HOUSTON – Meeting at their first convention since 2018, the Texas Republicans acted on Saturday under a series of resolutions and proposed platform changes to move their party even further to the right. They approved measures declaring that President Joe Biden “was not legally elected” and reprimanded Senator John Cornin for participating in bipartisan arms talks. They also voted for a platform that declares homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice” and calls on Texas students to “learn about the humanity of the unborn child.” The action was covered by a conference highlighting how strongly the party’s most active and vocal members oppose compromising with Democrats or moderation in social positions, even though the state has grown larger and Republicans’ margins in state elections have shrunk in recent years. years. The votes for the platform were gathered at the end of the party’s three-day congress in which party activists moved to add a lot of elements to the official Texas GOP platform. As the conference closed, two separate series of ballots were collected – one allowing delegates to choose from eight of the 15 legislative priorities and another allowing delegates to vote on the platform’s 275 boards. They will now have to be registered and certified in Austin, but it is rare for a board to be rejected, according to party spokesman James Wessolek. The meeting reinforced the extent to which former President Donald J.’s baseless allegations. Trump for stolen elections continues to resonate among party supporters – although his claims have been repeatedly denied, including by many of his former aides, and after a week of televised hearings of Trump supporters storming the Capitol on Jan. 20, 21 . Cornyn’s complaint was a remarkable rebuke to a Republican who has served in the Senate since 2002. The room at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston was filled with disapproval Friday as he tried to explain legislation that would allow the archives to integrate into background checks for arms buyers under the age of 21 and encourage “red flag” laws that would facilitate the removal of weapons from potentially dangerous individuals, along with more funding for school safety and mental health. Meanwhile, a vote on the party platform on Saturday by some 5,100 congressional delegates would argue that those under the age of 21 “are more likely to need to defend themselves” and may need to buy weapons quickly “in emergencies” such as riots. ” He would also say that the red flag laws violate the fair trial rights of people who have not been convicted of a crime. About 9,600 delegates and alternates were allowed to attend. Organizers said attendance was just over half. The new platform would require:
Requiring Texas students to “learn about the humanity of the preterm infant,” including teaching that life begins with fertilization and requires students to listen to live ultrasound of pregnant fetuses. Amendment of the Texas Constitution to abolish the power of the Legislature “to regulate the use of weapons, with the aim of preventing crime.” Treating homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice”, a language that was not included in the 2018 or 2020 party platforms. Considering gender identity disorder “a genuine and extremely rare mental health condition”, which requires official documents to comply with “biological sex” and allowing civil penalties and monetary compensation to “transgender persons” who have undergone sex reassignment surgery, the the platform calls it a form of medical negligence. Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to increase the number of Supreme Court justices to nine and the repeal of the 16th Amendment of 1913, which created the federal income tax. Ensuring “freedom of travel” in opposition to Biden’s Clean Energy Plan and “California-type anti-driver policies”, including efforts to convert lanes for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Proclamation of “all businesses and jobs as a necessary and fundamental right,” a response to COVID-19 orders from Texas cities that required customers to wear masks and work part-time. Abolish the Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank, and guarantee the right to use alternative cash, including cryptocurrencies.
Not every far-right proposal was promoted. The party’s chairman, Matt Rinaldi, ruled that the motion to defend the rights of those who revolted in the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and to “reject the narrative” that the revolt was a revolt was out of order and could not be voted on. . Overall, the new provisions would represent an even more right-wing shift for the Texas Republican Party, once known as the party of Presidents George W. Bush and George W. Bush. Land Commissioner George W. Bush, the grandson and nephew of the two presidents, lost by chance in May in the second round of the fight against Attorney General Ken Paxton, an aristocratic conservative who sued to challenge the outcome of the 2020 election and convinced them to vote. was Trump’s truest believer. Party platforms are mission statements, not legal dogmas, and, in Texas, have long reflected the views of the party’s most activist wings. Republican-elected officials are not required to abide by the platform, and party activists have at times expressed frustration that parts of their platform and legislative priorities have not become law, despite full Republican control of the state legislature. But the platforms are general indicators of the sentiments of the most active Republican voters – those who dominate the party’s primary. Republicans have controlled every elected Texas office since 1999 and both houses of the legislature since 2003, so the wishes of the party’s populist, pro-Trump base inevitably influence what is happening in Austin. “The platform is largely symbolic but important as a measure of ideological shift,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston. “Party platforms are often used as thorns in party elections. “A more muscular ideological platform eventually leads to a more conservative legislature, as challengers exclude more moderate members.” The assembly was notable for the relatively low profile of top officials. Gov. Greg Abbott, who is running for a third term in the November election, appeared at a party on the sidelines of the convention just Thursday. Vice-Governor Dan Patrick, who effectively controls the state Senate, spoke at the conference, but Parliament Speaker Dade Phelan spoke only at one meal, not in the main body of delegates. Tensions within the party at times became personal. The video posted on the Internet shows far-right activists physically stalking US lawmaker Dan Crenshaw, calling the conservative Republican “McCain” for his criticism of Russia. The group included the self-proclaimed Proud Boys and Alex Stein, a social media activist from North Texas. A Navy SEAL veteran, Crenshaw lost his right eye to a bomb in Afghanistan. “A more aggressive party platform sends a clear message to politicians about where the base is going,” Rottinghaus said. “Donald Trump has radicalized the party and accelerated the demands from the grassroots. “There are simply no limits now to what the base can ask for.” Mark P. Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston, said the 2022 platform shows how bold right-wing activists now feel – far from 2020. Texas Democrats win significant State House election in 2018 raised the outlook the Republican Party is losing its dominant position in Texas, making it temper its platform in 2020 to focus on bread issues. The Texas Republicans did well in the 2020 election – although Biden won 46.5 percent of the vote in Texas, the highest percentage for a Democrat since 1976 – and this year, culture war issues were back on the agenda. Jones said the redistribution of Republicans has made incumbents safer and less willing to turn to the moderates. In addition, inflation, the risk of recession, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and growing racial, gender and sexual aggression make it increasingly likely Democrats will lose the US House of Representatives in the November midterm elections. “As a result, the 2022 GOP feels free to turn right in his heart, confident he will not return to haunt the party in November, except for maybe half a dozen games,” Jones said. “And even the realist center-right Conservatives of the party do not have the capacity to argue, as they did successfully in 2020, that an extremely conservative platform could cost the GOP its Lone Star majority status. This year, even the worst case scenario is for the GOP to win across the state, increasing its number of seats in the US House of Representatives, strengthening its majority in the Texas Senate by one seat and retaining the 83 seats it held in its House of Representatives. Texas in 2021. Before the delegates voted for the platform, party activists delivered fiery speeches attacking the Democrats. “They want to undermine the racial progress we have made by saying we are a racist nation,” said Robin Armstrong, a Texas-based black doctor who treated COVID patients with unapproved drug treatments advertised by Trump, including “The Democratic Party is now a party of chaos. They benefit from making us question the foundations that …
