I’m of course back from the 2016 Cleveland Republican Convention. It was okay. This week the Democrats are gathering in Philadelphia for their every-four-year get-together. I wasn’t invited.
I may watch some of it on TV, but probably not a lot. Since I focused last week’s blog on the Republican Convention, I initially thought I should focus on the Democrat Convention this week. But you know what? I really couldn’t bring myself to do it. First of all, I wasn’t going to be there. But more importantly, I didn’t want to watch gavel-to-gavel coverage of a bunch of liberals bashing Donald Trump, after they’d criticized Republicans for bashing Hillary the week before.
Okay, here’s what I did do. I read, cover to cover, the 51 pages that constitute the 2016 Democratic Party Platform, and the 59 pages that constitute the 2016 Republican Party Platform. I really did. It wasn’t the most scintillating material I’ve ever read. But all in all, it was worth it (not really.) Somewhat surprisingly, there’s been little or nothing written (or at least published) comparing the two platforms. Now there is. Here goes.
The Republican Platform starts out declaring that “we believe in American exceptionalism.” Whoever wrote the Democratic Platform is apparently unfamiliar with the term, because American exceptionalism is nowhere to be found. I guess that’s not surprising since Barack Obama famously (infamously) said “I believe in American exceptionalism; just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism, and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” Pathetic.
As for rebuilding the economy and creating jobs, the Republican platform states that “we are the party of a growing economy that gives everyone a chance in life, an opportunity to learn, work, and realize the prosperity freedom makes possible. Government cannot create prosperity, though government can limit or destroy it.” (Truer words were never spoken.) The Democratic platform on the other hand, illustrates why that party is the party of free stuff. Free college education. More subsidized housing. More Section 8 vouchers. Expand Social Security by requiring other people to pay more into it. Have the government hire more people, and go deeper into debt. You get the idea.
The Republican platform calls for a “pro-growth, simplified tax code.” One that “eliminates as many special interest provisions and loopholes as possible.” And “curbs corporate welfare.” It further urges “lowering the corporate tax rates to be on par with, or below, the rates of other industrial nations.” The Democrats agree that we have a tax problem in this country too. However, they believe the problem is that people aren’t paying enough in taxes. The Democrat Platform talks about “clawing back tax breaks” and “cracking down” on people and making sure people “pay their fair share,” especially, the “wealthy.” I guess the Bernie Sanders leftists who were given the go-ahead to write this section of the Democrat Platform as part of the deal to ultimately get Bernie’s endorsement of Hillary, aren’t too familiar with a number of facts. For example, that the top 1% of earners in America pay nearly half of all taxes. Or that the top 20% of all Americans pay nearly 85% of all income taxes. Or that nearly half of all American households pay NO federal income taxes. Of course the Democrats’ frame of mind has always been “don’t confuse me with the facts.”
Overregulation is something that has acted like a wet blanket over the recovery of the American economy since Barack Obama became President. There is a stark contrast between the two platforms when it comes to what to do about regulations: the Republican Platform calls for reducing and eliminating regulations – the Democrat Platform calls for more regulations. Particularly striking is what’s said about one specific law. The Republican Platform says clearly “we must overturn the regulatory nightmare created by the Dodd-Frank law.” The Democrat Platform on the other hand states “we will vigorously implement, enforce, and build on President Obama’s landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and we will stop dead in its tracks every Republican effort to weaken it.”
As for 2nd Amendment Rights, the Republican Platform states that Republicans will “uphold the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms,” and “salutes the Republican Congress for defending the right to keep and bear arms by preventing the President from installing a new liberal majority on the Supreme Court.” The Democrat Platform by contrast praises the Brady Bill, calls for expanding background checks, closing “loopholes”, allowing lawsuits against gun manufacturers, banning (so-called) assault weapons, banning certain ammunition magazines, and using the Centers for Disease Control to further the cause of gun restrictions by having guns banned as a public health issue.
And finally, the Republican Platform is clearly Pro-Life, stating “we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.” The Democrat Platform is Pro-Abortion, saying in essence that any woman has the right to have an abortion, for any reason, at any time in the pregnancy, and that YOU should have to pay for it (they call for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment.)
Both party platforms contained a lot more information than I had the time to cover in the few minutes you allow me each week (the platforms are 50 plus pages each after all.) But the issues I’ve covered are the highlights in my estimation. A final point. Even if Donald Trump wasn’t your first choice, or your second, or your third, or your fourth, or …, I would submit that a comparison of the two platforms ought to make the choice between the two candidates pretty easy for any reasonably thoughtful voter. And that choice sure isn’t Hillary Clinton.
p.s. If you’d like to access the 2016 Republican and/or Democratic Party Platforms, here they are for your convenience.
