Differences between Two Major Political Parties - Essay Example

Even though the issues affecting Americans have been recognized by the leadership of the two parties, it is the way to tackle such issues that have created two distinct categories of leadership styles all these years.

This paper will closely examine the two parties’ policy approaches in the history of American democracy and find out the major differences that the said parties exhibit through the leaders they have often elected. The paper will try to establish if the two parties have influenced the way a democratic or a republican party elected presidential candidate is bound to approach the implementation of certain issues of public interest or even act on matters that face the country during their reign.

Democratic Party vs Republican Party

There are quite a few ideological differences based on the Republicans’ and the Democrats’ policies. Such differences were recently cited to have polarized the nation in the recently concluded elections in the United States that saw president Obama clinch a second term in office. To begin, the democrats have in a way tried to create a favorable environment for economic expansion, expanding individual opportunity and assisting the poor so that it has reduced the gap between the rich, the middle-income earners, and the poor.

The Republicans, however, believe that the government creating a conducive environment or benefits, so to speak, only help in creating a nation of takers’ (Harwood, 2013). This brings out the Republicans as those interested in making the richer become richer while the middle class and lower class citizens continue to find their path to economic empowerment. If this fact is anything to go by, then this might explain the incumbent president's “coalition” that made his re-election possible. It is mostly the low-income earners and the youth who formed a formidable force that propelled the presidents’ efforts for a second term in the White House.

Steinhauer (2013) further elaborates this and states that due to subsequent victories by the Democrats for the presidential race that has been largely sparked by the voting pattern influenced by the rich Hispanic votes in favor of the Democrats, the Republicans have attempted to formulate a plan. For instance, they were pushing immigrants to immigrate to the U.S. or reside permanently if their stay was illegal. The Democrats, on the other hand, have discouraged immigration due to pressure on the existing resources. This push might be unrealistic but is a good indicator of the approaches the Republican Party has taken in reaction to the response such voters have always given to their initial policy stance (Fried, 2008). They have been known to push for strict measures like deportation and use of electric fences and even the use of excessive force to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country.

The economy has been a major battlefront for the two parties. It is evident that the two parties have approached spending, for instance, in a different way. Many have cited that the Democrats have often struggled to repair a broken economy inherited from their Republican counterparts who have promoted massive spending, especially on the military. While the Democrats believe that America should be a self-sustaining model of financial spending by the federal government, the Republican version of self-sustenance has been to enormously spend on the military so that it dominates the other economies of the world (Winter, 2010).

Another area of policy that has distinguished the two parties is that of Medicare. Harwood states that president Clinton and now Obama won because of this issue. This shows that the party policy on healthcare reform has been hinged on the provision of universal healthcare to all citizens. On the other hand, the Republicans have continued to criticize the comprehensive healthcare reforms citing unbalanced payment systems. Whereas the healthcare system proposed by the Democratic candidates seems to favor the poor, the Republicans have fought for a ‘fairer’ means of allocation that will ensure that everyone pays for their share of the burden regardless of their economic status.

Conclusion
The two main parties in the United States are differed in many issues due to political ideology and even the history of the parties and how they handle pertinent issues of public interest. It is evident that whereas the Democrats seem to favor the middle class and the poor while recognizing the part played by the richer citizens, their Republican counterparts have been more sympathetic to the rich and affluent of the society. This has been shown in their approaches to tackling social and economic issues.