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Platform Comparison

	Democrat 2000 platform	Anna Eshoo's 2004 platform	Republican 2000 platform	Chris Haugen's 1998 platform	Brian Holtz's platform
Legislative Priorities	?	1. Homeland security. 2..Long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare. 3..HMO reform and Medicare drug benefits.	?	1. Reduce taxes. 2..Defederalize education.	1. Privatize Social Security & Medicare. 2..Eradicate corporate welfare. 3..Market-based environmentalism.
CA-14 District Pork	N/A	Port of Redwood City; Pillar Point. Moffett Field. Vineyard pests. R&D tax credit. San Mateo fuel-cell buses. BART. E. Palo Alto shuttle. Broadband tax credit.	N/A	?	Eliminate all pork for all districts.
Personal Liberty	Democrat platform	Anna Eshoo's 2004 platform	Republican platform	Chris Haugen's 1998 platform	Brian Holtz's platform
Expression	Restrict campaign spending. Punish criminals for bias.	Public financing of federal candidates. Restrict third-party issue ads near elections. Instant runoff voting. Punish criminals for bias.	Ban flag burning. Restrict immoral sexual expression.	Maintain campaign contribution limits. Term limits for Congress.	Ban only defamation. Unrestricted campaign contributions & spending, but require instant e-disclosure. Instant runoff voting.
Religion	No government religious observance when attendance mandatory.	¬	Allow voluntary prayer in public schools. Allow posting Ten Commandments on government property.	Allow voluntary prayer in school and other public places. Allow acknowledging God on government property and in government insignia.	No government religious observance when attendance mandatory.
Psychotropics	Continue drug bans. Provide treatment on demand.	Legalize medicinal marijuana. Legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.	Continue drug bans; repeal exclusion of improperly- seized evidence.	¬	Allow adults to decide what substances to consume. No prior restraint, but massive punishment for negligence
Sexuality	Allow bans on non-private or commercial sexual behavior.	¬	Allow bans on immoral sexual behavior.	¬	Allow grownups to decide what behaviors to consent to
Birth and Death	Ban cloning. Alow bans on sales of reproductive tissues and services.	¬	Ban cloning. Ban sales of reproductive tissues and services.	¬	Allow any consensual reproductive behavior that does not violate the rights of sentient humans. Allow suicide and court-approved guardian-approved euthenasia
Arms	Ban assault rifles. Mandate safety locks, waiting period, background checks.	Ban assault rifles. Mandate safety locks, waiting period, background checks. License all gun ownership. National ballistics database.	Instant background checks. No gun registration.	Repeal all restrictions on gun ownership by law-abiding citizens.	Allow private ownership only of aimed single-target non-automatic weapons
Risk-Taking	?	?	Ban gambling via Internet and by student athletes.	¬	Decriminalize all consensual non-fraudulent gambling. Repeal seatbelt and helmet laws.
Personal Security
Negative Externalities	Stricter air and water pollution regulations. Car fuel efficiency rules. Encourage alternative fuels. International global warming treaty.	Stricter air and water pollution regulations. Car fuel efficiency rules. Encourage alternative fuels. Re-enter Kyoto global warming treaty.	Market-based incentives and state/local flexibility to meet environmental standards.	Encourage alternative fuels to reduce pollution.	Tax products/transactions for pollution caused. Allow trading of emissions licenses.
Criminal Justice	Federal funding of local police. Support victims' rights. Drug testing & treatment for prisoners. No racial profiling. Federalize prosecution of violence against women.	¬	Local responsibility for law enforcement. Relax exclusionary rule. Increased penalties for drug crimes. Support victims' rights.	Broaden death penalty. "Reduce sentences for non-violent crimes." "Increase penalties for selling illegal drugs." [Yep, he says both!]	Support death penalty. Relax exclusionary rule only if massive penalties for transgressing police. Support victims' rights.
Privacy	Right to audit accuracy and monitor use of information about self.	Restrict commercial use of information collected through voluntary e-transactions.	"Govt has responsibility to protect personal privacy". Applauds benefits from "legitimate use of data with appropriate safeguards".	¬	Allow any non-fraudulent use of information derived from voluntary associations.
Economic Liberty	Democrat platform	Anna Eshoo's 2004 platform	Republican platform	Chris Haugen's 1998 platform	Brian Holtz's platform
Employment	Mandate minimum wage, maximum hours, plant closure notice, family leave, "equal pay for equal work", numeric goals in minority hiring. Exempt unions from antitrust.	Job training for displaced and unskilled workers. Subsidies for employer childcare. Increase minimum wage. Ban permanent replacement of strikers. Affirmative action in federal hiring.	Mandate minimum wage, maximum hours. Oppose mandatory union membership.	Reduce government regulation. Ban government affirmative action and discrimination (except for gender preference). Allow private discrimination.	Allow informed consenting peaceful adults to enter any non-fraudulent employment relationship
Consumption	Professional licensure, product safety rules, building codes. Manufacturing import restrictions.	Energy price controls.	Professional licensure, product safety rules, building codes. Farm subsidies and import restrictions.	¬	Mandate truth in labeling; prosecute fraud, enforce liability.
