What is the difference between a Democrat and a Republican?

A Republican says “I’ve got a really bad idea!” And the Democrat says “And I can make it shittier!”

All Lewis Black aside…

Republicans believe in low taxes for the wealthy, with the assumption that they will use the extra money to invest in business and create jobs for the poor.

Democrats believe in taxing those that have, to assist the have-nots in bettering themselves.

Only real difference I see in the parties any more is who they claim the money is for when they pick my pocket to pay someone else’s bills.

Democrats are generally pro-choice, anti-gun and pro-union.

Republicans are generally pro-life, pro-gun and pro-business.

Not much.

@bob Democrats are largely believed to be anti-gun, but they just passed a bill in the house protecting peoples guns in the event of backruptcy.

I remember being told “If you are a Republican, and under 30, you have no heart. If you are a Democrat, and over 30, you have no brains”.
I am a moderate Democrat. I believe in choice, gay rights, gun rights, anti-drug, and economic caution.

Concern about preserving their own money.

There is very little difference. They both believe they should steal from me, and transfer the benefits of my labor to someone else.

Whatever their differences, they can find fellowship in constant compromise. Ensuring that public will is never heard without an equal opposite to cancel it out. Using the nature of polarity in politics; intriguing to the opinionated mind, but ridiculously inefficient—efficiently inefficient.

The old saying used to be that Republicans believe in big government and Democrats believe in really big government. The real distinction, today, seems to be the democrats try to fix a problem and bend over backward to gain republican support and the republicans look for ways to stop or discredit the democrat’s actions.

It is a pretty crappy way to run a country. I believe that the democrats should show a little backbone and leadership and the republicans should get with the program.

The irony is that American, being a mostly ignorant people, don’t see this as a problem and will probably end up putting the scoundrels that caused the problems back in office.

The Republicans want to control what I do with my body, and the Democrats want to control what I do with my money.

Specifically, Republicans tend to be socially conservative (anti-gay marriage, anti-choice, pro-religion) who seem lately to be less fiscally responsible than they were a couple generations ago (but claim that they still want lower taxes despite their spending). The Democrats seem to be more socially liberal (marry whoever you want, control your own reproduction, etc.) and more in favor of social programs (unemployment, health care, tuition and the like) and are likelier to tax the upper class to pay for these programs.

In a broader way, politically Conservative types (usually Republican) seem to have a greater fear reaction to external stimuli and respond well to heartfelt stories (like Joe the Plumber), whereas politically Liberal folks (usually Democrats) think more like scientists and respond well to facts and figures. This would seem to turn that old Churchill saw about conservatives having no heart and liberals having no brain right on its ear, even though that’s how they’re usually perceived.

laureth’s statement (“The Republicans want to control what I do with my body, and the Democrats want to control what I do with my money”) hits the nail on the head.

Those with a libertarian tilt see both Republicans and Democrats as inconsistent but, of course, libertarians can never be elected because they aren’t willing to try to control either our bodies or our money.

I am not really sure. I am anti death penalty, pro choice, and supportive of the legitimate desires of gay people to be able to have legally accepted union. I can state without reservation that there is no God. I think people should be allowed to do whatever they want, as long as they do not hurt me or steal from or defraud me. Some of my friends think I am a democrat.

On the other hand, I do not think that tax dollars should pay for abortions, and I think the word marriage has a specific meaning, just like Golden Retriever has a specific meaning. I think the Judeo Christian tradition is an essential binding force in Western Civilization, and I do not think that one generation should pay for another generation’s medical bills and retirement.
Other of my friends think I am a Republican.
Maybe there really is not that much difference?

@josie – People on the right can’t seem to perceive any difference between me and Chairman Mao, and my friends on the Left can’t perceive a difference between me and Glenn Beck. Perhaps it’s not that the two wings of the “boot on your neck” party are exactly the same, it’s just that the issues are too complex and across-the-board to easily and simply separate into two neat piles.

laureth Perhaps you are an independent. If so, welcome to the club.

Not too many, thats why I call them Republicrats.

Well they’re both derived from the same party…. The Democratic-Republicans.

Despite all the differences you hear about in the news today, our political parties agree on an incredibly large amount. Except of course when they are stubborn just for the sake of not agreeing.

