The GOP Platform

In case I've been insufficiently clear under "Why Reluctant"...

Washington GOP 2010 Platform:

"SECTION 7: We believe the FAMILY is the first and most important institution which preserves a free society.

The family unit is the cornerstone of a free and moral society. It is the responsibility of parents, not the state, to guide their children to be good citizens. Government’s responsibility is to uphold and respect traditional institutions, such as marriage between one man and one woman, protect the elderly and children from the harmful elements of society, and defend the unalienable right of human life from conception to natural death."

To dissect appropriately...

The family unit is a cornerstone of a free society - but it is not the only one, but one of several upon which a culture is built. Further, morality - while having many common features across many religious and ethical structures - is a good long way from universal...so what say we stick to *free* and leave morals and ethics for sorting out by either individuals and their churches, or individuals and their chosen ethical structure.

It is the responsibility of parents, and those parents by wisely choosing elected officials, to educate children in the meaning of being a good citizen and to inculcate a proper degree of skepticism about what "everyone knows" and towards authority figures in general.

Governments responsibility in such matters, where any such responsibility exists, is to prevent or abort abusive situations and to enforce and interpret (when necessary) contracts between consenting and competent adults regarding co-habitation, child-raising, and resource sharing - ameliorating the worst abuses when found. It is emphatically not to preserve tradition (which may be right, wrong, or some state between).

Protecting the elderly and children from the worst elements of society is, indeed, a worthy goal. But, one must ask, who is "worst" this week, and what do you mean by protection?

Are we talking about LGBT folk shouldn't be allowed in the teaching or medical professions? Or are we talking about "axe murders probably shouldn't be caregivers? A certain precision in language would be appreciated here, given the sad history of such things. The second I can get behind...the first, not so much.

It's things like this (and oh, so very many others) that leave me lukewarm about the GOP as it sits today. I have far more hope for its improvement, however, than I do for the Democrats...and that saddens me.