ACTUALLY.....The Republican Party of Texas released it's 2012 platform this month. According to what I read about the platform, they want to eliminate the minimum wage, do away with the Department of Education, the Department of Energy and reduce taxpayer funding to all levels of education.
Now here is 5 of the most outlandish ideas Texas Republicans believe:
1. The party opposes almost all forms on taxation. They will "repeal the Sixteenth Amendment", which instituted a national income tax and replace it with a national sales tax - that would make it very hard on low and middle income Americans. They want the Bush tax cuts to be permanent, and would repeal the capital gains tax. The estate tax would also be repealed because they claim it "is immoral and should be abolished forever". On the State level they support getting rid of property and business taxes and instead "shift the tax burden to a consumption-based tax".
2. They want to return to the gold standard. According to Ben Bernanke, it is not feasible for practical and policy reasons. The gold standard never worked and it would have disastrous consequences for the American economy.
3. The party supports privatizing Social Security. The Texas GOP said "we support an immediate and orderly transition to a system of private pensions based on the concept of individual retirement accounts".
4. It opposes multicultural education and "critical thinking". They believe the current teaching is divisive and says it supports teaching "common American identity and loyalty instead of political correctness that nurtures alienation among racial and ethnic groups." The GOP opposes "critical thinking skills" because they "focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."
5. It supports corporal punishment in schools. They say it's "effective and legal in Texas and affords authority to deal with disciplinary problems". Actual research shows that corporal punishment is bad for children and their education. The American Psychoanalytic Association strongly condemns the use of such punishment because it is "associated with an increase in delinquency, antisocial behavior and aggression in children".
All this just boggles my mind - personally I don't want anyone messing with the Sixteenth Amendment or fooling around with my good old American dollars. Leave my Social Security alone - I worked hard for that. Education is fine the way it is and what in the living hell is "critical thinking". Most importantly, if my children need discipline, I'll do it my way. Don't lay a hand on this Irish Texan's children or grandchildren, or guess I could say go ahead "MAKE MY DAY".