WITH ABOUT a month until Election Day, Americans are at once faced with a stark contrast between the two major parties and very little understanding of what they stand for. Many probably don't even know what they themselves stand for. Yet, to make a truly informed decision, it is crucial to understand the ideologies and principles that define our politics.
Most voters decide on the basis of what particular issues matter most to them. Others base their votes on candidates' personalities or trustworthiness. Worst of all, some toe the party line because that's how their family has always voted.
Like religion, politics can be a very meaningless enterprise unless we understand why we believe what we believe. Otherwise, voting is simply an exercise in going through the motions -- much like a nonbeliever taking Communion. Because everyone can have his own interpretations of ideology -- as is the case with theology -- I can only purport to explain my own beliefs.
I am a Republican. That means I oppose affirmative action, welfare and prescription price manipulation. I want to privatize Social Security after we meet our obligations to those who have already paid a lifetime into the system. And I favor tax cuts. Those who don't understand the principles underlying these positions make ad hoc judgments: I'm a racist and I don't care about poor, sick or old people.
But for me, there are important reasons Republicans believe what they believe; they value the autonomy of the individual, while Democrats prefer the primacy of the state. Thus, on any number of seemingly unrelated issues, Republicans and Democrats systematically disagree. It's not that they spar simply for the sake of differentiating themselves. Rather, there are principles underlying their positions and partisanship.
The Democrats picked a particularly appropriate speaker to kick off their convention this summer. Illinois senator-to-be Barack Obama captured his party's "fundamental belief" in one single phrase when he said, "I am my brother's keeper." Republicans, in contrast, want to be others' keepers as much as we want others to be ours. We don't like telling others what to do, and we like being told what to do as much as college students like being told what they can put on their dorm room walls.
Thus, Republicans believe it should be left to individuals how to plan their own retirements, just as we allow them to plan their careers and families. Democrats believe retirement planning is the state's prerogative.
Republicans believe decisions about where kids should go to primary and secondary school are theirs and their parents' to make. Democrats believe the state should decide.
Republicans believe decisions about what health insurance to buy, or whether to buy it at all, belong to the individual, and those unable to afford it should receive subsidies (we are a compassionate bunch, after all). Democrats believe in a mandatory, state-run scheme, regardless of whether people want it or not.
Republicans believe prescription drug prices should be determined voluntarily, based on the intersection between the prices individuals and their insurance are willing to pay and those manufacturers are willing to charge. Democrats believe prices should be determined by sending drugs to the Canadian Parliament -- where they are set by what Ayn Rand called the "barrel of the gun."
Republicans believe in self-determination over questions as personal as self-identity and race. Democrats believe the government should categorize, classify and tabulate on the basis of pre-conceived racial groups.
Republicans believe individuals should be allowed to apply to jobs and schools in their own right. Democrats believe the government should impose percentage and "critical mass" requirements (code for quotas), using skin color as a proxy for identity.
Republicans believe individuals should be allowed to keep their own money to use as they see fit. Democrats believe tax cuts "cost" the government money because it goes back to individuals, who didn't have the right to it in the first place and wouldn't use it as well as the government would.
Republicans believe individuals should have the freedom to determine their own diets, even if it is to binge on Big Macs. Democrats believe the government should litigate and regulate against fast food restaurants to protect people from themselves.
In short, Republicans believe individuals must have the right to self-determination, even if they sometimes make bad choices. Democrats believe that, through government control over private behavior, we can be "our brothers' keepers."
Again, as in religion, there are some contradictions within both parties that remain unresolved. And certainly not everyone will interpret the issues as I have done. But it is important that each of us develop an overarching framework for understanding our political beliefs. Otherwise, politics becomes so pointless that we might as well vote by throwing darts.
Eric Wang's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at ewang@cavalierdaily.com.
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