Free Republic

Cap and trade, drilling, no nukes, and tax credits for all At their conventions this past month, the Democrats and Republicans each laid out their differing solutions to our nation's energy and climate troubles. Energy and climate change are intertwined because burning fossil fuels that power the modern world produces carbon dioxide emissions that are warming the planet. In addition, higher oil prices have raised concerns about the nation's energy security. Combing through both platforms, it appears that the Republicans endorse a far more sweeping set of energy and climate change policies than do their Democratic counterparts. The GOP platform...

The past two presidential elections taught the losing Democrats a couple of political lessons. They learned that attacks on guns and defense of abortion are no longer winning issues for them, and this new awakening is reflected in their 2008 party platform adopted in Denver. The platform grudgingly states, "We will preserve Americans' Second Amendment right to own and use firearms." The powers-that-be in the Democratic Party have learned to tolerate a few pro-gun candidates. Feminist pressure won't let the Democrats recede from their "proudly" stated 2004 platform position that "abortion should be safe, legal and rare." This year's platform...

Going Off the Deep End in Denver: Democrats Walk the Abortion Plank August 30th, 2008 by Steven W. Mosher Already notorious for its unconditional embrace of abortion, the Democratic Party has now managed to adopt a position on the paramount life issue that is, if anything, even more extreme. The new platform adopted in Denver states that the Party “strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”Past Democratic Party platforms had managed...

The Democrats have titled their party platform, "Renewing America's Promise." A more honest and accurate title would be, "We'll Give You More." The soul of the Democratic philosophy is summed up in this passage from the platform: "For decades, Americans have been told to act for ourselves, by ourselves, on our own. Democrats reject this recipe for division and failure." Note the disdain for the ethos of self-responsibility. Democrats do not merely regard it as insufficient. Instead they regard the idea that people should provide for themselves as divisive. Even more significantly, Democrats regard self-responsibility as a "recipe for failure."...

DENVER » Recognition of native Hawaiians is back in the Democratic Party's national platform. The wording is a bit different from the plank adopted in 2000, but the emphasis on some form of native Hawaiian recognition by the federal government runs on the same track. This year, Democrats said: "We support the efforts for self-determination and sovereignty of native Hawaiians, consistent with principles enumerated in the Apology Resolution and the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act." Eight years ago, the Democrats, meeting in Los Angeles, said: "We will work to pass legislation establishing a process for native Hawaiians to reorganize a...

The 2008 Democratic Party platform calls for ushering in a new era of government intervention in nearly all corners of American life, but its words on national defense read more like a Republican document than leftist manifesto. The platform's pro-defense bent at times belies specific statements from Sen. Barrack Obama, the party's presidential nominee. He has singled out major weapons programs for budget cuts and has pledged to talk to any world leader, including the president of Iran, without preconditions. The platform's national security blueprint does contain two overtures to the Left: a pledge to end the ban on gays...

Earlier Tuesday, a group of about 50 anti-abortion activists unfurled a huge sign on a mesa west of Denver equating the Democratic National Convention with abortion, but later removed it at the request of authorities. About 50 people hiked up the mesa Tuesday to post the sign, but the heat and the exertion took their toll. Deputies sent to the scene allowed those in distress to get food and water, Jefferson County sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Burns said. Some of the protesters agreed to hike back up and take down the sign, made of more than 2,000 queen-size sheets sewn together...

With a Fox News helicopter overhead and police at bay below, pro-lifers are more than halfway toward their official Guinness Book of World Records attempt to display the largest ever protest sign.

A few years ago, Richard Doerflinger, a pro-life Roman Catholic intellectual with decades of experience in the trenches of America's culture wars, was invited to debate the moral and legal status of the human embryo before a large class of Harvard undergraduates. During the course of the discussion, Doerflinger's Harvard faculty interlocutor drew a timeline of human biological development on the blackboard: conception, implantation, brain waves, viability, birth and so forth. His challenge to Doerflinger was to defend, in a nonarbitrary way and without reference to religious principles, the notion that society should recognize moral value and legal rights at...

Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) -- As the Democratic Party begins its national convention, a leading Catholic bishop has some tough words for Democrats who used flowery language in the platform to direct attention away from its pro-abortion stance. The comments reveal why the party failed to invite Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver. Chaput was not invited to officially participate in the convention despite serving as the leader of the largest religious denomination in the state. The Democratic Party has put forward a platform that promotes unlimited abortions paid for at taxpayer expense and, while he didn't comment director on the platform...

