The Douglas County Republican Party presents its 2024 Platform and renews its dedication to the following beliefs:

We believe the strength of our state is in its people. We believe the input and participation of each citizen is critical to maintaining a government which represents and encourages individual initiative and the free enterprise system, which has given our nation an economic system second to none.

We believe that good government should guarantee to its individuals’ equality before the law regardless of political party, race, creed, age, gender, national origin, or income level and that each person’s ability, dignity, and freedom, as well as responsibilities, must be recognized and honored.

We believe that the government should promote the health, welfare, and safety of the individual and that the government’s proper function is to do only those things which individuals cannot do for themselves.

We believe the foundation of the Republican Party is broad, and, regardless of its position on any particular issue, all Nebraskans are welcomed to join and support Republican, constitutional, and conservative philosophy, principles, and candidates.

With these principles, we believe that the Douglas County Republican Party is the vehicle for persons who desire a positive and responsive government at the city, county, state, and national levels.

Agriculture

The Douglas County Republican Party recognizes agriculture in all its many facets, including farming, ranching and agribusiness, as Nebraska’s leading industry and a cornerstone of its economy. We support the establishment of expanded markets as part of a fair and open global marketplace. We believe in a free and open marketplace functioning in fairness to family farms, ranches, and independent agribusiness operations and we encourage the enforcement of state and federal antitrust laws to their benefit. We support laws prohibiting ownership of United States farmland, property, or other assets by foreign governments or entities controlled by such.

Crime and Public Protection

Government should provide protection for all our citizens. Our safety must be the guiding principle of criminal justice. This requires a judicial system that imposes swift and sure punishments, including death for heinous crimes, strict incarceration for violent crimes and punishment for non-violent crimes.

We call particular attention to the problems of illegal drug use and legal drug abuse, child and spouse abuse and neglect, and pornography, which strike at the roots of our families. We urge our elected officials to routinely examine the laws of our state to ensure the protection of our citizens, especially our children in this area.

Education

We believe that parents have the primary responsibility for their children’s education.  Therefore, we support policies that provide parents with maximum control of the rearing of their children, including academic, moral, and religious education. We support efforts to provide parents with increased educational options for their children. We oppose Common Core and Critical Race Theory and believe that control of all aspects of public education should rest with local school boards, not state or federal agencies. We urge citizens to require fiscal and educational accountability from policy makers, educational institutions, and educational professionals to assure that quality services are being rendered. We oppose CSE (Comprehensive Sexuality Education) in all forms and support returning to core subjects.

Economic Development

We believe the free market is the cornerstone of Liberty, producing a growing economy, which provides the best opportunity for citizens to support their families. Therefore, we support low tax, low regulation policies to promote risk taking and investment that fuels private economic growth and job creation that lifts families out of poverty, thus enhancing each human being through the dignity of gainful employment. We oppose any effort to transform our economic system from one of free enterprise to one of socialism.

Environment and Natural Resources

We affirm our continuing commitment to clean air and water, productive lands, forests, abundant wildlife, and responsible stewardship of our God-given natural heritage. We believe that Nebraska’s water is a resource vital to economic health and maintaining a high quality of life. Its preservation is essential and its management should occur on local and state levels and should address the potential of future water shortages.

We support the return of control of public land within the states to the state level whenever possible. We support policies which protect the rights of hunters, fishermen, and other sportsmen on public lands.

Such policies as those concerning wetlands and endangered species must be balanced between environmental and economic concerns and should not threaten individual property rights. 

Energy Policy

We oppose actions by Congress that would increase the cost of energy to U.S. consumers.  We support an all-of-the-above energy approach and oppose top-down federal environment mandates which place an unnecessary, costly burden on consumers, businesses and taxpayers. We support the free market pursuit of energy independence and self-reliance.

Family

We support measures that strengthen and affirm the family and marriage as the natural indispensable institution for human development. We oppose laws that intrude unnecessarily on the rights of the family, contribute to the dissolution of the family, or interfere with parental rights. We support efforts to reform regulations that make adoption needlessly difficult. We oppose infanticide in all of its forms, both active and passive. We recognize biological sex according to birth and shall determine one’s participation in or use of restrooms, locker rooms, sports teams or other such accommodations or institutions.

