What are the main differences between the republican and democratic parties?

[EgyptianDentist]

I know this may sound as a stupid question, but I dont feel there are lots of differences between electing either party in making big decisions related to real issues of the American community.
Why are you a democrat and not a republican?
What difference does electing the democratic party make in US?
I see -sure- the differences between people here in DU, and people in stormfront, but what has changed from Bush era to Obama era?

[el_bryanto]

1. I think one thing is that the Republicanoids are the part of Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity

and others who just spew hatred 24/7. We have a few very passionate and even strident people on our side of the fence but the hatred coming out of the right . . . just sickens me.

Our programs for America are better, of course. I believe in our ecnomic program and our foreign policy is clearly superior (although not nearly as superior as I would like) - but what got me moving liberally initially was Ann Coulter and Limbaugh and others.

Bryant

[SugarShack]

28. You can't put a piece of paper between them,,,or a corporation.

[leftstreet]

2. You go to stormfront?

[madrchsod]

31. i've followed stormfront for years....

lots of interesting information on racism across this country and europe. stormfront also has a large following across europe and russia.

[randr]

3. Assuming you may be Egyptian

What are the differences in your country between the extremist Muslim Brotherhood types and your average peace loving Egyptian?
Welcome to DU btw

[EgyptianDentist]

19. Yes, I am Egyptian

Last edited Fri Sep 27, 2013, 01:19 AM - Edit history (1)

There's a huge gap between a Muslim brotherhood, and any other Egyptian, it's not a political view. I think being a brotherhood is a disease cause you cant be sane and believe in their ideology.
Muslim brotherhoods believe in six steps of conquering the world, the last step is "mastering" the world. They don't recognize Egypt as an independent country with long history and definite borders, they don't think we are all Egyptians whatever your religion is.. they think Egypt is just a part of an imagined Islamic empire, they think Egyptians are divided into two categories 1) people who are real Muslims, those who believe in political Islam, and 2) Those, who don't believe in political Islam, the infidels who should be fought in order to make the forth step which is taking "full power" in the country to make the fifth step which is the "land of believers".
Brotherhoods formed the basic ideas of political Islam, that then spread to the whole world, in brief they think the world is divided into the land of believers and the land of infidels. And they think it's an Islamic duty of believers to take full power and control of their community, to make the perfect land of believers that can be ready to fight infidels. They think they will reach the good community where people dont lie dont steal dont kill only after this war ends by the complete conquer of believers of the whole world. While in war, they are allowed to lie, to kill any one ,to terrorize, to deceive etc
They of-course also have radical views of rule of women, Christians, arts, etc as any other radical group.
For 80 years Brotherhoods have been trying to take full power of Egypt -by any way possible-, they literally tried every thing and nothing worked, simply cause although we are having many troubles in Egypt, we the rest of Egyptians cant be that radical and stupid, we will just never allow it..
The rest of Egyptians are different in their views, we are not angels, we are not all peace lovers as you say, but we can change our views for better, and we want to change, which I hope we do, cause we really need many changes in almost every thing to be a better country!

[EgyptianDentist]

20. Another difference

But it's on Academic level, is the interpretation of Islam and its rule in life and government.
They try to force all interpretation to hold their view only, even through killing, thats why Farag Fouda was killed just after having a public debate with Brotherhoods in 1992..

[randr]

37. You can say that people all over the world

are entangled in the same conflict. An archaic view rooted in male dominance against an evolving view of equality. Just goes by different names in different areas of the globe. Here, in America, it is the Repblican's against the Democrats.

[EgyptianDentist]

38. No

The repubs is a political party that recognize America as the basic identity in US. They work within this identity.. Brotherhoods are a global terrorist group that lauched a war on modern Egypt 80 years ago, and it's their first aim is to end modern Egypt, they wrote the first books of political Islam terrorism. They killed and tried to kill many Egyptians. A Big Big difference !

[randr]

39. Here in America we have what we call the Military Industrial Complex

Along with global petroleum companies they have established a military dominance over every area of the world that they extract the natural resources that fuel their collective wealth. These people, or corporations with personhood as established by our Republican Supreme Court, have no allegiance to any national identity. They are currently destroying America with their recent discovery of natural gas resources underlying most of the nation at a rate that is even disturbing by third world standards. The Republican Party is the fully paid for and installed arm of this cabal that behaves no differently that your brotherhoods of global terrorism.
Republicans are also the main support for laws that keep the NRA in the business of arming our nation with the result being the death of thousands of innocent people each year. Americans are in denial as to the extent of this internal war.
I do no in any way want to imply that our suffering at the hands of Republicans is any worse that the Egyptian struggle against Islamic terrorism. I only want to suggest that our shared suffering comes from a common root of bigotry and religious intolerance, and GREED.

