Political Party Platforms
OK, you may affiliate with one particular political party, but be honest — are you really aware of where the party stands on all the issues? Or for that matter, where the opposition stands? Check out our handy table below for a list of your political party platforms.
| Issue | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Libertarian Party |
| Social Security | Social security should be privatized (not to be confused with private savings accounts, but rather, private investments). | Social security should remain a government sponsored insurance plan for retirees. | Believe in an “opt out” policy in which one can choose to privately invest (they believe this to be the better option) or go with a government sponsored social security plan. |
| Jobs | Pro small business. Supports giving small businesses tax incentives so that more jobs can be created. | Encourage businesses to keep jobs here and not outsource them overseas. Supports unions and advocates for the rights of low income workers. | Free market should dictate the job market. |
| Economy | Supports free market competition and entrepreneurship, corporate deregulation and cutting entitlement spending. | Increase taxes to cut deficit. Believes large deficit negatively affects government services and that low deficits stimulate the economy. | 100% Free Market. |
| Security/Defense | Believe in a proactive military and defense. Supports building weapons and technology that serve to protect our nation. Believe that peace is achieved through strong defense. Increase defense and research budget. | Believe in a limited missile defense. Oppose nuclear buildup in the U.S. Believe that peace is achieved through worldwide relationship building. | Believe in reducing nuclear arms in the U.S. Military should be used to protect people’s livery and property only. |
| Legal/Tort Reform | Supports tort reform and limiting victims compensation, especially for frivolous lawsuits. | Oppose tort reform and oppose limiting liability of doctors and/or businesses. | Generally does not support tort reform. |
| Tax Reform | Supports tax cuts, low interest rates and the repeal of the death tax penalty in effort to stimulate the economy. | Generally supports raising taxes on the wealthy, lowering taxes for the middle class. | Stridently opposes all government imposed taxes and employer withdrawal of employees money for tax purposes. |
| Immigration | Generally supports closed or tight borders and tracking system for foreign travelers. | Support illegal alien’s ability and right to become citizens and giving them more protections under the law. | Support open borders. |
| Faith | Religion strongly associated with Republican party. Advocate free exercise of religion. | Strict adherence between the separation between church and state. Promote secular issues and a more secular nation. | Strong belief in separation of church and state and by contrast, Libertarians hold a strong belief in freedom of religion. |
| Education | Promote school choice/vouchers and homeschooling. Supports voluntary student supported prayer in school. Opposes gender and race quotes in colleges. | Oppose vouchers. Increase NCLB federal funding. Enact new taxes to decrease class size and hire new teachers. | End government financial support of public schools, believe that all public schools should be privatized with tax credit for tuition. |
| Abortion | Generally pro-life with emphasis on promoting alternatives to abortion. | Generally pro-choice owning the mantra, “Safe, legal, rare.” | Adamantly pro-choice but oppose any government financial aid to subsidize abortions. |
| Energy | Oppose Kyoto treaty. Support tax incentives for energy production. | Wish to find environmentally friendly energy sources and solutions. Oppose increased drilling, especially in the U.S. | Supports deregulation and believes all government energy resources should be turned over to private ownership. Opposes government conservation of energy. |
| Heathcare | Keep healthcare private. Would like to impose caps on malpractice suits. Supports reformed medicare to give seniors more choices. | Supports more federally funded healthcare programs. | Strongly supports a complete separation of healthcare and state. Supports the deregulation of the healthcare industry. |
| Foreign Policy | Spread Democracy. Supports UN reform. Wants to stop WMD proliferation countries. Believe that nations who support terrorist are just as bad as the terrorist themselves. | Strongly supports worldwide coalitions and multi-national programs. Supports aid for disadvantaged countries. Supports the UN. | End all foreign aid because it’s the same as welfare for nations. Believes that aid perpetuates independence on your government. |
| Campaign Finance Reform | Generally support soft money contributions from individuals but supports limiting it from corporations. Also supports full disclosure. | Favor more regulation with spending limits on individuals and corporations. | No restrictions on contributions form any legal resident. Believe that politicians holding an office should not be able to run for another seat until term is over. |
| Environment | Supports privatizing federal land. Believe in cap and trade market based air pollution reductions and that the market should regulate itself. | Generally puts the interest of the environment over business. Wants to maintain federal land under government control. | Believes that land and animals should be sold to private organizations or ranchers and taken out of the hands of the government because private citizens will care for it better. |
| Guns | Limited gun control. | Strict gun control. | No control whatsoever. |
| Gay Rights | Oppose gay marriage. Supports constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. | Generally supports gay marriage although Democrats remain largely divided on the issue, as some only support civil unions. | Pro private choice and equality including marriage. |
Source: Imperfect Parents