Could someone tell me the difference (generally) between Democrats and Republicans?

Question

I really have a hard time reading hate speech, so excuse me if I don't read any.

Please, don't evade the question.

Answer 1

Each of the major political parties focuses on different aspects of the Constitution as most important. In the Preamble to the Constitution, there are five goals (values) of the US government: "establish Justice, to ensure domestic Tranquility, to provide for the common Defense, to promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty"

Conservatives think the most important are "to ensure domestic Tranquility" (meaning to promote conformity with 'traditional' ways) and to "provide for the Common Defense". Most conservatives are Republicans, who (nowadays) want group rights (conformity with 'traditional' values) and a large government to ensure domestic tranquility (by enforcing those conservative majority beliefs). Moderate republicans (originally called fiscal conservatives) want a small government, just large enough to provide for the common Defense.

Liberals think it's more important to "promote the general Welfare, and ensure the blessings of Liberty". Most liberals are Democrats, who want individual rights and a large government to promote the general welfare. Moderate democrats don't want a lot of wasteful spending, and want to achieve their goals without causing too many problems. Democrats do have a Conservative wing, which focuses on better ethical leadership and greater protection for both groups and individuals. The main difference is that conservative democrats still don't believe in enforcing their views on the minority, even if their own personal choices would be the same as what conservative republicans would make.

The concept of promoting Justice is important to both camps, but their idea of justice differs. Most camps of the liberal parties believe ensuring Justice requires favoring defendants, preferring the guilty to go free rather than sending the innocent to prison. Republicans and conservatives believe the promoting Justice requires being harsh to those accused, even if that occasionally inflicts sentences on the innocent.

Interestingly, the spectrum is not linear, and has more than one dimension. There are other political parties who focus on different combinations of those values. For example, Libertarians want a small government (no wasteful spending) and very little Welfare (few if any entitlements), but strong on Defense. Libertarians also want lots of protection for individual civil rights, to secure the blessings of Liberty. They feel that Tranquility will take care of itself, and doesn’t need government enforcement of morality. As such, they are moderate about most issues, except for being adamant that the majority should not impose its beliefs on the minority, as part of their way to promote Justice.

So, it basically comes down to which sets of Constitutional values each group thinks are most important.

Answer 2

This is what Democrats SHOULD stand for: universal health coverage, universal preschool, a living wage, and a national service program that pays for college. Add to this 4-point plan a return to a senisible foreign policy and people might actually think that the Democrats can run a successful government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

As a Democrat, without focusing on policies and programs, I would say this is the principle that we stand for: that government, as well as other institutions, should be used to make people's lives easier. We shouldn't be putting obsticales in the way of people as they try and pursue their happiness. We should be helping them achieve a satisfying life for themselves and for society.

It seems to me that Republicans are all about keeping people in their place, and that they enact policies that make peoples lives more difficult. If you're poor, they make it harder for you to get out of poverty; if you're sick, they make it harder for you to get cured; if you're uneducated, they make it harder for you to get and education; if you're gay, they make it harder for you to live your prefered lifestyle; if you're in the working class, they make it harder for you to make ends meet; if you have an unintended pregnancy, they make it harder for you to make the right choice for yourself; they make it harder for you to be a religious or ethnic minority; I unfortunatly could go on and on...

Not that everything Democrats do make people's lives easier, but the goal is to take power from those who have too much of it and put it in the hands of every single person so that they can decide what makes a best life for themselves.

And that's just the philosophical differences. Then theirs the matter of tactics...

Answer 3

Values....

Dem- Freedom,
a) freedom of speech
b) freedom of press
c) freedom from government intervention in personal and private matters
ie choice of partners, sex of partners, type of intercourse, whether to use contraction, when to have children, or even if.


Rep- Limted Freedom,
a) limted freedom of speech, especially contreversial speech
b) limted freedom of press, critism, accountablity will not be tolerated.
c) limted choices in the gender of your partner, and choices in deciding when to have children or if.


Values.........

Dem -Tolerance
1) Tolerance and acceptance of people who are diffrent
a)immgration- there is a middle ground
b)race- belief all should have an level playing field
c)sexal prefrence- equall under the eye of the law
d) income- programs to protect the weakest in society

Rep- Limited Tolerance
2) Tolerance of people who are most similar to them
a) there is no middle ground- only the extreme.
b)tokenism
c) national amemdements to bann certain marriages
d) policies that mostly benifit the most priviledged of society and corprate welfare


Values:
Dems- Families
1) health care
2) Education
3) Pro Union and workers
4) Clean enviroments

Rep - Upper Income Families
1) private sector
2) Standarized test
3) Pro Corparation protection
4) Corparte right to polute and ease of restrictions.

Answer 4

republicans fear change. Democrats love it. In a nutshell...

Answer 5

Republicans don't care about black people
Democrats don't either