The GOP's nominating process was already shaping up to be a fiery one -- but in Cleveland, there are plenty of fireworks to go around. While Ted Cruz and Donald Trump duke it out, delegates will be brokering something else at the Republican convention: the GOP platform. The challenge to core principles gets fiercer by the year, thanks to a well-funded effort to strip the party's guiding document of its most fundamental principles.
That's not going to be any easier in July, when a wealthy backer of Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is gearing up for the biggest platform ambush yet. For years, there's been a behind-the-scenes push to weaken the language on life -- and now, in the first convention since the Supreme Court's radical redefinition of marriage, the social liberals are more determined than ever to change the platform on both fundamental values. In 2012, before even President Obama had "evolved," FRC did more than hold the line on the party's language on marriage and religious liberty -- we strengthened it. That will be a major challenge again this July, when billionaire Paul Singer and friends come to undermine the position of a majority of GOP voters. Singer, who's donated millions to pro-gay marriage groups, is helping to bankroll the American Unity Fund, whose sole purpose is setting fire to the Republican marriage plank.
Fortunately, as one of Louisiana's two representatives on the platform committee, I'll be there to help counter the politically correct forces like AUF, who argue that watering down the GOP's position on marriage "is necessary if the party is to remain viable in the years to come." Obviously, the group is mistaking the opinion of five unelected justices for the majority of states'. The Republican Party is viable because of its values -- not in spite of them. By Reuters' own admission, two thirds of GOP voters think the Supreme Court's redefinition of marriage was wrong. Not many people will have the stomach to change the language when conservatives are solidly behind it. Still, a spokeswoman insists her organization is "very pro-family" (despite the organization's push to destabilize the very family it supposedly supports).
In the meantime, FRC and our allies are taking the threat very seriously and will be in Cleveland prepared to bolster the GOP's stand on these key issues. Marriage isn't just fundamental to the Republican Party but to all of society. To abandon it now would mean undermining every GOP priority -- from stronger economies to individual freedom. Surely, the GOP has better things to do at this year's convention than drive a deeper wedge into an already fractured party.
