2012 Platform

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We Believe in America

R E P U B L I C A N P L A T F O R M

This platform is dedicated with appreciation and reverence for:

of the United States Constitution, as Benjamin Franklin cautioned, if we can keep it. who gave us a Republic,

The wisdom of the Framers

Paid for by the Committee on Arrangements for the 2012 Republican National Convention Not Authorized By Any Candidate Or Candidate’s Committee www.gopconvention2012.com

R E P U B L I C A N

P L A T F O R M

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Preamble

The 2012 Republican Platform is a statement of who we are and what we believe as a Party and our vision for a stronger and freer America. The pursuit of opportunity has defined America from our very beginning. This is a land of opportunity. The American Dream is a dream of equal opportunity for all. And the Republican Party is the party of opportunity. Today, that American Dream is at risk. Our nation faces unprecedented uncertainty with great fiscal and economic challenges, and under the current Administration has suffered through the longest and most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. Many Americans have experienced the burden of lost jobs, lost homes, and lost hopes. Our middle class has felt that burden most acutely. Meanwhile, the federal government has expanded its size and scope, its borrowing and spending, its debt and deficit. Federalism is threatened and liberty retreats. For the world, this has been four years of lost American leadership, leadership that depends upon economic vitality and peace through strength. Put simply: The times call for trustworthy leadership and honest talk about the challenges we face. Our nation and our people cannot afford the status quo. We must begin anew, with profound changes in the way government operates; the way it budgets, taxes, and regulates. Jefferson’s vision of a “wise and frugal government” must be restored. Providence has put us at the fork in the road, and we must answer the question: If not us, who? If not...