Political Parties Worksheet

Political Parties Worksheet Instructions: Use this worksheet to prepare for your weekly discussion posting and quiz. Use the chart below to compare and contrast how the two major political parties present their stance on major issues. In addition, you should locate and compare a third party website as well (your choice!). Note: You will see a variety of issues presented on the websites. It is up to you which issues you choose to explore. You are encouraged to learn more about major policy issues including: the economy, immigration, health care, taxes, and civil rights/liberties. As you are completing the worksheet, consider: How are the Democratic and Republican parties using the Web? Evaluate each party’s use of Internet technology. Neither of the websites looked like they had been updated recently. They were both organized. The Republican website was more simplistic, which makes sense as I believe they are trying to reach senior citizens, as most of their pictures were senior citizens, There was no information about the current candidates on the major party websites (or if there was it was hard to find). The Green Party website had a tab about the 2020 candidate, so I could tell that it had been updated recently. The Green Party website by far had the most information, which is the whole reason to have a website. The democratic party website had more information than the republican website, but not nearly as much as the Green Party. Both websites would benefit from putting more information. It would prevent people from having to look at unreliable sources and getting confused about where they really stand on the issues. The republican party website repeated themselves and only took two or three paragraphs to explain there stance, and I was often left confused on what they really meant. The democratic website was a lot easier to understand. You will notice that the Green Party column has the most information, and that is because they provided access to the most information on their website. How sophisticated is each site? Who are they trying to reach? To whom do you think their Web site will most likely appeal, and why? What image are they trying to project for the party (or candidate)? How successful are they in their efforts? The Republican website had a lot of the pictures on their website are of older people, so they are trying to reach senior citizens and adults. I only found pictures of white people. There is a lot of pictures of children and families as well as colored people. The democratic website has a lot more issues on their page. While the republican website pushed pro-life and second amendment issues, the democratic page includes a lot of issues like education, civil rights, environment, immigration reforms, jobs and the economy, voting rights, and many more. The democratic website had a lot of pictures of the younger generation, families, and people being involved in the political process. They are trying to appeal to the younger generation and families. The Republican website only had 5 issues listen which were national security, health care, 2nd amendment, foreign affairs, and prolife. The Green Party website is the most organized and has a comprehensive list of issues that goes into depth and intense detail about their stance on the issues and how they intend to correct these issues. All of the websites were set up in an organized way. The Republican website did not set up their issues page in a very sophisticated manner, however. There were only a handful of issues. Most of the links to issues referenced a certain Political Parties Worksheet policy or case, so it was confusing to recognize which issue they were referring to. The Green party website was the only website that included anything about the economy on their issues page. What improvements might they make to appeal to certain demographics? The Republican website needs to include more diversity in their pictures. Most of the pictures looked like stock portraits. They also need to not attack Democrats. There might be democrats that are interested in becoming republican and they might be upset about the attack. The Democratic website needs to include more pictures of older people, as I did not see a lot. There were pictures of families, but not really any pictures of senior citizens. The democratic party had a lot of pictures of people with political signs at political events, which I appreciated. If the two major party websites had more in depth information, they would be able to appeal to a lot more people, as people would have more information. The Green Party puts a big emphasis on welfare, which will attract lower class citizens. After completing this worksheet, proceed to the lesson discussion. I couldn’t figure out how to add more rows, so I put more than one issue in each row. Issue Republican Party http://www.gop.gov/ Democratic Party Independent Party http://www.democrats.org/ (Your Choice) Green party Gp.org Health Care Abortion Health Care Health Care Health Care Patient-centered approach that increases access, lowers costs. They say a lot of negative things about democratic party healthcare systems. They don’t say how they are going to fix the healthcare system, they just say that it is time for a patient-centered approach to increase access, lower costs, and protect our most vulnerable population. Just talk about They support the right for everyone to have basic security in healthcare. Want to preserve the Affordable Health Care Act. Say that no one should go bankrupt because they are sick. Supports a single-payer universal health care and preventive care. They say health care is not a privilege, that it is a right. Want a national healthcare system and say that private insurance corporations are a waste and should be redirected towards patient care, but they do not say they want to get rid of them. Abortion While there was not a tab reserved for this issue like the Republican party Political Parties Worksheet Issue Republican Party http://www.gop.gov/ Independent Party Democratic Party (Your Choice) http://www.democrats.org/ Green party Gp.org biomedical research but not how they are going to make it more accessible or cheaper. website, they made it very clear in the civil rights section that they support women’s choice to have an abortion. Abortion The first issue that pops up when you click “on the issues” tab is “Pro-Family, ProLife”. This is obviously a very important issue for them. National Security Immigration Abortion They say that women’s rights to control their bodies is non-negotiable and that they support abortion. Say that clinics must be accessible and perform abortions and give out birth control and that this right must not be limited by age or martial status. National Security National Security National Security Republicans believe that America is a force for security and stability in the world (in bold). Say overseas effort is the key to security. Iran’s anti-American activities. Says strong defense is utmost importance. Say they need to be prepared for war. Say they are committed to making sure that troops have the care and support they need when they return home and deployed. Modernizing military is a priority. They want to reduce militarism and reliance on arms and say that this is the key to collective security. Would reduce the budget for military. They want to create a future without war. Immigration Immigration Immigration Go against Donald Trump. Say they want to defend their immigrant neighbors. Say they will continue to work towards immigration reform that fixes the broken immigration system. The Green Party supports social justice for all immigrants, even if they are illegal. Their goal is to have a world where people can freely choose the live in any country that they desire. They say that the US needs a complete redo of its Nothing about immigration on issues page. Had to search immigration and nothing came up about it their policies on immigration. Only thing I could find is that Political Parties Worksheet Issue Republican Party http://www.gop.gov/ Independent Party Democratic Party (Your Choice) http://www.democrats.org/ Green party Gp.org they say the immigration system is flawed. 2nd Amendment Civil Rights immigration laws. They say that undocumented immigrants already living and working in the United States should be granted legal status. 2ND Amendment 2nd Amendment 2nd Amendment Say that democrats have done nothing to decrease gun violence and that their proposals could be used to infringe upon the second amendment rights. Does not say what they will do to decrease gun violence, just say that they have already passed legislation and will advocate to get at the crux of the issue. Want to reduce gun violence while respecting the rights on responsible gun owners. Want to strengthen background checks. The tab talking about the 2nd Amendment is “reducing gun violence”. There is no tab strictly pertaining to gun violence or the 2nd Amendment. Civil Rights There was not a civil rights section on their issues page. I searched it in the search bar and the only thing that came up was a profile for a senator. The profile said nothing about civil rights. Civil Rights Democrats say that everyone is equal and that democrats are fighting for every American. They also say they want to reduce and prevent gun violence and protect voting rights, freedom of religion, and women’s rights to make their own health care decisions. Civil Rights They have a whole section with subsections on social justice. The Civil Rights section says that their key value is respect for diversity. They want to confront the barriers of racism, sexism, homophobia, class oppression and many more. They support women’s rights, social equality, and ending violence and oppression (especially against women). They also go into depth about rights for Indigenous people and African Political Parties Worksheet Issue Republican Party http://www.gop.gov/ Democratic Party http://www.democrats.org/ Independent Party (Your Choice) Green party Gp.org Americans. They also support the release of all political prisoners held by the USA. They want to end racial discrimination and fully support all efforts to overcome racism.