American Political Parties, Briefly

At the beginning of the American Revolution, the continental United States belonged to the countries of  England, Spain, France, Russia and also to the Native American tribes.  As the revolution became real, with fighting and deaths on the eastern seaboard, the two generally recognized political parties were the Tories, who supported the British government rule, and the Whigs, who wished to become independent.
   Once independence was achieved, most histories refer to the "party" of the Washington administration as Federalists, with those in opposition called Antifederalists.  There were no real national political parties at that time, although some states made loose coalitions along of the lines of cosmopolitan versus localist.  George Washington, himself, was not a member of any party.  He just accepted the leadership, as himself, as he accepted the post of Commander in Chief of the Revolution.
   At the beginning of the fifth Congress, those people who had supported the policies of the Washington administration became known as Federalists because they supported a strong national government as a counterweight to the growing number of States.  Those who had been in opposition became known as Republicans, because they felt that defending the sovereignty of the States against encroachment by the Federal Government was a truer essence of the federal republic known as the United States  of America.  The Federalists, feeling that their contrary vision of what a federal republic should be was more "Republican" in spirit, derisively referred to the Republicans as "Democrats."  At that time "Democrats" had connotations of the mob rule associated with the then-still very recent Reign of Terror following the French Revolution of 1789.
    John Quincy Adams was elected as a Republican in the 1824 campaign.  Supporters of Andrew Jackson did not view Adams as a "legitimately elected" holder of the Presidency, and the Republican party split into two factions: pro Adams/anti Jackson and pro Jackson/anti Adams. When Andrew Jackson became the next President, the Republican party was split in two - they were now the Democratic Republicans and the National Republicans.  The Democratic Republicans (who had supported Andrew Jackson) took their name from their identification with the democracy they urged on behalf of "the common man."  The National Republicans (who had supported John Quincy Adams) adopted their name from the nationalizing policies that Adams had pushed in his administration.  Neither group was willing to release their ties to the "old" Republicans prior to 1824.
   At the beginning of Andrew Jackson's second term as President, the Democratic Republicans became generally known as Democrats.  The National Republicans, however, became Whigs; they saw themselves as a bulwark against the "excesses" of the administration Jackson and his Vice president Martin Van Buren, and were proud to use the name of the group of men who had "stood up to" England.
    The issue of slavery was the death of the Whigs.  The Compromise of 1850, which first adapted the concept of "squatter sovereignty" to the problem of the extension of slavery to the territories,was lost in the battle over the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which first extended this principle north of the northernmost limit of slavery under the Missouri Compromise of 1850.  By this time there were multiple smaller political parties that had developed locally and nationally.
    In 1854, in the wake of the fallout from the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Free Soilers and Conscience Whigs joined forces with the Free Democrats and the Know-Nothings to form what is, today, the Republican Party.  Other Southern Whigs joined in with the Democrats; while Old Whigs formed the Constitutional Union Party.  This last party died quietly after the election of Abraham Lincoln to his first term.
    Currently, the Democratic and Republican parties are the two largest political parties in the United States.

America's Political Parties - A Few

The two main political parties in the United States of America are the Democratic party and the Republican party (also known as the GOP, or Grand Old Party).  There are also, several smaller (so called "third") parties involved in the government of our nation - the American Independent Party, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the Constitution Party, several Socialist parties, the Justice Party, the Working Families Party, and the U. S. Pacifist Party. (There are currently, at least, 41 voting parties registered within the United States of America.)

    The Democratic Party operates according to a philosophy that emphasizes positive rights and the notion that people are entitled to certain things and that government is obliged to create the conditions in which people can achieve these things.
    According to www.Democrats.org, the Democratic Party believes that it is the government's responsibility to make sure businesses and other institutions serve the interest of the people.  The Democratic platform normally calls for higher corporate taxes, minimum wage hikes, and support for unions.  They advocate an individualism, in which people are able to lead a chosen lifestyle.
    The origins of the Democrats are in the Democratic-Republican Party, organized by Thomas Jefferson in the late eighteenth century.  The first President elected simply as a "Democrat" was Andrew Jackson.

    The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers.  The first elected Republican President was Abraham Lincoln, prior to the beginning of America's Civil War.  It was fractured by multiple scandals in the late nineteenth century.
     The Republican Party supports a pro-business platform, with further foundations in economic libertarianism and a brand of social conservatism increasingly based on the viewpoints of the Religious Right.  Republicans are generally pro-religion, anti-bureaucracy, pro-military, pro-business and pro-personal responsibility.
    Republicans see "big government" as wasteful and an obstacle to getting things done.  Their approach is Darwinian capitalism, in that a strong  business should survive in a free market rather than the government influencing (through regulation) who wins or loses in business.

   The Libertarian Party seeks a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives, and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others. They defend each person's right to engage in any activity that is peaceful and honest, and welcome the diversity that freedom brings.  Libertarians seek to build a world in which individuals are free to follow their own dreams, in their own ways, without interference from government or any authoritarian power.

