July 30, 2019
The freedom to pursue the American Dream is at the very core of American exceptionalism. Prosperity in our nation is due in no small part to individuals seeking to prosper while living in financial, economic and social freedom. Our nation’s founders knew it was not the job of the government to implement central planning. Instead they designed the government to maintain a climate in which individuals would succeed in proportion to their work ethic and desire to prosper. Our system of government, instituted through the Constitution, provides for equal opportunity, not equal outcome.
The promotion of Socialism is more prevalent in America today than it has ever been. Part of this is due to misunderstanding of what socialism is as well as a populace unfamiliar with history and social structures used to implement the devastation that is socialism.
Wyoming is often said to be the reddest state in the reddest nation. Even so, as the party of freedom and economic prosperity we must stand strong against anything that implements even a trace of socialism.
Six areas we must defend to keep our state free of socialism:
1. Healthcare - When the Government has control of who can receive healthcare, from whom, of which form and at which rate, the government literally has the lives of individuals in their hands. The Republican Party believes healthcare decisions should be made by individuals and their doctors. We must be vigilant to monitor legislation that allows state or federal bureaucrats to gain any more sway in our healthcare system. In fact, we advocate for bureaucracies to be removed from the healthcare system so that the direct patient-doctor relationship can again be established.
2 Poverty - You don’t make the poor richer by making the rich poorer. When taxes are increased, when fines are established against those striving to run successful businesses, and when social programs are abused, those who have worked hard to make money are often punished and end up supplementing those who have chosen a work-free life. Should we provide for those in need? Yes, but it should be a hand-up that equips those in poverty to bring themselves out of it, not a handout that breeds a culture of dependency.
3. Gun Control - Removing a person’s right to defend themselves allows the possibility of the government being the ultimate power. For this reason, the Wyoming Republican Party has included in their platform the basic tenet that “the right of individuals to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. Individuals must never be prevented from defending life, liberty or property.”
4. Education - We must advocate for good curricula in Wyoming schools that include a robust education in the Constitution of the State of Wyoming, the Constitution of the United States, Declaration of Independence, and other founding documents, as well as the factual history of the United States, their heritage, and the historical evidence of the role of faith and biblical principles in the founding of our nation. We are committed to the work needed to restore our education program to the original purpose for which it was created.
5. Religion - When our religious freedom is threatened, our state and nation are threatened. The freedom to practice one’s faith is a fundamental right secured by our Constitution. We must keep in mind the Judeo-Christian principles of the Founding Fathers and the influence those principles had in our foundational laws and institutions. The First Amendment does not require the expulsion of religion from public life, instead the practice of faith under this tradition encourages good moral behavior and the development of character that helps secure the other fundamental bases of our national citizenship. Freedom of religion includes the right to abstain from actions contrary to one’s religious beliefs.
6. Private Property - Socialism at its core seeks to disallow private property. The pursuit by an individual to rightfully acquire, keep and enjoy his own property is foundational and must be defended. In each regulation requiring property owners to pay a fee, purchase a license, or apply for a warrant or permit, we see a reduction of freedom to enjoy one’s property, and one more hammer of control placed in government’s toolbox.
As a party, Republicans are not anti-government, we are pro “good government”, government that represents those whom it serves and has, as intended by our founders, the protection of our God-given, unalienable rights as its highest priority. We must stand strong for the principles of capitalism on which our country was built, which has allowed us to prosper for 200 years. Socialism at its very best would drive our state and nation into turmoil and devastation, and at its worst would bring us one step closer to communism and the complete obliteration of freedoms as we know them.
Chairman Frank Eathorne
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