WHEREAS, Republican solidarity in opposition to the Democrat socialist agenda is necessary to preserve the security of our country, our economic and political freedoms, and our way of life; and

WHEREAS, Republican faithfulness to its conservative principles and public policies as dictated by members of the GOP during convention and found in the Montana State Platform is necessary to maintain and restore the trust of the electorate in the Republican Party and a proven path that will lead to Republican electoral victories; and

WHEREAS, we understand the broad written form of the whole of the Montana GOP Platform provides a great narrative tool for discussing our beliefs, it is a mechanism to detail policy to support in legislation; and

WHEREAS, the MTGOP has a responsibility to develop a simple set of Principles based upon the MTGOP Platform that could then be applied to all proposed legislation;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the MTGOP identifies the following ten (10) policy positions to be detailed in the Montana Republican Platform in a “Principles” section that shall be placed immediately after the Preamble and thus before the main body of planks;

1. Tax Policy: Taxes should be low, broad based, and easily understood.
2. Role of Government: We believe our constitutional system- Limited govt, separation of powers, federalism and the rights of the people- must be preserved uncompromised for future generations.
3. Scope of Government: We believe political and economic freedom are indivisible.
4. Sanctity of life: Support “all life is sacred” policies from conception to natural end of life with the exception of the death penalty. There will be no tax payer funding for abortions or suicides, parental notification and permission in all cases dealing with legal minors, and require taxpayer supported medical services programs to provide ultrasounds and all available choices for individuals dealing with crisis pregnancies.
5. Private Property: Private Property is the foundation of prosperity and freedom.
6. Education: Adopt school choice policies driven by parental control, reduce centralized control mechanisms embracing local control, embrace transparency in local district budgets and curriculum, and preserve the autonomy of private and home school institutions.
7. Social Programs: Adopt policies of “hand up” not “hand out” in all social programs, adopt accountability and eligibility standards that only help the truly needy, and implement measures that define the primary role of all social services to one of reducing dependency.
8. Natural Resources: Montana is The Treasure State and we support natural resource policy that promote jobs, and improves the quality of life and standard of living for all Montanans.
9. State Rights: Support the 10th Amendment, reject all federal programs that do not include funding for the life of the mandate, believe that all Federal Law implemented in Montana must be based on Article 1, AND that every Montana elected official work to confine Federal power to its Constitutional limits.
10. Judicial: We believe in the rule of law and a separation of powers. The judicial branch is a separate branch of government and it should not be a super legislature.

The Republican Party of Montana recognizes that this Platform and these 10 principles are the only source for the values, definitions, and expectations the members of this association recognize when evaluating a candidate for public office within the Primary Election, as the Republican members alone have determined these by Convention.

The Republican Party of Montana also recognizes the primary goal of this Platform and principles is the expectation that our elected officials will use it as a directing guide when making decisions.

We also expect a report be issued by the State Republican Party on the voting results for those standards of each Legislator to all members of the Republican Party.