GOP Platform 8: Principled American Leadership

July 31, 2000 -- The following is unedited text from the 2000 Republican party platform.

“The duties of our day are different. But the values of our nation do not change. Let us reject the blinders of isolationism, just as we refuse the crown of empire. Let us not dominate others with our power — or betray them with our indifference. And let us have an American foreign policy that reflects American character. The modesty of true strength. The humility of real greatness. This is the strong heart of America. And this will be the spirit of my administration.” - Governor George W. Bush

The Emerging Fellowship of Freedom

The Twenty-First Century opens with unique promise for the United States. Democratic values are celebrated on every continent. The productivity and ingenuity of American business are the envy of the world. American innovation is leading the way in the information age. New technology speeds an exchange of ideas that often bear the mark of American inspiration. No other great power challenges American international preeminence. There is every reason for Americans to be extraordinarily optimistic about their future.

Few nations in history have been granted such a singular opportunity to shape the future. Even after World War II the United States had to reckon with a divided world and terrible dangers. Now America can help mold international ideals and institutions for decades to come. Handed the torch by generations that won great battles, our generation of Americans with its allies and friends can build a different and better world, promoting U.S. interests and principles, avoiding the economic convulsions and perilous conflicts that so scarred the century just past. Through a distinctly American internationalism, a new Republican president will build public support for a new strategy that can lead the United States of America toward a more peaceful and prosperous world for us, our children, and future generations.

Almost all Americans know they cannot prosper alone in the world. They know that America is safest when more and more countries share a profound belief in political and economic liberty, human dignity, and the rule of law, when more and more nations join the United States in an emerging fellowship of freedom.

That is what happened during the twelve years of Republican presidential leadership from 1981 to 1992. The Cold War ended with the triumph of freedom. The Soviet Empire collapsed, and the USSR followed it into history. The proud Atlantic community welcomed a united Germany and new friends in Central and Eastern Europe. Iraq tried the law of the jungle and was routed, its aggressive power broken. The Arab-Israeli peace process was revived. Alliances and friendships in Asia were robust and successful. Mexico joined with the United States in an unprecedented new economic partnership as peace and democracy spread through Latin America. Around the globe, the word, the ideals and the power of the United States commanded respect. The American presidency showed bright and purposeful.

In the last eight years the administration has squandered the opportunity granted to the United States by the courage and sacrifice of previous generations:

The administration has run America’s defenses down over the decade through inadequate resources, promiscuous commitments, and the absence of a forward-looking military strategy.

The ballistic missile threat to the United States has been persistently dismissed, delaying for years the day when America will have the capability to defend itself against this growing danger.

The arrogance, inconsistency, and unreliability of the administration’s diplomacy have undermined American alliances, alienated friends, and emboldened our adversaries.

World trade talks in Seattle that the current administration had sponsored collapsed in spectacular failure. Authority to negotiate new fast-track trade agreements was slapped down by the administration’s own party in the Congress. An initiative to establish free trade throughout the Americas has stalled because of this lack of Presidential leadership.

The problems of Mexico have been ignored, as our indispensable neighbor to the south struggled with too little American help to deal with its formidable challenges.

The tide of democracy in Latin America has begun to ebb with a sharp rise in corruption and narco-trafficking.

A misguided policy toward China was exemplified by President Clinton’s trip to Beijing that produced an embarrassing presidential kowtow and a public insult to our longstanding ally, Japan.

With weak and wavering policies toward Russia, the administration has diverted its gaze from corruption at the top of the Russian government, the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians in Chechnya, and the export of dangerous Russian technologies to Iran and elsewhere.

A chorus of empty threats destroyed America’s credibility in the Balkans, so that promised safe havens became killing fields.

The administration prolonged the war in Kosovo by publicly limiting America’s military options — something no Commander-in-Chief should ever do.

A generation of American efforts to slow proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has unraveled as first India and Pakistan set off their nuclear bombs, then Iraq defied the international community. Token air strikes against Iraq could not long mask the collapse of an inspection regime that had — until then — at least kept an ambitious, murderous tyrant from acquiring additional nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

A humanitarian intervention in Somalia was escalated thoughtlessly into nation-building at the cost of the lives of courageous Americans.