[1000words]

4. One's a donkey, the other is an elephant.

[dkf]

5. After all this bomb bomb bomb and NSA snooping I don't know what to tell you.

[kentuck]

6. Good question.

The privileged in this country have fought the poor and hungry since this country was formed. It is not just a coincidence that we are the only industrialized country in the world that does not offer healthcare to all its citizens.

It is difficult to think of anything the Republican Party has done to make the lives of the majority of Americans better. Almost all the progress ever made in this country was done by Democrats and unions. We are talking the 40-hour week, pay for overtime, Civil Rights for all races, Social Security, Medicare, etc...

The Republican Party has effectively kept our nation from going Socialist by expounding the greatness of the capitalist system.

Other than that, not much.

[BKH70041]

7. Different icing

But on the same doughnut.

[cynatnite]

8. Well, look at the fight over healthcare right now...

The repubs are willing to shut down the government to keep the uninsured from having health insurance.

Here recently, the repubs voted to cut food stamps from millions of needy family while handing huge subsidies to wealthy farmers.

That's just a very brief overview on a couple of differences.

What is stormfront?

[Hekate]

11. Stormfront is a white nationalist and supremacist neo-Nazi Internet forum...

Stormfront is a white nationalist and supremacist neo-Nazi Internet forum that was the Internet's first major hate site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormfront_%28website%29


Kind of a weird juxtaposition to DU or even the Republican Party, isn't it?

[steve2470]

12. neo-nazi white supremacist website nt

[doc03]

9. The Republicans are willing to stand up for their beliefs even if

they are crazy. Democrats consistantly cave when the Republicans back them in a corner.

[derby378]

10. I can tell you why *I* am a Democrat, but I can't speak for the party itself

I believe in the power of labor, the power of the "little guys" to band together and bring positive change in the workplace and on Wall Street. That means respect for worker's rights and labor unions. There has been some Republican support for unions in the past, but all of that has evaporated now - Democrats, on the other hand, have always had a better relationship with unions. Above all else, we just want fair work that is compensated with fair pay.

In terms of healthcare, Republicans see health insurance as a privilege for the few, while Democrats see it as a duty for the many. A few of us believe healthcare should be a right, but our nation isn't there yet. Healthy workers tend to be happy workers.

We also have a duty to leave this planet in a better condition than we found it for the next generation of workers. Towards that extent, Democrats like myself tend to favor laws against air and water pollution, and we also speak out on issues like climate change, fracking, faulty oil pipelines, and other environmental hazards.

Does that help any?

[a kennedy]

35. Thank you for this derby378, this is exactly what I wanted to see written.

Thanks.

[Rex]

13. One group wants to separate a person's health from their job.

Last edited Thu Sep 26, 2013, 09:14 PM - Edit history (1)

The other wants your health to go to shit on the job or not they really don't care. Guess who is who.

Bonus is you can guess which one is obsessed with a woman's uterus and which one is for women's rights.

[Tx4obama]

14. Really?

Democrats are:
Pro womens rigihts
Pro choice
Pro equal pay
Pro LGBT rights
Pro heathcare
Pro voting rights for all
Pro immigration
Pro financial/banking reform
Pro food stamps for the needy
the list goes on and on and on

As far as the Republicans they are against all of the above.

[steve2470]

15. to put it simplistically, the power of government to do good versus very limited government

Now that I made that simplistic point, even the vast majority of Republicans believe in Social Security and Medicare or at least give public lip service to it.

I am a Democrat because I want the less fortunate to have a safety net and I want us to have a rational, well-thought out foriegn policy.

Piece of advice: Don't ever go to stormfront again. It is one of the most horrific places on the internet.

[JaneyVee]

16. Climate change, healthcare, jobs, taxation, social safety nets, abortion, gay marriage,

Unionism, education, investing in infrastructure, wages, pretty much everything is different.

[woo me with science]

22. I think you are speaking of the Democratic Party of decades ago.

The OP has identified the cancer that is destroying this country: the problem of corporate money and power corrupting the political system of the United States of America, including both major parties.

