As a follow up to yesterday’s piece on the freedom area of voting, and as a way to respond to many of you who have honest, sincere questions, here are the official platforms, in alphabetical order, of the four parties that garner most of the attention each election cycle.
Why list them? So you can decide for yourself by actually reading what they write. Too often we think we know what a party stands for, when in reality we may actually be leaning on information we’ve received second-, even third-hand. And with an admitted and too frequent gap in what a party states and how a party’s candidates act, this is a worthwhile exercise for those of us privileged to hold our representatives accountable.
So inspect these documents. Evaluate their positions. As a Christian (this is a presupposition of mine that affects how and to whom I write a majority of the time), determine which one(s) line up most closely with biblical values. Then hold them to their pledged pursuits.
Incidentally, these are the ones I read through. (NOTE: In the interest of full disclosure, the summarized version of the Democratic Party Platform and the Republican Party Platform are factual, quotable parts put together for quick reference by Joe Carter of the Gospel Coalition. I found them quite helpful.)
Democratic Party Platform and Summarized Dem. Platform
Republican Party Platform and Summarized Rep. Platform