A military intervention in Haiti displayed administration indecision and incoherence and, after billions of dollars had been spent, accomplished nothing of lasting value

Reacting belatedly to inevitable crises, the administration constantly enlarges the reach of its rhetoric — most recently in Vice President Gore’s “new security agenda” that adds disease, climate, and all the world’s ethnic or religious conflicts to an undiminished set of existing American responsibilities. If there is some limit to candidate Gore’s new agenda for America as global social worker, he has yet to define it.

It is time for America to regain its focus. Winston Churchill, after he had lived through other years that the “locust hath eaten,” declared: “The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.” As idle indulgence gives way to a new Republican president in the coming new “period of consequences,” the United States can again regain the hope it lost eight years ago. We can restore our country’s sense of international purpose and national honor.

A Republican president will identify and pursue vital American national interests. He will set priorities and he will stick to them. Under his leadership, the United States will build and secure the peace. Republicans know what it takes to accomplish this: robust military forces, strong alliances, expanding trade, and resolute diplomacy.

Yet this new realism must be inspired by what we stand for as a nation. Republicans know that the American commitment to freedom is the true source of our nation’s strength. That is why, for one example, Congressional Republicans have made political and religious liberty a cornerstone of their approach to international affairs. That commitment is the glue that binds our great alliances. It is strong precisely because it is not just an American ideal. We propose our principles; we must not impose our culture. Yet the basic values of human freedom and dignity are universal.

A Military for the Twenty-First Century

Republicans are the party of peace through strength. A strong and well-trained American military is the world’s best guarantee of peace. It is the shield of this republic’s liberty, security, and prosperity. Only a President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, can ensure that our military stands ready to defend America and triumph against new challenges.

A Republican president and a Republican Congress will transform America’s defense capabilities for the information age, ensuring that U.S. armed forces remain paramount against emerging dangers.

They will restore the health of a defense industry weakened by a combination of neglect and misguided policies. To do all this, the United States must align its military power with the strengths of American society: our skilled people, our advanced technology, and our proficiency at integrating fast-paced systems into potent networks. While we are on the crest of a new age in military technology, we will not forget that the strength of our military lies with the combat soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine.

Americans are justly proud of their armed forces. But today, only nine years after the tremendous victory in the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. military faces growing problems in readiness, morale, and its ability to prepare for the threats of the future. The administration has cut defense spending to its lowest percentage of gross domestic product since before Pearl Harbor. At the same time, the current administration has casually sent American armed forces on dozens of missions without clear goals, realizable objectives, favorable rules of engagement, or defined exit strategies.

Over the past seven years, a shrunken American military has been run ragged by a deployment tempo that has eroded its military readiness. Many units have seen their operational requirements increased four-fold, wearing out both people and equipment. Only last fall the Army certified two of its premier combat divisions as unready for war because of underfunding, mismanagement, and over-commitment to peacekeeping missions around the globe. More Army units and the other armed services report similar problems. It is a national scandal that almost one quarter of our Army’s active combat strength is unfit for wartime duty.

When presidents fail to make hard choices, those who serve must make them instead. Soldiers must choose whether to stay with their families or to stay in the armed forces at all. Sending our military on vague, aimless, and endless missions rapidly saps morale. Even the highest morale is eventually undermined by back-to-back deployments, poor pay, shortages of spare parts and equipment, inadequate training, and rapidly declining readiness. When it comes to military health, the administration is not providing an adequate military health care system for active-duty service members and their families and for retired service members and their dependents. The nation is failing to fulfill its ethical, and legal health care obligations to those that are serving or have honorably served in the Armed Forces of the United States.

It is no surprise that the all-volunteer force—the pride of America — is struggling to recruit and retain soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. As recruiting lags, well-trained personnel are leaving in record numbers. Those dedicated military personnel that stay in the force face a pay gap of some, 13 percent relative to their civilian counterparts. Thousands of military families are forced to rely on food stamps. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said that two-thirds of the nation’s military housing is substandard. The calculated indifference of the administration to national defense has forced thousands of our most experienced and patriotic warriors to leave the military. We will once again make wearing the uniform the object of national pride.

