Fifty Days of Prayer for the National Election 2012 – Day 32

Day 32 October 19th
Focus: Party Platform Comparisons 
ECONOMY and TAXES:
Democrat
Calls for extending the middle-class tax cuts for families who make less than $250,000 a year, and promises not to raise taxes on them.
Republican
“The American Dream is at risk,” the platform opens. Republicans will “begin anew, with profound changes in the way government operates; the way it budgets, taxes and regulates. We reject the use of taxation to redistribute income, fund unnecessary or ineffective programs or foster the crony capitalism that corrupts both politicians and corporations. We do not offer yet another made-in-Washington package of subsidies and spending to create temporary or artificial jobs.” Pledges to reform the tax code to make it easier for businesses to generate more capital and create more jobs.  Backs constitutional amendments to balance the federal budget and to require a super majority for any tax increases. 
MEDICARE:
Democrat
Supports the new health-care law.  Adamantly opposes any efforts to privatize or voucherize Medicare. 
Republican
Pledges to move both Medicare and Medicaid away from “the current unsustainable defined-benefit entitlement model to a fiscally sound defined-contribution model.” Supports a Medicare transition to a premium-support model with an income-adjusted contribution toward a health plan of the enrollee’s choice. Age eligibility in Medicare must be made more realistic in light of longer life spans.  Medicaid services for low income people would be transformed into a block grant program in which the states would be given the flexibility to determine the best programs for their residents. Those under 55 would get “an income-adjusted contribution toward a health plan of the enrollee’s choice,” including a government plan. Younger workers would be given the option of “personal investment accounts as supplements to the system.”
HEALTH CARE:
Democrat
Pledges to continue building on the new health-care law.
Republican
States that a Republican president on his first day in office would use his waiver authority to halt progress in carrying out the health care act enacted the last Congress and President Barack Obama; and states that Republican victories in November would guarantee that the act is never implemented. Proposes a Republican plan based on improving health care quality and lowering costs and a system that promotes the free market and gives consumers more choice.
DEFENSE:
Democrat
Wants to maintain a strong military but argues that in the current fiscal environment, tough budgetary decisions must include cuts in military spending. The platform notes that Democrats and Republicans agreed last summer in the deficit-cutting plan to reduce military spending.
 Republican
Claims to be “the party of peace through strength” and supports the concept of American exceptionalism — “the conviction that our country holds a unique place and role in human history.” It criticizes the current administration for its weak positions toward such countries as North Korea, China and Iran and its reductions in military spending. The Republican national military strategy “restores as a principal objective the deterrence using the full spectrum of our military capabilities.” 
Almighty and Most Merciful God,
You are beyond our reach and exalted in power. In Your justice and righteousness, You do not oppress. We will give You honor and homage because of Your righteousness and justice, and we will sing praise to the Name of the Lord Most High.  We do not come before You in our own righteousness, but through Jesus, we put on righteousness as our clothing; justice as our robe and turban.  We acknowledge that if we are careful to obey Your laws as You have commanded us, that will be our righteousness.
Father, we are a nation of people who have been shown the path of life that will fill us with joy in Your Presence and pleasures at Your right Hand. But we have not kept ourselves separate from people who follow detestable practices. Our land has fallen into iniquity. We can no longer discern between that which is noble and that which is ignoble; that which is right in Your sight, and that which is detestable to You; that which is pure and that which is profane. Have mercy on us. Our leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness. We tear our tunics and cloaks, we pull out our hair, and sit appalled. We are too ashamed and disgraced to lift our heads to You, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors until now, we have been steeped in sin. That is why we and our leaders and our priests have been at the mercy of the pagan leaders and power-brokers of the land. We have been killed, captured, robbed, and disgraced.
In a brief moment of grace, You, the Lord our God, are allowing a remnant to survive. You did not desert us in our bondage. You have given us security among a community of committed believers in holy places. You have brightened our eyes and granted us some relief from our slavery. We tremble at Your words because of the unfaithfulness of the American church. You have shown us kindness, and You have granted us new life to rebuild the House of God and repair its ruins.  Have mercy on us, and give us discerning hearts to do Your will.  In the power of Christ Jesus, we pray.  Amen.
“Merciful God! Inspire Thy people with wisdom and fortitude, and direct them to gracious ends. The religion and public liberty of a people are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven, they cannot be separate, and therefore, they rise and fall together. For this reason, it is always observable, that those who are combined to destroy the people’s liberties, practice every art to poison their morals. The right of freedom is the gift of God Almighty. The Rights of the Colonists as Christians may be understood by reading – and carefully studying – the institutes of the great Lawgiver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.” 
(Continental Congress ~ Proclamation of a Day of Fasting and Prayer 1775) 
“The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them. . . . Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But the time has come when they must act differently. . . . Christians seem to act as if they thought God did not see what they do in politics. But I tell you He does see it, and He will bless or curse this nation according to the course they [Christians] take [in politics].” (Charles Finney, leader in the Second Great Awakening of 1790, the Father of Modern Revivalism.)
We, the people of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this Constitution.   (Preamble to the Constitution of New York)