Despite 30 years of not working, Republicans still believe that if only they can cut taxes enough, the deficit their tax cuts produced will pay itself off. Just like Haiti, where there is a flat tax of 2% and a VAT of 10% and it’s produced enormous prosperity.

They further believe that the best government is the smallest possible government. Just like Somalia where there is no government ata all, so no taxes, and everybody is incredibly rich. They make on average $600 a year over there.

Oh, and unicorns are grazing on the capital mall.

Just when capitalism can’t get anymore outrageous, any more overwhelming and chauvinist, it puts on some lipstick and camps it up a little, it’s like King Kong in stilettos and mascara, the Democrat party that is.

I think there are many differences, especially when it comes to the level of solidarity and social protection in a society.

Barack Obama contends that the “views on religion and faith” is very different between the two parties:

“Delving back into the discussion about the polarity that has come to characterize the American political sphere in recent years, Obama tackles the issue of religious faith, focusing specifically on the origins and impact of the Democratic party’s increasing discomfort with displays of religious faith. According to Obama, as the GOP has become increasingly associated with evangelical Christianity, Democrats have somewhat automatically assumed the opposite position, and increasing numbers of progressives seem willing to attack all reference to religion in governmental contexts. Obama recounts his own journey from atheism to faith, contending that the structure of religion has fortified and deepened his moral convictions. Because of the high degree of religiosity reported in polls of Americans, he contends that regaining a sense of ease with religion is the only way that the Democrats will be able to connect with a majority of the public. At the same time, Obama asserts the continued importance of the separation of church and state, although he contends that some of the recent instances of persecution of this principle, such as the debate over the words ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance, are somewhat ridiculous. He concludes that faith could serve as a common ground for future collaboration and cooperation between the two parties, and that tolerance and respect for religious diversity is of paramount importance.”

http://www.wikisummaries.org/The_Audacity_of_Hope

from what I see Democrats are BIG government and Republicans are BIG business

@talljasperman Republicans expand government more than Democrats do. E.g. the Department of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, Medicare part D, bank bailouts, all kinds of new military projects, look at the spending data. Even this “Obamacare” thing was basically identical to a Republican plan from the 90’s (at least our country will get something good from it).

Sorry but Democrats are more fiscally responsible than Republicans. I absolutely believe that if the Obama administration didn’t walk into office on the brink of the worst financial crisis this country may have ever faced thanks to Republican fiscal policy, he would have already begun reducing the deficits created by Republican spending.

A big problem is that to get elected and re-elected politicians, whether Democrat or Republican, have to buy votes with the taxpayer’s money. And the more of our money that they give away, the more successful they are in getting elected. Unfortunately, they the taxpayers and the future of our country are the losers.

There’s a simple fix to the problem.

Add a third party. In fact add a fourth and a fifth if you can find them. It becomes less of a you vs me thing, and more of a compromising with everyone to find the best option.

A Democrat is typically known as a supporter of a broader range of social services in America than those advocated by Republicans. Republican philosophy is based on a limited influence of government and a dominant foreign policy.

@tedd – are you saying we should go with a Parliamentary form of government?

@laureth I think that our founders missed an opportunity by not going with a parliamentary form of government. The seem to be much more democratic and less prone to manipulation. Our current government is tied up by a party that spends more time regretting being out of power than working to improve the country. If there were more parties we could have some rational rules to move things along rather than dealing with congressional sour grapes.

@Ron_C – I almost agree. Thing is, the Founders were so against factions (what we might call parties) that they didn’t want any at all, let alone five or six of them. That’s why they hoped the electoral system would promote voting based on the qualifications of the candidate. Of course, as soon as that was all up and working, they started forming parties of their own – Federalists, anyone?

If they could see us now, though, I bet they’d be crying into their beer and setting up a parliamentary system with a quickness, though.

Parliamentary government gives great power to minority and splinter parties.

@laureth our founders were also against corporations donating to candidates. In fact up until the late 1800’s the donar and recipient could be jailed.

Now, the Supreme Court says that Corporations have the same free speech rights as humans. That position is patently unconstitutional and I believe that the members that voted for that position have committed an impeachable offense.

Ron C Political parties have an obligation to prevent legislation with which they disagree. And they have an obligation to work especially hard when they oppose things that almost two-thirds of the population opposes.