The new Republican government will renew the bond of trust between the Commander-in-Chief, the American military, and the American people. The military is not a civilian police force or a political referee. We believe the military must no longer be the object of social experiments. We affirm traditional military culture. We affirm that homosexuality is incompatible with military service.

The U.S. military under the leadership of a Republican President and a Republican Congress will focus on its most demanding task — fighting and winning in combat. Readiness prevents wars. Also, by being prepared for this most exacting mission with an uncommon sense of urgency, our military will know, unlike today, that its loyalty and self-sacrifice have meaning and purpose.

In a time of fluid change and uncertainty, intelligence is truly America’s first line of defense. The current administration has weakened that defense by allowing a series of shocking security breaches, from blatant espionage and its virtual abandonment of national security-related export controls, to sheer sloppiness at the highest levels of government. This must stop, immediately. Nor should the intelligence community be made the scapegoat for political misjudgments. A Republican administration working with the Congress will respect the needs and quiet sacrifices of these public servants as it strengthens America’s intelligence and counter-intelligence capabilities and reorients them toward the dangers of the future.

A Republican president will challenge America’s military leaders to envision a new architecture of American defense for decades to come. Our next president will balance the need to prepare for information age battles while keeping our conventional fighting skills second to none. To pay for profligate deployments, the administration’s defense budgets have been eating their seed corn — slashing spending on modernization to levels not seen since before the Korean War, undermining the health of our defense industry and producing what one administration official admitted was a “death spiral” for the U.S. defense capability of the future. Even our elite combat units are scraping the bottom of the barrel to find funds for basic training.

A Republican president, working in partnership with a Republican Congress, will push beyond marginal improvements and incorporate new technologies and new strategies — spending more and investing wisely to transform our military into a true twenty-first century force. A Republican government will use this time of relative American strength in the world to prepare for a different kind of future. In the twenty-first century U.S. forces must be agile, lethal, readily deployable, and require a minimum of logistical support. They must also be fully prepared for possible enemy use of weapons of mass destruction.

To build such U.S. military forces will require foresight and steadfast commitment. We must be willing to act now to give the next generation of Americans what they will need to protect our country. This will also require a new spirit of innovation. Republicans believe that our military leaders will welcome and meet these challenges. Moments of national opportunity are either seized or lost. America’s opportunity beckons: to demonstrate that a new approach to U.S. defense can shape the future with new concepts, new strategies, and new resolve.

The men and women of the National Guard and Reserve are an important part of the nation’s military readiness, and we will maintain their strength in the States. Their role as citizen soldiers must continue to be a proud tradition that links every community in the country with the cause of national security. The Republican party created the all-volunteer force and opposes reinstitution of the draft, whether directly or through compulsory national service. We support the advancement of women in the military, support their exemption from ground combat units, and call for implementation of the recommendations of the Kassebaum Commission, which unanimously recommended that co-ed basic training be ended. We support restoration of sound priorities in the making of personnel policies, and candid analysis of the consequences of unprecedented social changes in the military. We will put renewed emphasis on encouraging the best and brightest of our young people to join our armed forces.

As the traditional advocate of America’s veterans, the Republican Party remains committed to fulfilling America’s obligations to them. That is why we defeated the administration’s attempt to replace veterans’ health care with a national system for everybody. It is why Congressional Republicans enacted the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998, to thwart attempts to water down veterans’ preference in federal civil service hiring and retention, and why they created the National Veterans Business Development Corporation to assist vets in becoming entrepreneurs. The same holds true for their Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act, a first step toward correcting the deficiencies in medical care for vets and ensuring a medical infrastructure that will better honor the nation’s commitment to those who served. In a Republican administration, a true advocate for veterans will become Secretary of Veteran Affairs.

The maintenance and expansion of our national cemeteries is a solemn duty; a Republican administration will attend to it. Many of the programs designed to assist veterans cry out for modernization and reform. The American people cannot be content with the current unemployment rate of recently separated veterans, or with the significant number of veterans among the homeless. With a backlog of almost a half million cases, the Veterans Benefit Administration needs to be brought into the Information Age. The work of the Veterans Employment and Training Service needs a stronger focus on vocational education, and the nation as a whole must reconsider the ways restrictive licensing and certification rules prevent fully qualified vets from moving up the opportunity ladder.

