PARTIES

Twenty-first-century America is divided into two major parties - Democrat and Republican, and they have very little in common. Democrats favor a more active role of the government, while Republicans prefer a more limited role.

Democrats support government programs that directly impact the daily lives of Americans. Social programs such as welfare and Medicare are major issues that Democrats advocate more verbally than Republicans. It isn't that Republicans do not want to help with societal problems - they do. They just prefer letting private companies and individuals make decisions on their own, figuring that they, not the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., know what's best for themselves.

Reviewing arguments between major issues will illustrate this point. Reforming education is one example. Democrats want a national system in which standards would be the same in New York City as in Bozeman, Montana. They argue that all American students should be treated and viewed equally. Programs geared toward drug prevention, alcohol abuse, and sexual education should be equally administered across the country, Democrats argue, with little difference.

Republicans, on the other hand, argue that the needs of New York City students, who live in an urban environment with incredible diversity and high crime, are very different from students in Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman has crime, but not the same as New York City. Problems such as alcoholism and drug abuse are common, but for different reasons than in New York City; therefore, programs should be administered according to the individual needs of a community, Republicans argue.

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Of course, there are several nationwide third parties that don't agree with either Republicans or Democrats. The Green Party is a liberal, people-power-oriented party that has more in common with the Democrats than with the Republicans. At the core of this party is a beleif that grass-roots politics is best and that all politics should be kept in the hands of the common man. Greens argue that big corporations and the wealthy in America have too much control.

The Libertarian Party could be considered the Republican equivalent to the Green Party. It is more fiscally conservative than the Republican Party, and it believes that the government should have no say in citizens' lives. Libertarians believe that the answer to Americas problems include a free-market economy, a dedication to civil and personal liberties, and a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade.

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