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2 Platforms, Poles Apart In Their View Of the Nation
(about 5 hours later)
The platform that the Democratic Party plans to approve Tuesday at its convention in Charlotte, N.C., offers a stark contrast to the platform that Republicans approved last week at their convention in Tampa, Fla., especially on social issues like abortion rights and same-sex marriage, the future of entitlements like Medicare and Social Security, and labor policy and taxes. Here is a look at some of the crucial differences.
Voters are forever being told that they face stark choices. But the platform that Democrats approved Tuesday at their convention in Charlotte, N.C., was, in areas from social issues to entitlements, a mirror image of the platform that the Republicans adopted last week in Tampa, Fla.
ABORTION
The Democratic platform supports same-sex marriage for the first time — “We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples,” it reads — and reaffirms the party’s support for abortion rights. The Republican platform, in contrast, supports the passage of Constitutional amendments that would ban abortion and define marriage as “the union of one man and one woman.”
The Democratic platform states: “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”
When it comes to Medicare, the Democratic platform says the party will oppose “any efforts to privatize or voucherize” the program, while the Republican platform would reshape the program for those under 55 so they would get “an income-adjusted contribution toward a health plan of the enrollee’s choice,” including a government plan.
The Republican platform supports the passage of a Constitutional amendment banning abortion, and states that “the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.”
And while the Democratic platform opposes any privatization of Social Security, the Republican platform says younger workers should be given the option of “personal investment accounts as supplements to the system.”
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
If there is one thing the two parties agree on this year, it is the size of the chasm that divides them on so many issues. The Democratic platform says that “this election is not simply a choice between two candidates or two political parties, but between two fundamentally different paths for our country and our families.” The Republican platform calls the 2012 elections “a referendum on the future of liberty in America.”
For the first time, the Democratic platform supports same-sex marriage. “We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples,” it says. But the platform also tries to avoid collision with religious groups that may oppose the measure. “We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.”
Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, a platform committee chairman, emphasized its call for a “balanced approach” to deficit reduction, including raising taxes on the wealthy. “When your country is in a costly war, with our soldiers sacrificing abroad, and our nation is facing a debt crisis at home, being asked to pay your fair share isn’t class warfare,” he said in his speech to delegates Tuesday. “It’s patriotism.”
The Republican platform reaffirmed its support for “a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.” And it called state court decisions redefining marriage “an assault on the foundations of our society, challenging the institution which, for thousands of years in virtually every civilization, has been entrusted with the rearing of children and the transmission of cultural values.”
The Democratic platform sometimes reads more like a look back than a road map of what the party would do over the next four years. Many paragraphs are devoted to putting President Obama’s record in the most flattering light possible. The platform mentions that 4.5 million private-sector jobs have been created in the United States since “early 2010” — a time period that ignores the steep job losses of 2009. If the platform had started counting in January 2009, the month Mr. Obama took office, it would have found that 332,000 private-sector jobs had been created.
MEDICARE
Some of this year’s planks serve as reminders of the unfulfilled pledges from the Democratic Party’s 2008 platform.
The Democratic platform claims that the Republican budget plan to reshape the program “would end Medicare as we know it.” The platform says that: “Democrats adamantly oppose any efforts to privatize or voucherize Medicare; unlike our opponents we will not ask seniors to pay thousands of dollars more every year while they watch the value of their Medicare benefits evaporate. Democrats believe that Medicare is a sacred compact with our seniors.”
That platform, echoing a promise Mr. Obama had made as a candidate, said, “We will close the detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, the location of so many of the worst constitutional abuses in recent years.” As president, though, Mr. Obama has failed to deliver on that promise, so the 2012 platform says “we are substantially reducing the population at Guantánamo Bay without adding to it.”
The Republican platform says it will “save Medicare by modernizing it.” It calls for moving Medicare and Medicaid “away from their current unsustainable defined-benefit entitlement model to a fiscally sound defined-contribution model.” Their proposed change would affect those under 55. “While retaining the option of traditional Medicare in competition with private plans,” the platform says, “we call for a transition to a premium-support model for Medicare, with an income-adjusted contribution toward a health plan of the enrollee’s choice.”
The 2008 platform called for “comprehensive immigration reform,” but since it has not passed, the 2012 platform does, too. And the 2008 platform says that “we will implement a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary to avoid catastrophic change.” Since that has not happened, the 2012 platform calls for reducing carbon emissions domestically “through regulation and market solutions.”
SOCIAL SECURITY
But any tension between the party’s last platform and its current platform pales in comparison to the differences between the Democratic and Republican party platforms this year.
The Democrats pledge in their platform to “find a solution to protect Social Security for future generations” and to “block Republican efforts to subject Americans’ guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market through privatization.”
