Choice

2007-04-26T22:50:54Z

Intelligent2: minor edit

'''Choice'' is the act of deciding what to do. It is also known as [[free will]]. [[Freedom]] is generally considered either the [[right]] or the [[ability]] to make decisions without coercion.

Choice is the basis of [[law]]. Choice is a fundamentally [[human]] activity, since law applying to animals does not apply to the choices made by animals. Instead, laws such as [[animal control]] and [[animal abuse]] laws apply to the choices of humans in regards to animals.

=="Pro-Choice"==

Choice has been used by proponents of [[abortion]] ([[Pro-Choice]]), who claim that a [[pregnancy|pregnant]] woman has the [[right]] to abort an [[unborn child]]. Opponents of abortion claim that the choice to [[reproduce]] was made at the time of the [[sex|sexual act]], and that if she didn't want her [[life]] to change, she shouldn't [[murder]] her own child. Proponents then claim that in cases of [[rape]] and [[incest]], the choice to reproduce was made by someone else, and that she never had a choice. Opponents then try to make the claim that the vast majority of abortions are not rape and incest cases, and are made for economic and personal reasons that, while affecting the mother's life in sometimes severe ways, do not rise to the level of balancing one life's value against another.

Democratic Party

2007-04-26T22:42:44Z

Intelligent2: Democratic position update

[[Image:democraticpartyusalogo.png|right|thumb|200px|Official logo of the Democratic Party.]]

The '''Democratic Party''' is one of the two major political [[parties]] in the [[United States of America]]. It is generally seen as being politically between center and [[leftist | left]] of center, while the rival [[Republican Party]] is positioned to the [[rightist | right]] of center (see [[political spectrum theory]]). Members and supporters of the Democratic Party are known as Democrats.

The Democrats currently control the United States [[House of Representatives]] and the [[Senate]], together with the majority of State governorships and legislatures. <ref>[http://www.multistate.com/Site.nsf/Elections2006PostMaps?OpenPage Multistate.com] Post-Election 2006 Maps</ref> According to a Pew Research Center poll, 50 percent of Americans identify themselves with the Democratic Party as opposed to 35 percent for the Republican Party.<ref>[http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=312 Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007] Pew Research Center, 22 March 2007</ref> However, Democrats have served out only three of the last ten presidential terms. Democrats in the US Congress currently have a 53.8% disapproval and a 36.8% approval rating according to the PealClearPolitics Average of several dozens of Congressional Job Approval polls conducted 04/05 - 04/18. <ref>[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/archive/?poll_id=18]</ref>

Like the Republicans, the Democrats are currently selecting their candidate for the 2008 presidential election; the front-runners in the contest are Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[New York]] and Senator [[Barack Obama]] of [[Illinois]]. The most recent president who was a Democrat was [[Bill Clinton]], who served from 1993 to 2001.

==History==
The Democratic Party was founded in 1792 by [[Thomas Jefferson]] as a congressional caucus to fight for the [[Bill of Rights]] and to oppose the elitist [[Federalist Party]].

In 1798 , the party was officially named the "Democratic-Republican Party", and in 1800 Jefferson was elected as the first Democrat [[President of the United States]]. Jefferson, a member of the landed gentry and a slave owner, served two terms as president with distinction, and was succeeded by another Democrat, [[James Madison]], in 1808 . Madison strengthened America's armed forces and helped to reaffirm American independence by defeating the [[United Kingdom]] in the [[War of 1812]]. James Monroe, another Democratic-Republican, was elected president in 1816 and led the nation through a time commonly known as "The Era of Good Feeling". In this period, the party dominated American politics with little opposition. [[Andrew Jackson]], who signed into law the [[Indian Removal Act of 1830]] <ref>[http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/UHS/APUSH/1st%20Sem/Articles%20Semester%201/Artiles%20Semester%201/Remini.htm Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal], by
Robert Remini.</ref> according to the Democratic National Committee's website is "considered — along with Jefferson — one of the founding fathers of the Democratic Party." <ref>[http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/06/our_history.php Democratic National Committee, ''Our History''], retrieved 25 March 2007.</ref> Annual Jefferson-Jackson Day celebrations nationwide by local chapters of the Democratic Party commemorate the two founders of the Democratic Party. <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001949.html String of Successes Enlivens Democratic Party], Michael D. Shear, ''The Washington Post'', 22 February 2007.</ref>

[[Franklin Roosevelt]], president during the [[Great Depression]] and [[Second World War]], was a Democrat, as was his successor, [[Harry Truman]].