Both parties now fight for a corporate agenda in virtually all major areas of policy important to the One Percent:

Austerity for the masses? Both parties support it.
Cutting social safety nets? Both parties support it.
Corporatists in high-level administration positions? Both parties support it.
Corporate education policy? Both parties support it.
Bank bailouts? Both parties support it.
Ignoring the trillions stashed overseas? Both parties support it.
Trans-Pacific Job/Wage Killing Secret Agreement? Both parties support it.
Drilling and fracking and pipelines? Both parties support it.
Wars on medical marijuana instead of corrupt banks? Both parties support it.
Deregulation of the food industry? Both parties support it.
GMO's? Both parties support it.
Targeting of journalists and whistleblowers? Both parties support it.
Private prisons replacing public prisons? Both parties support it.
Unions? Both parties view them with contempt.
Mass spying on Americans and domestic drones? Both parties support it.
Militarized police and assaults on protesters? Both parties support it.
Indefinite detention? Both parties support it.
Drone wars and kill lists? Both parties support them.

The current administration's record shows aggressive, proactive support of a corporate agenda
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3202395

.

[TorchTheWitch]

41. ^THIS^

Thanks. Couldn't have said it better.

[Tx4obama]

17. 100s things have changed under President Obama since Bush

DOMA has been defeated

DADT has been defeated

Lily Ledbetter bill passed (regarding equal pay for women)

A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been created
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Financial_Protection_Bureau

President Obama appointed TWO liberal Supreme Court Justices to the Supreme Court and TONS of liberal judged to Circuit Court of Appeals and District Courts (this is very important)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_judges_appointed_by_Barack_Obama

And you can do all the rest of the Googling research on your own.

There are 100s of good things that have happened under our Democratic President Obama that would NEVER have happened under a republican president.

[KentuckyWoman]

18. What has changed? I don't mean to be rude but are you serious?

Look I have a lot of problems with how the national Democratic Party is conducting itself as far as catering to the monied, but it's clear to me that the Obama Administration is at least TRYING to move the pendulum back in the direction of the 99%.


Credit card reform was huge IMHO. Getting to an abusive state of affairs was exactly what Republicans wanted and fought for.

Holding the TSA accountable for thefts of property, general abuse etc is no small matter either. The Republicans were defending this tomfoolery from the getgo.

Prosecution of Wall Streeters and Banksters is coming arduously slow - the penalties are far too lenient - but President Obama is going after some of them and the Democratic Party is generally supportive. I have no doubt in my mind the Republicans would be rewarding these guys instead - just think about the fact they refuse to even consider nominees for key positions in the regulatory and justice jobs.

Saving General Motors. I can't say enough gratitude for that. The political heat the Democrats took for that was huge. Even blue collar working people were slamming President Obama particularly for it because of their personal jealousy toward union workers with half decent compensation. But it's paid off in so many different ways. Republicans were hell bent on destroying the UAW. They may yet succeed before it's over but President Obama sure made the Republicans have to wait another 10 years to get it done.

Expanded Pell Grants and kicked the durn banks out of the student loan program. It's bad enough we refuse to properly educate our kids at the primary and secondary level. They are forced to mortgage their future for even the smallest hope of an above minimum wage in life. But to have the banks abusing students on top of that all the while taking federal subsidy money is just beyond the pale. Republican have decimated our early education system and rigged the game so the 1% can use education as yet another avenue to line their pockets at our expense. For far too long the Democratic Party didn't fight hard enough to stop it in my opinion, but under this administration they've at least moved the needle a little big back toward sanity.

Food safety. Not that problems haven't slipped through but for 25 yrs the Republican chipped away at food safety standards in the name of almighty profits. During Bush it seemed like every other week we were having tainted food or medicine recalls. Obama pushed through more money for inspections - I wish it could have been more - but the guy did do something and it's helped.

That's a few things I can think of off the top of my head. My basic reason for being in the Democratic Party is that while it's not a perfect marriage, Democratic politicians are far more likely to do what is right for me and mine on any given day rather than cater to only the monied the way Republicans are apt to do.

[EgyptianDentist]

21. Sorry

I see no differences between Obama and John McCain when it comes to middle east, and I try to understand why.

[truebluegreen]

23. Obama makes better speeches and McCain is undisciplined

but unfortunately both parties think the Middle East's resources are ours to exploit, because we can. We dress this up with pretty talk about freedom and democracy, but those things are irrelevant if they don't benefit us (to be fair, many Americans believe all the pretty talk, and think that what we do--at great cost and sacrifice--is for the good of Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Egypt, or Libya, or Syria...).

