Political Parties Essay, Research Paper

As I quickly near the legal voting age, I find myself faced with a big decision

; should I register as a democrat, as my forefathers before me have or , check

into some of these other political parties. -After much consideration, I decided

to see what all the commotion was about. What a surprise it was to me to see

that there were parties other that Democrats, Republicans and Liberals.

Political parties server some useful purposes in the U.S. political system.

They are , in fact , handy vehicles for accomplishing one essential purpose of

politics….winning elections (1)

In the upcoming pages, I have given at least a brief description of the Political

Parties I have found. The ones that interested me the most I researched more

in depth.

Until I began researching this paper, I really never dreamed there was this

many political parties…..I had only heard of Democrats and Republicans. Boy

was I in for a surprise .

1. American Reform Party – free-standing, national group that formally split

from Ross Perot and his Dallas-based Reform Party.; On October 3 to 5,

1997, an historic convention of state Reform Pprinciples of reform espoused

by Ross Perot, the new party has formally split from Mr. Perot and his

Dallas-based Reform Party. arty officials was held in Schaumburg, IL. The

American Reform Party (ARP) was established as a democratic, self-

governing, and free-standing national party.

(2)http://dir.yahoo.com/Government/U_S__Government/Politics/Parties/

2. Communist Party U.S.A. ; Marxist-Leninist working-class party that

unites Black, Brown and white, men and women, youth and seniors.

For some reason, I could not even be attentive to this info. I guess it is a

predjudice instilled in me since a child

3. Confederate Party of America – Now this caught my eye. I am a

member of the Confederate Sons of America (ggrandfather and ggrandfather

were Confederate Soldiers)so I thought this one would really be worth

looking into, but as it turnd out, I do not believe a lot of common sense is

used here. The Confederate Party believes in abolishing the IRS and

establishing a National Sales Tax (NST) and is supposed to be a party of

common sense. The Confederate Party believes in a government that our

founding fathers designed — a government that serves us — the people. The

citizens of the United States are not servants to the government. Americans

should not be enslaved nor dependent upon a government that consistently

violated the Constitution of the United States of America. Election after

election has given us Republican and Democratic administrations that are

incapable of managing the nation’s affairs competently, justly, or lawfully.

The Confederate Party supports State’s Rights and ensuring the unalienable

right of every American to Life, Liberty, Property, and the Pursuit of

Happiness by defending the Constitution of the United States of America. We

believe in abolishing the IRS and establishing a National Sales Tax

4. Constitutionalist Party – new political party dedicated to the

advancement of human liberty and adherence to the U.S. Constitution.

?Creator’s Rights Party

5. Democratic Party ?Democratic Socialists of America ,

Democratic Party stands not only for working people, but for bringing people who are

poor and disenfranchised into the system to make us all a part of a better society.

Democrats often refer to themselves as the Part of Hope, and refer to their counterpart,

The Republicans, as The Party of Memory. Democrats believe in moving on. As Senator

Ted Kennedy once said, “…the fundamental appeal of the Democratic Party has always

been grounded in the principles of fairness,opportunity , equal justice for ail and a firm

belief that the mission of government is not to stand on the sidelines,but to be active in

pursuing these goals for the people.” (4)

Our family has been democrats for generations but when I ask my dad for a

definition of a democrat. His reply was simply , ” Hes a damn good man”.

You don’t even want to know his definition of a republican.

6. Green Party This Party’s first priority is said to be value-based politics, in

contrast to a system extolling exploitation, consumption, and non-sustainable

competition.They believe in an alternative, independent politics and active,

responsible government. They believe in empowering citizens and

communities and offer hope and a call to action.

7. Labor Party , A dream it is, sounds good but would never work

Goals:

1. Amend the Constitution to Guarantee Everyone a Job at a Living Wage

2. Pay Laid-off Workers Two Months Severance for Every Year of Service

3. Restore Workers Rights to Organize, Bargain and Strike

4. End Bigotry: An Injury to One Is an Injury to All

5. Guarantee Universal Access to Quality Health Care

6. More Time for Family and Community

A 32-Hour, 4-day Work Week , Double-time Minimum for All Overtime,

An Hour Off with Pay for Every two Hours of Overtime, 20 Mandatory

Paid Vacation Days for All , One Year Paid Leave for Every Seven

Years of Work

7. Protect Our Families ?Paid Family Leave, Flexible Working Schedules,

?Affordable Child and Elder Care for All, Mandatory Minimum Pensions for

All, ?Guaranteed Adequate Annual Income for All

8. Ensure Everyone Access to Quality Public Education

9. Stop Corporate Abuse of Trade

10. End Corporate Welfare as We Know It

11. Make the Wealthy Pay their Fair Share of Taxes

12. Revitalize the Public Sector

13. End Corporate Domination of Elections

14. Build A Just Transition Movement to Protect Jobs and the Environment

15. Enforce Safety & Health Regulation with Worker Inspectors

16. Reclaiming the Workplace: Job Design, Technology and Skill

I think the Labor Party would be ideal for me. Seems to me that they simply

want more money for less work. I would love this , but realistically , no

company could afford to meet their demands, and if they did, their services to

consumers would be outrageous. Sounds good on paper though

8. Libertarian Party

NO MORE INCOME TAX, STOP INTERNET CENSORSHIP, PRO-

CHOICE ON EVERYTHING, END THE WAR ON DRUGS, The

Libertarian Party is America’s third largest and fastest growing political party.

Libertarians engage in a variety of projects, working for everyone’s liberty on

every issue.

The Libertarian Party was created in December of 1971 by people who

realized that the politicians had strayed from America’s original libertarian

foundation, with disastrous results. Their vision was the same as that of

America’s founders — a world where individuals are free to follow their own

dreams in their own ways, a world of peace, harmony, opportunity, and

abundance.

Libertarians are practical; we know we can’t make the world perfect. But, it

can be better. Libertarians will keep working to create a better, freer society

for everyone. As William Allen White said: “Liberty is the only thing you

cannot have unless you are willing to give it to others.”

Libertarians believe in the American heritage of liberty, enterprise, and

personal responsibility.

Libertarians recognize the responsibility we all share to preserve this precious

heritage for our children and grandchildren. : Libertarians believe that being

free and independent is a great way to live. We want a system which

encourages all people to choose what they want from life; that lets them live,

love, work, play, and dream their own way. :

The Libertarian way is a caring, people-centered approach to politics. We

believe each individual is unique. We want a system which respects the

individual and encourages us to discover the best within ourselves and

develop our full potential. :

The Libertarian way is a logically consistent approach to politics based on the

moral principle of self-ownership. Each individual has the right to control his

or her own body, action, speech, and property. Government’s only role is to

help individuals defend themselves from force and fraud. ;

The Libertarian Party is for all who don’t want to push other people around

and don’t want to be pushed around themselves. Live and let live is the

Libertarian way.

The Liberterian Party, now that is exactly what it would be….. a party. I

would nearly guess that this party was established during the 60’s era. Sounds

like a no restrictions/ no moral kind of government to me. Sounds like fun,

but what happens when the partys over?

9. National Patriot Party – affiliates in 26 states, including several with

ballot status. Its focus is on democratic political restructuring and fiscal

reform. . The Patriot Party, founded in April 1994, was, in essence, an

experiment. Pro-third partyists who had become politically active through the

Perot ‘92 campaign and independents based among what have been

traditionally Democratic Party and liberal constituencies — African

Americans, Hispanics, gays and progressives — came together in hopes of

creating a new party. Claiming to have set out to create something unique and

specifically suited to this moment in American political life — a moment in

which the vast majority of Americans, from different walks of life, are deeply

alienated from and distrustful of our government and its two party rule. Ross

Perot’s 1992 campaign had thoroughly exposed this and the Patriot Party

wanted to create a political instrument that was responsive. The Patriot Party

is not a party based on any ideology — not conservative, not moderate, not

liberal– but has a vision of including all Americans, regardless of ideology, in

a new kind of party oriented toward political and fiscal reform and

government accountability.

10. New Party The New Party is a progressive political organization taking

root around the U.S. By starting small and thinking long-term, They are

building a multi-racial, lively and creative political organization that can, over

time, break the stranglehold that corporate money and corporate media have

over our political process.

For the last five years they have focused on local elections, and have won

more than 200of our first 300 races. This fall, for example,they won 7 of 7

races in Little Rock – electing New Party members tothe City Board, County

Board, and State Legislature.They now have 4 members on the 10-person

City Board, andare launching amajor campaign toend urban sprawl and invest

in poor neighborhoods.

