Welcome to the Republican Party of Iowa

On one level, I do agree that there is no difference between the Republicans and Democrats. When I say that I usually refer to the protection and furtherance of corporations' power within government. After reading through the official platform of the Iowa Republican Party, I must admit there are sometimes some clear and distinct differences.
Welcome to the Republican Party of Iowa Website

"We support laws that restrict foreign ownership of land in Iowa.

We support an end to mandatory withholding of employee taxes, and instead recommend that each employee pay his or her tax withholding on a quarterly basis.

We believe that those who pay no income taxes should not be entitled to tax rebates.

We support a ‘tax me more’ option for individuals who elect to pay more taxes.

We oppose any requirement that parents become certified to teach their children at home.

We support the removal of the present multicultural curriculum in Iowa’s public schools and its replacement with a Western- Culture curriculum that teaches the values and basics of our nation’s founding and history.

We oppose the censorship of creationist resources and teachers in the public school.

We oppose the teaching of homosexual behavior as a normal or acceptable lifestyle in our government schools.

We oppose the distribution of condoms in school.

We encourage the teaching of abstinence in the public-school sex-education curriculum.

We support displaying the Ten Commandments and the American Flag along with the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety in Iowa schools and classrooms.

So as to empower parents and local school boards, we call for the abolition of the U.S. Department of Education and are opposed to a National Board of Education.

We believe Yucca Mountain needs to be a burial site for spent nuclear fuel.

We oppose statehood for the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico.

We believe the National Endowment of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Legal Services Corporation should be privately funded.

We call for the privatization of the U. S. Postal Service.

We believe that AIDS should be classified as a communicable disease and treated as such under current law. We favor requiring reporting of AIDS carriers and felony prosecution of any carrier who willfully exposes another person.

We support elimination of the designation of AIDS as a disability.

We support American-English as the official language of the United States.

We oppose any law, ordinance, or policy that treats sexual orientation as a special class.

We ... oppose all forms of discrimination including affirmative action...

We oppose a federal or state-run childcare system. Government should not get more involved in childcare for our children.

We oppose adoption by same-sex couples.

We believe the market place and not the government should set the ‘minimum’ wage.

We oppose all efforts to require union labor for public projects.

We call for passage of a national Right-to-Work law.

We believe when an individual is sentenced to prison s/he loses his/her individual rights and should not be entitled to special treatment.

We believe hate-crime legislation should be abolished, as it only serves to further divide our citizens into special groups.

We believe America needs to protect its Constitution by not ceding its sovereignty through U.N. treaties, such as World Heritage Treaties.

We support the immediate and full withdrawal from the United Nations by the U.S. and oppose any funding of the United Nations.

We believe American military women should not be placed in combat positions.

The United States Congress should work to reinstate U.S. control of the Panama Canal.

We call for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would prevent the automatic granting of citizenship to children born in the United States whose parents are illegally in this country.

We support the reversal of Roe vs. Wade.

We support banning partial-birth abortions.

We support the collection, compilation, and statistical reporting of records on abortion just as is done with any other surgical procedure.

We support a ban on government funding of abortion both in the U.S. and abroad.

There should be a minimum three-day waiting period between the time information on abortion and other alternatives is provided, and the actual abortion, if that decision is made.

We oppose assisted suicides and killing of those who are unwanted under the euphemism of “death with dignity”.

We oppose governmental funding of Planned Parenthood.

We encourage the appointment of pro-life judges.

We believe our candidates should adhere to Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment. [Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican]"


And I guess these narrowly escaped the final version by 10 days...
News Release of Republican Platform on June 12, 2004


"We support a landlord’s right to refuse leasing property to cohabiting homosexuals based on moral grounds.

We support voluntary teacher or student led prayer in the schools and use of the Bible as a local option.

We believe that unwed mothers must declare the identity of the father of the child or be subject to denial of state and federal funding.

We believe in retaining the moral absolutes which our founding fathers derived from Holy Scriptures as the principal foundation of our laws.

We believe the government should not reimburse families for the loss of a loved one due to an act of God, natural disaster, or terrorist attacks."