About the
Hawai'i Republican Party

As the party of Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony and Joseph Kuhio Kalanianaole, Hawai'i's Republicans are committed to the belief that all people were created equal with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Hawai'i's Republicans seek to unite people around a set of commonly held ideals and not divide them according to their differences. Hawai'i's Republicans believe that the ultimate expression of diversity is respect for each persons' right to be treated as an individual.

Hawai'i's Republicans believe that the basic building block of America is the family, and that economic success and well-being for Hawai'i's families is best achieved through:
1) a free enterprise system that creates opportunity for families to prosper,
2) an education system that gives the citizens the skills and knowledge they need to compete successfully anywhere in the world, and
3) a system of criminal and civil justice that vigorously protects families while it insures swift justice for criminals.

Hawai'i's Republicans believe that government responsibility and authority should reside as close to its citizens as possible. This belief respects the right of Hawai'i's communities to have more local control over significant government actions. We demand an end to the stifling amount of government control over Hawai'i's economy and the unnecessary amount of government interference in the lives of Hawai'i's citizens. We will end this by seeking to restrict the role of government to those activities that are beyond the ability of the private sector operating in free, open and law-abiding markets.

The goal of Hawai'i's Republicans is to create a vibrant multi party system of moral, ethical and law-abiding leaders who restore integrity to government and unleash the powerful reforming influence of checks and balances that America's founders worked so hard to establish. Doing so will create an open, honest form of government free of cronyism and favoritism where every citizen can expect equal opportunity and respect and have their faith in government restored.

E Komo Mai!

About the GOP

The Republican Party was born in the early 1850's by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge. In 1860, the Republicans successfully elected their nominee to the Presidency, Abraham Lincoln.

During his Presidency, the United States was wracked by Civil War. During that war, and against the advice of his cabinet, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. The Republicans of their day worked to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery, the Fourteenth, which guaranteed equal protection under the laws, and the Fifteenth, which helped secure voting rights for African-Americans. That historic relationship is why the first African-American Congressmen were Republicans.

In 1896, Republicans were the first major party to argue for securing women the right to vote. When the 19th Amendment was finally added to the Constitution, 26 of 36 state legislatures that had voted to ratify it were under Republican control. The first woman elected to Congress was a Republican, Jeanette Rankin from Montana, in 1917.

Presidents during most of the late nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century were Republicans. While the Democrats and Franklin Roosevelt tended to dominate American politics in the 1930's and 40's, for twenty-eight of the forty-four years from 1952 through 2004, the White House has been in Republican hands - under Presidents like Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush. Under Reagan and Bush Sr., the United States became the world's only superpower, winning the Cold War from the old Soviet Union and releasing millions from Communist oppression.

After the attacks on our country and an inherited recession, President George W. Bush continues to build a safer, stronger, and better America.