Texas Solidarity Party

Platform for 2022 Election Cycle

Preamble

The Texas Solidarity Party is committed to the common good, by finding common ground, through common sense solutions informed by the values of Christian Democracy espoused by our neighbors and friends around the world. We offer the following proposals as a solid foundation for a state government that supports the principles of Life, Freedom, Responsibility, Family, Community, Ownership, Justice, and Care for our Natural World.

Principles

The Texas Solidarity Party is based on these principles, in addition to the Statement of Principles promulgated by the American Solidarity Party:

·       Life – Life is the most natural of rights; we believe that all human life is sacred from the moment of conception to natural death.

·       Freedom – All Texans are born free, endowed with inalienable, God-given rights that cannot be infringed by the state or each other. We must treat all Texans with dignity and respect for the values that freedom enshrines.

·       Responsibility – The word Texas comes from the Caddoan word for “friend.” We all have a duty to take care of each other, in solidarity, for the common good. We believe that there is no true freedom without the responsibility to do what is beautiful, true, and good.

·       Family – The family is the building block of society; it is vital to the Texan way of life that we, as a state and as a people, support the formation and well-being of families.

·       Community – We believe that humanity was made to live in communities. The Caddo Tribe began living in communities in Texas almost 2000 years ago. We, as a state and as a people, should support each other in communities in continuation of that unbroken tradition.

·       Ownership – We believe that humanity is able to prosper and flourish best when one owns their own means of supporting themselves, their family, and their community. This idea that a human being takes ownership of their means of production to voluntarily use individually or cooperatively, and that those means of production should be distributed throughout the population so that as many people as possible are owners, is sometimes referred to as Distributism.

·       Justice – All Texans should be held accountable to each other and should receive equal treatment under the law. It is our duty to right the wrongs of the past and to prevent new wrongs from occurring.

·       Care for our Natural World – Texas is a land full of natural beauty and resources. We must preserve and protect the environmental health of our state, not only for ourselves, but for our descendants.

Key Concepts

The Texas Solidarity Party’s Principles are based on these key concepts:

●        Subsidiarity – The Texas Solidarity Party believes in decentralization informed by knowledge of one’s abilities. If a family can deal with a problem by themselves, that family should be able to deal with that problem without outside interference. If a local community can deal with a problem by themselves, that local community should be able to deal with that problem without outside interference. If a problem is too big for a small group to solve, then it should be passed to the next largest group. The state should only intervene when the state must intervene.

●        Solidarity – The Texas Solidarity Party understands that, as members of the human race, we are all in this together. We understand that an awareness of shared ideas, whether that be family, city, county, or state, leads to a sense of unity. All Texans should work to help other Texans – this cooperation will create a strong Texas.

●        Distributism – The Texas Solidarity Party supports a slow, methodical move towards a wider share of ownership of the means of production. Everyone should have the opportunity to own property and a way to support themselves and their family. This ownership economy is neither capitalism nor socialism, but something we believe will be better for Texas.   

●        Sanctity of Life – The right to life is the most natural of rights. As human beings, we see each person as someone with dignity and potential. Therefore, the Texas Solidarity Party supports protections of that life from conception through natural death.

●        Natural Law – Human beings, by virtue of being human beings, have inherent rights. The government is not the source of an individual’s rights. Someone’s status under the law does not define the person nor how they should be treated.

Life

The Texas Solidarity Party believes that:

●        Current Texas law which outlaws all elective abortion is good; however, because such laws are only one part of the solution to ending abortion, we will continue to work towards the creation of a culture that supports life, both in the womb and outside of it

●        Abortion for reasons of suspected prenatal genetic conditions and abnormalities is a discriminatory process.

●        The intentional destruction of human embryos in any context must end.

●        Texas and local municipalities should end taxpayer funding of organizations that provide, promote, or facilitate abortions, and of health-care plans that include abortion coverage; such funding should be redirected to organizations that promote healthy pregnancies and pre-natal care, especially for those of low socio-economic status

●        Texas should enact a constitutional right to life from conception to natural death, including the abolishment of capital punishment.

●        Texas should examine alternative punishments to capital punishment for the most heinous of crimes.

●        Texas should provide universal access to affordable mental-health care.

●        Texas should begin work on guaranteeing universal healthcare in the state through investigation of diverse means, including direct subsidization of provider networks, support for cost-sharing programs and mutual aid societies, simplified regulation, and subsidized education for medical professionals willing to work in rural areas.

●        Health policy must include protections for those with preexisting, chronic, and terminal conditions.

