Build Your Own Political Platform

Over at my group, The Boston Tea Party Protests, I have encouraged the members to build their own political platform. I figured I'd share it here. Of course, you are always welcomed to join the discussion over there, too. The more we talk about it, maybe the more our politicians will listen.

Worth a try anyway.

Preamble:

The 2008 elections are still two years away. Right now, the three major parties are building their platforms that they will present at their conventions in two more years. The average American, however, will align themselves with one or the other party, but have little to nothing to do with the development of their party's platform and many more will only understand bits and pieces of it.

The BTP group's platform aim is three-fold:

1. Help members become familiar with the three main parties' platforms (Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian).
2. Help members understand what the planks of the platforms actually say, debate them, and help them solidify their own opinion of what the planks should be.
3. Provide a tool so that members can easily compare their own platform they will formulate here to that of the three main parties' platform to help them make more sound decisions come the 2008 election.

Recognizing that this is a huge task, at minimum, each topic will be afforded at least a one month debate time before, as a group, we move to a new plank. By the end of two years (maybe even sooner), the BTP group platform should be done and each member will have his/her own platform to compare to the national platforms of the three major parties'.

Each member is encouraged to write their own platform as the debate and formulation of BTP group's platform progresses. Probably the best way to do this would be to keep track of it in a word document, adding to it as each topic is discussed here. When we're completed with the platform, it'd be up to each member whether they want to share their version or not.

The posted BTP group's platform will only be a subjective compilation of what appears to be the majority consensus on any topic and will be used only as an example for other members to use as they build their own platform. It will not be an official stance of the group in any way nor should it be construed as such. How and when I will post the BTP group's version will be decided at a later date.

We'll be using the parties' 2004 platforms as a guideline as we develop our own platform for 2008. The following links take you to the respective party's 2004 national platform: Republican, Democratic, Libertarian.

General outline, table of contents, if you will, fo BTP group's party platform:

Overall Vision for America

International

1. War on Terror
   Overall Goals
   Afghanistan
   Iraq
   Anticipated Future Problems/Solutions
2. Middle East Relations
   Overall Goals
   Israel
   Palestine
   Iran
   Saudi Arabia
3. Asian-Indo-Pacific Relations
   Overall Goals
   China
   North Korea
4. European Relations
   Overall Goals
5. Latin/South American Relations
   Overall Goals

Domestic

1. Immigration
   Overall Goals
2. Native Americans
   Overall Goals
3. Health Care
   Overall Goals
   Every American Insured
   Malpractice Lawsuit Caps
4. Social Security
   Overall Goals
   Privitization
5. Families
   Overall Goals
   Same Sex Marriage
   Home Ownership
   Education
6. Crime
   Overall Goals
7. Jobs
   Overall Goals
   Outsourcing
   Creating Jobs
8. Economy
   Overall goals
9. Environment
   Overall Goals
10. Energy
    Overall Goals
    Energy Independence
    Alternative Fuels
11. Military
    Overall Goals
    Future Roles

There is the general outline we'll take one at a time to discuss so each member can formulate his/her own plank to compare with the national parties' planks.