==Policies and criticism==

It should be noted that the views of individual Democrats sometimes diverge from the party's official stance as expressed in its national platform. The same is true of individual Republicans.

===Economic policy===
In the field of economic policy, Democrats favor high taxe for wealthy people, higher government spending on the poor, and a relatively high minimum wage.''<sup>[[Citation Needed]]</sup>''

The Democratic Party has historically had ties to [[union|organized labor]]. The [[National Education Association]],<ref>[http://www.nea.org/index.html National Education Association homepage]</ref> the largest union of public school teachers, is a backbone of the party, supplying the largest number of delegates to its national conventions.{{fact}}

===Foreign and military policy===
According to its platform, the Democratic Party has the objective of strengthening America. Democratic national leadership had been accused of being ambivalent about terrorism, until the Irag war screw-up.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14474-2002Jun19.html "Dirty-Bomb Politics"] Mary McGrory, ''The Washington Post'', 20 June 2002</ref>

===Education===
An organization affiliated with the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] called the [[Progressive Policy Institute]] which claims a long standing opposition to school vouchers <ref>21st Century Schools Project Bulletin: Special Edition
<ref>[http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=newsLetter&sectionID=29&NLissueID=4&articleID=11&altCol=2 Center For Education Reform, Monthly Letter to Friends No. 75], Back to School 2002.</ref>

===Environment vs Labor===
Two other important coalition groups also find themselves in direct conflict with each other within the Democratic party coalition--Environmentalists and Labor Unions. While environmentalists support efforts like clean air and alternative fuels, for example, this creates tension with the workers of American automobile manufactures whose jobs are threatened by environmental policies such as increasing regulations and high costs. Such policies can lead to cutbacks and layoffs. Balancing these issues is difficult because some sacrifices of interests must be made by both sides.

===Other Policies===
Democrats frequently support [[a woman's right to choose]], [[gun control]], [[homosexual civil rights|homosexual marriage]] and the separation of church and state.

==Religion==
In the United States, there is some correlation between religious and political affiliation, though people of all faiths and denominations can be found among the supporters of each of the main parties.

Today, [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] voters have had a tendency to identify with the Republic Party, and a number of Republican office-holders. However, several general ideals of the Democratic Party's platform - most notably, the party's overall support for the legality of [[abortion]] - are contrary to the position of the [[Catholic Church]].

With regard to [[Protestant]] Christians, members of [[Evangelical]] churches in particular are associated with the [[Republican Party]]. One unusual feature of the Democratic Party, however, is that it draws substantial support both from committed African-American Protestant Christians and from secular and atheist white voters. The strong opposition to [[homosexuality]] found among many Black Protestant Christians (and, indeed, among orthodox Catholics) contrasts strikingly with the support frequently shown by other Democrats for the [[homosexual agenda]].

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Political Parties]]

Creation science

2007-04-26T22:35:34Z

Intelligent2: Fixing mistakes about reasons creationism is not considered science

'''Creation science''' is an effort to creat false links between scientific evidence and the account of Creation in the Bible—usually with a literal six-day-creation interpretation—and not with the [[Theory of evolution|theory of evolution]].

Creation science is not accepted by most scientists, but this is due to the the grave lack of any evidence whatsover to any account of creation in the Bible being even plausible. Specifically,
a poll among United States scientists showed approximately 55% of scientists believed there is a God.[http://www.ovpr.uga.edu/researchnews/97su/faith.html] Also, a survey found that 93% of the scientists who were members of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences]] do not believe there is a God. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v394/n6691/full/394313a0.html]

Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Choice

Democratic Party

Creation science