On Tuesday voters across the country will pull levers and poke computer screens to determine what sort of future we wish for our children. There's much at stake, and sometimes the clashing ads and unctuous voices make it difficult to know who the best person is to send to Washington to represent our views and concerns. One thing that's helpful in clearing up the confusion is that despite many loud laments to the contrary, the differences between the parties is perhaps more stark today than it has ever been. There are important matters at issue whose outcome will be very different depending upon whether it is Democrats or Republicans which control the congress.
The following is an outline of how I see the differences between the two parties on five of the most important of those issues:
War on Terror: The Democrats wish to abolish or weaken the Patriot act and the various terrorist surveillance programs initiated by the Bush administration. They want to treat terrorism as a police, rather than as a military, matter. They want to give terrorist detainees the same rights American citizens get in a court of law, including the provision of a lawyer, at taxpayer expense, to each suspected enemy combatant.
Republicans tend to believe that we must do everything legal to make it impossible for terrorists to strike us again here at home, and that terrorists should not have the same legal rights as foreign soldiers, much less American citizens.
War in Iraq: To the extent that the Democrats have a coherent policy on Iraq it is to get out immediately, if not sooner. Republicans see an early pullout as opening the sluice gates to disaster.
Taxes: Democrats are eager to raise taxes by rescinding the Bush tax cuts of the last few years. Republicans believe that people should be allowed to keep as much of what they earn as possible. They believe that the more money we have the more we'll spend, the more we spend the more jobs that will be created and the more total tax revenue that will ultimately flow back to the government. The Bush tax cuts are seen by Republicans as the reason why unemployment is currently down to near record lows and the stock market is up to record highs.
Illegal Immigration: The differences on this issue aren't quite as clear, but generally Democrats tend to favor open borders with Mexico and amnesty for illegals. Republicans tend to favor stopping the flow of illegals by increasing border patrols, technology and by building a fence. Even so, there are some Republicans who also favor open borders and some Democrats who oppose them. Both of these are minorities in their parties, however.
Life Issues/Supreme Court: Democrats almost universally favor abortion rights and will block the nomination of federal judges and Supreme Court justices they deem likely to be unsympathetic to the pro-choice cause. They tend to take a very flexible view of the constitution, interpreting it to mean whatever they think it should mean. Republicans believe that judges and justices should rule according to what the constitution actually says, and they don't think the constitution contains anywhere in it a right to abortion or a right to gay marriage.
