Five Political Issues

Five Important Political Issues

1.) Recycling and its effect on the Environment: Recycling has many benefits for the economy, as well as it saves the environment, prevents landfills thus saving our ozone layer and saves non-replenishable materials such as water or trees. This should most definitely be a priority as it determines the well-being of all humans as well as future generations. The Green Party's stance on this subject is a part of the whole basis of its party.

2.) Obama Care: Repealing Obamacare would effectively take healthcare away from millions and roll back controversial measures such as covered preventative care, coverage despite pre-existing conditions, and allowing children to stay on their parents insurance until age 26. The Republican Party does not commend Obama Care and disagrees with it. 

3.) Education: The fallout from an increase in student loan rates could be substantial for college students and their parents. Making college affordable is a White House top priority. The challenge is getting bipartisan Congressional support to keep student loan interest rates down. The Democrats took on banks to reform our student loan program, saving more than $60 billion

4.) Job Creation: Congress has failed at attempts to extend unemployment insurance benefits. There remains a record number, more than 1.7 million, of long-term jobless Americans. The Democrats believe that the most effective way to increase opportunity for our families is a high quality, good paying job.

5.) Minimum Wage: President Obama signed an executive order raising the federal minimum wage in an effort to build momentum for a minimum wage hike for all Americans. Increasing minimum wage could help millions of Americans support their families and lessen reliance on government assistance. One currently sponsored by the Democrats who would raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10.

Independent Party Candidate

John B. Anderson 

John Anderson is a former United States Congressman and Presidential candidate from Illinois. He was a U.S. Representative from the 16th Congressional District of Illinois for ten terms. Anderson was a Republican but ran as an independent candidate in the 1980 presidential election. Anderson was born in Rockford, Illinois, where he grew up, the son of Mabel Edna (née Ring) and E. Albin Anderson, a Swedish immigrant. In his youth, he worked in his family's grocery store.He attended the University of Illinois, but his education was interrupted by World War II, when he enlisted in the Army in 1943.

After the Army, he applied for public office along with in philosophy for independence. He believed that an independent nation runs more fairly and that choosing between two separate parties may cause false identification with what a certain individual truly wants. He was never president, but he did write a book based on his beliefs called No Holding Back, which also entailed his biography as well. 

Political Compasses (thoughts)

Opinion on my scores 

I feel that the scores that I have accurately depicts my opinions and perspective on politics. Although, for the answers that I've chosen, my results were varied throughout the tests. On one, it proposes that I am conservative, while the other says that I am a Republican. So yes, I was surprised by that. Although, I've learned that a lot of my opinions come from my family influences. 

Political Compasses

My Political Compasses

Independent Party Logo

History of the Independent Party Logo

The party's banner, created on August 30, 1970, delineates an eagle holding a gathering of shafts in its left claws, over a compass rose, with a flag which peruses "The American Independent Party" at the falcon's base. There is also not much history behind their flag besides representing the party. 

The Independent Party

History and the Philosophy of: The Independent Party

The American Independent Party is a far-right political party that was established in 1967 by Bill Shearer. Before the Independent Party was throughout the United States, it started in California through the Californian Independent Party. This state party tried to gain ballot access, and with exhaustive campaign help from Wallace. The party then gained enough registered members to qualify as a party under Californian election laws. Soon the Party spread popularity and eventually became a national party. 

The Philosophy of the party is surrounded around a religious motif, and also the idea that are individuals are uniquely independent, and cannot be categorized by one party or another. Individuals from the Independent party like to think of themselves as fighting a war for independence. 

Green Party Candidate

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader was born on February 27, 1934 and is an American political activist as well as an author and an attorney. The areas that most particularly concern to him include: consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and the democratic government as well as being a part of the Green Party. Nader is a 5-time candidate for the President of the United States, but has yet to become president in his life time. 

Ralph Nader was born in Winsted, Connecticut to Nathra and Rose Nader who were both immigrants of Lebanon, as well as Greek Orthodox Christians. His father worked in a textile mill and then later, his father owned a bakery and restaurant, where he discussed politics with customers. Nader listened to along with their comments about conditions at the meat-packing plant, the chemicals they were exposed to, and similar issues that later featured in his activism. Nader would take this with him throughout his adulthood since it interested him. 

Nader later spent much of his time pursuing a campaign to educate the public concerning his philosophy of ecology; which he studied in Harvard Law School. Nader said that the rivers and lakes in America were extremely contaminated, and that he believed the environment should be well preserved for future generations.  

Green Party Logo

History of the Green Party Logo

The Green Party logo was created, according to gp.org (greenparty.org), to reflect positively on the Green Party through the "Earthflower Logo" to promote local campaigns and activities. There is not very much history behind the logo other than to promote the party for what it is. 