Therefore, @ItsAHabit why are the republicans fighting so hard? They are obviously ignoring the will of their own constituents solely for political gain. The only positive vote you can get out of them is for war funding and there certainly are not ¾ of the electorate in favor of the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

There is also no 75% majority that thinks that the republicans should be back in office.

Two-thirds (not 75%) of Americans opposed the new Health Care bill and Republicans did their best to defeat it. They continue to fight hard to oppose other legislation that the same approximate majority of the electorate opposes.

Did I say anything about 75% of the electorate favoring Iraq and Afghanistan or about 75% of the electorate wanting republicans back in office????

@ItsAHabit sorry, I thought I read three fourths. So change my numbers to ⅔ or 66%.

A good portion of the people that opposed the health care bill because it did not include the single payer option. The rest somehow thought that it affected their Medicare and those that have medical insurance and don’t care what happens to the 45 million that don’t have insurance. There is also a portion that own or work for health insurance companies that are afraid of loosing profits.

As for your other statements, what other reason could there be to back the republican response to all legislation presented except to bring the republicans back in office? It is not as if the Republicans offered alternatives or plans to get out of this recession. All that want to do is the same thing that got us into the problem. Protect the big banks, keep the tax cuts for the rich, abolish inheritance tax, and get rid if regulations even for the oil industry. I am not seeing any good ideas there.

Did I say anything about 75% of the electorate favoring Iraq and Afghanistan or about 75% of the electorate wanting republicans back in office????

@ItsAHabit Of course, it depends on whose poll you like. But if there is a poll out there showing that 66% of Americans currently oppose the healthcare reform bill, Google can’t find it.

The most recent Gallup Poll showed 49% like the law, 40% do not like it and 11% had no opinion. A Pollster.com Tracking Poll over time finds that in February 2009 before Republicans launched their massive disinformation campaign with the Death Panel Lie and the massive government takeover of health care lie 45% supported it and 15% opposed. Now that it has been signed into law and Americans are realizing that the government didn’t take over their doctor, or hospital, or clinic, or insurance company, the Pollster.com results are about even. 45.4% oppose and 41.7% favor it.

So it does not look like Republicans are really guided by concern for public opinion, and in claiming 66% oppose, neither are you. It’s all about partisan politics and supporting runaway profits for a client industry that funnels massive donations to Republican causes. And those poor right-wingers that don’t get a place at the feeding trough are just taken in by the talking points carefully crafted by PR firms to connect with their ideology solidly enough to get them to fly into a rage fighting those who are trying to look out for their own best interest. We saw that in the red, spitting mad faces of those who shouted down the town hall meetings.

@ETpro Getting close….CCN is reporting that 59% think Obama Care is a POS as well as a growing number of Democrats

”A majority of Americans hold a generally negative view of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, according to a new CNN poll which found 59 percent of respondents now in opposition to the plan.”

“After a dozen pro-life Democrats hold-outs lead by Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak caved Sunday to increasing pressure from the White House, the House adopted on a strictly party-line vote the Senate’s bill, which now awaits the President’s signature.”

@Cruiser I would be included in that stat as a democrat, but it’s because the plan wasn’t single payer, let alone even having a public option.

As a liberal, I too think ObamaCare simply didn’t do enough. It’s simply giving health insurance companies the same hold on us as auto insurance companies – and that hasn’t make anything more affordable. I wanted a public option at least, and a single-payer system ideally.

Of course, I’m a socialist that has three heads and eats her children…

Thanks cruiser

ETpro Why is it that when people agree with you or your views they have the truth but when they don’t, they’re victims of “a massive disinformation campaign”??

@ItsAHabit are you denying the existence of a massive disinformation campaign?

@ItsAHabit are you really saying that there wasn’t a massive campaign against health care reform?

In fact there was a massive campaign saying that senior citizens would lose Medicare, Palin and other hacks were saying that there were death panels, and most of the Republicans were going around saying that we had the greatest system in the world and Obama was trying to ration health care.

