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http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/7/28/00148

GOP Platform Draft Turns Left
NewsMax.com
Friday, July 28, 2000

Calls for expensive federal social programs, backtracking on big government, pandering on "women's health," backing off on illegal aliens – is this the Democratic or the Republican platform? Except for a stand against abortion, the GOP draft platform released Thursday blurs the distinction between the two major parties.
This year's preliminary platform shows a turn to the left from the conservative 1996 platform on many issues.

Education: The 1996 plan called for abolishing the Department of Education and ending "federal meddling in schools.'' The far milder 2000 draft calls for programs improving literacy, replacing federal fiats with grants, offering Education Savings Accounts and defending home schooling.

Teachers, not even mentioned when Bob Dole was the Republican nominee, are wooed with programs promising merit pay, improved training and protection from ''meritless lawsuits.''

Bureaucracy: In 1996 Republicans also called for eliminating the departments of Commerce, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development and the National Endowment for the Arts. The tame 2000 draft merely includes a vague call for "downsizing" the "mess" in Washington.

Guns: The 1996 and 2000 versions affirm the right to bear arms. The new draft adds a call for "individual responsibility to safely use and store firearms'' and a crackdown on youth violence.

Health: The 1996 platform made no specific mention of women's health. The 2000 draft says Republicans are leading the charge to improve women's health, including increased National Institutes of Health funding on diseases that affect women more than men.

Curiously, there is no such pandering on men's health, even though:

On average women live years longer than men.

There is far less spending on prostate cancer research than the trendy cause of breast cancer research despite the fact that the two diseases are comparably serious.
The 2000 draft says the GOP is reaching out "to underserved and minority female populations, where disparities persist in life expectancy, infant mortality and death rates and cancer, heart disease and diabetes."

Immigration: The 1996 platform said U.S. borders should be secured "from the threat of illegal immigration.'' The 2000 draft omits opposition to non-emergency public benefits for illegal aliens and no longer demands a constitutional amendment to deny automatic citizenship to the children of illegal aliens.

The draft merely says the "long-term solution for illegal immigration is economic growth in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.'' It dwells on the "enormous treasure'' immigrants have brought to the United States.

In 1996, Republicans called for "the official recognition of English as the nation's common language." However, the 2000 draft simply says, "Another sign of our unity is the role of English as our common language."

Discrimination: The new draft keeps anti-discrimination language but adds disabled people to the victim list. It does not mention discrimination against homosexuals and omits earlier language rejecting the "distortion'' of anti-bias laws "to cover sexual preference.''

Medicare: The new draft vows to give Medicare "a new lease on life" by giving its 39 million beneficiaries a choice of health plans, a reference to efforts to get more private insurance plans involved in Medicare.

Environment: The 2000 draft calls for increased environmental spending, the Washington Post reported today.

The 2000 draft does keep the 1996 platform's anti-abortion language.

"The unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed,'' the draft platform says, adding that a recent Supreme Court decision upholding partial-birth abortion "shocks the conscience of the nation.'' There remains opposition to using taxpayers' money to pay for abortion or organizations that promote it.

Language calling for passage of a constitutional amendment banning all abortions, and for the appointment of anti-abortion federal judges, remains intact, the Washington Post reported today. However, Bush supports exemptions for rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother, and he says he opposes litmus tests in judicial appointments.

Bush agreed to keep the abortion language while he was building his conservative base before the South Carolina Republican primary, and he has used this promise to win party conservatives while liberalizing other stands, the Post reported.

The draft contains new sections on technology issues. It opposes Internet taxation and says the government has a responsibility to protect privacy.

It hails the lowering of the capital gains tax and urges more tax cuts and sweeping changes in the "dysfunctional'' federal tax code.

The platform is a formal statement of Republican core beliefs that would nevertheless not be binding on Texas Gov. George W. Bush, whose nomination is expected Aug. 3.

The draft was written under the guidance of Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, the platform committee chairman.

Thompson said Thursday that the draft reflected Bush's "compassionate conservatism" and showed "a more uplifting view of the Republican Party, one that's more inclusive, that attempts to build a winning team, that people can rally around."

The draft will be reviewed and possibly rewritten, then voted upon by the 107-member platform committee over the next two days. The full convention will consider the result Monday, the New York Times reported Thursday.