Portside

Beginning in 2016 and continuing into 2020, the Republican Party’s platform has essentially parroted whatever former President Donald Trump has wanted. United States Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida), the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is trying to change that.

Scott, who was among the cohort of lawmakers who objected to President Joe Biden's 2020 Electoral College victory in Pennsylvania, has introduced an “11 Point Plan to Rescue America,” a draconian 31-page manifesto spelling out how he envisions the GOP governing if it retakes control of Congress in November.

“Hopefully, by doing this, we’ll have more of a conversation about what Republicans are going to get done. Because when we get the majority, I want to get something done,” Scott said in an interview with Politico. “There’s things that people would rather not talk about. I’m willing to say exactly what I’m going to do. I think it’s fair to the voter.”

He also acknowledged that Democrats would probably never agree to any of his terms and that his plan may even “strike fear in the heart of some Republicans.”

Indeed, Scott’s proposal is replete with extreme right-wing priorities:

1. Our kids will say the pledge of allegiance, salute the Flag, learn that America is a great country, and choose the school that best fits them. We will inspire patriotism and stop teaching the revisionist history of the radical left; our kids will learn about the wisdom of the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the founding fathers. Public schools will focus on the 3 R’s, not indoctrinate children with critical race theory or any other political ideology.
2. Government will never again ask American citizens to disclose their race, ethnicity, or skin color on any government forms. We are going to eliminate racial politics in America. No government policy will be based on race. People “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” We are all made in the image of God; to judge a person on the color of their epidermis is immoral.
3. The soft-on-crime days of coddling criminal behavior will end. We will re-fund and respect the police because they, not the criminals, are the good guys. We will enforce our laws, all of them, and increase penalties for theft and violent crime. We will clean up our cities and stop pretending that crime is OK. We have zero-tolerance for “mostly peaceful protests” that attack police officers, loot businesses, and burn down our cities.
4. We will secure our border, finish building the wall, and name it after President Donald Trump. Nations have borders. We should give that a try. President Trump’s plan to build a wall was right. We welcome those who want to join us in building the American dream, immigrants who want to be Americans, not change America. We are a stronger nation because we are a nation of immigrants; but immigration without assimilation makes us weaker. Politicians from both parties talk big about border security and do nothing. We are done with that.
5. We will grow America’s economy, starve Washington’s economy, and stop Socialism. Socialism is un-American and always leads to poverty and oppression. We will stop it. We will shrink the federal government, reduce the government work force by 25% in 5 years, sell government buildings and assets, and get rid of the old, slow, closed, top-down, government-run-everything system we have today
6. We will eliminate all federal programs that can be done locally, and enact term limits for federal bureaucrats and Congress. Many government agencies should be either moved out of Washington or shuttered entirely. Yesterday’s old government is fundamentally incompatible with the digital era. The permanent ruling class in Washington is bankrupting us with inflation and debt, so they must be removed. For you to have more, Washington must have less.
7. We will protect the integrity of American Democracy and stop left-wing efforts to rig elections. Today’s Democrat Party is trying to rig elections and pack the courts because they have given up on Democracy. They don’t believe they can win based on their ideas, so they want to game the system and legalize voter fraud to stay in power. In true Orwellian fashion, Democrats refer to their election rigging plans as “voting rights”. We won’t allow the radical left to destroy our democracy by institutionalizing dishonesty and fraud.
8. We will protect, defend, and promote the American Family at all costs. The nuclear family is crucial to civilization, it is God’s design for humanity, and it must be protected and celebrated. To say otherwise is to deny science. The fanatical left seeks to devalue and redefine the traditional family, as they undermine parents and attempt to replace them with government programs. We will not allow Socialism to place the needs of the state ahead of the family.
9. Men are men, women are women, and unborn babies are babies. We believe in science: Men and women are biologically different, ‘male and female He created them.’ Modern technology has confirmed that abortion takes a human life. Facts are facts, the earth is round, the sun is hot, there are two genders, and abortion stops a beating heart. To say otherwise is to deny science.
10. Americans will be free to welcome God into all aspects of our lives, and we will stop all government efforts to deny our religious freedom and freedom of speech. The Democrat Party and their Big Tech allies are not merely secular; they have virtually created a new religion of wokeness that is increasingly hostile toward people of faith, particularly Christians and Jews. They are determined to drive all mention of God out of public view. We will not be silenced, canceled, or told what words to use by the politically correct crowd.
11. We are Americans, not globalists. America will be dependent on NO other country. We will conduct no trade that takes away jobs or displaces American workers. Countries who oppose us at the UN will get zero financial help from us. We will be energy independent and build supply chains that never rely on our adversaries. We will only help countries that are willing to defend themselves, like Israel.

Each topic contains a trove of bullet points ranging from the ridiculous – like naming a border wall with Mexico after Trump – to mirroring the plot of a dystopian horror film, such as punishing single mothers for not having a spouse.

“Even though many single moms heroically do the job of raising a family (as my mom often had to) children need and deserve both parents – and government should not be shy about saying so,” Scott writes.

Scott’s plan also includes language that encourages discrimination against individuals who do not conform to the arcane conservative heteronormative standard.

“Humans are born male and female, there are two genders, and to deny that is to deny science,” Scott writes. This is false and it leads to harm among LGBTQIA Americans.

Scott later adds that “no tax dollars will be used to pay for any diversity training or other woke indoctrination that is hostile to faith.” In other words, programs that are not in line with personal religious convictions will be banned.

He even suggests raising taxes on millions of low-income Americans.

“All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax,” Scott, who is a billionaire, declares.

The Washington Post noted on Tuesday that “in the Tax Foundation’s estimate, as many as 75 million people who paid no such taxes after deductions and credits in 2020” would see their tax obligations jump. “If you include the 32 million who didn’t file returns, such as retirees, the number climbs well over 100 million Americans.”

That is unlikely to go over well with most voters.

Nevertheless, despite the extraordinary diversion from mainstream American values, Scott maintains that his message is a winning one.

“As a general rule, you know, probably this year’s election is going to be a lot about the Biden agenda. But I do believe we’re going to win,” Scott told Politico. “We ought to have a plan and what we’re trying to get done when we get the majority.”