Feel free to add to this if you like, and if you have a question, just ask me in the comments.

I had been stewing over and over in my head why the different parties had become what they have become over the years, what with their various platforms and all. The Republican platform seems to rest upon a "free market" and a "pull yourself up from your own bootstraps" kind of mentality. The Democrats, however seem to rest upon an "equality of opportunity" standpoint. Although was a difficult conclusion to come to, but I have decided that a Democratic economic policy is far better than the Republican one.

EXTENDED POST

Make no mistake about it, I am a staunch capitalist, and that is one of the many reasons why I'm a Democrat.

I was with a couple of my friends at a bar in downtown San Diego and we were talking to the regulars. One of them just so happened to be the executive of shipping for Anheiser-Busch. We had a very lengthy discussion between the two of us, and he expressed his resentment toward many of the conservative growth policies put forth recently, by saying that "Uncontrolled growth isn't growth at all, and is bound to fail. You need to make sure that you have all your bases covered, or else everyone's just gonna run all over you."

Hearing this, I realized that economics went beyond just matters of money, although that does play a strong factor, which I will get to.

When looking upon history, particularly during the industrial revolution, there were many violent riots involving hard-working blue-collar workers, and their wealthy oppressors. The workers were treated badly, they were underpaid, and free societies as a whole were being stifled because so many people were stuck under the thumb of economic strife. This was all in the name of the spread of an unchecked "free" market. Thus the rise of violent communism took place and even more chaos, fear, and international tension took place. Maintaining a fair economic policy is the correct thing to do because if the common man is taken care of, the essence of a free society is taken care of.

Another example I have seen was from Thomas Friedman in his book, "The World is Flat". He was explaining that terrorism wasn't taking place because those people were inherently evil. He had said that when young men and women are faced with certain hardships and oppression, they become desperate, and try to escape their current situation in any way that they can deem possible. He used Muslims in India, stating that there is no active terrorism going on in India based out of Radical Islam because Muslims in India are given more opportunity to excel and develop themselves economically and personally. They wind up not turning to terrorism as a result of this. The government gives them the opportunities they need to succeed and they act accordingly.

Lastly (I use this one with Republicans, because it is the one they seem to be able to comprehend best), we are in a world that is changing daily before our very eyes. We have China and India nipping at our heels as a global power, our dollar is worth much less than the Euro, and there is a widening gap between the rich and the poor in this country. There is a massive untapped resource in this country, and that is the hard work, and sharp minds of those young men and women who just didn't have the money to really make the most of themselves. If we can't provide the opportunity to excel for the rich and poor alike, than we are doomed to falling behind other societies which may not cherish the freedom that we are so privelidged with. Not only opportunities to excel for these people, but backup plans just in case their business ventures fail to prevent any kind of depression or recession.

So there you have it. With a Democratic economic policy, you can stifle tyrants, you can stifle terrorism, and you can ensure the steady and promising growth for as long as you like. :P

"If a society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." John Fitzgerald Kennedy