Democrats vs Republicans - Overview and Comparison - Research Paper Example

?Democrats vs. republicans- Overview and Comparison: Democrats and Republicans are two main stream political parties in United s of American political scene. They have been sharing power between one another time and again. The two have differed with one another over rules of engagement in political spectrum, their philosophies, their foreign policies as well as domestic approach about undertaking different actions. Each party has number of contributions against its name in form of domestic and foreign affairs. At the same time, both can be termed guilty for numerous internal and external actions that did not favor the American public nor their life styles. Civil rights, foreign invasions and role of super power in ensuring peace along with domestic policies devising, approach undertaken in each set of action that is aforementioned defines the outlook of the respective parties. It was during their rule that women got the right to cast their votes in the ballots Key words: Liberals, Conservatives, foreign policy, domestic policy, economy driven, morality driven. The two different upfront with regard to the political ideologies. Each derives its inspiration from different set of actions and course undertaken. Republicans are dubbed as the conservatives in their actions and philosophy while the Democrats are often tagged as the liberals in their overall political attire and actions. The difference in views with regard to being liberal and conservatives come to forth in terms of their views shared upon political gains against the moral aspects and moral binding upon each. A common belief revolves around in the pillars of the political affairs that Democrats aim to enforce economic pillar strengthening across the globe in the regions of their influence. On the other hand Republicans are loosely associated with the belief of being driven by the factor of morality and global peace in the entire region as well as the parts of influence in other continents. Their rulings affect the lives of common man in a direct and indirect manner. Since they have different policies pertaining to the social security, family laws, legal rights presentation, taxation, foreign affairs and all have a direct impact on the individuals. This effect can be seen in the retrospect of the past and the domestic and foreign decisions being made as well as the present and the policies that each makes. For example the health care decision being made by president Barrack Obama is seen as a major move by any president in the field of health care, successful implementation would enable better health care facilities and as a result satisfied citizens. This paper takes into account sequentially how major domestic and foreign decisions were taken by each government. The decisions so made by each of them has a direct psychological impact on the people of American society. For example a president who comes up with slash on jobs will leave a negative impact on the mindset of common man. While moves like Health care bill are definitely in line to bring about more support such as the one that has recently been presented by Barrack Obama( 2010 health care plan). Foreign policies have a direct similar impact with global impact falling on the economy of the state, the traveling factors and many more associated constraints that come along with the policies of a super power. Based on the dominant existence of these two parties, America is termed as a two party state where the competition and race for presidency is always been these two parties. Republicans: they came into one unified part in 1854. Democrats on the other hand were formally organized under the emblem of one party in 1824(Gizzi et al, 191). Democrats are represented by Blue Color while Republicans are represented by Red Color. The mark of Donkey is attributed against the Democrats and its history runs deep into the middle of 19th century when this mark was associated to this party through a cartoon poster. Democratic party of United States of America has a history expanded over nearly two hundred years. It has undergone number of changes and reforms in its policy. These changes pertain to the issues that American society was faced with in the previous decades and centuries. It came about in to existence under the auspices of Thomas Jefferson and his followers who felt the need for creating a party that would provide them support and voice for their political moves and maneuvers. It was unofficially called the Jefferson Republicans and later on went to become the Democratic Republicans party. One of these boiling issue was that of civil rights that had slit the entire American nation and its society into two distinct factions. Surprisingly at that time, democrats stood against the civil rights movement and it did not support the idea of equality of the black and white. They were slightly inclined to the concept of slavery. A concept that had rusted the American society since long and the American War of independence was marked by the mere sign of the freedom of individuals without the regard of color creed or religion. Yet it took Democrats considerable while acknowledging the equal existence of black and white and subsequent abolishing of the slavery in America. The post Civil War scenario also saw a gulf in the American politics and society. There was a faction within that did not support the civil rights and equality. Making up for considerable amount of vote bank, they had their influences on different political parties. Democrats were one of them and it was due to this factor of support and seat bank that the Democrats opposed the civil rights movement for long as the major chunk of North did not approve