For some reason the last and biggest lie stuck. I don’t see why people can’t see that health care is severely rationed. The fact that 45 million could only get emergency health care, that insurance company restrict who is insured, that they limit procedure bases on a set monetary limit, that health insurance is limited to buy whether a person is employed or prepared to pay exorbitant prices for insurance, that the best care is limited to the richest of us, and finally the position that health care is a privilege not a right and it can be revoked at any time if profits are being affected by your medical condition.

That is not a system that is a death sentence to those of us unable to meet the strict standards for insurance. No “civilized” country would allow their citizens to be treated that way.

@Ron_C

*Standing ovation *

I’d also like to add how barbaric it is to categorically deny insurance to people who are born with certain conditions, but allow those who develop similar conditions due to their own lifestyle choices to be covered.

I.e. – Asthma from birth, vs. emphysema caused by tobacco use.

Thank you @Seek_Kolinahr I am just sick and tired of people defending a predatory health insurance industry based on talking points published by those criminal enterprises. I believe that the Mafia has a better health plan than ordinary U.S. citizens.

If people are going to argue against universal health care, they should, at least, argue from fact rather than propaganda.

[mod says] Let’s get back on track, guys. Take the health care debate to another thread, please.

@Cruiser Unfortunately, the link you posted led to a right-wing blog post on http://skepticians.com with no link to the original poll. It apparently was a real poll, and was conducted by CNN in March. I finally found ti mentioned on something other than a right-wing site. It’s mentioned on a CNN blog of March 22.

But as luck would have it, I remember when that news broke. All the right-wing media like Fox and sites like www.redstate.com quoted the 59% disapprove statistic. But note they didn’t link to the Poll. There is a reason. If you look at the actual poll, they asked 3 questions. They asked 3 questions. Thinking about the healthcare bill that just passed: 1—leave as is, 2—increase government involvement, 3—repeal and replace. What the right wing spin-meisters did is total the percentage that thought the bill didn’t go far enough with those that want to repeal and replace; and report that as the total number that disapprove. They failed to mention that a significant majority either wanted to leave it as it is or go further. In fact, more wanted to go further than leave as is.

But things have changed now that the law has been signed and people are seeing the hyperbole for what it was. A new CNN Poll shows the same shift toward favoring the bill that the polls I previously cited showed.

@ItsAHabit You asked, “Why is it that when people agree with you or your views they have the truth but when they don’t, they’re victims of “a massive disinformation campaign”?” I don’t believe I said that, but decompile the above and you may begin to grasp why it seems like that’s were my answers lead. All I do is post links to actual facts. Those facts, in this case, as in many, expose what the right-wing apologists do to spin things so everyone agrees with their policy ideas whether there is a shred of truth in that or not.

@ETpro good work but probably wasted effort. I notice that the tea party people and neo-conservatives tend to completely ignore facts and stick to their talking points. They also never, never admit that they were wrong. It is very sad that we have become so polarized.

The republicans have proved that they have iron discipline and stick to the prescribed talking points despite real world proof.

The democrats have proved that they need no opposition, congress could be 100% democrat and they would still have debate with right wing democrats fighting progressive democrats. Look at what happened with financial reform and health care. Republicans have become superfluous.

@ETpro I don’t know where the Kaiser Foundation get’s their funding but give me 3 guesses and the first 2 don’t count and I could probably tell you….needless to say that sampling of a 1,100 people was as cheesy a survey as one could get. The majority of the questions were “Overall would you be better off with the new health care reform bill.” HS even I would answer yes!! Of course they would especially when you get it for FREE! Not once die I see a question asking “do you know how much this bill is going to cost you and this country? Do you know how the Government is going to Pay for it? Do you know that higher existing taxes and a ton of new taxes are going to have to go up to help pay for this bill?

Quote:“Do you think the country as a whole will be better off or worse off under the new
health reform law, or don’t you think it will make much difference?” Then go to the graph and look at the trends….since Feb ‘09 support for this bill has DROPPED” from 59% to 43%. This is all in your tidy little poll ETPro.

My survey referred to politicians the people involved in making this bill happen, your’s was on the American public who majority of haven’t a clue about the health care bill and you know that! You can cite polls of senior citizens all you want but it won’t change to truth and reality that the very people who have to vote on this bill, the people that are in the know on what is really at stake are jumping ship.

[mod says] Gentlemen, please. Take this debate to a new thread. All further off-topic posts will be removed.

