It's that wonderful time of year again.It's that time of the year where the green leaves of summer are beginning to turn to the vibrant colors of fall.It's that time of the year where kids begin to fill their days fantasizing about cider, pumpkins,costumes and, of course, politics. It's a time when you can't watch television without seeing two grown men devise critical gossip about one-another.It's that time where you and people who are normally your friends, get caught up debating about what our country's next step should be in our never ending quest to develop the Utopian society. Its time to separate our nation into blue and red states. Yes, its time to elect the next President of the United States.
Before I start I would just like to say that this is not an article for the optimistic mind. I would also like to say that this blog has been very difficult for me to write. Probably because there are so few things addressed in the platforms about which I have strong opinions. However, I'm going to try and write about something so here it goes.
America's future in space: continuing the quest.
I agree with the Republican's stance that "we must preserve our preeminence in space" and launch "more science missions". I believe that we need to explore the unknown more because it is unknown, and because it could serve beneficial to us now and in the future. Even though they were very vague about what they were going to do to promote NASA, I was still pleased to see a mentioning of promoting it.
Strong Business and Entrepreneurship.
In this part of the Republican platform they talk about American businesses being "the backbone of the U.S. economy." This is something I strongly agree with because I believe that small businesses are important as a source of jobs, and local economies. The Republican platform claims that they will "serve as aggressive advocates for small businesses." The Republicans claim that they will "reform the tax code" to help small businesses thrive. I don't understand why they didn't just say they would cut taxes for small businesses, like the Democrats did, but I assume that's what they mean.
Preserving and Protecting Traditional Marriage
This is probably the issue about which I feel strongest and I strongly disagree with the Republican's stance on gay marriage. I cannot understand why gay marriage is not yet allowed under federal law. The Republican platform says"the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for ,encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage." Then they immediately state that they "embrace the principle that all Americans should be treated with respect and dignity." So what their saying is that they will respect homosexual people but, they won't give them the basic human right to marry whom they choose. These people are humans and they deserve their rights just as much as anyone else. This homophobic obsession with "preserving the traditional family" is a disgrace and flies in the face of American beliefs.
"Liberty and Justice for All."
Lobbying Reform and Campaign Finance Reform
I strongly support lobbying reform because it would decrease the influences of big businesses in politics. I don't like the idea that lobbyists can give large sums of money to political campaigns because then when the candidate is in office the lobbyists can influence the judgement of elected representatives. The Democratic platform states that "President Obama and the Democratic Party do not accept contributions from federal lobbyists this cycle." I was very pleased when I read this.
Protecting Rights and Freedoms
This part of the Democratic platform addresses a wide scale of issues so I'm only going to talk about a few. One part is the "Freedom to Marry" section. As you already know I strongly believe that same sex couples should have equal rights. The Democratic platform clearly does support equal rights for same sex couples, so obviously this is something I agree with. This section of the platform also addresses equality for women, they especially support the "Paycheck Fairness Act'. I strongly agree with the Democrats stance on this issue. Personally, I found it embarrassing that this still is an issue.
Before I finish I would just like to say that I discounted all "facts" presented in the platforms because anyone can find any supposed "fact" to support their cause. That is one reason why the political platforms mean very little. The political platforms are written to persuade voters. The candidates do not have to do any of the things written about in the platforms if they are elected President. Even if they did try they wouldn't be able to change anything. Too many people in this country have become too extreme to one side. People need to realize that the Presidential election isn't as big of a deal as it is made out to be.The President can't just say something and have it automatically be done, that's not how our government works.It doesn't really matter who gets elected because they're are 535 other people in congress that play a substantial part in getting anything done and the reason nothing gets done is because all the members are so partisan. People need be more willing to compromise with each other - that's what the government is supposed to do. You can't just get your way, this isn't a dictatorship. The only way any of these problems are going to be fixed is if people realize that were all Americans, not just Democrats and Republicans. If we can't come together as one nation we are going to fail. Unfortunately, I don't see us coming together anytime in the near future.