While the Democrats failed to enact the promised climate change legislation, they still call it a top priority. “We know that global climate change is one of the biggest threats of this generation – an economic, environmental and national security catastrophe in the making,” their platform says. “We affirm the science of climate change, commit to significantly reducing the pollution that causes climate change, and know we have to meet this challenge by driving smart policies that lead to greater growth in clean energy generation and result in a range of economic and social benefits.”
The Republican platform envisions the creation of private accounts as “supplements” to the Social Security system: “While no changes should adversely affect any current or near-retiree, comprehensive reform should address our society’s remarkable medical advances in longevity and allow younger workers the option of creating their own personal investment accounts as supplements to the system.”
This year’s Republican platform dropped the 2008 section on “addressing climate change responsibly.” The new platform states that it opposes “any and all cap-and-trade legislation,” and criticizes the president’s national security strategy, saying that it “subordinates our national security interests to environmental, energy and international health issues, and elevates ‘climate change’ to the level of a ‘severe threat’ equivalent to foreign aggression.”
LABOR
The new Democratic platform states that “President Obama and the Democratic Party maintain an unshakable commitment to Israel’s security,” but dropped language from the 2008 platform that stated that “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel.” Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, criticized the omission in a statement Tuesday as “shameful.”
The Democratic platform states that “Democrats believe that the right to organize and collectively bargain is a fundamental American value; every American should have a voice on the job and a chance to negotiate for a fair day’s pay after a hard day’s work. We will continue to fight for the right of all workers to organize and join a union.” And the platform says that “we oppose the attacks on collective bargaining that Republican governors and state legislatures are mounting in states around the country.”
On unions, the Democratic platform states that “the right to organize and collectively bargain is a fundamental American value” and opposes “the attacks on collective bargaining that Republican governors and state legislatures are mounting in states around the country.” The Republican platform supports right-to-work laws, which weaken unions, and salutes “the Republican governors and state legislators who have saved their states from fiscal disaster by reforming their laws governing public employee unions.”
The Republican platform states: “We support the right of states to enact right-to-work laws and encourage them to do so to promote greater economic liberty. Ultimately, we support the enactment of a national right-to-work law to promote worker freedom and to promote greater economic liberty.” And the platform says: “We salute the Republican governors and state legislators who have saved their states from fiscal disaster by reforming their laws governing public employee unions. We urge elected officials across the country to follow their lead in order to avoid state and local defaults on their obligations and the collapse of services to the public.”
On taxes, the Democratic platform says that President Obama will fight to extend tax cuts for the middle class while “asking the wealthiest and corporations to pay their fair share.” The Republican platform calls for extending the Bush-era tax cuts.
TAXES
And on guns, the Democratic platform states that “the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans’ Second Amendment right to own and use firearms.” But it says the right can be subject to “reasonable regulation,” and calls for reinstating the assault weapons ban. The Republican platform says, “We oppose legislation that is intended to restrict our Second Amendment rights by limiting the capacity of clips or magazines or otherwise restoring the ill-considered Clinton gun ban.”
The Democratic platform says that President Obama will “extend key tax relief for working families and those paying for college, while asking the wealthiest and corporations to pay their fair share.” It says “we are committed to reforming our tax code so that it is fairer and simpler, creating a tax code that lives up to the Buffett Rule so no millionaire pays a smaller share of his or her income in taxes than middle-class families do.”
Kitty
Bennett contributed research.
The Republican platform calls for extending the Bush-era tax cuts, reducing marginal tax rates across the board by 20 percent in a revenue-neutral manner and eliminating taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains for lower and middle-income taxpayers. “Taxes, by their very nature, reduce a citizen’s freedom,” the Republican platform says.
CLIMATE CHANGE
The Democratic platform states: “We know that global climate change is one of the biggest threats of this generation — an economic, environmental and national security catastrophe in the making. We affirm the science of climate change, commit to significantly reducing the pollution that causes climate change and know we have to meet this challenge by driving smart policies that lead to greater growth in clean energy generation and result in a range of economic and social benefits.”
The Republican platform dropped its section on “addressing climate change responsibly,” which was part of its 2008 platform. The new platform states that it opposes any cap-and-trade policy and criticizes the president’s national security strategy, stating that it “subordinates our national security interests to environmental, energy and international health issues, and elevates ‘climate change’ to the level of a ‘severe threat’ equivalent to foreign aggression.”
ISRAEL
The Democratic platform states that “President Obama and the Democratic Party maintain an unshakable commitment to Israel’s security,” and notes that the president has increased security aid to Israel every year since taking office, providing nearly $10 billion over the past three years. But the platform dropped language from the 2008 platform that stated that “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel.”
The Republican platform states that “we affirm our unequivocal commitment to Israel’s security and will ensure that it maintains a qualitative edge in military technology over any potential adversaries.” And it continues to explicitly support Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying “we envision two democratic states — Israel with Jerusalem as its capital and Palestine — living in peace and security.”
