Republican National Convention LIVE: Following the RNC and Top Speakers in the Convention

Before the RNC convention starts, we have to look at the Republican Party’s platform. This official representation of the GOP’s views on the most important election issues is a good way to familiarize yourself with the party before all the bigshots get up during the convention and attempt to sway voters.

First, I’d like to take a look at a plank of the platform that hasn’t gotten much attention: energy, environment, and agriculture.

Although foreign affairs, reproductive health, and the economy have all gotten plenty of attention in the media over the past two weeks, energy and the environment has remained largely untouched. This shift in focus is a sharp departure from the weeks leading up to the debate on the 2012 Farm Bill.

During July, the media exhaustively analyzed every move the Senate made, speculating about which amendments would be included and how the votes would fall. The Farm Bill eventually passed in a 64-35 vote under the supervision of Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). The bill now awaits the house’s consideration during the lame duck session after the election.

The Republican Party’s platform in 2008 focused on aggressively promoting fair trade in order to help agrarian communities- incidentally a strong GOP voter base in most states. The platform suggested that farmers should act as environmental stewards, in lieu of any environmental regulations handed down by the government. 

There is little confirmed information about this year’s platform with regard to agriculture, but a look at gopplatform2012.com yields the following ideas, sourced from anonymous contributors.

“Ending ag subsidies,” “Shut down the Dept. of Agriculture,” “Reign in the food stamp program,” “Leaders in the FDA need to be replaced,” and simply “Cut, cut, cut”. Stay tuned throughout the convention to see how this plank, as well as all others are rolled out by GOP leadership and check back at policymic.org to see our analysis!

PolicyMic will be covering the RNC LIVE. Bookmark and update this page for the most recent analysis.

UPDATE: As I'm sure people have hear, the convention start date has been moved back by a day. Look here throughout the next three days for updates about ag as well as the other planks of the party platform.