Hollywood Popular Artists

May 29th 2012, 19:50

45 million 18-29 year olds will be eligible to vote in this year's presidential election, representing the largest potential voting bloc in the country. Learn more about the issues, register to vote and get involved with MTV's Power of 12. Today, we've got another "Jargon Buster" for you.

platform, noun: in the political sense, a list of actions by which a party or candidate stands; a manifesto

Like platform pumps and and espadrilles, political platforms offer leverage and showcase style -- sometimes trendy, sometimes classic. Unfortunately, they do not come in a bright neon color. Political platforms clarify exactly how a person or party feels about key issues -- called "planks" (don't confuse it with planking) -- affecting policy and campaigns: health care, environment/energy, gay marriage, education, abortion, immigration and foreign policy, for example. Oh yeah -- and the economy-taxes-jobs trifecta. Get ready to hear lots and lots about that one.

The Democratic and Republican parties have national and state-wide platforms, too, but right now, all eyes are on the potential Presidents. Check out Mitt Romney's platform here, read over Obama's planks here and get the deets on where Ron Paul's stands on issues here.  At the end of the day (or POTUS race, as it so happens), this is where you can find the nitty-gritty on which candidate truly represents your belief systems. Whether those representations get put into action, however, is a story for another day.

Media files:
politicalplatform2.jpg (image/jpeg)
politicalplatform.jpg (image/jpeg)
politicalplatform-70x53.jpg (image/jpeg)