This has been true for most or all of my life and more so in these last decades as the availability of oil has dropped while the world's appetite for it has grown.

In my opinion the only real difference between the two parties is on social issues--like gay marriage, or women's rights, or health insurance reform--and then only if it doesn't take too much money out of big corporations' pockets.

Some recent developments make me think that we finally have some real potential for change. It can't happen soon enough for me.

[Tigress DEM]

27. Obama threatened war over human rights abuses. McCain was giddy about "Bomb Bomb Iran"

Obama has accepted and supported a diplomatic solution to Syria.

McCain has become less of a warmonger over the last several years, actually, but he still is more "cowboy diplomacy" shoot first and sort them out later.

[TransitJohn]

24. Temporal. eom

n/t

[on point]

25. Problem is reality vs market image. Only real dif is dems are slightly social liberal

Selling out to the rich and PTB No difference

[coldmountain]

26. Democrats are thoroughly corrupted by big business

Republican literally ARE big business

Just a short list

Romney=Bain Capital
Daddy Bush=Carlyle Industries
Cheney=Haliburton
Tea Party=Koch Brothers
McCain=InBev
Issa=Dirested Electronics
Snyder=Gateway Computer

[Starry Messenger]

29. One supports free-market capitalism

Last edited Fri Sep 27, 2013, 12:07 AM - Edit history (1)

Except for oligarchs and corporations. The other nominally supports Keynesian reforms, but is only slightly less imperialistic.

[spanone]

30. a soul. if you see no change you are not paying attention...

[Alkene]

32. "The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers."

"The people don't acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead."

~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

[cali]

33. Not a stupid question at all- and I think I can give you a coherent answer

First the common ground: Both parties, alas, are beholden to big money, and that means corporate money from diverse sectors. the Republican party is more enmeshed with the corporate powers that be. It may seem a slight difference, but it's one that can't be discounted.

The Democratic party is far more diverse than the Republican party- in every imaginable way: It's more diverse ethnically, religiously and ideologically. To some extent, the democratic party is an urban based party whereas the repubs are a rural based party. that isn't wholly true. My state of Vermont, for instance, is very democratic and this is a rural state. But that's anomalous.

The democratic party is far more liberal on social issues than the republican party. Religion doesn't dominate as it does in the republican party.

The differences can be seen on such issues as voting rights, the social safety net, gun control, Federal and Supreme Court appointments, energy policy, environmental issues, and much more.

the above reflect differences between the bush era and the Obama era.

I get called an Obama hater on a regular basis here because I disagree with quite a few of the President's policies- from drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen and other places, to the TPP. I don't, of course, hate the President, but I do hate some of his policies.

Oh, and there are some truly liberal democrats like my Senator and Rep, Pat Leahy and Peter Welch. I'm fortunate to have Bernie Sanders represent me in the Senate, and although he isn't a democrat, he is supported by the dem party in VT.

[Puzzledtraveller]

34. (R) and (D)

The controllers are the same.

[baldguy]

36. The Dems believe that govt exists to help people.

The GOP believes that govt exists to help businesses.

Anyone saying that there is no difference hasn't been paying attention.

[DireStrike]

40. Social policy.

Talking about the politicians here, not the constituents.

Democrats are more socially liberal. That's about it.

Republicans are much better at utilizing the system of government to achieve their ends. Democrats proclaim a wide variety of goals that sound good, but never put much effort into actually attaining them. This leaves one to conclude that Democrats are either largely incompetent cowards, or actually much closer to the Republican party in terms of policy than they pretend to be in public.

When Republicans are in office, they relentlessly pursue pro-big-business and free trade agendas, to the detriment of all but the wealthiest. When the Democrats are in power, they throw up a smattering of tepid reforms which are further weakened by "compromise", which Democrats continue to pretend works and is necessary, even when it isn't.

In 2008 we had a Democratic majority so large it was capable of overriding opposition. We got a handful of weak reforms. The signature "accomplishment" is Obamacare, which is a Republican plan from the 90s alongside a few progressive reforms (which might still be derailed by Republican opposition on all fronts.)

If we had a Republican majority of 60 in the senate, with control of the house of representatives and the white house (like the Democrats in 2008) our social safety net would be dismantled almost completely, and all the "excess" spending would be redistributed to the rich in the form of tax cuts. It would take decades to recover from, if we ever did.


In terms of foreign policy, Democrats are generally better at getting the rest of the world to go along with it when we plunder other countries.