The 2008 Convention: Americans Gathering To Change The Course Of A Nation Program Schedule Monday, August 25 – One Nation Barack Obama’s story is an American story that reflects a life of struggle, opportunity and responsibility like those faced by Americans everyday. The opening night of the Convention will highlight Barack’s life story, his commitment to change, and the voices of Americans who are calling for a new direction for this country. Monday’s headline prime-time speaker will be Michelle Obama. 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM (LOCAL) Call to Order The Honorable Howard Dean Chair, Democratic National Committee Former Governor of...

Can you guess the reason? How about high gas prices? Nancy "Nine Percent" Pelosi shuts down Congress and skips town without passing an energy bill. Now the Democrats are pushing for a four day work week for gas relief for themselves and federal employees, even though they refuse to do anything to provide relief for ordinary Americans. Amazing! Evaluation: Democrats Pushing for Four Day Work Week for Federal Employees

Democrats used to love to bash President Bush for sending America to war without asking Americans to sacrifice. Now that it is an election year, you won't hear the s-word coming out of their lips. The Democratic National Committee draft platform is all goodies. The draft, "Renewing America's Promise," says the party will heed the American desire to "abandon the politics of partisan division" - and they are eager to do so, as soon as they are done blaming Republicans for high gasoline prices, the mortgage meltdown and an "unnecessary war." ... And: "The American people do not want government...

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the conventions of the two major political parties were more than carefully orchestrated photo opportunities and pep rallies. The television networks have long since acceded to their audiences' wishes and ended the tradition of "gavel-to-gavel" coverage of these political jamborees. They are right to do so. Once the conventions stopped being news events and became endless partisan infomercials, there was no reason to treat them as being any different from any other garden-variety political rally. But that hasn't stopped the parties from continuing some of the time-honored traditions of the...

Firearms We recognize that the right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans’ continued Second Amendment right to own and use firearms. We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation, but we know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne. We can work together to enact and enforce common-sense laws and improvements, like closing the gun show loophole, improving our background check system and reinstating the assault weapons ban, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals. Acting...

The Democratic Party platform is like a bag of pork rinds. You never know what high-fat liberal government morsel you're gonna get. Buried in the 94-page document is a noble-sounding proposal to create a "Social Investment Fund Network." The program would provide federal money to "social entrepreneurs and leading nonprofit organizations (that) are assisting schools, lifting families out of poverty, filling health care gaps and inspiring others to lead change in their own communities." The Democratic Party promises to "support these results-oriented innovators" by creating an office to "coordinate government and nonprofit efforts" and then showering "a series of grants"...

Washington, DC - Today, the National Stonewall Democrats applauded the Obama campaign and Democratic advocates for proposing the most sweeping pro-LGBT national platform in Democratic Party history. The Democratic National Committee has now released the platform that will be proposed to delegates in Denver. For the first time in party history, the Democratic National Platform calls on Democrats to enact policy which opposes discrimination on the basis of gender identity - a key provision advocated by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Democrats. http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/node/89 "For the first time, the 2008 Democratic platform includes everyone in our community, regardless of their...

"If the Democratic Party is interested in garnering men’s votes, one certainly would not know it from their platform. The Democratic National Committee’s 'Renewing America's Promise' is bad news for American fathers." My new co-authored column, DNC Platform: Bad News for Dads (World Net Daily, 8/15/08), criticizes the new Democratic Party platform's family and fatherhood policies. DNC Platform: Bad News for Dads By Mike McCormick and Glenn Sacks If the Democratic Party is interested in garnering men’s votes, one certainly would not know it from their platform. The Democratic National Committee’s "Renewing America's Promise" is bad news for American fathers....

Yesterday, the Platform Committee of the Democratic National Committee met in Pittsburgh to review and amend the draft platform. In July, community meetings were held all across the country to gather input from people of all walks of life. Those of us in the 2nd Transgender Caucus stepped up in our own way to ensure that the concerns of the Transgender community were heard and ncluded. Amanda Simpson of Arizona met with her Governor, Janet Napolitano, who was the Chair of the Drafting Committee. Several others, including me, met directly with Platform Committee members from our respective states. Tennessee has...

For years now, nearly every poll has shown that the American people are right in sync with the platform of the Democratic Party. They are pro-environment, pro-women's rights and pro-choice. They don't like war. They want the minimum wage raised, and they want a single-payer universal health-care system. The American public agrees with the Republican Party on only one major issue: They support the death penalty. So you would think the Democrats would be cleaning up, election after election. Obviously not. The Democrats appear to be professional losers. They are so pathetic in their ability to win elections, they even...