Republican, Democrat, Libertarian beliefs - an FYI

Hey all, I took some time to compile some of the mainstream beliefs of the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties since those seem to be the three main parties in existence today here in the U.S. This is intended to be a non-biased list of factual political ideologies.

Please feel free to add onto the list.

Republican Party

* Usually favors conservative positions
* Believes in smaller, limited government
* Generally supports lower taxes
* Believes making law is the duty of the legislature and that the judicial branch, especially the Supreme Court, should not legislate from the bench, but interpret law
* Emphasize the role of corporations and personal decision making in fostering economic prosperity
* Favor a free market and policies supporting business
* Opposes a single-payer universal health care system
* Most believe strict environmental standards hurt businesses, thus hurt the economy
* Most opposed to marriage for homosexuals, with some preferring "civil unions" instead
* Advocates string national defense programs
* Most support democratization of middle-eastern countries
* Typically is Pro-Life in the abortion debate
* Generally against affirmative action
* Typically support gun ownership rights for individuals
* Most support choice through charter schools and education vouchers for private schools
* Favors more spending on the military

Some Republican Presidents: Abraham Lincoln (first Republican president), William McKinley, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George Bush

Democratic Party

* Favors liberal positions, particularly social liberalism
* Favors a more progressive tax structure
* Opposes unregulated business
* Typically favors farmers, laborers, labor unions, religious and ethnic minorities
* Believes the government should play a role in alleviating poverty and social injustice
* Advocate a free enterprise system tempered by government intervention
* Favors affirmative action
* Favors higher minimum wage with regular increases to assist the working poor
* Favor renewable energy policies such as Montana's "Clean Coal" programs and the "Cap and Trade" policy
* Believe in more government spending on social services such as Medicare, Social Security, medicaid and less spending on the military
* Favor nationalizing health care (universal health care)
* Divided on same-sex marriage, some favoring civil unions, though aalmost all Democrats agree that discrimination based on sexual orientation is wrong
* Typically is Pro-Choice in the abortion debate
* Usually oppose the doctrine of unilateralism, which dictates that the United States should use military force without any assistance from other nations whenever it believes there is a threat to its security or welfare

Some Democratic Presidents: Franklin D Roosevelt, John F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Bill Clinton

Libertarian Party

* Believe in individual liberties
* Believe people are sovereign over their own bodies, extending to life, liberty and property
* Generally view constraints imposed by the state on persons or their property (if applicable), beyond the need to penalize infringement of one's rights by another, as a violation of liberty
* Strongly oppose government infringement of civil liberties such as restrictions on free expression
* Oppose laws restricting personal or consensual behavior, believing individual choices for products or services should not be limited by government licensing requirements or state-granted monopolies, or in the form of trade barriers that restrict choices for products and services from other nations
* Most oppose legal prohibitions on recreational drug use, gambling, and prostitution
* Many oppose the FDA bans on unproven medical treatments, that such treatments should be left to doctor and patient discretion
* Most see economic inequality as an outcome of people's freedom to choose their own actions, which may or may not be profitable
* Many call for the abolition of the Federal Reserve Bank, considering that the most fundamental government grant of special privilege involves the legitimization and protection of fractional reserve banking through the Federal Reserve and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913

[edit on 1-7-2008 by sos37]