Now under discussion in the Members Forum: New Ideas, 2010 Strategy, Guantanamo, The Fair Tax, Term limits, more..

Is This For You?

This page, and the accompanying Starting Points pages, are where you will decide whether or not AmericanPlatform.org is for you.

The site has been created largely due to disappointment with the Republican Party. The party seems to have no bearings, no definable credo that holds it together, and no ability or desire to stand up and make their case against those who identify themselves as liberals or progressives.

They have squandered their power and potential, and they took a drubbing in the elections of 2006 and 2008. They deserve it as a party, but the citizens they were supposed to represent do not deserve the consequences of their failure. We will get the consequences nonetheless.

So this site will attempt to create a platform, with hope that someday a candidate or party will consider it representative and worthy, and use it as a foundation on which to run. It will be written by the people who participate as a way of telling the politicians what we believe in and what we think makes sense, and why. And also what we don't want and don't think makes sense.

The 2008 election pitted semi-conservatism against the liberal/progressive movement. The ramifications will be enormous now that the Democrats have added Barack Obama to Pelosi and Reid and Feinstein and Boxer and Durbin and Kerry and Kennedy and Carter and the Clintons and Al Gore and Media Matters and MoveOn.org and George Soros ...to name a few. This site will do it's best to bring to light the agenda of the progressives and the likely repercussions of their actions. From taxes to the environment to loss of liberties, we will cover them all in detail. Our members will compare and contrast the conservative agenda against the progressive agenda, and make clear the differences in fundamental approaches and the likely results of policies they endorse. We will also document our own differences with the Republicans.

Those on the left will not likely agree with our positions. But we must always bear in mind that those who think we are wrong are American citizens too. We will endeavor to change their minds through persuasive arguments, not personal attacks, and we must always be willing to consider counter-arguments and sift through them looking for valid points. If we can not persuade those who disagree with us, at least they will have in this site an understanding of what we think and why. The clarity alone may help turn back the tide of bad feelings between the sides.

But, as with everything, by including some you will exclude others. It's the nature of things and no different here. We welcome anyone who is thoughtful, polite, and trying to help, but the Members Forum is not the place to champion socialism or to curse out those with whom you disagree. On this site liberals and conservatives will find a way to treat each other with more respect than is currently the case in public discourse. We are all Americans and should remember it, and we will try to set a high standard for civility.

The discussions in the Members Forum will be messy, for things are exceedingly complicated. Facts are crucial, yet often hard to come by, and many times hard to agree on. We will pick apart issues, philosophies, and agendas, but always with the goal of deciding what we think is best for the United States within the bounds of our constitution. We consider being pro-American as keeping a special flame alive, and will always look out for our own country first. Just as every other country does.

So here is a starter list of things the members of this site would like to see their politicians embrace and advocate. Reasons for these positions and others will be hashed out in the forum and be made public. Everything is open for debate and scrutiny, including the list below.

* AmericanPlatform.org believes in American Exceptionalism, the concept that this country is fundamentally the best country ever created, and we are proud of this. This does not mean that as a country we are not flawed or that we don't sometimes do stupid or bad things. Nor does it imply that we agree with all U.S. policy decisions. It means that conceptually and fundamentally, we believe the United States of America has no rival now or historically

* English should be the official language of America

* All ballots for all elected offices should be in English

* Less government is better than more government

* Capitalism may not be perfect, but it's our best option

* Political correctness is endangering our safety and trods on common sense

* We need to stop illegal immigration, and environmental concerns about the fence are less important

* Bad parenting is at the root of many preventable social ills

* We need to go all out to stop the terrorists from accomplishing their stated goals

* We don't think it is lack of money causing poor public education

* Higher education should not indoctrinate students to the left or the right

* Until there is a viable alternative for oil we should drill for it and build refineries immediately

* Humans being the cause of global warming is a possibility, but until it is truly debated we don't want to spend time and money on it

* We are strongly in favor of viable alternative energies that can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and tyrants

* Vilifying and over-taxing successful citizens is self-defeating and anti-growth

* We have strayed from the Constitution and not enough people seem to care about it

* Many in the media have switched from reporting to agenda promotion

* If we need to waterboard a terrorist to stop a nuclear attack we should do it

* We are strong supporters of the Second Amendment

* Government healthcare would be a disaster

* The World Trade Center buildings should have been rebuilt by now

* We're Americans and we should look at it that way, rather than as separate grievance/victim groups

* America could use a lot fewer laws and regulations and a lot more common sense and civility

* Our relationship with the U.N. should be thoroughly reexamined

* The border guards Campeon and Ramos should be pardoned immediately    UPDATE:1/19/2009 President Bush commuted their sentences. Well done!

This is an incomplete list with no reasons yet given for including them. As AmericanPlatform.org moves forward this will change. Any position or policy we advocate will be backed with our reasons for doing so. The items listed are so you can see what sort of positions this site is likely to discuss and possibly endorse. But these are currently not official positions.

Plainly put, this is not a liberal/progressive web site. On the other hand, this site can never become closed off to views that differ from ours. This would by extension leave out a huge number of fellow Americans who disagree with us, and they could conceivably be represented some day by a party or candidate who does agree with AmericanPlatform.org.

We will not compromise our core beliefs to accommodate those who disagree. But if we ever become elitist and dogmatic we have lost our way. Self-evaluation and openness to reconsideration of positions must be ongoing. Times change. Events happen. We're not perfect. So we must always self-reflect, and be willing to admit errors if they occur and change our positions if reality warrants it.

We will do so.

The Starting Points pages are just that: Starting Points. See here for more.