of it for making a nationwide law of equality amongst masses. The sizes of governments represented by Republicans have been considerably small as compared to the members with in Democrats being large. Democrats have promoted and stressed for the gay rights. The Republicans in contrast view this as the decay of the values and against the religious affiliations hence they have opposed such moves and their legalization time and again. Republicans are renowned to follow the policy of free market capitalism. Since republicans have been engaged in major conflicts, this is represented in their policy towards the military and defense expenditure as well. They promote increase in the defense budget and expenditure. While Democrats have time and again stressed for decrease in the defense spendings and the overall defense expenditure. Democrats are tagged as the leftists for their polices while the Republicans are termed as the rightist who have followed the status quo over period of time. Democrats have time and again expressed their concern over the global warming issue. They have brought about bills aimed at bringing down the overall level of wastes that are in display and action and contributing to the low level of greenery around. However they modified their policies over period of time. One major move came about in the form of New Deal in the thirties decade of the 20th century under F.D Roosevelt. Social security act was one of the major internal level move manifested by F.D Roosevelt aimed at bringing about development and welfare in the American society especially amongst those who had been sidelined in the past. Each part has number achievements under its belt. Counting one each on internal and external front can be attributed without any doubt to Democrats. It was in the 1920s under the rule and presidency of Woodrow Wilson that the women got their change to express their consent. This was allowed in form of the permission to women to grant vote in the electoral process. This was seen as a milestone achieved since it enabled women expressing their rights and opinion. The act of Women’s suffrage came about in the 19th amendment of the constitution of United States of America and this was powered by Democrats and their nominated President. Despite the industrial revolution women had been subject to persecution of all sorts in United States of America and it set the precedence. It was this move that can be attributed to the present day two notable female secretaries of state in the name of Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice who went on to represent the American government. Less could have been imagined or achieved without such move by the then president W. Wilson representative of Democrats. It was the same president (W. Wilson) from Democratic Party that brokered peace in the Post World War 1 scenario. It was his engagement and participation that brought about relatively quicker end to the already prolonged war. With the defeat being destined to the central powers, further prolonging did not change the course of the outcome of the war, but only inflicted further damages to mankind. W. Wilson participated actively and came up with the 14 points famously known as the Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points. F.D Roosevelt who brokered the peace agreement and brought about the end to the Second World War was also a democrat. The story of their contribution does not end with end of World War 2, it was in the post world war 2 that Democrats played a vital role in the Cold war settlements. The formation of NATO, Marshal Plan, all came about the era of Democrats in government. 1960s saw a major development and progress in form of Democrats electing J.F Kennedy as the President of United States of America while he was considerably young. Out of many achievements he accomplished, the sending of mission to Moon and the first man on moon came about during the Kennedy rule and presidency. The 80s decade saw Republicans in power and they were eventually followed by Bill Clinton who is considered to be amongst the few who pioneered the government on internal level on strong footings helping strengthening the economy and getting rid of other challenges faced on internal fronts. No major wars were fought during his era. A general concept prevails about the two parties pertinent to the taxation system. To one view Democrats have followed a policy that targets the rich directly in order to compensate the middle class and provide them some kind of relieve and waiver off the taxation. Republicans in contrast are believed to maintain a uniform policy of taxation which to some critiques may not target the rich elite section of society directly. One of the key issues that has come to forth in recent times has been in form of the gun control issue. A lot of debate has been initiated in recent times after numerous issues took place in different cities and schools and colleges were targeted. The two parties have followed a policy that is relatively different to one another. While Republicans have been relatively inclined towards the spread and usage of the guns and their usage, a segment of Democrats found support and soft corner for the guns usage in the society in past. However the rising figures in crime rates in recent times have trigged about a move and change in the mindset of the Democrats and they have also billed new moves and resolutions that aim to counter the spread of guns and other kinds of weapons in the American streets and towns. Republicans have shown their support for this amendment while the Democrats have expressed their complete disapproval over this amendment and have taken steps to ensure it from being enforced. Another contribution and feat the Democrats