Protecting the Fellowship of Freedom from Weapons of Mass Destruction

The new century will bring new threats, but America — properly led — can master them. Just as the generations of World War II and the Cold War were quick to seize the high frontier of science and craft the national defense America needed, so our country can build on its strengths and defend against unprecedented perils once again.

Ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction threaten the world’s future. America is currently without defense against these threats. The administration’s failure to guard America’s nuclear secrets is allowing China to modernize its ballistic missile force, thereby increasing the threat to our country and to our allies. The theft of vital nuclear secrets by China represents one of the greatest security defeats in the history of the United States. The next Republican president will protect our nuclear secrets and aggressively implement a sweeping reorganization of our nuclear weapons program.

Over two dozen countries have ballistic missiles today. A number of them, including North Korea, will be capable of striking the United States within a few years, and with little warning. America is now unable to counter the rampant proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and their missile delivery systems around the world.

The response of the current administration has been anachronistic and politicized. Stuck in the mindset and agreements of the Cold War and immune to fresh ideas, the administration has not developed a sensible strategy that responds to the emerging missile threat. They have no adequate plan for how they will defend America and its allies. Visionary leadership, not the present delay and prevarication, is urgently needed for America to be ready for the future. The new Republican president will deploy a national missile defense for reasons of national security; but he will also do so because there is a moral imperative involved: The American people deserve to be protected. It is the president’s constitutional obligation.

America must deploy effective missile defenses, based on an evaluation of the best available options, including sea-based, at the earliest possible date. These defenses must be designed to protect all 50 states, America’s deployed forces overseas, and our friends and allies in the fellowship of freedom against missile attacks by outlaw states or accidental launches.

The current administration at first denied the need for a national missile defense system. Then it endlessly delayed, despite constant concern expressed by the Republican Congress. Now the administration has become hopelessly entangled in its commitment to an obsolete treaty signed in 1972 with a Soviet Union that no longer exists while it is constrained by its failure to explore vigorously the technological possibilities. In order to avoid the need for any significant revisions to the ABM Treaty, the administration supports an inadequate national missile defense design based on a single site, instead of a system based on the most effective means available. Their approach does not defend America’s allies, who must be consulted as U.S. plans are developed. Their concept is a symbolic political solution designed on a cynical political timetable. It will not protect America.

We will seek a negotiated change in the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty that will allow the United States to use all technologies and experiments required to deploy robust missile defenses. Republicans believe that the administration should not negotiate inadequate modifications to the ABM Treaty that would leave us with a flawed agreement that ties the hands of the next president and prevents America from defending itself. The United States must be able to select the systems that will work best, not those that answer political expediency, and we must aggressively reinvigorate the ballistic missile defense technology base necessary to ensure that these systems succeed. There are today more positive, practical ways to reassure Russia that missile defenses are a search for common security, not for unilateral advantage. If Russia refuses to make the necessary changes, a Republican president will give prompt notice that the United States will exercise the right guaranteed to us in the treaty to withdraw after six months. The president has a solemn obligation to protect the American people and our allies, not to protect arms control agreements signed almost 30 years ago.

Clear thinking about defensive systems must be accompanied by a fresh strategy for offensive ones too. The Cold War logic that led to the creation of massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons on both sides is now outdated and actually enhances the danger of weapons or nuclear material falling into the hands of America’s adversaries. Russia is not the great enemy. The age of vast hostile armies in the heart of Europe deterred by the threat of U.S. nuclear response is also past. American security need no longer depend on the old nuclear balance of terror. It is time to defend against the threats of today and tomorrow, not yesterday.

It is past time that the United States should reexamine the requirements of nuclear deterrence. Working with U.S. military leaders and with the Congress, a Republican president will reevaluate America’s nuclear force posture and pursue the lowest possible number consistent with our national security. We can safely eliminate thousands more of these horrific weapons. We should do so. In the Cold War the United States rightfully worried about the danger of a conventional war in Europe and needed the nuclear counterweight. That made sense then. It does not make sense now. The premises of Cold War targeting should no longer dictate the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The current administration seems not to realize that this notion, too, is old-think of the worst order. In addition, the United States should work with other nuclear nations to remove as many weapons as possible from high-alert, hair-trigger status — another unnecessary vestige of Cold War confrontation — to reduce the risks of accidental or unauthorized launch.

