For the next few weeks, I’m reviewing and comparing the Democrat and Republican Party Plaforms. I’m doing this because there’s more to the election than just the President.
The Republican Party Platform is not new. It is exactly as it was in 2016. The Democratic Party Platform first plank is
Protecting American and recovering from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Just so I can keep everything straight, I put the information into a simple chart, like I would for corporate goals. This is also the way CoCo’s Individual Education Plans got laid out, too. Pretty easy to understand; I think:
We will______________ by_____________ so that______________ happens. I added a column for the page number, so you can reference it if you’d like. .
Republican Plank:
Of course, COVID-19 was nonexistent in 2016, so I didn’t expect to find anything about it in the Platform. Still, just to be fair, I did a word search on “Pandemic,” Epidemic,” “Virus, and “disease.”
I found 4 instances of “disease”:
- Page 24, regarding Medicaid: This reference is in regards to using block grants to States for disease prevention;
- Page 34, regarding sexually transmitted disease: This reference is in regards to replacing teen “family planning” with abstinence before marriage education;
- Page 36, regarding high cost of prescription drugs for chronic diseases: This reference is in regards to repealing the Affordable Care Act;
- Page 37, regarding medical advancements: This reference is in regards to funding research into discovery including Ebola, Zika, Chikungunya, and antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
- Page 53, regarding people of the world suffering from disease: This reference is in regards to helping people around the globe who are vulnerable and persecuted.
(I highlighted the page 37 because it included things that could threaten a pandemic.)
All five of these instances are under the Party Plank, “Government Reform.” No specific plans are proposed on these pages.
Democratic Plank:
| We will | By | So that we | Page |
| Under-stand the scope of the pandemic | Make testing available, convenient, free | Save lives | 9 |
| Help Americans with health costs | Expand Medicaid | Preserve and expand health insurance coverage | 9 |
| Help un-employed people with health costs | Pick up the cost of COBRA; reopen ACA enrollment; offer a public option | Preserve and expand health insurance coverage | 9 |
| Restore supplies of PPE | Work with private-sector manufacturers | Ensure medical supplies are distributed according to need | 9 |
| Enforce non-discrimin-ation protections | Prohibit rationing ; improve oversight for residents and staff at nursing homes; expand support for telemedicine | Americans do not have to go without essential health care during the pandemic | 10 |
| Follow informed advice of scientist and public health experts | Take steps to protect federal science from political influence | We are never again vulnerable to a global pandemic | 10
|
| Reform unemploy-ment insurance system | Promote payroll support and work-sharing programs; expand unemployment insurance system to cover gig, part-time, and tipped workers; make sure all companies pay into the systems; expand nutrition assistance and food security programs; upgrade states’ unemployment system technology | Keep workers whole and take care of our workforce | 10 |
| Support and create jobs | Extend aid to state and local governments, school districts, and public and nonprofit colleges and universities to address budget shortfalls and secure jobs; condition state and federal aid on maintaining and expanding public-sector employment | Prevent a depression | 11 |
| Make child care affordable and widely available | Provide funding to stabilize the sector | Children are safe | 11 |
| Help small business meet payroll, pay rent and other expenses | Provide grants and loans to small businesses; prioritize women- and people-of-color-owned businesses | Businesses stay open | 11 |
| Impose rigorous oversight on big corporations seeking assistance | Federal dollars keep workers on payroll | CEOs and shareholders are not enriched | 11 |
| Protect health of workers | Enact robust paid sick leave protections; enforce effective infectious disease workplace safety standards | No one needs to choose between protecting their health and earning a living. | 11 & 12 |
| Provide everyone access to the internet | Prevent states from blocking broadband networks; increase federal support for municipal broadband; increase public investment in rural, urban, and Tribal broadband infrastructure; offer low-income Americans subsidies | Children and families can fully participate in school, work, and life from their homes. | 12 |