Geography

Regions of Interest

In my research of the different settlement regions of the U.S. and Canada, I decided to look at the political side of five separate regions (states). The reason I have chosen the states of California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas is that I have personally had the pleasure of visiting each and absorbing each of their surroundings. I believe this has enabled me to better understand the reasoning behind the diverse politics of each state. For each state, I have chosen to look at one or two separate political parties of interest.

Since California is such a massive state and is the majority land of its region, I chose to outline two of its most intriguing political parties. Some may view many of the parties discussed as radical but many make valid proposals. The American Independent Party has been considered a political party since 1968. (This party is closely related to the Constitution Party.) It shares a similar platform as that of the Constitution Party. It is their mission to restore the values of the U.S. Constitution and supports the following; the right to life, the right to bear arms, the protection against NAFTA and GATT/WTO, and most interesting, the abolishment of the IRS to create a debt free money system. The second of the California parties is the Peace and Freedom Party. This system, like the first, was also founded in the 60 s on June 23, 1967. The root of this political party stems back to the Vietnam War when minorities were left out of the picture and put on the backburner when in came to political support (especially women). As a feminist party, this party supports the struggle to eliminate oppression and sexual discrimination.

Moving to Florida the parties tend to be less liberal and more conservative. Most concerns are environmental. The Green Party of Florida focuses its concerns around ten key values including; ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy, nonviolence, feminism, and future focus. They re motto is to think globally, act locally. This party has gone as far as expanding its values into Europe with 12 parties represented in federal governments. A more recently developed party, the Constitution Party of Florida, was founded in 1996 and acts as a forum for issues of the state. This party stands for reducing government, a strong national defense, and restoring traditional family values.

Switching gears back to the more liberal side, Illinois political parties tend to be a bit radical. The American Reform Party of Illinois was helped founded by the humorous Ross Perot in 1992. Several leaders of the state of Illinois have lobbied for new changes in the area of suggesting alternatives to NAFTA and FTAA. They focus on human rights, environmental concerns, property rights, international finance, access to markets and enforcement. Some interesting members of this party are the Sunshine Project, Protestants for the Common God, and the League of Woman Voters. The Illinois Citizens for the Proportional Representation Party was founded to spread the Drive to Revive cumulative voting to bring back a voting system that was used in Illinois for 110 years to elect the State House of Representatives.

New York politics has always proven to be very controversial. The most appalling party I found information on was the Marijuana Reform Party, which is obviously a fixed up way of saying an excuse to legalize this drug. This party discourages the war against drugs installed by Ronald Reagan in 1981. For New York, this party was developed to provide a vehicle for political action for residents concerned about ending the criminal prohibition of marijuana, but at the same time supports the banning of child usage. The New York Communist Party was also not unexpected as a choice of parties. They claim to be the ONLY party organized and run solely by the working class people. Their stand on issues are as follows; jobs for all union wages, cut military budgets, free healthcare, tax the rich, end racism and ant-Semitism, and guaranteed workers right to organize.

The last state of Texas winds down the radicalism and focuses on liberalism with the Libertarian Party of Texas. This party was formed to defend the right of individuals to live in whatever manner they choose, as long as they do not forcibly interfere with the same rights as others. They oppose all interference by the government in the areas of voluntary and contractual relations among individuals, and support the free market.

As I researched these five states, I did learn that many of these views are a result of regional occurrences such as the surrounding environments and issues. Regions can almost be considered countries since they are all unique in different aspects of politics.