In 1991, the United States invited the Soviet Union to join it in removing tactical nuclear weapons from their arsenals. Huge reductions were achieved in a matter of months, quickly making the world much safer. Under a Republican president, Russia will again be invited to do the same with respect to strategic nuclear weapons. America should be prepared to lead by example, because it is in our best interest and the best interest of the world. These measures can begin a new global era of nuclear security and safety.

Republicans recognize new threats but also new opportunities. With Republican leadership, the United States has an opportunity to create a safer world, both to defend against nuclear threats and to reduce nuclear arsenals and tensions. America can build a robust missile defense, make dramatic reductions in its nuclear weapons, and defuse confrontation with Russia. A Republican President will do all these things.

A comprehensive strategy for combating the new dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction must include a variety of other measures to contain and prevent the spread of such weapons. We need the cooperation of friends and allies — and should seek the cooperation of Russia and China — in developing realistic strategies using political, economic, and military instruments to deter and defeat the proliferation efforts of others. We need to address threats from both rogue states and terrorist group — whether delivered by missile, aircraft, shipping container, or suitcase.

In this context, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is another anachronism of obsolete strategic thinking. This treaty is not verifiable, not enforceable, and would not enable the United States to ensure the reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. It also does not deal with the real dangers of nuclear proliferation, which are rogue regimes — such as Iran, Iraq, and North Korea — that seek to hide their dangerous weapons programs behind weak international treaties. We can fight the spread of nuclear weapons, but we cannot wish them away with unwise agreements. Republicans in the Senate reacted accordingly and responsibly in rejecting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

A new Republican president will renew America’s faltering fight against the contagious spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, as well as their means of delivery. The weak leadership and neglect of the administration have allowed America’s intelligence capabilities, including space based systems, to atrophy, resulting in repeated proliferation surprises such as Iraq’s renewed chemical and biological weapons programs, India’s nuclear weapon test, and North Korea’s test of a three-stage ballistic missile. Again in a partnership with the Congress, a new Republican administration will give the intelligence community the leadership, resources, and operational latitude it requires.

Seeking Enduring Prosperity

Under Republican leadership, the United States will foster an environment of economic openness to capitalize on our country’s greatest asset in the information age: a vital, innovative society that welcomes creative ideas and adapts to them. American companies are once more showing the world breathtaking ways to improve productivity and redraw traditional business models. This is an extraordinary foundation on which to rebuild an effective American trade policy.

Under the policies of the present administration, many markets remain closed and U.S. trade deficits keep rising. New economic structures are needed to combine regional agreements with the development of global rules for opening the world economy. Collaborating with the Congress, a Republican administration will engage the Latin American and the Asia-Pacific nations, including a new dialogue with India, about political economy and free trade. As impoverished countries in Eurasia, the Middle East, and Africa accept freer economies, they will need the incentives of more open world markets. In addition, the United States can encourage the European Union and our Asian friends and allies to open more sectors to cross-investment and competition with the aim of freer trans-oceanic trade.

Republicans are confident that the worldwide trade agenda is full of promise. From the traditional goods of agriculture to the virtual links of e-commerce, gates can swing open. Tariffs should be cut further. The United States can back private sector efforts to streamline common standards and deregulate services, from finance to filmmaking. As the one economy with truly global reach, America can set the standards and be at the center of a worldwide web of trade, finance, and openness. If some nations choose to opt out, they will see how other countries accepting economic freedom will advance on their own, working together.

This is the Republican approach, and a critical dimension of a distinctly American internationalism. It goes beyond the old choice of private sector laissez-faire versus government regulation. Instead it is a vision of private initiative encouraged, not stifled, by governments. Private parties are already fashioning new ways to exchange goods and settle disputes but national governments still struggle to define many of the underlying rules. Republicans will also go beyond the old arguments that pitted bilateral deals against global trade rules. Instead they envision a comprehensive approach to the more interdependent global economy, one that uses bilateral, regional, and global arrangements to spur reluctant states to become more open or to be left behind. At the same time, innovative and flexible global rules and structures can facilitate regional progress.

