NationStates Jolt Archive

In the interest of educating the electorate and expanding thought on public policy by those political parties participating in the NS General Election, I propose the following- A common format to be used by all (serious) parties for their manifestos, so as to better outline public policy and encourage political discourse and action, and so that voters may quickly look at those issues that they feel the most concern and quickly compare and decide between the various parties available. As an example, I propose this following format to be considered.



Name of Party

(Statement of principles that guide policy)

(Statement of government overall goals)

Stances on-

Government

Security

Education

Foreign Economy

Domestic Economy

Civil Rights

Crime and Punishment

Public Assistance (i.e. Welfare and Public Health Care)

Immigration

Drugs

Environment

Any Additional Items of Import

(Slogan)


Comments, questions and criticisms are welcome.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Bump.

Bump who?

BUMP this thread.

While it is a good idea, it's a little too late for all of the parties to re-write their manifestos.

It's never too late to do that. They can be edited so as to fit a common format. I think it would be important to do this before the election, so that people can decide better on who they wish to vote for, and to provide impetus for votes in parliament.

Noone cares about stances! They care about BOOBS!

Noone cares about stances! They care about BOOBS!
which is why we have the birthday party

which is why we have the birthday party

And the ESP.

Noone cares about stances! They care about BOOBS!

They can put them in the Etc. portion of stances.

They can put them in the Etc. portion of stances.
but thats their entire stance...

Well, I'd have to say it's a good idea...it would cut down on the amount of redundant questions as well as enable us to compare the parties equally and immediately rather than be forced to kind of interpret their individual platforms, all of which seem to have different layouts.

If not this election, than definitely the one after it. I'd have to agree with Greill here...it's too confusing right now; plus, a standard form enables us to collect all of them in one thread and edit them more easily.

I appreciate all of your comments on this issue, and am glad for the feedback.

Is there any significant issue which I have left out, by any chance?

Not that I can think of.

I appreciate all of your comments on this issue, and am glad for the feedback.

Is there any significant issue which I have left out, by any chance?

Civil rights and economy.

Gay marriage can probably be absorbed into the first, and trade into the second.

Is there any significant issue which I have left out, by any chance?

Looks like you covered the basic ones, and you've got another spot for parties to add things that don't fit or aren't specifically included. I think it's fine, although individual parties should definitely look at it and see what they want to add.

Might want to broaden some categories; for example, make gay marriage part of a larger "civil rights" category and perhaps combine the various economic ones in to "domestic" and "foreign" economics respectively

First edit. I kept abortion out of the civil rights category because it's a very critical issue, I think, and deserves special recognition. Any other suggestions?

It seems like a good idea on the whole. Many manifestos are indeed unstructured, and this would help voters be able to compare the parties' stances on similar issues.

The UDCP already has a structured manifesto quite similar to what you're suggesting, though.

Well thank you. I suppose it's a bit late, and it would interrupt the flow of elections if they all started changing now (still would be a good idea regardless of time, but I understand that the focus is on campaigning right now). I see that the UDCP has a format much like the format I proposed, but I think I might have to make this proposal wait for next election to get it implemented.