Democrats v Republicans

[Pablo]

When I was a kid I asked my parents what the difference was and got what I considered a vague answer. 45 years later, it's still vague to me, but I do have a theory. I'd be interested in your understanding of this difference.

[Lepton]

In my country, we have Liberals and Conservatives. The difference lies in their approach to issues like ecology/economy, gay rights, and majiuana legalization.

Currently, they are only distinguishable becaue the Liberals have an enormous majority with a soon-to-retire Prime Minister who fully intends to leave a legacy. Come election time, there's no difference - they are all politicians.

[Agamemnon]

It has to be the same with you Yanks, as it is here in Blighty, as it is anywhere where there are two or more voting parties.
Whatever one party says or does, the other party is always against them, and vice versa.
Simple really!

[groza528]

The way it has been explained to me, republicans=conservatives, usually, and they prefer things the "old way." They subscribe to the theory that one shouldn't fix that which isn't broken.
Democrats=liberals, on the other hand, think that one should test everything until they determine the method that works best. They highly support change.

[MatthewV]

grrr @ the entire bipartism system

Why can we only have two choices that even have the slightest hoope of election? Worthless system that gives money to the people who get a high percentage of vote so the underdogs never get a chance to shine. I guess that is why everyone in my family votes for the green party...

[Death Mage]

R: Believe in tax cuts and smaller government. However, in an attempt to get power, they are trying to grow the size of government to make sure the D's have nothing to complain about. The D's don't care and are gonna ask for more and more and complain anyway, but the R's currently seem to think this will work. It's been nothing but bad business in every country it's tried in. They believe that you are actually sencable people and will make the right choices. They are deluding themselves, because given the chance, people will vote for those who give them more free shit.. which is why they're currently rushing to give out free shit.

D: Believe that government is mother, government is father, and everything you ever need will be given to you by the government. They alone decide what is right and wrong. They won't admit what they believe, which is in essence socialism/comunism. Biggest problems with this party include catering to extreme "special interest groups" which have conflicting requirements. Although usually this political party has the most briliant, and devious, political stragitists, they can currently be defined by one word: "Clinton". They will never realize that Clinton so sickens so many people that they mroe they hang onto that name, the more they strangle their own chances.

In other words, both parties right now suck.

[Coyote]

[Republican/Democrat]:
I know things pretty much suck at this point in time==we [Republicans/Democrats] have been trying our damnedest to set things right, but those darned [Democrats/Republicans] seem to have nothing better to do than constantly undercut all the progress we've made. Thankfully, there are a few things that don't suck right now, due entirely to [the hard work of the current administration/the groundwork laid by the previous administration], who [is/was], of course, a [Republican/Democrat].

It doesn't really have squat to do with the present situation, but just to drive my non-point not-home, here's a heavily edited profile of Ben Sloggs, a well known [Democrat/Republican], and for comparison, an equally heavily edited profile of Bob Snoggs, a prominant [Republican/Democrat]:

B.S.--Long history of living a decadent lifestyle/ committed a few youthful indescretions, don't we all? Held firm to his principles/ignored the needs of his constituents/sold out/honored the needs of his constituents. Was chummy with people who did some Very Bad Things/No he wasn't, and besides, that pales in comparison to all the rotten things that B.S. did!

To tell the truth, it's getting hard for me to tell the difference between the two lately.

[Pablo]

Here's my take:

DIFFERENCE:

Democrats - want you to be poor. That way they can hold out hope for you and you will be desperate and dependent on them and likely to vote for them. They will make/keep you poor by taxing you and the company you work for until there's hardly anything left for you. Steals your liberties by stealing your money.

Republicans - want you to be rich so you will be able to afford to contribute to their campaigns and to buy a considerable amount of "influence". Steals your liberty by legislating morals.

SIMILARITIES:

With either, you get an ever expanding, ever more wasteful, and ever more intrusive government. Both steal your liberties.

[Fried Egg]

Death Mage

[Death Mage]

Fried Egg obviously doesn't read entire posts before responding.

[ML]

I was reading a leftist political web site a while back (not sure which). They proposed the term "Borrow-and-Spend Republican" to counter the more common "Tax-and-Spend Democrat". It kind of cracked me up.

If I remember correctly from my politcal science classes, the American politcal parties are much more overlapping than politcal parties in other countries, largely because our system pretty much enforces a two-party system. So within the Democrats are right-leaning centrists, centrists, socialists and environmental radicals. Within the Republican party are left-leaning centrists, centrists, protectionists and religious radicals.

Of course the parties' offical platforms are carefully crafted to say nothing while appealling to everyone and blaming the other party for all the world's problems.

So I guess my answer to the original question would be:
Republican's have a vocal minority of religious and nationialistic nuts.
Democrat's have a vocal minority of socialist and environmental nuts.

[casinopete]

[Pablo]

Not all of those republican presidents had republican congresses.

[Death Mage]

ML, name two "Democrats who are right-leaning centrists" and I'll be impressed.

[Fried Egg]

Pablo

[Fried Egg]

ML

[Vinny]

I've always thought it's whether you're right handed or left handed.

(fyi: I am going to take my oath and become a bonify US citizen today, woo!)

[Maroon]

Maybe I'm thick.

Why do you guys sit here on your arse discussing this stuff? Is it a game for you? Can't you log on to usenet?

[ML]

Death Mage: I won't be able to do it. (1) We would never be able to agree on where the "center" is. (2) I can only name 20 or so politicians in the first place. I'll retract the statement and say: Both parties have a broad range of beliefs among their members.Aside: redefining the word "centrist" is a game that both parties are playing quite a bit right now.
Fried Egg: I'm always a fan of open and honest. Money borrowed needs to be repaid via taxes at some point. So it seems pretty clear to me. You can make your own judgements.

Maroon: I can't speak to everyone, but I can tell you my reasons. I'm an extrovert by nature, and I can often go a full day without talking to anyone at work. This gives me a chance to talk to other people, while still (mostly) writing a thesis.

[Lepton]

I, for one, enjoy:

Hearing what these intelligent people have to say

Trying to impose my own beliefs upon other people

In Canada, we have essentially a 4-party system: Left, left, right, and Right
It's a good way to keep the extremists from having too much influence, but it squeezes the two central-standing parties into very similar pancakes.

[The Anonymous Sarcast]

There is a reason many Libertarians refer to the one party system in American politics. Keep the public distracted with the vitriolic antics of the Republicrats and the Democrapublicans while ceaselessly increasing the cost, size, power, and burden of government at the expense of the unrelenting incremental loss of economic freedom and personal liberty. Let them be dazzled by "landslide" elections where less than a quarter of the population vote for the winner, and their margin of victory is less than 10%. Let them ooh and ah over the "shifts in power" in the 50/50 Senate and the 52%/48% House as 98% of incumbants are re-elected, Do the dance and shake the fists and make the speaches and pound the podium so that the population never notices that the electorate has been carved up, gerrymandered for Mutual Assured Re-election.

If you vote for a Repropublican or a Demoncrat you are an utter fool, and you deserve what you get. Unfortunately, the minority keeps getting shafted with what the majority deserves.