I think the late Senator Daniel Moynihan said it best. He said, “The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself. Thanks to this interaction, we’re a better society in nearly all respects than we were.”

Unfortunately, Moynihan’s description is marred by the current leap-frog-style electoral system in which the other major party is continually marginalized and/or demonized by the other. In allowing this type of system to thrive, we have blessed ourselves with a vicious cycle where every two, four, six or eight years the elected have to totally regroup and start from scratch rather than seeking compromise and then working together to assure continual forward progress. Our current system wastes a lot of time.

@Rufus_T_Firefly
Two parts intertwining to grow with each other, like two vines. Don’t people have two sides, two halves? Is’nt one side different than the other? But I see what you mean about having to regroup, if indeed all the things one group did were “wrong” to the other group, not likely. Thank you for the response, it made me think.

@truecomedian What Daniel Moynihan meant in the quote that @Rufus_T_Firefly mentions can’t possibly happen if the party in opposition chooses to simply be the “Party of No!” in hopes of gumming up the works, making the country worse, and letting the ruling party catch the blame. That’s what we came to in the last 2 years.

@ETpro
Seriously, who thought Barack Obama was really going to “turn this country around”. Or funnier than that is the whole “Change” propaganda. Or what’s even funnier is thinking that we’re not actually like just a big free for all clusterfuck, on our way to be derailed to hell.

@truecomedian The truth is that we are now pretty much a corporatocracy, and the real bosses have far too much power over both parties. Wall Street is getting the stage all set for a second round of what happened in 2007. It made them so damned much money, what’s not to love? And both parties are beholden to the money the big corporations dole out to them to get reelected. So I can’t say you are wrong.

@ETpro – Agreed, ETpro, the plutocracy and/or corporatocracy prevents the forward momentum needed to make any real or fundamental changes to the system and it only made things much, much worse when the SCOTUS allowed corporations the same personal rights and status as regular citizens. It will be our undoing.

@Rufus_T_Firefly Same rights as citizens? The last time I checked with my bank, I did not have the right to donate a million or two to get some bill pushed through Congress. The fact that the Supreme Court saw fit to toss out over 100 years of case law and legislate from the bench on the Citizens United case just shows the depth of control corporations now hold over Government in America. I think a great deal of the left vs. right culture wars are just diversions to keep us all focused on hating each other while liberty is being stolen right before our eyes.

@ETpro ” The fact that the Supreme Court saw fit to toss out over 100 years of case law and legislate from the bench on the Citizens United case just shows the depth of control corporations now hold over Government in America.” I believe that makes the Supreme court members that voted to make corporations citizens violated the constitution and they should be impeached. We are now ruled by corporations as evidenced by the last election and by an unconstitutionally seated supreme court. The only duly elected representative we have left is the President and the other two branches of government seem dedicated to either ousting him or making him completely ineffective. I truly believe that the next election will consolidate corporate power and completely negate any semblance of democracy in this (U.S.) country.

We will have to look at our brothers and sisters in Europe and South America for examples of democratic rule.

The secret to American politics is there is none. The people in power arent trying to get your vote, they dont give a fuck about that. They have been in power for a long time, and will continue to be. Thinking that voting, or this law, or even the constitution is really doing anything for you is a farce, a decoy if you will. Eventually they’ll run out of decoys and they’ll just think of something else to passify the poor, or the masses(less poor). The only reason why Obama is President is because it doesn’t mean anything. Collection agencies are now using the police to arrest and jail people for outstanding debt. Even some of the privileged youth have gone down in flames and winded up in bad situations, and that’s just not suppossed to happen. Lies, all lies, complete bullshit, sorry.

@ETpro – Pardon me, I should have said that the SCOTUS gave corporations MORE rights than regular citizens get. I agree with you about the Right vs. Left culture wars being little more than a smokescreen. Although, I really don’t think the Europeans have it any better than we do.

@Rufus_T_Firefly you are probably right about Europeans being no better off than the U.S. There one advantage is that they have parliaments and are not locked into two party rules. They have a chance to escape corporate rule, we have none.

Yikes, time to join the Starbuck’s Party!

@Rufus_T_Firefly There is a massive shift toward corporatocracy in Europe as well. They want it all.