Meanwhile, maybe you could take up the challenge that most everyone else here has dropped like a hot potato:

Name one major Democratic policy position that does NOT increase the power and control of the central government over the individual, and reduce the individual's freedom of choice to live as they please.

You sound like the sort of guy who could actually smack me with this one. Do you live in England, or just hail from there?

One liberal I know batted the hot pitch right back at me: "Abortion! Democrats are for choice, and Republicans are not!" I pointed out that the interpretation of this depends on one's view of an unborn child as an individual or not, so from his standpoint it was a score, and from mine it was not. Call that one a draw.

It has also been pointed out to me that there are a lot of Republican positions that fall into this category as well, including draconian drug laws, obsolete antisodomy laws, and other Nosy-Parker proposals. This is of course true, but in the general intent (especially in the economic sector) to reduce the size of government, reduce regulation, reduce taxation, and generally pry the tentacles of government loose from the people, in the big picture the Republicans still come out ahead of Democrats.

Libertarians come out ahead on more counts than either mainstream party, but considering the current status of the Libertarian Party (stinko), that doesn't help much. I had more hopes for the Libertarians in my younger days, but have had to settle for Republicans.