Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have officially accepted their party nominations and will face off in November for the presidency.
Every four years, Americans are flooded with information about presidential candidates. One candidate promises one thing and another promises something different. Sometimes candidates promise the same thing but swear to deliver it in a different way.
With so much different information and variation in political beliefs, it can be difficult to keep candidates straight. Getting the facts before heading to the polls will help voters in selecting the candidate and party they believe is right for them.
Each election is different, but the biggest competition is mostly between the Republican and Democrats.
For this election, the main focuses of the Republican Party are the economy, national defense, health care, education, energy and the court system, according to the GOP website.
Generally, Republicans believe in a free-market economy and oppose federal government control of industries. The Republican party also is interested in energy independence for America and looks for ways to responsibly produce a number of different energies, including nuclear power, clean coal, and solar and wind power, according to the GOP website.
Republicans also believe a judge’s role is “to interpret the law, not make law from the bench” and that “judges in our federal court system should demonstrate fidelity to the U.S. Constitution,” according to the site.
Democrats are focusing on similar issues, including energy independence, education, national security, the economy and health care, in addition to immigration reform and civil rights, according to the party’s website.
Currently, one of the biggest issues between Democrats and Republicans is health care.
A mostly Democrat-supported health care reform bill was recently passed that will expand health care coverage to Americans, according to the Democratic Party website.
Republicans oppose the Affordable Health Care Act, citing that the party does not believe in a government-run health care system because of concerns that it would not protect physician and patient relationships and would not promote health care quality, according to the GOP website.
As individuals, each candidate has outlined plans in the event of their election, or re-election in Obama’s case.
In order to get more perspective into each candidate’s plans would be to see where they differ.
On the topics of jobs and economic growth, Romney plans to reduce and stabilize federal spending as well as reduce marginal rates to increase entrepreneurship and investments, according www.mittromney.com.
Obama’s plan for the economy include growing “high technology, U.S. manufacturing capacity and supply clean energy projects with American-made parts and equipment,” in order to add jobs to the American market.
During his time in office¸ Obama also signed the America Invents Act to help entrepreneurs with their inventions, which also could create new businesses and jobs, according to www.barackobama.com.
If elected, Romney also intends to go in a new direction with health care. He plans to work with Congress to repeal the Obamacare legislation and work with states to create health care policies they believe would best work for their individual citizens.
Obama has already implemented his plan for health care with the Affordable Health Care Act, which made health care obtainable for nearly 34 million Americans, according to Obama’s website.
The act’s goal is to make sure all Americans will be able to afford health care by 2014.
National security also is a concern for both candidates.
Currently, the Navy’s shipbuilding rate is nine per year in order to add more to the Navy’s fleet and implement a better defense system. Romney plans to increase that number to 15 per year, and he also plans to replace the aging inventory of the Air Force, Army and Marines.
Romney also plans to commit to a national “ballistic-missile defense system to deter and defend against nuclear attacks on our homeland and our allies,” according to his website.
Obama’s plan for national security is to concentrate on the threats America is facing by making efforts to defeat Al-Qaeda. During his time in office, he also passed the START Treaty with Russia in order to “reduce the number of nuclear weapons deployed by Russia,” according to Obama’s website.