The Green Party

History and Philosophy of: The Green Party

The Green Party was founded in 1984 the United States primary and national Green organization. The Green Party's platform is broad and ranges from protecting the environment to also protecting social injustices and human rights. The Green Party of the United States is a moderate left-libertarian party. It is founded on the Four Pillars of the Green Party: Ecological Wisdom, Social and Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, and Nonviolence and Peace.Usually, the Green Party candidates that apply for office tend to take part it much activism in helping with local issues across several communities.

Their Philosophy is against the traditional Two Party System and believes that is full of fear and hate. What the Green Party mostly advocates is the understanding of non-violence and peace, but also deeply rooted with the protection of our environment. 

Whig Candidate

William Henry Harrison

William Harrison was the 9th president of the United States in 1841. Harrison was born the 9th of February, 1773, and was the youngest of Benjamin and Elizabeth Harrison's seven children. He grew up in a prominent and political family, and his father was a delegate in the Continental Congress (1774-1777). In 1787, at the age of 14, Harrison entered the Presbyterian Hampden-Sydney College where he allegedly was influenced by anti-slavery, Quakers, and Methodists. Angered, his pro-slavery father had him transfer to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was forced to study under medical training, which then later he professes that he did not enjoy the subject. Shortly after beginning these studies, his father died in 1791, which left him without any money to continue school. 

After his father's death, Harrison would take part in the army where he was engaged in the ongoing NorthWest Indian War. He gained national fame by leading the U.S forces against the Indians in the Battle of Tippecanoe, as well as the Battle of 1812. Soon after his retiring from the military in 1798, Harrison began his political career. He served as the first territorial congressional delegate for the NorthWest territory, governor of the Indiana territory, and later the U.S representative of Ohio.

Harrison failed in the 1836 election but won the 1840 election against Matin van Buren. Despite that Harrison died shortly after he became president, of pneumonia, William Harrison had a strong Whig philosophy. Harrison believed that the president was a more authentic representative to the American people than Congress. He proposed that the power of the veto must never be used to assist control of congress. He believed that the president should be part of the legislative power. Sadly, the President was never able to practice what he professed. 

Whig Party Logo

History of the Whig Party Logo

Even though the modern day Whig party uses the owl as its logo, it is said that it was the symbol of the original party and it is meant to represent wisdom. It is proposed that the red, white, and blue color scheme holds a different meaning for the party aside from the Democratic and Republican meanings. The blue represents liberalism and the red conservatism. The four white stars represent the three branches of the United States government and the individual voter. Metaphorically, the white stars placed in the center of the owl indicates their belief that the United States success lies when "meeting in the middle." 

The Whig Party

History and Philosophy of: The Whig Party

The Whig party was an existing party in the 18th century which was formed in order to oppose the Democratic Party and the policies created by Andrew Jackson. The American Whigs were modernizers, or individuals who sought out to keep traditional standards sacred, who saw Andrew Jackson as dangerous to social, economic, and morals which the American Whigs wanted to keep modernized as well. Most American Whigs were fond of the Democratic- Republicans who sought to keep a tradition of compromise and balance in government, national unity, territorial expansion, and support for a national transportation network and domestic manufacturing. The entirety of the Whig Party's philosophy revolves around the belief of modernization. 

Democratic Candidate

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was born into a recently emigrated Scotch-Irish farming family on March 15th, 1767, near the border between North and South Carolina. At the age of thirteen Jackson was captured, during the American Revolutionary war, by British captors while he helped during the war as a courier. His brother, Robert Jackson, was also with him and died just a few days after being released by the British on April 17th, 1781. After a short seven months, his mother died as well in November of 1781. With Jackson's father who had died not long after he was born meant that he would be left as an orphan at the early age of fourteen years old. Jackson blamed the British for all of his losses which lead him to form a deep hatred for the British. 

He later became a lawyer, as well as elected into the House of Representivates, and then to the U.S senate. In 1801, Jackson was appointed colonel in the Tenessee militia which became his military base. He gained national fame through his involvement in the War of 1812 where he won many victories over the Indians, and also as well in the Battle of New Orleans were he helped fight off the main British invasion. 

In 1824, Andrew Jackson lost to John Quincy Adams during nomination for the presidency and then won the 1828 election. With Jackson's presidency, he began a political movement called the Jacksonian democracy. This belief system was surrounded around the ideology that central government is the enemy for individual liberty which Jackson advocated. Jackson believed that government intervention in the economy profited particular vested parties and made corporate restraining infrastructures that supported the rich. He looked to restore the autonomy of the individual by ending federal banks and enterprises and confining the utilization of paper money. Jackson's main philosophy's was surrounded by expanded suffrage, manifest destiny, patronage, strict constructionism, and banking that did not involve the central government. 

