Party Platforms Essay, Research Paper
Party Platforms/Policy Areas
With the voting date for the 2000 elections approaching, Americans are being
bombarded with the policy platforms of the candidates. The two front runners and their
lesser known rivals use every medium available to spread their ideas on major issues. It is
because of their use of the media that voters are able to compare and contrast policy
views of multiple parties. Using two important policy areas (for the purposes of this
essay, we will continue to use public education and social security) we will discuss and
analyze the views of the two major parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, and a
smaller party, the green party.
Public education is a headlining topic during elections. The current public
education system has allowed the United States to have one of the highest standards of
living in the world, but could use some improving. The republicans believe that by
providing public school students with private school vouchers, every child will have
access to a high quality, indeed, a world-class education. (the Republican National
Convention website: www.rnc.org)
The democrats believe that the republican idea of private school vouchers would
offer too few dollars to too few children to escape their failing schools. The feel that
vouchers would be pulling bucks out of the schools that need them most. Instead of
vouchers, the democrats want to invest more in Americas crumbling schools, even if that
means providing less tax cuts for American citizens. (the Democratic Committee
website: www.democrats.org)
The green party also is against vouchers, but believes in Equalize School Funding
with Federal Revenue Sharing: Federal financing of all public education (instead of by
regressive local property taxes) so that every school has the resources it needs to provide
the highest quali
www.greenparty.org)
Social Security is another publicized issue. While all 3 parties have expressed
interest to save social security, the way they will go about doing it varies. The republican
party platform says that they will continue to stop the annual raids on the Social Security
trust funds by balancing the federal budget without that program s surplus.(the
Republican National Convention website: www.rnc.org)
The democratic platform states that to build on the success of Social Security, Al
Gore has proposed the creation of Retirement Savings Plus – voluntary, tax-free,
personally-controlled, privately-managed savings accounts with a government match that
would help couples build a nest egg of up to $400,000. Also, separate from Social
Security, Retirement Savings Plus accounts would let Americans save and invest on top
of the foundation of Social Security’s guaranteed benefit. Under this plan, the federal
government would match individual contributions with tax credits, with the
hardest-pressed working families getting the most assistance.(the Democratic Committee
website: www.democrats.org)
On the issue of Social security, the green party platform does not go into much
detail stating: The actuarial protection of social security is essential to the well-being of
our seniors, and the maintenance of the system s integrity is an essential part of a healthy
community.(the Green Party website: www.greenparty.org) While they do not offer their
plan for improvement, it is clear that they do not plan on letting the program die out.
While the basic, raw ideas of improving education and saving social security are
shared by the 3 parties, their plan of execution varies. It is impossible to determine which
would work best, one can only compare and contrast the platforms and make a decision
for themselves.