Download File - Stingray Civics

Political Party Readings – Sample Answers
Sample excerpts from each of the five readings.
Communist Party
Paragraph #
Sample Excerpts from the Reading
That future is socialism, a system in which working people control their own lives and destinies, and together build a
better world.
The great wealth of the United States will for the first time be for the benefit of all the people. Foreign policy will be
based on mutual respect, peace, and solidarity. The peoples democratic rights will be guaranteed and expanded.
Racial, gender, and social equality will be the basis of domestic policies and practices.
We need real solutions to real problems, not the empty promises of politicians and corporate bosses. We need peace,
justice, and equality. We need socialism.
We believe that the millions of working people have the power, if organized and united, to run this country, to create
a government of, by, and for the people.
The struggles for the immediate demands and reforms needed by working people today are essential steps toward our
ultimate goals of the revolutionary transformation of society and the economy.
We, the working people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, need socialism, a system based
on peoples needs, not on corporate greed.
Democratic Party
Paragraph #
Sample Excerpts from the Reading
Reclaiming the economic security of the middle class is the challenge we must overcome today.
This has to be our North Star—an economy that's built not from the top down, but from a growing middle class, and
that provides ladders of opportunity for those working hard to join the middle class.
We see an America where everyone has a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules.
We see an America with greater economic security and opportunity, driven by education, energy, innovation and
infrastructure, and a tax code that helps to create American jobs and bring down the debt in a balanced way.
We believe in deficit reduction not by placing the burden on the middle class and the poor, but by cutting out
programs we can't afford and asking the wealthiest to again contribute their fair share.
We are the party of inclusion and respect differences of perspective and belief.
We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people, and gives everyone
willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.
Libertarian Party
Paragraph #
Sample Excerpts from the Reading
As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own
lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.
We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world.
Only through freedom can peace and prosperity be realized.
The world we seek to build is one where individuals are free to follow their own dreams in their own
ways, without interference from government or any authoritarian power.
The protection of individual rights is the only proper purpose of government.
Government is constitutionally limited so as to prevent the infringement of individual rights by the
government itself. The principle of non-initiation of force should guide the relationships between
governments.
We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend the United States against aggression.
Republican Party
Paragraph #
Sample Excerpts from the Reading
We must begin anew, with profound changes in the way government operates; the way it budgets, taxes,
and regulates. Jefferson’s vision of a “wise and frugal government” must be restored.
Every voter will be asked to choose between the chronic high unemployment and the unsustainable debt
produced by a big government entitlement society, or a positive, optimistic view of an opportunity society,
where any American who works hard, dreams big and follows the rules can achieve anything he or she
wants.
…if we return government to its proper role, making it smaller and smarter. If we celebrate success,
entrepreneurship, and innovation.
If we restructure government’s most important domestic programs to avoid their fiscal collapse. If we
keep taxation, litigation, and regulation to a minimum.
If we lift up the middle class. If we hand over to the next generation a legacy of growth and prosperity,
rather than entitlements and indebtedness.
We will lift the torch of freedom and democracy to inspire all those who would be free.
Trust the people. Limit government. Respect federalism. Guarantee opportunity, not outcomes. Adhere to
the rule of law.
Socialist Party
Paragraph #
Sample Excerpts from the Reading
The Socialist Party strives to establish a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own
control
Socialism is a new social and economic order in which workers and consumers control production and
community residents control their neighborhoods, homes, and schools.
The production of society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of a few.
By revolution we mean a radical and fundamental change in the structure and quality of economic,
political, and personal relations. The building of socialism requires widespread understanding and
participation, and will not be achieved by an elite working "on behalf of" the people.
The working class is the major force worldwide that can lead the way to a socialist future – to a real
radical democracy from below.
The Socialist Party is committed to full freedom of speech, assembly, press, and religion, and to a multiparty system.
The primary goal of economic activity is to provide the necessities of life, including food, shelter, health
care, education, child care, cultural opportunities, and social services.