Background Reading: Diversity in Families – Chapters 14 Instructions: As discussed in class, the U.S. has no official family policy. Instead it has various laws, court decisions, regulations, and policies that effect families, but lack coherence. With the presidential election next year, candidates and political parties have begun to outline their policy positions. For this assignment you will analyze the policy positions of President Donald J. Trump and one other candidate who is also running for the presidency in 2020. You will also analyze the policy platforms of the two major political parties. Assignment Write-up: Begin by familiarizing yourself with the following four websites. 1. Republican Party Platform: https://www.gop.com/platform/ 2. Donald J. Trump for President: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/ 3. Democratic Party Platform: https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/ 4. Choose one candidate running against President Trump* *You can pick whatever other candidate you want however below is a list of some of the candidates and their websites. Joe Biden: https://joebiden.com/ Bernie Sanders: https://berniesanders.com/ Elizabeth Warren: https://elizabethwarren.com/ Kamala Harris: https://kamalaharris.org/ Pete Buttigieg: https://peteforamerica.com/ Beto ORourke: https://betoorourke.com/ Corey Booker: https://corybooker.com/ Andrew Yang: https://www.yang2020.com/ Tulsi Gabbard: https://tulsi2020.com Julin Castro: https://www.julianforthefuture.com/ Amy Klobuchar: https://amyklobuchar.com/ Browse through the two candidates websites and the two party platform websites. While reading through the websites familiarize yourself with the topics they highlight that impact families (ex. the economy, jobs, housing, healthcare, education, immigration, child care, parental leave, womens reproductive rights, taxes, welfare, same sex marriage, elder care, etc.). Compare and contrast the policy positions described on the Trump/Republican Party Platform websites to the policy positions described on the Other Candidate/Democratic Party Platform websites. Which issues that impact families do the different candidates/party platforms choose to focus on? What do the different candidates/party platforms view as the greatest challenges facing American families today? What policy solutions, legislation, or actions do each think should be taken? Finally, what direction do you think family policy in the U.S. will take in the future? Will it go in the direction of the rest of the developed world (ex. Europe, Canada, Australia, etc.)? Will it stay relatively the same? Or will it move in a more traditionally conservative direction? Most importantly, you CANNOT use any other outside sources other than the websites that the instruction mentions. And, consider that I am Japanese and an international student who was born and raised in Japan when it comes to “familiarizing myself.”
