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 quality education for every child. (the Green Party website:

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.