights Act, finding discriminatory intent with the law.
The “Honest Elections” sections of the Republican Platform also “oppose the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and any other scheme to abolish or distort the procedures of the Electoral College.” According to a Gallup poll, over 60% of Americans oppose the Electoral College, which many say undermines democracy by allowing electors to choose who becomes President of the United States rather than the national popular vote.
The final paragraph of “A Rebirth of Constitutional Government” is reflective of the main interest of the modern Republican Party: white people. It tries to change the definition of “One Person, One Vote” to the exact opposite its original meaning, which is odd for a party that constantly touts originalism as fundamental to constitutional law. It calls for basing the apportionment of representatives on citizenship rather than population, which means that white people gain more representation as minorities lose their voice.
That’s the Republican Party.
