Utah Republican Party State Party Platform

(as ratified at the 2009 State Convention)

 

PREAMBLE
We, the Republican Party of the Great State of Utah, affirm our belief in God and declare our
support for government based upon a moral and spiritual foundation. We affirm freedom for
every individual as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the
Constitution. We believe that citizens' needs are best met through free enterprise, private
initiative, and volunteerism. We support the “Rule of Law” and believe in upholding the law of the
land.

 

THE PROPER ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
We believe government properly exists by the consent of the governed and must be restrained
from intruding into the freedoms of its citizens. The function of government is not to grant rights,
but to protect the unalienable, God-given rights of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of
happiness.

 

PRIVATE PROPERTY
We recognize the rights of the individual to own property. We resist any effort by government to
take private property without an overwhelming need for public use. We strongly oppose the
forfeiture of private property from innocent owners.

 

REAFFIRMATION OF STATES' RIGHTS
We oppose congressional, judicial, and executive abrogation of the principle that the powers not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved
to the States respectively, or to the people. We oppose unreasonable and intrusive federal
mandates.

 

ETHICS AND STANDARDS
We demand honesty, integrity, morality, and accountability of our public officials. We will work to
expose and stop corruption.

 

NATIONAL SECURITY AND PUBLIC PROTECTION
We support a military force of sufficient strength and readiness to deter any threat to our national
sovereignty or to the safety and freedom of our citizens. We support the Constitutional mandate
to protect and secure our national borders. We oppose placement of United States troops under
any foreign command, including the United Nations. We support lawful efforts of local law
enforcement agencies to protect citizens in their homes and in their communities. We urge reform
of the legal system to accomplish a swift and balanced administration of justice, including
consideration of rights of the victim. We support capital punishment when appropriate.

 

SELF DEFENSE
We support the individual constitutionally-protected right of the people to keep and bear arms for
security and defense of self, family, others, property, or the state, as well as for other lawful
purposes. We encourage personal responsibility for the care and use of these firearms.

 

FREEDOM OF RELIGION
We claim freedom of religion for every citizen and expect the protection of government in
securing to us this unalienable right. We affirm the right to religious expression, including prayer,
in both private and public.

 

FAMILY VALUES
We recognize the traditional family as the fundamental unit of society. We affirm that parents
have the fundamental right and primary responsibility to direct the upbringing of their children
and to provide nurturing care, discipline and training in moral values.

 

RIGHT TO LIFE
We believe in the right to life for both the born and unborn. We strongly oppose abortion, except
to preserve the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest. We believe the unborn child has a
fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We believe all human life is sacred regardless
of age or infirmity, and therefore we oppose abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and the public
funding of any of these abhorrent practices.

 

HUMAN SERVICES
We believe that the primary responsibility for meeting basic human needs rests with the
individual, the family, and the voluntary charitable organizations. We recognize, however, that
there are special social needs which must be addressed through state human service programs.
We support requiring welfare recipients to work towards self-sufficiency.

 

HERITAGE
We recognize the contributions made to our quality of life through ethnic diversity.

 

EQUAL RIGHTS
We believe that no individual is entitled to rights that exceed or supersede the God-given
individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the
State of Utah.

 

EDUCATION
We believe that all children should have access to quality education. Parents have the primary
right and responsibility to educate their children, and we support their right to choose public,
private, or home education. We support incentives to promote competitive excellence. We
encourage cooperative initiatives to help all Utahans become literate in English. We support the
prudent and profitable use of school trust lands. We support all interest and dividends from the
permanent State School Fund being distributed to each public and charter school to improve
student academic performance.

 

TAXATION
We accept the necessity for limited taxation in order for government to perform and administer
those services which meet essential public needs. However, we recognize that the power to tax is
also the power to control, and believe that the best way to control government is to strictly control
the amount of taxes imposed on the people. We encourage further simplification of tax systems,
the elimination of the estate tax, and broad-based rate reduction where possible.

 

REGULATION
We recognize that government regulation can be a major impediment to productivity and to
competition. We must rely more on market forces and less on government. Regulatory power now
exercised by the federal government must be eliminated or returned to state and local
governments.

 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
We believe that a strong, diversified economy based on a positive work ethic, a well trained and
well educated work force, a business-friendly environment, and safe work place will help Utah
compete in a world market place. We believe that developing our human resources is essential to
the future of Utah. We support the Utah Right to Work Law.

 

THE ENVIRONMENT
We appreciate the quality of our environment. Our air, water, and land are at the heart of our
existence and must be protected through balanced management. We support reasonable laws and
volunteer efforts to improve air and water quality. We continue to seek responsible solutions to
controversies surrounding uses of our wilderness. We seek to preserve the environment while
serving the best interests of our Utah citizens.
We oppose as unconstitutional the declaration by any President without approval from Congress
of any large tract of land as a national monument. We call on the Governor of the State of Utah to
use the Constitutional Defense Fund and other resources at his disposal to bring any such
declaration affecting Utah before the United States Supreme Court for reversal.

 

JURY
The jury is a fundamental institution of liberty, because it is the only anchor yet imagined by man
by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution. The jury has the right and
the authority to acquit if jurors feel justice will be served.

 

IMMIGRATION
America is a stronger and better nation because of the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of
legal immigrants, and the Republican Party honors them. We believe that control of our borders
is an urgent national security interest and our national sovereignty depends on those secure
borders.
We oppose illegal immigration and all forms of amnesty, or legal status, for illegal immigrants.
We support suspending automatic U.S. citizenship to children born to illegal immigrant parents.
We oppose granting government benefits to those illegally present in the US. We oppose any
temporary or "guest" worker program that would offer an automatic path to citizenship. We
believe that current laws against employing illegal immigrants should be vigorously enforced,
particularly to stem the now too common crime of identity theft in obtaining employment.

 

UTAH STATE SOVEREIGNTY
The 13 original Sovereign States in Constitutional Convention created the Constitution of the
United States of America and subsequently ratified that document creating a Federal Government
and granting to that Government limited and enumerated powers.
The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States defines Federal powers as those
enumerated in the Constitution and reserves all other powers to the States and to the People.
It remains the sacred responsibility of the States as creators of the Federal Government to keep
the federal powers within the limits set by the Constitution.
We resolve that the Republican Party of the Great State of Utah and elected party members take
any and all steps necessary to ensure that Federal powers exercised within the Great State of Utah
not exceed those granted by the Constitution of the United States, and that those usurpations of
State Sovereign Powers already violated by the Federal Government be corrected by the State
Legislature and enforced by the Governor’s office thus protecting Utah State Sovereignty

 

OUR MISSION
The Republican Party is a party by the people and for the people. We appreciate the productivity
of our citizens, affirm the infinite worth of all individuals, and seek the best possible quality of life
for all. We invite all citizens to join us in working together for a better Utah.