Freedom

The Texas Solidarity Party believes that:

●        The state government cannot make laws or orders that circumvent the laws or authority of local governments

●        Higher levels of government cannot enact policies that de facto create new laws for lower levels of government, such as prohibitions on what kind of laws and ordinances a municipality is allowed to make, without their consent. 

●        The “right to repair” should be protected for all technology and vehicles, especially agricultural equipment.

●        No state government agency can force a city or county to change public works plans.

 Responsibility

The Texas Solidarity Party believes that:

●        The Texas House of Representatives should be based on proportional representation

●        Texas’s electoral college votes should be allocated proportionally, using the D’Hondt formula, and seek agreement with other large states to do the same.

●        Alternative voting and election methods should be explored for more equitable and civil elections, so that all may have their voice truly heard. We promote systems such as Ranked-Choice Voting, Approval Voting, Louisiana Majority-Vote System, Top-Two Primaries, and Blanket Primaries.

●        If one has voted in a primary, that person should be able to sign a candidate petition without their signature being disqualified; moreover, individuals should be able to sign multiple candidate petitions.

●        Texas should create an independent, non-partisan boundary commission to review electoral boundaries.

●        Current ballot access requirements are inequitable and discriminatory; we favor a more equitable system that is not prohibitive to new parties or independent candidates.

 Family

The Texas Solidarity Party believes that:

●        Texas should require at least 12 weeks of paid parental leave, for mother and father, in the event of the birth of a child, adoption of a child, or placement of a child into one’s foster care.

●        Texas should require a period of paid parental bereavement leave for parents of children who die under the age of 18; this bereavement leave would include miscarriage and still-birth.

●        The Texas child welfare system must be reformed to truly prioritize the welfare of children, especially with regard to family reunification.

●        All state agencies should be compassionate rather than punitive to those with alternative lifestyles.

●        State health programs for children and those with disabilities should have waitlists removed and “means-checks” reformed so that the vulnerable are not left waiting for care.

●        Texas should provide prenatal and postpartum healthcare for mothers and all healthcare for children up to the age of five.

●        We support funds for foster parents to help with the special care and duties they take on.

●        School choice is an important aspect of having students go where they can best learn, but there must be equity between school systems so that a world-class education is not dependent on one’s zip code or the ability to attend a charter school.

●        Texas must repeal its no-fault divorce laws.

●        Efforts to prevent and prosecute domestic violence must be continued and expanded.

●        Texas should repeal all policies that penalize marriage.

●        Single parents should be supported, including with special accommodations for health- and child-care.

●        Social security and other benefits for foster children should be held in trust until the child turns 18.

 Community

The Texas Solidarity Party believes that:

●        In order to encourage housing and neighborhoods to be places to raise a family and not solely an investment tool, all new single-family housing developments should require 50% of homes to be owner-occupied and 25% of new homes should be reserved for first-time home-buyers.

●        Texas should place a priority on advertising that State welfare programs can be used at Farmers’ Markets and subsidize the purchase and training of ways for Farmers’ Markets to take those purchases.

●        In order to encourage stronger towns and communities, Texas should allow municipalities to create “no car zones” and connect the zones with publicly-owned transportation services funded by gasoline taxes.

●        There should be a reorganization and simplification of Texas’s confusing and overlapping systems of rural, urban, and metropolitan transit authorities and agencies.

●        Texas hospitals and doctor’s offices should all use a common Health Information System, making it easier for people to transfer care without any complications.

●        The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) should be simplified and modernized to not only allow a basic level of education, but so school districts can have more freedom in what and how to teach.

●        The recapture (Robin Hood) system of school funding should be more equitable on both sides by including factors such as: using the median income of student families; how many students in a district are on a free or reduced lunch; the finances of athletic and extracurricular programs. These would be used in conjunction or instead of local property values.

●        The Alternative Certification Process for educators should be simplified and reformed to attract highly-qualified educators from professional or academic fields who are currently unable to achieve certification due to the bureaucracy, time, and cost of the current system.

●        The State Board for Educator Certification should simplify the levels of educator certification from its current and conflicting archaic system to a streamlined system of Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary, and All-Level.

●        If a branch of the US military wants to recruit on a school campus, they must first fund and operate a J-ROTC group and show an educational value for their activities.

●        The A-F school rating system should be abolished, as it exacerbates the historic and current disadvantages faced by schools with higher levels of special education students, students of color, and students of lower socioeconomic status.

●        The standardized state assessments, such as STAAR and TELPAS should be abolished in favor of summative and benchmark assessments developed by local school districts.

●        Due to the large Spanish-speaking population, road signage in Texas should be bilingual.

●        The English-language and civic education of new immigrants and refugees to Texas should be subsidized.

●        Texas’s musicians are an integral part of Texan culture. We therefore propose a Canadian-style radio plan in which radio stations must play 30% Texan artists in order to operate in Texas.