Fiscal Responsibility

We believe that all public entities have the responsibility to Americans to operate under balanced budgets and fight increasing taxes by managing taxpayer funds in a prudent and fiscally responsible manner. All public programs should be held accountable for elimination of wasteful and duplicative practices.

Excessive taxation and government regulation have made it increasingly difficult for families to meet their needs. We favor a tax policy that supports and strengthens the American family.

Health Care

We oppose any type of single-payer healthcare, also known as Medicare for all. We favor tort reform, tax policies, and regulatory changes that would afford citizens the opportunity to purchase health care as they deem appropriate using the free market. We oppose taxpayer funded abortion. We oppose one size fits all healthcare mandates, ​​and we also oppose health passports & SMART health cards. We support strengthening Nebraska’s mental health and substance abuse care systems and support public-private partnerships to address these issues.

Human Rights

We believe that all human beings have an unalienable right to life which is endowed by their Creator from the moment of conception to natural death, and which the state exists to protect.  We, therefore, affirm that the government acts outside its authority when it grants anyone the right to take innocent human life. We believe that the concept of equal rights and equal responsibilities under the law is basic to a free society and oppose discrimination that violates our unalienable rights.

Immigration

We support the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We support and welcome all legal immigration into the United States. In fairness to legal immigrants, we support stringent federal, state, and local efforts to stem the tide of foreign nationals violating immigration laws.  We believe border security is national security. We generally support efforts to 1) combat human and drug trafficking; 2) reduce illegal border crossings; and 3) support merit based legal immigration.

Law Enforcement

We strongly support our law enforcement community and first responders. We extend our sincere gratitude for the invaluable job of keeping our neighborhoods safe.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

We support the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We oppose any legislation, state or federal, which would have the effect of infringing upon this inalienable right. We believe that law-abiding gun owners should not have their constitutional right curtailed because of the actions of criminals.

Senior Americans

Senior citizens deserve the opportunity to live their lives with dignity and with continued confidence in the integrity of the Social Security system. We believe that Social Security and Medicare should be protected. We support exemption from Federal and state income tax for Social Security benefits. We condemn ageism in all its forms. 

Social Services

We believe that those who cannot provide for themselves should be assisted by government, private philanthropy and faith-based groups, but that every effort should be made to help them become self-supporting, productive citizens with pride in their independence. We support welfare reform policies to prevent abuse of welfare programs that lead to multi-generational dependency.

Transparency

We believe that the government operates best when it is transparent and accountable. We support open votes for leadership positions in a legislative body.

Veterans

Recognizing the special sacrifices of those that are serving and have served in our nation’s armed forces, we support reasonable compensation for those Nebraska residents on active duty and for retirement benefits of veterans and their survivors. We support exemption from state income tax for both active-duty military pay and veteran’s retirement benefits. We further support federal and state policies granting veterans greater flexibility and access to rightfully earned medical care. We support recruiting and training more veterans to run for federal, state and local offices. In addition, we support the use of our limited resources in favor of benefits for active–duty military and citizen veterans instead of benefits for illegal immigrants.

Voter ID

We believe that elections are important to our republican form of government. The authenticity and reliability of our election system is needed to ensure that each person’s vote counts in an election and support a winner take all for the allocation of Nebraska’s electoral votes.

We call for the enforcement of a verification procedure (widely known as Voter ID) by our state and local governments.

We support in-person voting, allowing for excused absentee voting.

We support providing a free voter identification card to any verifiable citizen who cannot afford one.

Constitution

We believe in and fully support the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Nebraska as our founding documents. We support retaining the Electoral College as outlined in the Constitution of the United States. We oppose the National Popular Vote Compact and support winner take all. We support the idea of limited government and encourage our elected officials to uphold the oaths they swore to defend and its ideals.

Revised April 6, 2024