Texans issue a challenge. (The Right Perspective).(Brief Article)

During President George W. Bush's climb to the White House, the Republican Party of Texas produced a series of comprehensive and hard-hitting platforms that he has either refused to endorse or has ignored. In 1998, for instance, Texas Republicans called for abolishing the EPA, ATF, HUD, the Department of Energy, and the IRS. They urged the U.S. to quit the United Nations, repeal our nation's entry into NAFTA and GATT (WTO), cease funding the IMF, and curtail all commitments to NATO. They also urged the U.S. House of Representatives to investigate thoroughly the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission to determine if these organizations "are promoting the establishment of a one-world government to the detriment of U.S. interests and sovereignty."

Commenting on this 1998 blockbuster, the Houston Chronicle reported that then-Governor Bush discounted the recommendations of his fellow Texans. He claimed that "a platform is a statement of the delegates of the convention" and that he "runs on his own agenda." Early in 1999, however, Hoover Institute fellow Arnold Beichman revealed that the Bush agenda was already being structured by a "brain trust" whose members included such Establishment luminaries as George Shultz, Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, and Paul Wolfowitz, each of whom held membership in the Council on Foreign Relations. These providers of "advice and ideas," said Beichman, had convened their "first session" with the future president in April 1998 and maintained close contact with him throughout the next two years. Presumably, none of the members of what Beichman termed "this all-star cast" would find comfort in the Texas Republican platform.

In 2000, the Texas Republicans repeated their demands with another hard-hitting platform, which would end the stranglehold over government possessed by the liberals and one-worlders of both parties. Mr. Bush didn't even comment on it while he busily toured the nation touting his conservatism.

The hearty Texas GOP leaders met again in 2002, and, even though they issued a seemingly obligatory resolution commending Mr. Bush for his leadership in combating terrorism, they repeated most of their previous demands. In their preamble, they praised the system devised by our nation's Founders who intended "to restrict the power of the federal government over the states and the people." They reminded Congress that it can "impeach and remove federal judges" who abuse the Constitution; stated that the greatest threat to individual liberties "is overreaching government controls established under the guise ...