1. Republican Party (Grand Old Party)
By: Peyton Bernard, Ana Konal, Morgan LaForest, and Natalie Rice

2. Historical Background
March 20, 1854 first Republican Party meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin. It emerged in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. They opposed the spread of slavery at the time. They replaced the Whig Party. They gained support in the North then Abraham Lincoln was elected the first Republican President in Post civil war, Republican dominated Congress forced the “Radical Reconstruction” on the South which included the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. Republicans dominated Presidency until the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.

3. Abortion
Believe in pro-life: any unborn child has the right to a life that should not be infringed upon by others
Oppose health care that has the option of the coverage of abortion; try to defund abortion
Support tax incentive that support adoption
Believe the 14th Amendment of citizenship applies to unborn children
Current Republican Party platform contains no exceptions for rape, incest, birth defect, or risks to the mother’s health (these issues are controversial even within the party)
Promote adoption and abstinence

4. Immigration
Believes a system needs to be in place to make certain illegal immigrants do not receive the same rights as legal citizens
Supports the SAVE program
SAVE program (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) is an online system that provides a fast, secure and efficient verification service for federal, state and local benefit-granting agencies to verify a benefit applicant’s immigration status or naturalized/derived citizenship.
Desire strict penalties for illegal immigrants
Does not support amnesty because it encourages law breaking
Strengthen Border Patrol

5. Guns
The republican party has been open with their views on gun control
The republican party fully supports the second amendment and thinks citizens should have the right to bear arms
They claim that they support the right to bear arms, but only because they do not want to take away a right that this country was built upon
They do not feel like every citizen should own a weapon, but regulations should be up to the states
They believe that taking away guns would be very unconstitutional

6. Education Want to limit federal government in education
Get rid of federal loans; replace with private loans
Support home school and school of choice
Believes in abstinence education in place of “family planning” classes to help prevent pregnancies and STDs
Want a higher education for qualified students
Rejects excessive testing
Should be equal opportunity for all students, regardless of parent’s income

7. Taxes
Support tax cuts
Believe taxes should be balanced between all incomes
They wish to increase the child tax credit ; a credit that reduces your federal income tax per child
Want to get rid of marriage penalty
Want a full repeal of the death tax
Believe tax reductions and lower interest with result in homeownership (They believe affordable housing is the national interest.)
In 2001, Republicans supported the Bush tax cuts.

8. Health Care
The republican party believes in health care that is cheaper and easier for the people to purchase.
Republicans believe in the people manage the costs of their own health care.
In 2012 the republican party spoke out against the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare. The party believes the democratic party used it as a way to have more power. Also, they stated that the act is a financial burden on the people paying for it.
According to the republican party, the Affordable Care Act damaged the health of the nation as a whole.
Not one republican signed the final version of this act that Obama signed and passed.

9. High Ranking Officials
The current governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, is a republican.
Cabinet members include major roles in our United States government and congress.
John Kerry, secretary of state, Jack Lew, secretary of treasury, Loretta Lynch, attorney general are all democratic.
Currently, congress and the office are taken over by the democratic party due to President Obama being a part of the democratic party himself. However, Donald Trump is running as a Republican for this election and his popularity votes seem pretty high thus far.

10. Donald Trump
Trump is the Republican representative for the 2016 election.
Mr. Trump does not have any previous experience in any type of political office, but Donald has remained involved in politics by donating large amounts of money to both the democrats and republicans.
Most recently, between Trump donated $8,500 to democrats and $630,150 to the republican party.
Donald makes all of his views for clear. Mr. Trump is pro life. He explains he does not support abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, and the risk of death for the mother.
When it comes to immigration or foreign policy, Trump is mainly focused on making America safe again. Trump plans to end the nuclear deal with Iran and the ransom payments to the number one terrorist state. He wants America to stand with its allies and stop apologizing to the enemies.
For gun control, Trump will leave the second amendment but buckle down on safety. He plans to get harder on prosecuting violent crimes, clear the gang members and drug dealers from the streets, and expand mental health programs.

11. Mike Pence Mike Pence is the Republican Vice President
He is the governor of Indiana
Since Pence took office, he achieved the largest tax cut in Indiana history
Before he was the governor of Indiana, Pence represented Indiana’s sixth congressional district in congress
Pence is a strong supporter of military
Pence is pro-life and was very open on his views
Pence claimed to be against the legalization of marijuana but would be open into learning more about it