●        Rural areas and rural counties should be allowed and encouraged to pool resources for infrastructure improvements.

●        Texas should recognize American Indian tribes and nations with ancestral and historic ties to Texas and allow them to establish reservations in Texas.

●        In the interest of health and public safety, we call for a permanent switch to Central Standard Time  in lieu of the biannual clock change.

●        We call for a commission and state referendum on changing the motto of the State of Texas to something other than an English translation of the state’s name.

Ownership

The Texas Solidarity Party believes that:

●        Texas should create policies and laws to make worker-owned and cooperative businesses easier to establish and operate.

●        Texas should establish a state-owned public bank modeled after the Bank of North Dakota.

●        Texas should provide incentives for the creation of more small businesses instead of large corporations. A special emphasis should be placed on B Corp certification.

●        New sports facilities must be paid for in at least a 70/30 ownership/public split. If the facility is single-use, then the ownership must pay the entire cost.

●        All publicly-owned utilities and many Texas-incorporated corporations should be converted to a customer/member-run cooperative structure.

●        Non-profit, charitable, and religious organizations should be able to use their own vehicles, such as vans and buses, to provide public transportation to areas without access to public transit, especially in rural areas.

●        Public buildings cannot be named after public officials until that public official has been out of office for more than 10 years.

●        While proud of being the only state with its own electrical grid, the Texas Power Grid needs to be enhanced and winterized to protect grid reliability.

●        Texas’s prohibition on collective bargaining for public sector employees must end. 

●        ‘Right-to-work’ laws work to tilt the balance away from the worker and towards large corporations; therefore, they should, in general, be opposed.

●        We support organized labor / labor unions as a means of collective bargaining.

 Justice

The Texas Solidarity Party believes that:

●        Clergy, Chaplains, and Religious officials should receive First Responder status while performing pastoral care and related religious duties in emergency, crisis, and end-of-life situations.

●        The Texas Departments of Criminal Justice must make good faith efforts for the spiritual care of prisoners. They must be allowed a Religious official from a prisoner’s faith when requested, especially at executions while said practice is legal.

●        There should be greater instruction for grand jurors in their role in preventing government overreach in the criminal justice context.

●        Texas should consider alternatives to incarceration as punishment for non-violent crimes, with a goal of rehabilitation.

●        Armed police should not be the first and, in some cases, the only response to all emergencies.

●        Municipalities and counties should not cut funding from law enforcement departments unless non-armed officers and positions such as paramedics, mental health workers, and social workers are hired before cuts. 

●        All law enforcement licensing in Texas must include Crisis Intervention training.

●        Texas should have publicly-funded courses in firearm safety and handling for adults eligible to carry firearms.

●        Texas’s Blaine Amendments (Texas Const. Art. 1 S. 7 and Art. 7 S. 5c) should be repealed. They are a relic of a bigoted period in our nation’s past and students and families should have complete choice in where their children learn.

●        With proper precautions against frivolous lawsuits, hospitals/doctors should pay all legal fees relating to malpractice suits.

●        Consular offices of foreign governments known for human rights abuses should be closed and not allowed in Texas.

●        The continued effects of redlining in our major cities must be examined and rectified.

●        The continued privatization of law-enforcement and penal institutions must be halted.

●        County and municipal governments should fund programs that put law enforcement in contact with people of non-white and low socio-economic status to build trust and care for each other.

●        Funding should be increased for the public defender system.

●        Cash bail, court fees, and programs that allow records to be expunged in exchange for paying higher fees should be abolished.

●        Prison labor must be remunerated at the minimum wage for work performed.

●        The production and sale of pornography should be illegal.

●        Penalties for prostitution should primarily affect those who buy sex or arrange for its purchase.

●        Private, for-profit immigration detention centers should be closed with immediate effect.

●        Texas should increase its caps on accepting refugees.

●        Funding for immigration courts should be increased.

 Care for our Natural World

The Texas Solidarity Party believes that:

●        There should be severe restrictions on Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) as a means of oil production.

●        More funds should be allocated to deal with coastal erosion.

●        Food produced and sold in Texas that is organic and uses ethical practices should bear a special label indicating so to encourage local ethical farming and ranching.

●        Laws should be passed to curtail corporate farming in favor of local and family farms.

●        The declawing of cats should be prohibited unless deemed medically necessary.

●        The creation of green-spaces in Texas cities should be given tax credits.

●        The incentivization of chemical-saturated lawns and the forbidding of outdoor clotheslines by neighborhood organizations should be prohibited.

●        Native flora and fauna should be protected by law from overdevelopment and unsustainable practices.

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