Rooted in America’s political and economic ideals, this Republican blueprint promotes open markets and open societies, free trade and the free flow of information, and the development of new ideas and private sectors. These nurture the human spirit, the middle class, law, and liberty.

As the Cold War ended, Republican presidents fought off protectionist pressure, eased the debt crisis then facing developing countries, signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and started to enlarge free trade arrangements throughout the Western Hemisphere. They promoted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group that could bind economic interests across the Pacific. They then used these regional initiatives to bring the global trade talks of the Uruguay Round to the edge of conclusion. Thus America began to build on victory in the Cold War to build new structures for economic liberty as well.

For nearly eight years this promising construction project has languished half-built, the old blueprint shelved and no new ones drawn.

The administration returned to the old rhetoric of managed trade—demanding government intervention from a Japanese government that needed less regulation in its sputtering economy, not more. On the verge of a foolish trade war, the administration backed down and dropped its quota demands.

After failing for years to make the case for free trade, the administration finally got around to seeking fast-track trade negotiating authority, but could persuade only one-fifth of Democratic members of Congress to follow its lead.

With China, the administration sought to link normal trade relations to human rights performance. Then it flip-flopped and dropped the linkage. They tried to bring China into the World Trade Organization as the Prime Minister of China visited the United States in 1999, but the political waters got choppy. So the administration reversed course again. Finally the administration turned to Republican leadership in the Congress to enact permanent normal trade relations with China.

The administration refused to fight for passage of the Caribbean Basin Initiative that was designed to extend the benefits of free trade to some of America’s poorest neighbors. Congressional Republicans did the job on their own. They also enacted the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act as a companion to CBI.

The failed leadership of the administration in international economics is exemplified by the humiliating debacle of the WTO meeting in Seattle — a conference the current administration first sponsored and then wrecked through its own indecision and inconsistency.

Republicans know that prosperous democracies depend upon the promise of shared economic opportunity across national borders. If the new globalized information economy provokes a fearful drift into national or regional isolation, hopes for a better world will vanish. Institutions founded in the Second World War and its aftermath built the basis for America’s position today, but those institutions, like the Bretton Woods monetary system and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, were partly sustained by the Cold War. In this new century, the United States should devise new mechanisms to enable the private sector to unleash productivity, innovation, and a free flow of ideas.

Communities of private groups can achieve results far beyond the reach of governments and international bureaucracies. Given America’s strong and diverse private sector, the United States, with close cooperation between a Republican president and a Republican Congress, can gain from the widening global influence of American citizens, businesses, associations, and norms. A Republican administration will have the opportunity to fashion, with like-minded nations, the international structures of sustainable prosperity for the next several decades.

The older international financial institutions should be overhauled but not scrapped. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank should no longer stand for unelected elites imposing their often flawed solutions to tough problems by offering bailouts of corrupt officials and risk-taking investors. The IMF should concentrate on its original mission of promoting sound fiscal and monetary policies, advancing sound central banking practices, and easing global exchange rate adjustments. It should improve transparency and accountability, tackling corruption rather than contributing to it. The World Bank should continue to move away from counterproductive development schemes of the past to an agenda that promotes the provision of basic needs. This agenda will include support for structural reforms that will encourage self-help through efficient markets.

The United States should aggressively pursue its national interest. Unlike the current administration, Republicans do not believe multilateral agreements and international institutions are ends in themselves. The Kyoto treaty to address momentous energy and environmental issues was a case in point. Whatever the theories on global warming, a treaty that does not include China and exempts “developing” countries from necessary standards while penalizing American industry is not in the national interest. We reject the extremist call for the United Nations to create a “Stewardship Council,” modeled on the Security Council, to oversee the global environment. Republicans understand that workable agreements will build on the free democratic processes of national governments, not try to bypass them with international bureaucrats.

Unlike the Democratic minority in Congress, Republicans do not believe that economic growth is always the enemy of protecting the world’s common environmental heritage. Rather, the Republican vision seeks more creative international solutions. These solutions should use market mechanisms to allocate the costs of adjustment, help governments competently manage the resources they do control, and encourage application of the new technologies that offer the greatest promise to protect the global environment.

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