Salt Lake County Republican Party Platform (last revised April 13, 2019)
PREAMBLE
We, the Republican Party of Salt Lake County, affirm our belief in God and declare our support for
government based upon a moral and spiritual foundation. We affirm freedom for every individual as
expressed in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Constitution. We believe that
citizens' needs are best met through free enterprise, private initiative, and volunteerism. We support
the “Rule of Law” and believe in upholding the law of the land.
THE PROPER ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
We believe government properly exists by the consent of the governed and must be restrained from
intruding into the freedoms of its citizens. The function of government is not to grant rights, but to
protect the unalienable, God-given rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
PRIVATE PROPERTY
We recognize the rights of the individual to own property. We resist any effort by government to take
private property without an overwhelming need for public use. We strongly oppose the forfeiture of
private property from innocent owners.
RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES
We oppose congressional, judicial, and executive abrogation of the principle that the powers not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the
States respectively, or to the people. We oppose unreasonable and intrusive federal mandates.
Municipal, county, state and federal governments each have rights and duties that should not be
infringed upon or usurped by other government entities.
ETHICS AND STANDARDS
We demand honesty, integrity, morality, and accountability of our public officials. We will work to
expose and stop corruption.
NATIONAL SECURITY AND PUBLIC PROTECTION
We support a military force of sufficient strength and readiness including a robust nuclear deterrent to
deter any threat to our national sovereignty or to the safety and freedom of our citizens. We strongly
support and honor the selfless service and sacrifices of Utah’s military service members and veterans
along with their families. We also strongly support legislation at the state and national levels to protect
our electrical power grid against Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attack. We oppose placement of United
States troops under any foreign command, including the United Nations. We support the Constitutional
mandate to protect and secure our national borders. We support lawful efforts of local law enforcement
agencies to protect citizens in their homes and in their communities. We urge reform of the legal system
to accomplish a swift and balanced administration of justice, including consideration of rights of the
victim. We support capital punishment when appropriate.
SELF-DEFENSE
We support the individual constitutionally-protected right of the people to keep and bear arms for
security and defense of self, family, others, property, or the state, as well as for other lawful purposes.
We encourage personal responsibility for the care and use of these firearms.
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
We claim freedom of religion for every citizen and expect the protection of government in securing to us
this unalienable right. We affirm the right to religious expression, including prayer, in both private and
public.
FAMILY VALUES
We recognize the traditional family as the fundamental unit of society. We agree with the Utah State
Constitution, Article 1, Section 29, where it affirms that “Marriage consists only of the legal union
between a man and a woman.” We affirm that parents have the fundamental right and primary
responsibility to direct the upbringing of their children and to provide nurturing care, discipline and
training in moral values. We oppose any efforts that seek to undermine a strong family unit, as we
believe the American family is the foundation of a civil society. We support current Utah law which
requires that sex education in the classroom stress abstinence before marriage and fidelity after
marriage. We believe pornography is a public health crisis and support efforts by our state and national
leaders to oppose it.
RIGHT TO LIFE
We believe in the right to life for both the born and unborn. We strongly oppose abortion, except to
preserve the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest. We believe the unborn child has a
fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We believe all human life is sacred regardless of age
or infirmity, and therefore we oppose abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and the public funding of
any of these abhorrent practices.
HUMAN SERVICES
We believe that the primary responsibility for meeting basic human needs rests with the individual, the
family, and the voluntary charitable organizations. We recognize, however, that there are special social
needs which must be addressed through county human service programs. We support requiring welfare
recipients to work towards self-sufficiency.
HERITAGE AND IMMIGRATION
We recognize the contributions made to our quality of life through ethnic diversity. We support the rule
of law and legal immigration to the United States. We believe that control of our borders is an urgent
national security interest. We encourage a civil discourse as we address the future of immigration.
EQUAL RIGHTS
We believe that no individual is entitled to rights that exceed or supersede the God-given individual
rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Utah.
EDUCATION
We believe that all children should have access to quality education. Parents have the primary right and
responsibility to educate their children, and we support their right to choose public, private, or home
education. We support incentives to promote competitive excellence. We encourage cooperative
initiatives to help all Utahans become literate in English. We support the prudent and profitable use of
school trust lands. We support all interest and dividends from the permanent State School Fund being
distributed to each public and charter school to improve student academic performance.
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND TAXATION
We are committed to fiscal responsibility and oppose any legislation which does not promote a balanced
budget. We believe that deficit spending on the state and national level is unethical and we support
cutting wasteful programs wherever possible. We accept the necessity for limited taxation in order for
government to perform and administer those services which meet essential public needs. However, we
recognize that the power to tax is also the power to control, and believe that the best way to control
government is to strictly limit the amount of taxes imposed on the people. We encourage further
simplification of tax systems, the elimination of the estate tax, and broad-based rate reduction where
possible.
REGULATION
We recognize that government regulation can be a major impediment to productivity and to
competition. We must rely more on market forces and less on government. Regulatory power now
exercised by the federal government must be eliminated or returned to state and local governments.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
We believe that a strong, diversified economy based on a positive work ethic, a well trained and well
educated work force, a business-friendly environment, and safe work place will help Utah compete in a
global marketplace. We believe deregulation and privatization promote a healthy economy and that
government should not influence or compete in private markets. We are in servitude to the state when
the state usurps the power to determine the value of our labor or our property. We believe that
developing our human resources is essential to the future of Utah. We believe that America’s free
enterprise system is the best economic system ever devised to ensure equal opportunity and increased
prosperity for all of our citizens. We support efforts by our elected national leaders to put our country
first, eliminate our massive trade deficit and support free and fair trade. We oppose federal subsidies
and bailouts to large corporations and small businesses. We support the Utah Right to Work Law.
THE ENVIRONMENT
We appreciate the quality of our environment. Our air, water, and land are at the heart of our existence
and must be protected through balanced management. We support reasonable laws and volunteer
efforts to improve air and water quality. We continue to seek responsible solutions to controversies
surrounding uses of our wilderness. We seek to preserve the environment while serving the best
interests of our Salt Lake County citizens. We oppose as unconstitutional the declaration by any
President without approval from Congress of any large tract of land as a national monument. We call on
the Governor of the State of Utah to use the Constitutional Defense Fund and other resources at his
disposal to bring any such declaration affecting Utah before the United States Supreme Court for
reversal.
The Salt Lake County Party Platform is read at all Caucus Meetings. It will be read at the meeting next Tuesday March 8, 2022. The Salt Lake County Republican Party takes this platform seriously. Recently, an elected member of the State Central Committee from Salt Lake County was censured due to her participation in the Salt Lake Tribune Editorial opinion that the Utah National Guard should be called upon to enforce vaccine mandates. See https://slcogop.com/ for more information.
