Elections and its republican faces

After we have written something concerning definition, history and typical characteristics and programm, we are going to tell you something about election and candidates

For the USA, we will look at the presidential election of 2008, for Germany at the “Bundestagswahl” in 2009.

Interesting Essays

I found some interesting Essays from the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung e.V..

Have a look at it. What do you say about them?

http://www.hss.de/uploads/tx_ddceventsbrowser/081126_Politischer_Bericht_USA_Republikaner_01.pdf

May I introduce you to the policy of John McCain?!

I thought it would be easier to find something about the program of the Republicans in 2008 in America. But it was difficult because there is no real Republican party. It is more like a political movement which supports the candidates.

So I decided to tell you somewhat about the issues John McCain deals with in the federal state Arizona. But I am sure you can convey these issues to the entire United States, too.

That fits perfectly because Isabell is going to blog about the candidates and than you will get to know more detailed information about John McCain.

However let`s look at his issues:

1.) Government

McCain is of the opinion that the public should not be threatend by higher taxes. Instead of that he wants to keep spending lower. He condemns the debts America only made last year ($ 12 trillion). Especially by giving it to other countries. In this context his homepage says: “John McCain believes America’s destiny is too promising to be squandered by placing our economic wherewithal in the hands of foreign governments.”

2.) Health Care Reform

Here his motto is “lowering the cost of care while making coverage more accessible”.

McCain believes that Americas` Health Care system is one of the best ones in the world, but he also knows that it is one of the most expensive ones. McCain wants a reform which protects Americas` freedom. He does not want federal government to get new ways of controlling the state.

“He will work with members of both parties to secure access to affordable care to all Americans, without turning to a federal government designed and controlled system that will lead to rationing of care, stifling of innovation, and further compounding of our fiscal challenges.”

3.) Education

In this context his demands appear to be simple and perfunctory:

“Every public school child deserves a first-rate education. And too many of our schools are producing second-rate results.”

McCain even talks about giving bonuses “to teachers working in our most troubled schools because we need their fine minds and good hearts to help turn those schools around.”

And to be not unfair he wants to give bonuses to highest-achieving teachers, too. In this context he ensures that the money will be put where it belongs- “in the office of the school principal”.

(Obviously the education system is corruptible…)

4.) Protection of borders and homeland

Here we speak of the borders of the federal state Arizona.

“Our first priority must be to assure the integrity of our southern border while providing robust assistance to Mexico to stem the threat of drug cartel and human smuggling violence”.

Furthermore he does not support amnesty and believes that lawbreakers should not be rewarded. Moreover he thinks it is important to deal with the problem of undocumented immigrants.

“John McCain believes an essential component of any comprehensive reform to America’s immigration policy must include the implementation of temporary worker programs that reflect the labor needs of Arizona and the United States in the high-tech, low skilled, and agricultural sectors while protecting employment opportunities for US workers.”

5.) Honoring and supporting the Great American Veterans

“Since the beginning of our history as a nation the citizen soldier has been the archetypical heroic figure that all Americans greatly admire and many aspire to become. Senator McCain is no exception. The son and grandson of highly decorated admirals, he began his service to our country at age 17 when he entered the Naval Academy as a plebe in the summer of 1954.”

I think this first passage and the headline almost say everything about how McCain sees American Veterans…

McCain always stood up for enhancing and increasing the pay and benefits for fighting men or women in America.

“Senator McCain has been fighting for more than a generation to honor the contract between those who sacrifice and serve America, and those Americans who are safer for their sacrifice”.

6.) Strengthening Americas National Security

Threatenings are: violence by belligerent dictators and the terror by radical Islamic extremism and McCain does this to help:

“He will continue to work with the administration to ensure our goal to transition security operations to the Iraqi people in a safe manner, and to allow our American troops to return home in victory and with honor.

John McCain knows that our new strategy will demand close cooperation with our Pakistani partners, and that we must remain committed to assisting them in their own struggles with the forces of violent Islamic extremism that threaten their legitimate government.”