    The Constitution Party has seven principles that they espouse as their platform:
1.  Life:  For all human beings, from conception to natural death.
2.  Liberty:  Freedom of conscience and actions for the self-governed individual.
3.  Family:  One husband and one wife with their children, as divinely instituted.
4.  Property:  Each individual's right to own and steward personal property without government burden.
5.  Constitution and Bill of Rights:  Interpreted according to the actual intent of the Founding Fathers.
6.  States' Rights:  Everything not specifically delegated by the Constitution to the Federal Government, nor prohibited by the Constitution to the states, is reserved to the states or to the people.
7.  American Sovereignty:  American government committed to the protection of the borders, trade, and common defense of Americans, and not entangled in foreign alliances.

    The Green Party of the United States has ten key values as its' platform:
1.  Grassroots Democracy:  Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives and will not be subject to the will of another.
2.  Social Justice and Equal Opportunity
3.  Ecological wisdom
4.  Non-violence
5.  Decentralization
6.  Community-based economics and economic justice
7.  Feminism and gender equality
8.  Respect for diversity
9.  Personal and global responsibility
10.  Future focus and sustainability

    If you would like to know more about other political parties within the United States of America, please visit this website:  http://www.uselections.com/parties.htm

A Night At the Caucus - Or Primary vs Caucus

As I stated yesterday, I spent the first voting years of my life in either Florida or Virginia.  In both states, one visited a designated precinct's polling place, signed in, and went to a voting machine to make one's vote.  When I moved to Colorado, I was initiated into the role of the Caucus.  I didn't know it, but Colorado had used Primary elections in the past, and changed to the Caucus venue to save an estimated $3 million in cost per Primary.
   The Republicans in Colorado held a non-binding straw caucus last night, in some areas, while the Democrats were holding their Caucus.  I went to my place of Caucus, Boulder High School, and, after waiting 3 hours, and having been assured (at the beginning) that my vote would count, I was one of hundreds, possibly thousands, that were turned away.  I was very upset and angry.  In counting the non-binding straw vote, Repulicans largely supported Trump; while in Longmont,  from a precinct with a voter turn-out of 20, two voted for Trump, and there were nine votes each for Rubio and Cruz.
   At 1 a.m. this morning, the Boulder Democratic committee stated that during last night's Caucus, 23,568 votes were cast - 63% for Bernie Sanders. 36% for Hilary Clinton, and 1% undecided.   But the Democrats also stated that they were completely overwhelmed by the voting turn-out and had very badly underestimated the interest in this year's vote.  (They had planned for a turn-out of 15,000 or less.)  Hundreds of people at my sister's caucus site, Centennial Middle School, were turned away.  My room mate Beatrice and I were turned away, as were many other hundreds of voters at Boulder High School.
   The Boulder County Democrat Party has apologized to those of us who were unable to vote.  I think that,perhaps, Colorado should go back to a Primary voting poll rather than a caucus, in the very near future.....  Colorado uses mail-in ballots, or one can deposit them into repositories at several locations.  At least that way, I know my vote would have been counted - as it was not last night.

Impressive Speech for 13,000 Plus

Back in 1988, I think it was, I finished working my night shift at Shands Teaching Hospital, went home, showered, grabbed a breakfast sandwich, and went back to the University of Florida campus to see a campaign appearance by Bill and Hilary Clinton and Al and Tipper Gore.  The old rock played before the candidates appeared was soothing to me.  I was delighted with the messages that were delivered by both Al Gore and Bill Clinton when they spoke.  I was even more excited (more like P. O.'d, at that time) to be caught up in the Secret Service sweep as the Clintons and Gores were leaving - I'd taken a few shortcuts through the Student Union on my way home, and found myself plastered against the black suit of an agent.  But - after very limited questioning, I got to stand and talk with both couples until their limo arrived, and I was allowed to go.  All four were quite nice and seemed to be interested in my 'story.'  (Of course, they are/were politicians...)
   Today I got to see President Obama in person on Norlin Quad at the University of Colorado in Boulder.  It's estimated that over 13,000 people were there to hear his address. (And I do not like crowds.)  We were originally told that he would appear between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. - I put it at the later time, just because of my age and experience.  The President stopped off at The Golden Buff restaurant before coming on campus.  He joked, during his speech, that after seeing all the Mimosas and Bloody Marys being served, he was afraid that Boulder was having too much fun to remember to vote on Election Day.
   I missed the name of the female black pastor who led the invocation, but she really impressed me.  A Hispanic student then led us in the Pledge of Allegiance; then we were spoken to by Joe Neguse, a member of CU's Board of Regents; Michael Bennet, our Colorado State Senator; and then Governor John Hinckenlooper.  Sarah Andrews, an Obama organizer at CU spoke next, and then Ryan Case, a senior at CU, who has recently lost both parents to illnesses that insurance companies would not cover, as they were considered pre-existing conditions.  He made me cry.  Ryan introduced the President to the crowd.
  President Obama started out slow, then built up speed and energy through his speech.  He was wearing chino slacks and a light blue shirt, with the sleeves rolled to just below his elbows.  He spoke eloquently.  I did laugh when, during his comments about the Republican Convention, some students booed - and the President said, "Don't boo.  Vote!"  He called the repetition of the Republican standards  the same old "snake oil" that the GOP has repeated for the last century.  He said that, as a nation, "we're not looking back - we're going forward" and that America "leads" the world "with her strength of ideas and her power of example."  Of course, he asked us to vote for him.  I shall.  (Romney and Ryan's plans about retirement, women's health care issues, Medicare, and Social Security frighten me.)