And in Montgomery County, MD, they helped elect the former director of

Common Cause to the County Council, unseating a15-year incumbent

conservative.They now have 4 members on the 9-person council and are

fighting to win an ambitious Living Wage and Responsible Development

ordinance.

Attempting to do the same thing in other cities across the country – from

Chicago to Missoula, Long Island to Minneapolis. Hoping to demonstrate

that by building strong coalitions, recruiting a real membership base, and

focusing on the issues people care about, progressives can win and govern

effectively.

11.Pansexual Peace Party – Platform and propaganda of this radical grass-

roots party. The Pansexual Peace Party (PPP) is a grass-roots political party

based in the United States of America. The principal premise of the PPP is

that peace is possible. The primary purpose of the PPP pages is to promote

positive political progress and the partnership paradigm through prurient

propaganda. The specifics of public policy which the PPP advocates are

complex, and are outlined below. The basic underlying ethic is maximization

of peace, freedom, creative expression, and the glorification of human

sexuality. This of course entails the minimization of violence, authority,

indoctrination, and sexual repression. The motto of the PPP is the Wiccan

Rede, and the PPP aligns itself with all political and social organizations

which are working to reduce the harm that human beings inflict on one

another as well as on the rest of the earth. The political philosophy of the PPP

is rooted in many diverse philosophical and spiritual traditions.

The PANSEXUAL PEACE PARTY in no way advocates the overthrow of

any existing government. We condemn all acts of violence, including but not

limited to sabotage, assault, theft, bombing, assassination, and torture.

Mankind without a common authority , is predatory. Society released , as

occasionally happens, from the respect and dread of government promptly

exhibits the most violent and terrible tendencies. (3)

It is my opinion that this is a unrealistic point of view, If you take away

athority , you are asking for violence

12. Puritan Party – aims to revive the nation as a theocracy.

While I am a God Fearing young man, I have no desire to head back into the

days in which one could be put to death for fornication.

13. Republican Party At the time of its founding, the Republican Party was

organized as an answer to the divided politics, political turmoil, arguments and internal

division, particularly over slavery, that plagued the many existing

political parties in the United States in 1854. Abolishing slavery. Free speech. Women’s

suffrage. were the early goals of the republican Party, Reducing the government.

Streamlining the bureaucracy. Returning power to the states is the platform that they now

represent

On July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Mich., the Republican Party formally

organized itself by holding its first convention, adopting a platform and

nominating a full slate of candidates for state offices. Other states soon

followed, and the first Republican candidate for president, John C.

Fr?mont, ran in 1856 with the slogan “Free soil, free labor, free

speech, free men, Fr?mont.”

With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the Republicans firmly

established themselves as a major party capable of holding onto the

White House for 60 of the next 100 years.

Very little interest did I get in this area

14. United States Independent American Party – united by a common

Religious Right ideology.

A bit more liberal than the Puritan Party but still seems to pick out certain

religious ideas and try steadfastly to promote them while litterally ignoring

others

15. Workers Party USA – working-class party that fights against capitalism.

I never could understand exactly what this meant. It seems that this party

seems to promote the idea that workers and their superiors should share the

same priviledges and pay. Could end up with”Too many chiefs and not

enough indians”

I hope by my research I have enlighened you , the reader , on some of the

many choices facing you. To sum it all up I must say, While the party one

affiliates onself with can tell you a lot about a man, get to know the

individuals goals , hopes and dreams.

More important than anything, be sure and vote ! Many issues have been

decided by a one vote margin, so never think your vote does not count !

Good Luck on deciphering all the political jargon out there and remember if

not satisfied with your decision , you can always change parties.

As long as there are persons with different ideas and dreams there will be

differant politacal parties forming. We have the right to do that . That is a

guaranteed right we inherited though The Constitution of The United States of

America. It truly is great to be an American.

(1)Anonymous. “The Volume Library”, Copyright, The Southwestern Company 1992

(2)Anonymous.

“http://www.dir.yahoo.com/Government/U_S_Government/Politics/Parties/”

(3) The Lincoln Library of Essential Information, The Frontier Press Company , Buffalo

New York, First Edition, 1924, Twentfifth Edition, 1961, Library of Congress

Catalog Number 24-14708

(4)http://www.kydemocrat.com/faqs.htm