Platform Thoughts

With the RNC just days away there is a growing anticipation in the city of Cleveland. Many people who work downtown are being told to work from home simply because it is going to be near impossible to get downtown. With the amount of protesters expected to fill the streets of Cleveland and the numerous road blocking, avoiding the RNC seems more appealing than actually going to participate in it. Yesterday, according to Kira Lerner of Thinkprogress, she explains that "Though the GOP has not yet issued any formal documents, reporters in attendance at the first day of meetings noted some of the noteworthy amendments in the two planks the committee agreed upon, 'America’s natural resources, energy and environment' and 'Great American families, education, healthcare and criminal justice''' (Lerner 2016). The six topics that have been approved by the party for its platform are:

1.Pornography is a "public health crisis"
2.Marriage should still be between a Man and a Woman
3.Children raised in "traditional" homes are "healthier"
4.Parents can force their LGBT children to undergo "conversion therapy".
5.Education includes a good understanding of the Bible
6.Coal is a "clean" form of energy

In my personal opinion, these topics will lose tremendous amounts of voters. Given the way our society is striving to be right now of with acceptance of everyone, the amount of control trying to be forced on people is off putting. Given the amount of people in the LGBT community, it no longer makes sense to only have marriage be open to the traditional way. Our country has moved from a "traditional" aspect to a "change and reform" aspect. Parents being allowed to force their children to go to conversion therapy, in my opinion would be more harmful than good. Forcing your child to be something it doesn't want to be will create a resistance and distance from the most important aspect of family. Parents are supposed to support their children no matter what, and having an opportunity for some parents who disagree with their children's decisions could end up being detrimental. With the vast amounts of religion in this country, it is not right to just have the form of one Bible education should include. America has the freedom of religion as one of it's constitutional rights, and to force one religion to be included in all education is too controlling of what people want. When there is too much control over daily life, there will eventually be a rebellion. Regarding "Children raised in 'traditional' homes are 'healthier'" is just about one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. I know so many people, including myself not raised in a "traditional" family that have grown up to be vital parts of the community and are much more normal and healthier functioning than people who grow up in a "traditional" family. One example that comes to mind, is the former Stanford Swimmer, Rapist Brock Turner. Turner grew up in a very wealthy and very "traditional" family, and is clearly not a healthy functioning individual. I know many people with two Mom's that help out the community and preach peace over doing anything destructive. In my opinion, that is much healthier. Regarding Coal, this is an interesting subject. There have been numerous studies showing the amount of pollution coal gives off into the environment. There are much more healthy and safe alternatives for energy. As a Republican, most of these ideas are just baffling to me. The only people I could see this platform truly reaching out to is the older population with very strict values and traditions installed in them, not the growing youth with much more understanding tendencies. If and when these are announced at the convention, there is bound to be lots of uproar, disagreement, and rebellion.






Citations:

Lerner, Kira. "6 Ways The RNC Platform Is Already Shaping Up To Be Crazy."Http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/07/12/3797322/gop-platform-draft/. ThinkProgress, 12 July 2016. Web. 13 July 2016.