can take pride in is the League of Nations formation (Gaines, 19). It was the sole and proprietary idea of W. Wilson to establish a central authority in form of a world entity. This entity made sure no major war takes place for another twenty years (1918-1939). The United Nations Organization which is a continuation of the League of Nations can indirectly be associated to the Democrats who had set foundations for the same move of global peace and harmony. The incumbent president (Barrack Obama) is the first black American citizen to chair the seat President of United States of America (Calloway, 45). The credit can rightly be taken by the democrats after what the American history as depicted as a state that was torn into two pieces over the civil rights movements and in the 21st century the man from the same community comes up to become the president of the states. Symbolically represented by an elephant and termed as the Conservatives . Their policies include presence of a free market and wealth spreading regardless of the restrictions amongst the rich few. Abraham went on to become the first Republican President of United States of America in 1860. It was an era in the post civil war circumstances. The centre of attraction for this party has been the Protestants, non minorities, non union supporters. They have for major part of their government phase kept themselves away from interference in the social policy formation. Republicans have expressed their dismay over the law for abortion and they have vehemently rejected any move being brought to congress that promotes abortion for legalizing. Their policies promote marriage and family support system as they are relatively more inclined towards religious matters and affiliations upon which the decisions are made in the political field. While Democrats have taken a stand for the preservation of environment, the republicans stand on other side of the river in this regard and they keep stressing upon the exploration of the earth and other areas for resources purposes. They do not follow any clear policy such as the one followed and promoted by Democrats. They have advocated the usage of conventional form of energy sources for fulfilling the needs on industrial scale. They have overall advocated the promotion of polices that stand in the way of safe practices. They have advocated free market for the purpose of bringing down the prices of the health care that have otherwise risen to a considerable rate .It was during the Republicans era when the First Gulf War was fought and America participated in it. Their rule continued for a continuous twelve years spread over the entire decade of 80s. From 2000 to 2008 George Junior Bush was in seat of the presidency and under him United States of America went to war against Afghanistan (Meher, 293) and Iraq. Both wars did go too well with the people of America neither the international world. It was during Bush Junior’s rule that September 11th incident took place. George Bush the senior and Junior both hailed from the Republican party. The first of them being Abraham Lincoln along with the notable Thomas Jefferson , D. R. Eisen However, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, make up for the few of the famous presidents that have contributed in a certain way to global politics of the world were representatives of the Republican party of America. The disadvantage of these forces being the established ones is the fact that no other party enjoys equal popularity nor are they expanded in their political field due to the lack of attention and support they ought to receive. Democrats enjoy their grip and control in two major states, and these are California and Massachusetts, the republicans in contrast enjoy strong hold in the two states that are Oklahoma and Texas. Republicans have been engaged in more number of cross continental wars than the Democrats. The Gulf war part 1 and 2 came about in their days. Their policies support the doctrine of preemption and self defense. Even if this goes against the United Nations and Security Council, the United States government incumbent finds it its own responsibility to protect its people in a preemptive way. The Iraq invasion was one similar move directed by same motive. Both the parties have notable contributions to their name and if United States of America stands as the world power, the two parties can take credit for it because it has been their government since decades and centuries that has led to its becoming a super power. They have way to go since America is faced with both internal and external challenges in present day. Despite the presence and better performance of the two parties, there is need for promoting other members of the Congress to come and participate in the political process. Free representatives should be encouraged who may work on non party basis. This will allow the strengthening of the pillars of government in the country and lead to more active participation and enrollment of the common men. Intra party elections within these two major parties must be made more transparent along with ensuring that the youth and women can also get an opportunity. The fact that no woman has yet made it to the president’s seat, the two parties should look into it and take an incentive in this direction. References: Calloway, James. Black America, Not in This America. Xlibris Corporation, 2011. Gaines, Ann. Woodrow Wilson. Infobase Publishing, 2009.Press. Gizzi, Michael C., William Richard Wilkerson and Tracey Gladstone Sovell. The Web of Democracy: An Introduction to American Politics: An Introduction to American Politics. Cengage Learning, 2007.Press. Meher, Jagmohan. America's Afghanistan War: The Success that Failed. Gyan Books, 2004. Read More