Florida Republicans
by Jamie Finley
Florida Republicans
by Jamie Finley
|
"Florida is the southeastern most state of the United States. It
is a peninsula along with part of the mainland continent of North America.
Trees cover almost two thirds of the state. It has very distinctive
tropical and sub tropical zones. There are over 1,700 streams and
some 30,000 lakes. There is very little range in temperature,
ranging from 68 Fahrenheit in the north to 77 degrees Fahrenheit in the
south”(Britannica 841).
The capital of Florida is Tallahassee. It is one of the fastest growing states in the country, between 1970-85 the growth rate was almost four times the national average. There is a sizable Haitian and Cuban population in Florida. Florida produces the largest amount of citrus fruit in the country and is second in production of vegetables. Tourism is the leading industry. Electronic and aerospace, which is centered around John F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Carnaveral ,are the leading manufacturing industries (Britannica 841). The Republican Party of Florida is the largest state party in the country, including California and Texas. The chairman of their party is Al Cardas. He was elected January 30, 1999. Republicans are less than forty percent of the regular voting population of the Florida electorate. Despite this, they hold the majority at all state levels of government in Florida. This includes their republican governor, Jed Bush (Republican Party of Florida). The Republican Party of Florida believes in smaller government, lower taxes, fewer regulations, stronger families, and greater personal freedom. They want an accountable government, better schools, responsible balanced budgets, lighter tax loads, and a strong military defense. This is through money being spent sensible, or in other words less on social policy programs such as welfare and more being put into our military budget, in their words, to keep America safe. They feel government policy should encourage people to save and invest. They also feel the closer a decision can be made by the people it will effect the better it is (Republican Party of Florida). The Florida Republicans feel very strongly about the issue of education. The party wants quality and choice in the education system for the American public. They felt during past administrations in their state, with the Democrats in control, the education system was not run well. They feel that the Democrats spent too much money on old programs that were not solving the Florida's educational problems. These being Florida's schools lingering at the bottom when it came to national test scores and student achievement. They feel a program of sensible spending and new programs that are effective in challenging the students, teachers and parents would work better. An example of this belief being put into action is the new program Governor Bush called his A+ plan that became law in Florida this past summer. It involves competency tests for third through tenth graders that in the end will also give their schools a grade based on the results of these tests (Republican Party of Florida). The party is also in favor of reducing the debt by $500 billion and returning $800 billion to the hard working people and families in our country over the next ten years. Part of the plan to implement this is a tax relief package the National Republican Party put through congress and President Bill Clinton recently vetoed on September 23, 1999 and wants to increase spending instead. The Republican Party of Florida feels strongly that they do not want to allow President Clinton to do this to working families (Republican Party of Florida). The Florida Republican Party goes along with the National party's stand on foreign policy and America's global role for the purpose of maintaining America's superiority and promoting freedom and democracy world wide. They feel our interests at home are more important than the interests of other nations and the United Nations are. They do not support the allowance of the United Nation's or any other international body to be able to punish the United States and do not agree with U.S. troops being under foreign commanders in UN peacekeeping missions. They believe that today's military research and development are the procurement of tomorrow's readiness. They would like to rebuild our military, which they feel the present administration has let fall behind. Money must be spent the right way, with long term efficiencies in mind. They would like to see the reduction in overhead and infrastructure of the defense department and successful demonstrations of weapons prior to full-scale purchase. They feel these budgetary decisions should be made with these ideals in mind so the money is spent in a productive way. They do not support women in ground combat in the military. They feel money should be spent on intelligence work, even if it is expensive, because they feel it is our first defense against terrorism, drug trafficking, nuclear proliferation, and foreign espionage. They also want to lead the world in ending terrorism. They want to isolate and punish state sponsors of terrorism by imposing and enforcing sanctions, banning investment, and leading our allies in these effective policies. They feel countries such as North Korea, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libra, Sudan, and Cuba must know we mean business. They support U.S. aid programs that promote freedom and the free market system, but feel they should be done on a case by case basis, with more emphasis on money being spent home then abroad (Republican Party Platform). They also feel that for the betterment of all society we must strengthen the American family. They feel religious, community, and private groups can tackle social ills better than often ruinous government programs. They are against the same sex marriage act, which would allow homosexual couples to be married under the eyes of the law. They feel this would hurt the family morals in America. They are against nationalized health care, which they feel it would serve the governments wants instead of the people. They want to strengthen Medicaid and Social Security, which are government programs they feel work for the people. They are against sex education in schools that promote anything but chastity until marriage and oppose school-based clinics that refer, counsel, and relay serves for contraception and abortion (Republican Party Platform). The party feels their successes that they have accomplished during this administration and their beliefs will bring Florida a brighter future, and are pushing for success in campaign 2000 (Republican Party of Florida). WORKS CITED Florida The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 1998. Republican Party Platform:1996. Republican National Committee Home Page. Online. Netscape. Available http://www.rnc.org Republican Party of Florida Home Page. Online. Netscape. Available http://www.ropof.com Republican Party of Florida. Party Ideals. Pamphlet. 1998. |