SECOND AMENDMENT-The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to keep and bear arms.  Individuals have the right to defend themselves.  There are too many gun control laws – additional laws will not lower gun crime rates.  What is needed is enforcement of current laws.  Gun control laws do not prevent criminals from obtaining guns.  More guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens mean less crime.

Full text of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:  “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

EDUCATION-We believe that state government should set the minimum standards, but that local governments should have control without the mandates of common core. We support expanding the number of Charter Schools.  School vouchers create competition and therefore encourage schools to improve performance.  Vouchers will give all parents the right to choose good schools for their children, not just those who can afford private schools. English should be established as the official language and bilingual educational programs should be eliminated.  All disruptive violent students should be removed and placed in schools that have the ability to handle their distractions. Teachers who have acted in any seriously unprofessional manner must be stripped of tenure and prevented from teaching in the future. School districts that decide to permit school personnel to have access to firearms should be provided training and support by state and local law enforcement.

PRESERVATION OF LIFE-Human life begins at conception.  Abortion is the murder of a human being.  An unborn baby, as a living human being, has separate rights from those of the mother.  Oppose taxpayer-funded abortion.  Taxpayer dollars should not be used for the government to provide abortions. Support legislation to prohibit partial birth abortions, called the “Partial Birth Abortion* Ban”(*Partial Birth Abortion:  the killing of an unborn baby of at least 20 weeks by pulling it out of the birth canal with forceps, but leaving the head inside.  An incision is made in the back of the baby’s neck and the brain tissue is suctioned out.  The head is then removed from the uterus.)

Elderly, terminally ill, and patients who cannot advocate for themselves should have the full protection of the law to prevent attempts to end their lives prematurely. Terminally ill patients should be provided all palliative care to ease their pain

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE IN PUBLIC LIFE-Legislation must be adopted to protect private citizens and faith-based entities from being forced to participate in activities that violate their religious convictions.  The values of our faiths and the Judeo-Christian moral code are under assault. Congress and the Legislature open each Session with a prayer. Why then, do we deny that very same privilege to tomorrow’s leaders in public school classes and functions? The Founding Fathers debated what they hoped to be the values of this new nation and chose as the very first line of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” They knew the importance of religion in our daily lives and specifically denied government choosing which religion should be practiced, yet emphasized that government could not stop people from practicing their religion of choice.