Party Planks

Or should that be party pranks. For better or worse, the agenda laid out in each party's platform is not actually binding on the candidate, although he or she can certainly come out as strongly in favor, or merely politely acknowledge the existence of any given item.

It seems the Dems have a plank to raise the minimum wage in the midst of a recession. This will guarantee increased unemployment, but the target audience, minimum wage slaves, only hear that their allowance is about to be raised and support the idea.

The Reps, on the other hand have a plank fully endorsing the basic idea of the 10th amendment, and call for the Fed.gov to quit doing anything it wasn't expected to do at the start:

Because the GOP, for all intents and purposes, has just proposed to eliminate the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Health and Human Services, along with a host of other government programs, agencies, and departments.

Works for me although I do wonder under whose auspices the interstate highway system falls as I view that as generally a good idea.