Abstract
This paper discusses the political dilemma the Democrats are in due to President Bush's tax cuts. It explains that if Democrats are against the tax cuts, it looks bad. If they are for them, they risk, not only the huge deficits, but also a lack of money to fund any of the programs Democrats have historically favored, such as expanding services to the elderly.

From the Paper
"The bad news is not over yet and it lies in facts Altman didn't even dump into his frightening, but all too likely, scenario. People are living longer every year, and medical breakthroughs are hardly likely to stop. Olian provides the chilling information that "life expectancy continues it upward trend from 68 years in 1950, to almost 77 in 2000." So in addition to paying for the elderly, more substantially than any generation has in the past, the next two generations current college students and their parents are likely to pay for the elderly longer than ever before."

Tags:politics, campaign, elderly, medicare

Abstract
The paper explains that the primary reasons people joined the Democratic Party during the middle decades of the 19th century were economic, the welcoming of immigrants, and the Populist movement. The author points out that the idea that the Democratic Party would create a more egalitarian country in which talent and ambition and energy mattered more than family background and connection was very appealing. The paper reports that the Granger Movement, which had strong allegiances to the Democratic Party, had broad goals, seeking to improve not only the economic conditions of farmers, but also their social status and political power.

Table of Contents
Introduction
A President of the People
The Grangers as Archetypal Democrats
Conclusion

From the Paper
"It was because the Democratic Party suggested that simply because a person wasn't from a good family and well educated didn't mean that he or she wasn't just as good as anyone else that it gained in popularity. It was because it supported populist ideals that it dominated American politics during the middle decades of the 19th-century, until it began to splinter under the pressures brought about by the Civil War and Manifest Destiny. These decades saw the elections of Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan as the Democrats won every presidential election, saving 1840 and 1848."

Tags:jackson, immigrants, egalitarian, granger, farmer

Abstract
Historically, African Americans were strong supporters of the Republican Party after the Civil War. Throughout the nineteenth century, The Republican Party were perceived as the champions of Emancipation while the Democrats were associated with white supremacy.

From the Paper
"Historically, African Americans were strong supporters of the Republican Party after the Civil War. Throughout the nineteenth century, The Republican Party were perceived as the champions of Emancipation while the Democrats were associated with white supremacy. However, by the Great Depression and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1936 presidential campaign, African Americans had made a dramatic shift toward supporting the Democratic Party. African American support for the Democratic Party has remained steadfast in the sixty years since the New Deal. To a great extent, the change in African American perceptions of the two parties has changed because of the remarkable transformation these parties underwent from the beginning of the twentieth century through FDR's 1936 election. This paper will focus on the three presidential elections ..."

Abstract
This paper examines the Jacksonian Democrats, who saw themselves as the guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberties and equality of economic opportunity. The paper describes how they destroyed aristocracy in American during the antebellum period.

From the Paper
"During antebellum America, the Jacksonian Democrats were created. This was a group that viewed themselves as protectors of the common people. A powerful executive whose goal was to destroy aristocracy in America, Andrew Jackson, ruled the Jacksonian Democrats. (Schlesinger)
Strangely, this group was not made up of the common people. The Jacksonian Democrats were a wealthy group that supported equality between white men, enacted radical economic policies, and disregarded any capabilities of the federal government. Many say that the group was not the introducers of democracy in America but rather users of the system for their own benefit."

Tags:indian, native, american, antebellum, equality, democracy, tariff, south, north

Abstract
This paper examines the education debate in the 2000 presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. It concludes that Bush put together a focused campaign on the issue, driven by talk of school accountability and backed by his education record in Texas, that the Gore campaign was never able to solidly refute. Gore had the lead on the education debate and had stances on education issues that more closely matched those of the average voter, but his campaign was unable to put together a cohesive message on education and in turn could not fight off Bush's advances. In exploring the education debate, this paper considers the idea of issue ownership in campaigns and how Bush overall made up significant ground in the election by pushing on traditionally Democratic issues like education, Social Security, and Medicare. This paper relies heavily on commercials run by each campaign, speeches delivered by each candidate during the race, and the reflections of those working at the top of each campaign.

From the Paper
"When it comes to issues that are regularly at the forefront of American presidential campaigns, education is an anomaly in one particular respect: The president of the United States by and large has very little meaningful impact on what takes place in and around the nation's schools. Granted, the federal government has played an increasingly important role in funding the nation's public schools since the enacting of Title I in 1965. And various rulings by federal courts and pieces of legislation by Congress over the years have provided some general guidance to education in this country. But by all accounts, Washington "especially the Executive Branch" plays only a marginal role in shaping what takes place in America's classrooms and how the country's schoolchildren learn and perform. In terms of education the president is, at most, a distant consultant, offering a vision for what U.S. schools should be doing in a general sense, while perhaps forwarding a piece of legislation or two that may advance the cause; at the least, he is a prominent cheerleader for educational causes being carried out at the state and local level. Either way, the president's influence on schools and education pales in comparison to that exerted by state and local governments, school boards, teachers unions, and parent groups."

