In preparation of the 2014 midterms, you not only need to be motivated, you of course need to know what you should be motivated about. You really need to know where the parties stand on the key issues facing us today. One thing is for certain, the Republicans are in lock step compliance with their party leaders with no deviation permitted. There is however some variance among Democrats, in some case a lot of variance. What follows is a brief and generalized list of issues and the official view of the parties. So in no particular order:
| Issue | Republican Position | Democratic Position |
| Social Security | Believes it should be privatized allowing Wall Street Investors access to the Trillions in the Trust Fund but placing those dependant on it at the mercy of the Stock Market | Believes it should be enhanced and expanded for those elderly and disabled in need. Believe in raising the FICA cap to extend its solvency further out. |
| Health Care | Believes it should remain completely privatized and available only to those who can afford insurance. Believes in privatizing Medicare and cutting Medicaid to save tax dollars. | Believes it should be available and affordable to all Americans regardless of income or medical condition. Opposes the status quo. Many support expanding Medicare to permit Universal Healthcare for all (single payer) |
| Minimum Wage | Opposes minimum wage increase, some believe in repeal of minimum wage. | Believes in increasing minimum wage to 1968 levels ($15.00/hr) to give workers a living wage so they aren’t so dependent on government assistance. |
| Abortion Rights | Opposes all abortions regardless of circumstances leading up to it or health of the mother. Supports unnecessary and invasive testing as well as psychological pressures to persuade the woman against proceeding with the procedure. Supports government oversight of reproductive procedures. | Supports the woman’s right to choose. Believes abortions should be safe, legal and rare. Decision to be left to the woman and her doctor. |
| Child Care | Opposes head start, public education and prefers school vouchers for private education, opposes funding child healthcare or school lunch program. | Supports proper funding of public education, head start, school lunch program, child healthcare for needy families. |
| Voting Rights | Supports efforts by states to suppress votes by requiring ID’s and removing people from voting rolls without prior notification. Supports local jurisdictions to implement any plan they deem fit regardless of impact on certain voters. Opposes early voting, same day registration, and early registration of those under 18 but will be 18 on election day. | Supports reinstatement of the Voting Rights act and allowing as many people who are citizens to vote free from onerous restrictions and hardships that would make it difficult for some to register or have the proper ID to vote. Supports any procedure that reduces lines at the polls and allows as many people as possible the ability to exercise their rights regardless of race, economic condition, age, or political affiliation. |
| Corporations | Supports corporate personhood, opposes closing corporate tax loopholes, opposes cutting subsidies to big oil companies, and supports deregulation of corporations and banks. | Opposes corporate personhood, supports elimination of corporate tax loopholes and ending billions in subsidies to big oil and corporate farming interests. Supports reasonable regulations of corporations and banks to protect consumers. |
| Guns | Opposes any and all efforts for universal background checks or regulations of assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Opposes any enforcement of federal gun laws, restricting gun ownership to convicted criminals or mentally unstable. Opposes any registration of guns. | Supports universal background check and reasonable gun regulations to protect citizens. Opposes taking guns away from law abiding rational citizens but supports restricting gun access to criminals and mentally ill. |
| Jobs | Opposes any legislation to invest in infrastructure and creation of jobs preferring to give additional tax breaks to the “job creators”. Supports outsourcing jobs overseas and giving tax breaks to corporations that do so. | Supports investing in infrastructure repair of roads, bridges, electric grid, water, sewage systems, etc. Supports funding to help train and place veterans into jobs. Opposes continued tax breaks to corporations that outsource jobs overseas. |
| Education | Opposes expansion of Pell grants and any federal assistance for continued education. | Supports expansion of Pell Grants, direct control of federal student loans to educate Americans in new technologies and jobs. |
| Immigration Reform | Opposes all efforts for comprehensive immigration reform opting only to “secure the border” and deport all those who have illegally entered the country regardless of circumstance or age. | Supports comprehensive immigration reform to include securing the border, dream act, path to citizenship, and bringing undocumented aliens out of the shadows and register and tax/fine them if they intend to remain in the country. |
| Marriage Rights | Opposes same sex marriage. | Supports equal rights for all LGBTs to include marriage. |
| Taxation | Prefers a flat tax for all income levels regardless of the fact it would be regressive and take more of the disposable income from the poorer people and less from the wealthiest. | Supports a continued progressive tax code that taxes the wealthiest commensurate to the share of the national wealth they control without negatively impacting their standard of living. Supports closing tax loopholes that result in them paying little to no federal taxes. |
| Federal Spending | Supports drastic cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Social Programs, Educational programs and grants, Research, Civil Services, Federal Pay, First Responders. Opposes any cuts to military, military contractors, corporate interests with government contracts. | Supports pay as you go for any new programs or military action via taxation or program cuts and also believes in fiscal responsibility without cutting needed services such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Education, Food Stamps, Unemployment insurance, any program that is proven to have a positive return on the investment. Supports cuts in wasteful and unnecessary spending to include defense and military contractors. |
| Iran | Supports increased sanctions up to and including bombing to stop their nuclear development. | Prefer diplomatic options first and negotiations with Iran to avoid possible war. |
| Religion | Support elimination of wall separating church and state. | Supports maintaining religious freedom for all faiths by supporting continued separation of church and state. |
| Partisanship | No agreements, no compromise, our way or the highway. | Compromise to get the best deal for all concerned regardless of ideology. |
| Debt Limit | Supports allowing our credit rating to be downgraded by not increasing the debt limit to pay for programs already authorized by Congress and spent. | Believes in paying our debt as promised and not defaulting on our loans that would not only destroy our economy, but the world’s economy. |
| Government | Opposes a working government | Supports a working government |
This list is by no means complete and is of course generalized to give the basic views of the two parties. It is my intent to publish future posts going into more detail regarding many of the above points. This is just a brief summary.
What this boils down to is that one side wants no government and wants to permit free reign to the privileged few without concern of ordinary people and no consequences to their behavior. The other side prefers a working government to make things equal and fair to all parties involved regardless of age, sex, religion, sexual orientation, political ideology, income or race. In other words, equal rights and a fair, safe and lawful playing field for all Americans.
AZModerate Rants 