There are one or two more aspects McCain deals with but I think the issues I have presented to you, give you a quit good picture of his aims. I`m sorry if I quoted too much but I thought this passages represent perfectly what kind of policy McCain does or wants to do.

I do not want to be mean and maybe I need to concern myself more with his person, but I have the feeling that his “issues” are more praising his character than revealing something.

The homepage speaks of “McCain believes”, “McCain knows”, “he has been fighting for years” and so on and so forth. But I do not get the feeling he really gets precisevly. And I wondered the whole time why he speaks of himself in the third person or could it be that he engaged someone to write for and about him? You know assistance….

Moreover the Senator justifies his own policy by blaming the policy of the Democrats. Maybe it is common usage for the opposing party but it does not appear to be legitimate.

But perhaps I`m too negative or to dizzy because of the heat, so please feel yourself encouraged to join into the debate and tell me what you think about his issues:

http://www.johnmccain.com/issues/

Program "Die Republikaner"

If you search for their program of 2008, you find less information or just information about their program in a specific state (Bundesland). But you find the short program of 2009 which is also representative for their opinions and aims.
The program was interesting to read because I wondered whether it is radical or not.

I have picked out a few items they are referring to and in the following I`m going to sum them up. Here we go:

1.) Taxes
They call for the abolishment of the business activity package (Konjunkturpaket) and the support of single branches and major enterprises. Instead of that they ask for a recovery of taxes for the citizens.
2.) Work has to be profitable!
They call for the abolishment of the inheritance tax (Erbschaftssteuer)
3.) Liability of banks
They call for a national, let`s say watcher or institution, which evaluates the finance business realistically. (Especially in context with the US). Moreover they are pro liability for people which are in high positions within a bank.
4.) No more Afghanistan!
They call for more presence of the police in the public, for the rejection of criminal migrants and for example for the prohibition of games which convey glorify violence.
5.) Integration means assimilation!
Who tries to assimilate will be advanced, who does not has to go. No dual citizenship.
Who is willing to assimilate should speak our language and be willing to work.
6.) School has to be whip into shape!
They call for the preservation of our trinomial school system and the abolishment of ineffective comprehensive school experiments.
7.) Respect the civil rights!
They are pro petition for a referendum and a direct election of the Federal President (Bundespräsident). Moreover they are against censorship on the internet, but do not sanction for example children pornography.
8.) Secure the electrical power supply!
They are pro continuing existing atomic power plants, but on the condition of a very high security level. Furthermore they are against building new atomic power plants. Instead of that they advocate alternative energies and the research in it.

Ok, that were some facts I found important to mention. In my opinion their demands are not too radical. In some facts I even agree with them. I am not a racist or intolerant, but I do think too, that people who are not willing to adopt and criminal, should not live in our country. Nevertheless the state should do more to integrate migrants which find assimilating difficult. If they are not cooperative than you can think of rejection.
Besides that I would guess that a lot of people are pro liability for people which are in high positions within a bank. Think of the world economic crisis.

What I find critical is their attitude towards the islam. Look at the picture below and what they write in the program. By creating those posters it is no wonder people think the party is right-winged.


Anyway the whole program does not appear too radical or far-right. Maybe that is the reason why the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution does not obey the party anymore.

But if you want to make up your own mind, look at the program on your own. Have fun with it :-) :

http://www.rep.de/upload/CMS/rep.de/Daten/Informationen/Wahlen/Bundestagswahlen/090721_rep_BTW09_wahlprogramm.pdf

The typical Republican - Germany

Well, this is quite tricky to write about. I supposed to find information that you get, when you think of German right-winged (or –extremist) parties like the NPD: the average voters come from the new German states (in the east), come from a deprived area, have very uncaring parents and so forth. But in fact that isn’t so. Despite of the fact that the average German republican voter is not too educated, there are not many demographic facts that you could use as a profile for the “typical” republican voter. The only thing that is striking, is that two thirds of the voters are male.

