Title: AskMe: Democrats vs. Republicans: What DO they believe?
Headings: Democrats vs. Republicans: What DO they believe?
Democrats vs. Republicans: What DO they believe?
Content: budgetanalyst gave this response on 7/18/2000: I assume that your question is related to the largest two parties in the United States of America. The American political system does not thrive on differences, so the Republican and Democratic parties are very similar. The reason for this is that both parties want their candidates to be elected, and extreme positions on any issue will turn voters away from the party or candidate with the extreme position on any issue. By and large, both parties are large agglomerations of various groups with somewhat compatible beliefs whose main objective is to elect candidates to office, not to prevail on any philosophical grounds or beliefs. The names of the parties have little to do with the form of government they favor - both are for the American system, which is a democracy with a republican form of government, i.e., an elected head of state. There is not disagreement on this between the parties. There is no constitutional issue between them. The most significant difference between the two is that the Democratic Party favors a greater role in society for government than does the Republican Party, and the Republican Party is more given to authoritarian governmental measures than is the Democratic Party. But this is not a hard and fast rule, and both parties have members who support some of the positions of the other party.