Are there any examples of foreign countries that embody close to pure Republican/Democratic values? An example of each would be great.

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Somalia/Sweden

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Iceland seems to be doing a pretty good job. They have rejected their governments bailout of the bankers that ruined the economy. by a margin of 93%. A hardy, independent people with a healthy distrust of political leaders. Twenty years ago they were fully prepared to go to war with the British over their fishing rights, despite having no navy worth mentioning.

I would say a republican analogue would be one of the fundamentalist Islamic countries only substituted for Christianity. So Syria, Libya, Iran.

As for the Democrats, perhaps Japan, or very conservative European countries.

The problem with the question is people are answering in terms of the Republican right wing of today, I am hopeful the Republican party has a chance of going back to some sort of moderate platform that has little to do with the Christian right as @gorillapaws implies in his answer. I absolutely do agree though, that there is no difference between a relgiously run Evangelical Christian government than Islamic countries in the middle east. The Republicans were supposed to eb for individual rights from what I can rememebr, but instead they are in everyone’s bedrooms, and seem to want to systematically take away individual freedoms more and more.

@JLeslie Yes, the Teddy Roosevelt and Alf Landon Republicans. Warren Rudman of Hew Hampshire was one of the last of that breed. Too bad he wouldn’t run for President.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I really think it has become a bible belt vs the rest of the country, rather than Republican vs. Democrat. The Dems and Rep down here in the bible belt want to control social issues too much for my taste, and honestly they say too many ridiculous things. Close all public schools; complain about passing the deficit to their children and grandchildren, but then don’t want to pay for the war they were/are in favor of, all sorts of illogical crazy in my opinion.

Those Republicans we desire still exist, I think they are very frustrated. My dad defected from the party about 3 years ago because of it, he had been a Republican for 40 years. I’ve always been registered a Democrat, but I have some conservative leanings, just depends on the specific topic.

I left the Republican Party about 20 years ago, but I can’t bring myself to register as a Democrat. Both liberals and conservatives want to stick there noses into peoples private lives. Government is not the solution to every problem, but where private enterprise fails, then the state must step in (like health care, pensions, energy policy, universal education). Neither party seems to stand for staying out of peoples private lives. A Democratic candidate can usually get my vote unless they start mouthing off about gun control.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land My father only registered as a Dem because in his state you can only vote in the primaries for your party, and he thought if he went independent he lose any influence over actually being able to elect someone. It was a practical decision, more than a true representation of his alignment with a party. He just knew he would most likely not be voting for another Republican for a long time; he refuses to reinforce the Christian right.

@JLeslie We can declare at the polls on primary day. I usually pick Green or Libertarian. I don’t consider my vote thrown away, people have got to break this “two party” mentality. We’ve actually gotten some Libertarians into local and state office.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Well, I think he is most worried about voting for presidential primaries. I agree about the two party mentality, I just think my father sees it as facing reality right now. I really think more and more independents will break off from the Republican party, if the party does not kick out the extremists.

I just saw that Crist (the Republican Governor of FL, who is running now for Senate I think just vetoed what I considered to be a bold move by FL to get rid of tenure for teachers if I understood the report correctly. I am actually in favor of getting rid of tenure, not sure how the Democrats running for the spot stand on it, I would assume they are against it?? I just know Crist’s Republican competition in the primaries was in favor of the bill. Seems he is positioning himself to leave the Republican party and go independent. This seems to be happening more and more. The question for me really is, are they breaking away so they can be more true to what they really believe in, and not have to answer to the party, or is it all just political bullshit.

A good example of Republicanism gone unchecked is Nazi Germany, 1940.

A good example of Democrats gone unchecked is France, today.

Neither is appealing to me.

@filmfann France is socialist. Despite what the TEA party people and fox news would have you believe, the Democrats don’t want full-blown socialism. Besides, there’s already the Socialist Party USA to fill that role.

@gorillapaws
Socialism is public ownership and democratic administration of the entire economy.
France is capitalist and not even close to socialist.

I thought it was public ownership of the primary financial institutions like the banks, power companies, airlines, car manufacturers etc, but that you could have private ownership of a cafe or grocery store, or bowling ally etc.

@JLeslie I think the Republican party is rapidly becoming irrelevant, just like the Whig party it replaced in the 1850s. Probably the best that can be done is for moderates and progressives to leave and form a new centrist party. The Neanderthals, big-money types and religious bigots can inherit the hollow shell and the pachyderm logo. Maybe something that actually speaks to the needs of working people?