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ABORTION
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"We will
defend the dignity of all Americans against those who would
undermine it. Because we believe in the privacy and equality
of women, we stand proudly for a woman's right to choose, consistent
with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay.
. . . At the same time, we strongly support family planning
and adoption incentives. Abortion should be safe, legal, and
rare."
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"The unborn
child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot
be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution.
. . . Our goal is to ensure that women with problem pregnancies
have the kind of support, material and otherwise, they need
for themselves and for their babies, not to be punitive towards
those for whose difficult situation we have only compassion.
. . . We salute those who provide alternatives to abortion and
offer adoption services."
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EDUCATION
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"We believe
in an America where every child comes to school ready to learn.
Where every student is held to high standards, and every school
has the resources and responsibility to meet those standards.
. . . Instead of pushing private school vouchers that funnel
scarce dollars away from the public schools, we will support
public school choice, including charter schools and magnet schools
that meet the same high standards as other schools. And at a
time when so many schools charged with our future are relics
of the past, we will build new schools and offer the technology
and equipment for a 21st-century education."
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"The Republican
Party strongly supports school choice, because choice creates
competition and competition puts the focus on quality. President
Bush, Republican governors, and members of Congress have worked
to expand parental choice and encourage competition by providing
parents with information on their child's school, increasing
the number of charter schools, and expanding education savings
accounts for use from kindergarten through college. . . . The
Republican Party supports the efforts of parents who choose
faith-based and other non-public school options for their children."
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CRIME
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"To keep
our streets safe for our families, we support tough punishment
of violent crime and smart efforts to reintegrate former prisoners
into our communities as productive citizens. We will crack down
on the gang violence and drug crime that devastate so many communities,
and we will increase drug treatment . . . for parolees and probationers,
so fewer crimes are committed in the first place. We support
the rights of victims. . . . We will help break the cycle of
domestic violence by punishing offenders and standing with victims."
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"We agree
that the best way to deter crime is to enforce existing laws
and hand down tough penalties against anyone who commits a crime
with a gun. . . . We support courts having the option to impose
the death penalty in capital murder cases. We praise . . . measures
. . . taken to protect pregnant women from violent crime by
passing Laci and Conner's law, which recognizes the common-sense
proposition that when a crime of violence against a pregnant
woman kills or injures her unborn child, there are two victims
and two offenses that should be punished."
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MARRIAGE
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"We support
full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our
nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections
for these families. In our country, marriage has been defined
at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue
to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush's divisive
effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a 'Federal
Marriage Amendment.' Our goal is to bring Americans together,
not drive them apart."
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"We recognize
the importance of having in the home a father and a mother who
are married. The two-parent family still provides the best environment
of stability, discipline, responsibility, and character. . .
. We strongly support President Bush's call for a Constitutional
amendment that fully protects marriage, and we believe that
neither federal nor state judges nor bureaucrats should force
states to recognize other living arrangements as equivalent
to marriage."
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STEM-CELL
RESEARCH
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"President
Bush has rejected the calls from Nancy Reagan, Christopher Reeve,
and Americans across the land for assistance with embryonic
stem cell research. We will reverse his wrongheaded policy.
Stem cell therapy offers hope to more than 100 million Americans
who have serious illnesses. . . . We will pursue this research
under the strictest ethical guidelines, but we will not walk
away from the chance to save lives and reduce human suffering."
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"We . .
. welcome and encourage a stronger emphasis on adult stem cell
and cord blood stem cell research, which has already provided
benefits to hundreds of patients. . . . We strongly support
the President's policy that prevents taxpayer dollars from being
used to encourage the future destruction of human embryos. In
addition, we applaud the President's call for a comprehensive
ban on human cloning and on the creation of human embryos solely
for experimentation."
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CIVIL
RIGHTS
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"We support
affirmative action to redress discrimination and to achieve
the diversity from which all Americans benefit. We believe a
day's work is worth a day's pay, and at a time when women still
earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, we need stronger
equal pay laws and stronger enforcement of them . . . . We support
the appointment of judges who will uphold our laws and constitutional
rights, not their own narrow agendas."
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"We believe
in the principle of affirmative access - taking steps to ensure
that disadvantaged individuals of all colors and ethnic backgrounds
have the opportunity to compete economically and that no child
is left behind educationally . . . we reject preferences, quotas,
and set-asides based on skin color, ethnicity, or gender, which
perpetuate divisions and can lead people to question the accomplishments
of successful minorities and women."
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ENVIRONMENT
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"We will
make our air cleaner and our water purer. We will ensure our
children can safely play in our neighborhoods, our families
can enjoy our national parks, and our sportsmen can hunt and
fish in our lakes and forests. We will foster a healthy economy
and a healthy environment by promoting new technologies that
create good jobs and improve our world. And we will work with
our allies to achieve these goals and to protect the global
environment, for this generation and future generations."
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"Thanks
to President Bush's strong leadership and the commitment of
Congressional Republicans to reform and innovation, air pollution
has been reduced, water quality has improved, wetlands have
been restored, and more than a thousand brownfields sites are
being revitalized. Republicans also acknowledge the progress
made by states and local communities in environmental stewardship
efforts . . . they should be given flexibility and authority
to address many environmental concerns."
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FAITH-BASED
INITIATIVES
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"We honor
the central place of faith in the lives of our people. Like
our Founders, we believe that our nation, our communities, and
our lives are made vastly stronger and richer by faith and the
countless acts of justice and mercy it inspires. We will strengthen
the role of faith-based organizations in meeting challenges
like homelessness, youth violence, and other social problems.
At the same time, we will honor First Amendment protections
and not allow public funds to be used to proselytize or discriminate."
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"We applaud
President Bush's efforts to promote the generous and compassionate
work of America's faith-based and neighborhood charities . .
. no organization should be disqualified from receiving federal
funds simply because it displays religious symbols, has a statement
of faith in its mission statement, or has a religious leader
on its board. As a result of the President's leadership, the
federal government is ending discrimination against faith-based
organizations and now welcomes these groups as partners and
allies in the effort to deliver social services to people in
need."
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HEALTH
CARE
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"We will
offer individuals and businesses tax credits to make quality,
reliable health coverage more affordable. We will provide tax
credits to Americans who are approaching retirement age and
those who are between jobs so they can afford quality, reliable
coverage. We will expand coverage for low-income adults through
existing federal-state health care programs. And we will provide
all Americans with access to the same coverage that members
of Congress give themselves."
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"We support
continued efforts to make health care more affordable, more
accessible, and more consumer-driven. . . . We must attack the
root causes of high health care costs by: aiding small businesses
in offering health care to their employees; empowering the self-employed
through access to affordable coverage; putting patients and
doctors in charge of medical decisions; reducing junk lawsuits
and limiting punitive damage awards that raise the cost of health
care; and seizing the cost-saving and quality-enhancing potential
of emerging health technologies."
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Editor’s
note: In order to assist our readers as they prepare to cast their votes
for President and Vice-President on Tuesday, November 2,
Fairfield County Catholic presents the following voter’s guide,
a study of several issues of great interest and importance to Catholics
and others, as quoted directly from the official published platforms
of the two major political parties. This study is not intended as an
endorsement of one party or candidate over the other, but as an educational
resource for the upcoming election. For more information and detail,
visit each party’s website: