- This topic has 4 voices and 5 replies.
-
Posts
-
Whatever your politics, this is interesting. While the Republican platform that is released each election year has remained largely consistent through the years, the Democratic one has gone in a strange direction. Here are some examples:On taxes:
In 1960, Democrats state plainly that they are open to “higher taxes [and] we will not allow political disadvantage to deter us from doing what is required.” Four years later, they call for tax cuts. Then, in 1968, they explain that in some years, reductions are necessary “to stimulate the economy” while at other times, the nation needs “tax increases to restrain inflation.”
On aid to private school students:
In 1972, Democrats endorse federal aid to non-public schools, but in later years, the party’s definition of reform embraces public charter schools while rejecting vouchers for private and particularly parochial schools.
On crime:
The second Clinton platform, in 1996, adopts language about fighting crime that earlier Democrats had rejected as nearly un-American. “Today’s Democratic Party believes the first responsibility of government is law and order,” the ’96 document says. In 1972, the party slammed the Nixon administration for using those same words, “ ‘law and order,’ as justification for repression and political persecution.”
On health care:
The most radical statement of the party’s liberal vision appears in 1972, when the platform proposes to “guarantee a job for all,” greatly expand public employment, immediately withdraw all U.S. troops from Vietnam, abolish the Electoral College, break up corporate monopolies and “establish a system of universal National Health Insurance which covers all Americans . . . federally-financed and federally-administered.”Democrats soon back off that concept, vaguely suggesting in 1992 “a uniquely American reform of the health-care system” and then settling in later years for just making care more affordable.But in 2008, harking back to the party’s earlier, broader sense of government’s role, the idea of “guaranteed affordable, comprehensive health care” returns.
Democratic Party platform: An uneven progression over the years
The Democratic platform apparently changes to whatever they think will get them elected.The next question is who really pays attention to party platforms? I read them but then again, I am a geek and a politics junky. I find it difficult to believe that the average person takes the time to actually read party platforms. If you want some amusement look up and read the Green and Libertarian platforms.
I think that party platforms do not carry any real weight, but instead are symbolically noteworthy. After all, they are a barometer of the where a party is at a particular moment in time.
The Democratic platform apparently changes to whatever they think will get them elected.
Yes, I think that is one conclusion which can be made. Along with that, I think it shows the Democrats' political philosophy isn't based on a coherent set of ideas that are rooted in unchanging truths. Instead, it's a more ephemeral series of ideas. Of course there will be some changes in any platform over the years, but one would expect more consistency in general.
Well it doesn't get any more turbulent than this. This morning, we read that the Democratic platform had omitted references to God and to Jerusalem. Later during the day, this was reversed. If anyone saw the floor vote on this measure, it was anything but unanimous.
Young face put on illegal migration at DNC: Noncitizen takes convention stageI can now no longer see how anybody calling themselves law-abiding can vote Democrat in good conscience. This proves that the Democrats have no respect for law. I especially despise the way they ignore the whole illegal part of illegal immigration instead preferring to call them undocumented.The Democratic Party might as well relabel themselves the Anti-America Party at this point.