The party has been under the observance of the German Verfassungsschutz because of their nationalist program, but since 2005 they are not longer considered as being right extremist, so it is no relevant party for neo-Nazis to vote (even though there are certainly many voters of the German republicans that are xenophobic and anti-Semitic).

On the republican’s website a young republican candidate says, that he is member of the German republican party because it stands for democracy, freedom and patriotism.

In Bavaria, the conservative party CSU lost many voters to the republicans. Maybe that is a sign for the republican voters being discontent with the way their big conservative party acts, maybe it acts not extreme and hard enough. The “Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung” says, that German republicans are afraid of social and financial decline and so vote for a party with a more extreme party program. That thought is not too farfetched, I guess, because you can see the same trend in dissatisfied left voters, who change from the big party SPD to the more extreme and more left party “Die Linke” (and it seems to be the same in America, considering the Tea Party - check the blog out for more information).

The typical Republican - America

Well first of all, I had my difficulties with this topic because I dislike stereotyping people. But anyways, there seem to be some demographic facts about the “typical” American republican party voter.
Several sites say, that “typical” republican voters are educated and older persons, who are often supporters of military and the Christian church. Just one quarter of the gay population votes for the Republicans. Even though the party was founded on the civil rights movement, it has not many black supporters (there should be a quite representative diagram here, but somehow it does not work. I'll try again later).

70-80 % of the Jewish does not vote for the Republicans, the “Mormons” instead gave 89% of their votes for George W. Bush. On my research I found the saying “not rich enough to be Republican” – a cynic hint to the fact, that the “typical” Republican is financially well stated.The typical “red” states are in the south and the west of the USA.
An article in the German magazine Spiegel says, that a third of the republican voters prefer a candidate who “says what he thinks”.
My beloved friend Wikipedia told me (no worries, there are loads of scientific proofs for that), that Republicans mostly supported by whites from married couples with children living at home – wow, that sounds conservative!
If you want to get more information on that, I recommend to visit the website of Wikipedia, it offers many scientific essays and other sources to this topic.
To sum it up, here is a video we found on youtube, but please do not take it too seriously!

Historical Aspects - USA

Jefferson created the political party to oppose the economic and foreign policies of the Federalists, a party created a year or so earlier by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. The republican party opposed the Jay Treaty of 1794 with Britain (then at war with France) and supported good relations with France before 1801. The party insisted on a strict construction of the Constitution, and denounced many of Hamilton's proposals (especially the national bank) as unconstitutional. The party favored states' rights and the primacy of the yeoman farmer over bankers, industrialists, merchants, and other monied interests. There was always a range of opinion within the party on issues of commerce, public works, and industrialization, which were more warmly received by Madison and the Democrats than by Jefferson and the Republicans; but this was a preference, not a firm ideology on either side. Jefferson signed a bill funding a canal for the Potomac in 1805; Madison ended his term in office vetoing a public works bill.

Jeffersonian purists, or "Old Republican" wing of the party, led by Jefferson, John Randolph of Roanoke, William H. Crawford, and Nathaniel Macon, favored low tariffs, states' rights, strict construction of the Constitution, and reduced spending. It opposed a standing army. The "National Republicans," led by Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun, eventually favored higher tariffs, a stronger national defense, and "internal improvements" (public works projects).
After the Federalist Party broke up in 1815, many former members joined the nationalist faction of the party.

In order to be able to make a difference between Jefferson's republican party and the Republican Party of our days, some have begun to retro-actively apply the name Democratic-Republicans to the party formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison around 1792.
However, they and their supporters identified themselves as republicans. In the political climate of Jefferson's day, "democrat" was actually considered a pejorative.
So, while the term "Democratic Republican" was also used by contemporaries, it was used mostly by the party's opponents.

If you want some more information, take a look at this chronology
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/repub_policy/pdf/03Chro.pdf