Tags:accountability, campaigns, gore, issue, ownership, schools, vouchers

Abstract
This paper looks into the practice of politics in the United States. The writer discusses the polarity in conservative/liberal political views, as represented by the two major political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. The writer demonstrates that the significance of this study is to foster an understanding of how the pluralistic dimension of political discourse affects politics in the United States.

From the Paper
"The prevalent political culture of the United States has shaped the way politics are practiced. Political culture is the inherited set of beliefs, attitudes and opinions Americans have about how their government ought to operate. We know that there is an overall shared culture through information derived from voting, polls, books, speeches and what we see on the media. The foundation of political culture is based on certain common values including the freedoms in the Bill of Rights, liberty, equality, individual responsibility, democracy ... "

Tags:ideologies, political parties, democrat, republican, pluralistic society, rights, political culture

Abstract
This paper examines Barak Obama's platform when he was the democratic candidate for the US Presidency. The paper examines his position on five elements and whether they are typically democratic in nature or if his position is closer to the conservative platform than many democrats realize. The paper specifically focuses on the five issues of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, gay marriage, healthcare, abortion and illegal immigration.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
The War in Iraq and Afghanistan
Illegal Immigration
Gay Marriage
Abortion
American Healthcare

From the Paper
"It is a subject about which Obama is very vocal, and he has a plan. Obama's plan is to extend to 47 million Americans who have no health insurance, subsidized coverage that will ensure they have access to health care (Flint, Samuel S. and Gorin, Stephen H., 2008). The problem is that Obama is addressing the problem of non-coverage, not access to healthcare. Since the onset of managed care in the 1980s, healthcare access has become a myriad of formalities and paperwork that delays access to vitally needed services and physicians (Zelman, Walter A, and Berenson, Robert A., 1998) (Altman, Stuart H., Reinhardt, Uwe, and Schactman, David, 1999) (Birembaum, Edward, 1997). It is the job of managed care to determine what services and care can be accessed based on the outcome of the diagnosis (Birenbaum, 13-14)."

Tags:immigration, abortion, healthcare

Abstract
In this article, the writer examines the inner mechanisms of the political system of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The writer maintains that there are several key factors that account for its undeniable success, the most prominent of which include its complex structure and diverse support base, its ability to be flexible, pragmatic and non-ideological, and its relatively weak, fragmented and unorganized competition. Furthermore, the party also possesses the extraordinary ability to overcome the plethora of political barriers and scandals they have faced. The writer concludes that the conservative foundation built by the Liberal-Democrats is firmly entrenched within Japanese culture and its structural fundamentals suggest that its enormous influence on Japanese life will remain for many more years to come.

From the Paper
"In additional, further bias of election law is evident in the mal-apportionment of Japanese electoral districts. A census, which dates back to 1946, has provided the framework for the current distribution of the lower house and the corresponding districts associated with them. At that time, rural communities were the dominant force of Japanese demographics due to the drastic decline in population of major urban centers, such as Nagasaki and Tokyo. This was due to the various ramifications of the Second World War, including, ordered civilian evacuations, the tens-of-thousands that had left to serve in the military and, most significantly, the atomic bomb which desecrated two entire Japanese cities in a matter of moments. Once the War had receded, the urban centers where swiftly repopulated. It did not take long until the cities had grown considerably since the pre-war era and despite this major demographic shift, the distribution and apportionment of seats for the House of Representatives has remained unchanged."

Tags:democracy, economy, conservative, culture

Abstract
The paper relates that the Democratic Party's views on education call for teaching fundamental skills, like math and science, but also citizenship education, reform and expanded resources for education. The paper further discusses how they call for expanded early education, including the Head Start program, and more individualized attention for students with special needs or special talents. The paper relates that they call for improving teacher quality, starting with raising pay, and they want fair methods of evaluating teacher performance, helping those who can improve to improve, and removing those who cannot improve.

From the Paper
"The latest "official" Democratic Party views on education come from the 2004 Platform, adopted at the same convention which nominated John Kerry for President. Now, as never before, education is the key to opportunity, essential to a strong America. So we believe in an America that offers the best education to all our children - wherever they live, whatever their background. Period."

Tags:democrats, campaign, education

Abstract
The paper presents a scholarly analysis and critique of Merle Black's, "The Transformation of the Southern Democratic Party." The paper discusses Black's analysis of the fundamental changes that have occurred in the voting patterns of the American South.

From the Paper
"In his article, entitled "The Transformation of the Southern Democratic Party", author Merle Black attempts to understand the fundamental changes that have occurred in the voting patterns of the American South. Once a bastion of democratic support over the second half of the twentieth century, the south has turned increasingly away from democrats at the polling booth. According to Black, the emergence of the Republican party as a realistic alternative to the Democrats is the most dramatic story in Southern politics during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries."

Tags:merle black, southern democrats, article critique, voting