The CANDIDATES' PLANS

Their Planned IMPLEMENTATIONS of the Platforms

Of course, the Candidates' Plans are even more important than the Party Platforms because each represents one person's philosophy and approach rather than an amalgam of hundreds of delegates' compromises.  The Plans generally reflect the Platforms but provide more detail about specific elements of the general issues.  Sometimes these specifics are what inspire (or turn off) specific voters. 

But their usefulness in deciding whom to vote for is still limited.  Their Plans are still vague, for several reasons. 
   - They haven't yet digested all the issues and options and consequences of possible positions. 
   - They don't want to be too specific lest they offend some voters. 
   - They don't want to give out their secrets to the opposition which will twist them back
        against the candidate. 
We may have a better idea of what they want to do, but not so much on how they will pay for it, or how they will get the other party to go along with it.

How to Evaluate their Plans

I'd recommend doing something similar to what I suggested to do with the Party Platforms:
    a. Read the Plan Documents themselves (links below).
    b. Read abbreviated Comparisons by Others  (see "Candidates' Plans" page).
    c. Discuss these issues with other people (who can remain civil while discussing emotional
        topics).  Again, they may have facts and/or perspectives to supplement yours.
    d. Consider how to evaluate the various statements (based on your values, your
        knowledge of reality and of the factors involved in the issue).  You may have already
        done this with the Platforms.
    e. Rate the issues numerically and see how each party platform adds up on your value
        scale.  Use a procedure similar to that described in the Platform post (section e., "Rate
        the issues numerically").

Some Notes about the Plans and the Comparisons

Both candidates' Plan documents are fairly lengthy and, unlike the Platform documents, are divided into many areas and placed on separate web pages.  As far as I can find, there is not one document that you can download, print, and read while you're waiting at the doctor's office or JiffyLube.

What you can do is go from link to link and read about the issues that concern you, and print out those pages.  Or you can go through and collect the text from different pages into one word processor document, and print it to read it. 

I've found that the print-page function on most browsers gives very unsatisfactory results, so I have a procedure I use to get a relatively clean compact printout.  It's on the TOOLS page.

Here now is a link to my "Candidates' Plans" page, where you can explore their Plans, as well as different sites that compare the candidates' Plans.  You can also use the link on the tab bar near the top of this page.


Next post:  CHARACTER MATTERS. 
If you still have not decided how to vote, this next post will probably do it for you.  Sign up to get it via email as soon as I post it.

"Thatch"