Not sure if you’ve noticed, but the 2016 US presidential election is being held this
year (let’s be honest you have definitely noticed, the election is plastered absolutely
everywhere…).
Whether you are obsessively following the election, or are forced to see it every day
in the news, you would have surely heard the words “Republican’s, GOP, Grand old Party”
or – the other major political party: the “Democrat’s or the Democratic Party”.
Whether or not you live in the United States of America, or live outside it, you might
not fully understand what the difference really is between the republican and democrat parties’
ideologies – and what they really stand for.
The Republican and Democratic Parties are currently the two most popular, powerful and
prominent political parties in the United States, with the history of the Democratic
Party starting in 1828, as anti-federalist factions began to form . The Republican Party
formed a few decades later in 1854, with the formation of the party based on stopping slavery,
as they viewed it to be unconstitutional.
At the most basic and plainest politics is said to be split in half, with political parties
either traditionally having left or right-wing political views.
The left-wing is usually associated with progressiveness, supporting those who aren’t able to support
themselves and believe in equality.
On the other hand the right-wing values tradition heavily, believes in equity, economic freedom
and that the everyday individual shouldn’t really have to pay for someone else’s health
service or education through taxes for example – essentially a survival of the fittest
society .
On the political spectrum the Democrats and Republicans tend to have opposing positions
on matters such as the economy, society, military and other key issues.
Both political parties are so large now that it is hard to work out where their positions
are on certain issues, but there are a few issues where their opinions are quite apparent,
but even then: candidates within the same political party can have slightly differing
views on major issues which affect us all.
TAXATION When it comes to taxation and wages the Republican
Party believe that high tax rates on the rich is a form of class warfare, and that both
the poor and rich should receive tax-cuts.
As the Republican Parties plans would see the revenue which the federal government collects
decrease, the result would be higher debt and deficits.
By lowering the taxes for the upper class, these people are more likely to invest in
businesses which in turn creates more jobs, making a trickledown effect.
Republicans also oppose raising the minimum wage as they believe it hurts small businesses
who account for a large amount of employment for American’s.
Democrats on the other hard believe in raising taxes for the upper class and lowering tax
for middle and lower classes of society – allowing the government to boost their spending on
social programs for the lower class.
By raising the taxes of the upper class, the Democrat party hopes to cut taxes for 98%
of American families.
The democrats also favour increasing the minimum wage to help everyday workers.
Simply put; the Republican’s lower tax to benefit the wealthy and big businesses, whereas
the Democrats support progressive taxes to help fund social programs and to help out
lower income citizens.
GUN LAWS An issue which divides many American’s,
also divides Republicans and Democrats.
Democrats favour more gun control but also recognise that the second amendment is an
important part of American tradition and that the right to own and use firearms should be
preserved.
Reinstating the assault weapon ban and working to make the background check system stronger
so that guns aren’t getting into the hands of irresponsible, are high up the agenda for
the Democrats.
The Republican’s on the other hand oppose gun control laws and go as far to say that
they believe that you should be able to obtain and store ammunition without registration
and support the right to self-defence.
VOTER ID LAWS The Republican Party is currently pushing
for elections to require photo identification for voting, to in their words “prevent election
fraud”.
Between 2000 and 2012 there were 867 cases of voter fraud, but the Republican’s want
this to be zero.
The Democrat party are complete opposites on voter identification, saying that they
believe everyone has the right to vote making them in opposition of laws which begin to
put restrictions on those trying to vote.
According to the Democrats, introducing photo identification would affect young voters,
people of colour, low-income families, those with disabilities and the elderly, which is
a large number of voters who wouldn’t be able to vote.
PRO LIFE VS CHOICE As I’m sure you can begin to tell, the Republican
Party is very much influenced through religion and tradition, which should make it no surprise
that they support the government restricting abortions.
The Republican’s believe that unborn children have a fundamental right to live which cannot
be taken away from them.
The Democrat’s support Roe v. Wade and believe that a woman should have the right to make
her own decision about her pregnancy and that politicians and the government have no right
to get involved with a woman’s pregnancy.
The Democrat party also wants to help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies through
better sex education, which should then help decrease the need for abortions.
STD rates are hitting all-time highs in the USA, so putting work into sex education is
something which the democrats believe will benefit society greatly.
SEX-SEX MARRIGES Being very traditional and religious based,
the Republican Party wants to not recognise same-sex relationships, with the party aiming
to constitutionally define marriage as “one man and one woman.”
The republicans also have the viewpoint that same-sex couples should also not be able to
adopt children.
The Democrats oppose same-sex discrimination on the Federal and State level and believe
that same-sex couples should receive the same amount of respect and legal treatment as heterosexual
couples.
In fact it was under the Democratic-Obama administration that section three of the Defence
of Marriage Act (which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman) was found
to be unconstitutional, a decision which was ruled by the Supreme Court on June 26, 2013.
LIMIT OF GOVERNMENT Republicans have positioned themselves in
believing that a smaller government is better, with republicans preferring themselves to
have less responsibilities in society and that they should let people and companies
fail or succeed based on “their merits and actions”, instead of the government intruding.
The Republican Party don’t like policies which essentially allow the government to
have the power to pick and choose the winners and losers of the market, instead letting
economics and businesses speak for themselves.
The democrats on the other hand believe that the federal government should have a strong
role in helping American’s with the challenges they face, whether it be through regulating
businesses, being more involved with health care, benefits or other programs which help
assist American’s in need.
This sees Republican’s usually associated with being called supports of a small government
and the democrat’s supporters of a “big government”, although the Republican Party
can sometimes have “big government” stances on some issues – such as abortion issues,
but the Republican Party establishment tends to have small government viewpoints when it
comes around economics and society.
All in all the democrat and republican parties are quite different when it comes to key points,
but this is what happens when you find yourself in a two party political system as it would
not make sense for there to be two similar parties fighting for the same issues with
the same stances.
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