It’s been a while, probably a couple of years, since I’ve looked at the various state GOP platform evolutions. One of my favorite for study was from the Iowa GOP, which had explicitly advocated teaching creationism, etc.

Well, so I decided to check it out just now… and they have a fancy PHP presentation of their platform now:
iowagop.org

The content is sublimely loopy.

For instance, in the first section:

…

6. The only sound basis for sound government and just human relations is “Natural Law”.

…

10. The function of law is to protect the free exercise of a person’s God given rights. Life, Liberty, and the right to property (pursuit of happiness).

…

Besides redefining “pursuit of happiness”, I assume that “Natural law” phrase is a reference to Declarationism.

This is where it gets loopy - natural law, if it means anything, is the acceptance of human reason as the basis for designing laws. There are many schools of “natural law” and some of them are religious, but the Iowa GOP skirts the issue of theocracy by not saying to which school of “natural law” they are referring, but context makes it clear.

The Iowa GOP platform writers in essence would rather say Law of God, but knowing that they can’t (without more difficulties) they substitute “natural law”, subtle implying they don’t mean the truly natural, originally Helenistic, verison but rather a Christian (Paulian) version.

Some other choice phrases from their GOP platform:

9. The individual works hard for what is his/hers. Therefore, the individual will determine with whom he/she will share it, not the government. No more legal plunder. Legal plunder is defined as using the law to take from one person what belongs to them, and giving it to others to whom it does not belong. It is plunder if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what that citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. [emphasis in original]

Can you say “Ayn Rand” boys and girls?

11. Law is to be restricted to protecting all persons, all liberties and all properties. (Including the yet to be born.)

Well…

19. Our founding fathers were very clear in their writings that the United States of America was to be a Republic and not a Democracy (a government of the law and not of the masses). We as Republicans believe that we should “Restore the Republic”. Therefore, Progressivism, Collectivism, Socialism, Fascism, Communism and or any other form of ideology contrary to our founding fathers’ concept of a republic should be resisted, rejected and considered as an enemy.

Make the JBS proud, Republicans…

And then they start getting specific:

1.04

We affirm that science has now proven that life begins at conception. On day one (1) a baby’s genetic code and DNA are formed. That is the beginning of life.

Oh boy…

Then a long section on Agriculture, full of contradictions with everything else… such as:

2.15

We oppose packer/processor ownership and feeding of livestock.

Um… wait… what happened to free enterprise and all that?

Then they go into a long section that looks like it was written by AEI.

Then we get to education:

4.15
We demand abolishment of the Iowa Core Curriculum/Education guidelines.

Gee… I wonder why…

Continued….