Real Property	Zoning, growth controls, urban planning, rent control.	¬	Zoning. Oppose rent control.	Compensate owners when environmental regulations restrict property rights.	Enforce nuisance laws; restrict eminent domain to infrastructure needs; tax property for infrastructure impact
Intellectual Property	Copyright: 75 yrs for corporations, life + 50 yrs for persons. Ban copying technologies.	¬	Copyright: 75 yrs for corporations, life + 50 yrs for persons. Ban copying technologies.	¬	Eliminate most forms of copyright. Restrict patent tenure, tighten obviousness rule.
Economic Security
Resources		¬		¬	Auction access to unowned natural resources.
Sustenance & Shelter		Increase funding for child care programs. Support housing assistance for low-income families. Direct federal poverty aid through non-discriminatory non-profit organizations.		Defederalize and greatly decrease welfare, housing projects.	De-federalize. State-provided negative income tax, partly in form of food and housing vouchers.
Health Care		Universal federal health insurance. Lower Medicare eligibility to 55. Medicare prescription drug benefit. Ban binding arbitration in insurance policies.		Maintain Medicare, Medicaid. Lower Medicare eligibility to 55. Limit malpractice damages.	De-federalize. State-provided safety net of basic healthcare. Tax incentives for employer-independent portable personal health insurance.
Education		National student testing. Teacher testing and merit pay Charter schools. Increased federal funding. Affirmative action in college admissions.		De-federalize. States should give parents personal control of spending for their childrens' education.	De-federalize. States should give parents personal control of spending for their childrens' education.
Retirement		Oppose Social Security privatization.		Partially privatize Social Security. Invest part of SS trust funds in stocks/bonds instead of T-bills.	Privatize Social Security. Trim benefits for retirees who have already recouped all contributions + interest + inflation.
Macroeconomic Policy
Government Finance		Increase cigarette taxes. Eliminate estate tax for estates less than $6M. Expand IRAs. No AMT on unrealized stock options profit.		Balanced budget amendment. Supermajority to raise taxes. Cut taxes: flat income tax, eliminate estate tax. National sales tax. Eliminate IRS.	Line-item veto. Supermajority for tax rate increases or spending increases beyond population + inflation.
Money		¬		¬	Steady money supply growth to limit inflation.
Markets		¬		¬	Police fraud but otherwise deregulate. Insider trades allowed if instantly epublished.
Artificial Monopoly		¬		¬	Relax but not eliminate antitrust law.
Natural Monopoly		¬		¬	Regulate local physical networks, but deregulate content and supply
Transnational Affairs
Interplanetary	?	?	?	?	Monitor Earth-crossing asteroids.
Global		Aid for allies and disaster-struck nations. Multilateral diplomacy; no pre-emptive war. Support UN, NAFTA, GATT, WTO. Trade sanctions for environmental and labor violations.		Withdraw from the UN, NAFTA, GATT, WTO. Retaliatory tariffs.	Promote political/economic freedom. Fight tyranny when benefits to human freedom outweigh costs. Multilateral when possible, unilateral if necessary. Free trade, except sanctions for international externalities (e.g. warming).
Asia		Diplomatic pressure on N. Korea. Aid for Afghanistan.		¬	Nuclear deproliferation. Encourage China liberalization.
Europe		¬		¬	Support NATO expansion.
Islam		Two-state solution to Israeli- Palestinian conflict.		Discontinue leadership role in Israeli- Palestinian peace process.	Oppose non-representative government, incl. Israeli occupaton of W. Bank.
Military		Cancel missile defenses.		Greatly increase missile defenses.	Cancel missile defenses and penetrating strategic bombers (B2) as unworkable.
Franchise
Non-Citizens		Citizenship path for law-abiding illegal immigrants.	Deny some govt benefits to illegal aliens?	No automatic citizenship for US-born children of illegal immigrants. Allow states to deny services to illegal immigrants and their children. Establish English as official language.	Liberalize immigration for English-fluent skilled workers. Legalize illegals as temporary workers.
Fetuses	No rights until birth.	Illegal after viability, except to save life of mother. Allow stem cell research and therapeutic cloning.	"Unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life". Ban stem cell research. Extra penalty if assault harms fetus.	Abortions should be legal only when the life of the woman is endangered	Rights a function of neural development: no abortion after ~24 weeks except to save life of mother.
Gender Pref	No government discrimination, including in marriage. Restrict private right not to associate.	Allow gay marriage.	No gay marriage. No "special legal protection". Protect private right not to associate	¬	No government discrimination, including in marriage. Protect private right not to associate
Other Species		Ban inhumane animal treatment.		Limit the number of habitats protected as endangered.	Prevent extinction when at all feasible. Ban inhumane animal treatment.

? means no stated position.
¬ means the candidate has no stated difference with the party's position
Blank cells still need to be filled in.

Eshoo would vote for Democrat control of the House, and Haugen would vote for Republican control, so the platforms of those parties are presented above. There is no prospect of Libertarian control of the House, so I omit the LP platform above. For a summary of my differences with the LP platform, see here.

Haugen has not answered the 2004 National Political Awareness Test.