Democratic Political Logo

History of the Democratic Logo

During Andrew Jackson's presidential campaign, in 1828, his opponent Henry Clay would often twist Jackson's last name from "Jackson" to "jackass" as a term of ridicule towards Jackson- by comparing him to an ignorant, and stubborn animal. However, Andrew Jackson incorporated the donkey into his campaign posters to offset his opposers. Even after Jackson had left office, political cartoonists furthered the Democrat and donkey connection. Thus, the donkey remained the well-known symbol for Democrats to this day. 

The Democratic Party

History and Philosophy of: The Democratic Party

In 1792, the Democrats adopted its name when supports of Thomas Jefferson or the Jeffersonian Republicans, began using the name Republican in order to emphasize anti-aristocratic beliefs. During Andrew Jackson's Presidency in the 1830's, the Democratic Party's name was more relevant. Between 1830's and 50's the Jacksonian Democracy helped shape the Second Party system and forever ending the original First Party system that the United States was founded upon. During the 1840's and 50's the party was in conflict with the Republican party over extending slavery to the Western territories. Southern Democrats, unlike Northern Republicans, insisted on protecting slavery in all territories. This is what caused the two party's to split between Republican and Democratic, and what also caused the Nothern and Southern states to have controversy with one another. The Southern Democrats adopted pro-slavery and nominated John C. Breckinridge as their candidate in the election to which Abraham Lincoln would win instead. The Democratic Party identified its self as the "white man's party" that protected and defended only the white man's civil rights, and proposed that the Republican party was "negro dominated"even though whites were in control. In attempt to reform the Southern states, Stephen Douglas of Illinois, pushed through the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 in order to initialize and continue the Democrats philosophy of white man's control, as well as protect the history of slaves the country is founded upon and to keep the economy bustling through the help of slave ownership. Unfortunately, once Abraham Lincoln became the next president slavery was eventually abolished through the Emancipation Proclamation. While the Democrats survived, many Democrats joined the newly established Republican party once Lincoln became victor. 

Republican Candidate

Abraham Lincoln

On February 12, 1809 Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, KY by mother Nancy Lincoln and father Thomas Lincoln. Growing up, Lincoln attended a Separate Baptists church which had strict moral standards that had opposed arbitrary aspects that were considered unholy such as drinking alcohol, sex before marriage, and even slavery. Lincoln would carry on these morals and aspects through his interest in law as he was a self-educated lawyer in Illinois, as well as a Whig Party leader and a state legislator during the 1830s. In March 1861, Abraham Lincoln began his presidency as the 16th president of the United States. Lincoln disproved slavery before and during his election as slavery was still a recurring factor within the southern slave states. He turned to politics and opposed the pro-slavery Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which gave new incoming settlers the right to determine slaves in their areas through popular sovereignty. Through his belief in the immorality of slavery, he issued himself as part of the Republican Party. His philosophy was modeled through his morals and belief system, as well as based on reason and respect for the law. "For Lincoln there was nothing higher than the rule of law, without which there could be no real freedom," wrote historian James Oakes. Because of his basis in reason through Republicanism, there was a consistency to Lincoln’s moral philosophy and a consistent focus on morality. Eventually, on January 1st, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which stated that "as a fit and necessary military measure, on January 1, 1863, all persons held as slaves in the Confederate states will thenceforward, and forever, be free". This document is what ended slavery, once and for all in the United States, and this completed the goal Abraham Lincoln had surrounded his entire belief system around. 

Republican Political Logo

History of the Republican Logo

On November 7th, 1874, a political cartoon created by Thomas Nast was published in the newspaper Harper's Weekly. The cartoon illustrated a donkey dressed as a lion scaring away the rest of the zoo animals. One of those animals was an elephant which was labeled "The Republican Vote." Since then the elephant has always been affiliated with the Republican Party.

The Republican Party

History and Philosophy of: The Republican Party

The Republican Party was founded in the mid 18th century when slavery was still a fresh issue in the United States. During this time, the northern and southern states also disagreed with how slavery should be handled. While the Northerners opposed slavery and found it evil and unconstitutional, the Southerners defended slavery and furthered their argument through reasons of history and economics. So, while the Northerners formed the Republican party in 1854, which included a mix of anti- slavery activists, modernizers, and ex-Whigs, the Southerners formed the Democratic Party which became directly opposed by the Republicans. The Northern Republicans main cause was the opposition of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened new lands for settlement and allowed white men in those territories to determine the appointment of slavery. The northern Republican belief system was reflected in 1856 through the trademark "free labor, free land, free men" created by Salmon P. Chase. "Free labor" referred to no slave labor, "free land" meaning no slave plantations, and "free men" referred to the entire ideology of anti-slavery.

The first official party convention for the Republicans was held on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan. By 1858, the Republicans commanded almost all Northern states. The Republican Party first came to power in 1860 with the decision of Lincoln to the Presidency and Republicans in control of Congress and once more, the Northern states. With Lincoln in Presidency, the end of slavery and provisions of equal rights were eventually passed across the United States.