The Iowa Democratic and Republican party conventions are Saturday, and draft copies of the party platforms offer a glimpse of just how different the rival parties view the role of government.Work on the platform drafts has been going on since the precinct caucuses in January. The process will finish this weekend at the state conventions, where the platforms will be debated, possibly rewritten and eventually ratified. Observers are quick to point out that the platforms are drafted by party activists and not elected officials, so they usually represent views that are more extreme than those of the majority of the party.

For example, in education, the GOP draft favors teacher- or student-led prayer in public schools, as well as the use of the Bible as a textbook. The draft opposes the “teaching of homosexual behavior as a normal, acceptable or alternative lifestyle”and calls for the repeal of the ban on “reasonable corporal punishment.”

The GOP draft supports an amendment to the state and federal constitutions defining marriage as the exclusive union between a man and a woman. It also calls for an end to affirmative action in all forms.

The draft also calls for closing  government agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and departments of Agriculture, Education, Homeland Security and Energy, as well ending minimum wage laws, dismantling Social Security and privatizing Medicare.

In the 34-page Democratic draft, the party calls for the state to adopt Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, which legalizes physician-assisted suicide with certain restrictions. The platform calls for repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and marriage equality for all Americans.

The draft says Roe v.  Wade is settled law and calls for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. It also supports publicly financed elections at all government levels, an end to subsidies for corn-based ethanol and the legalization of marijuana.