What are the fundamental differences between the Republican and Democratic parties?
449539
Acute has it backwards, though these days it seems like she is correct.  Repulicans believe in sink or swim, democrats believe in giving you a life boat.  Unfortunately, their idea of a lifeboat is a hundred-foot luxury liner with a freakin' helipad on the poop deck.\n\nAlso, the size of their contributors wallets.
41613
Republican State   (example United States)\n\nThe party tends to hold both conservative and libertarian stances on social and economic issues respectively.\n\nThe Republican Party, often called the GOP (for "Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Democratic Party. The party was first established in 1854 by Northerners who were opposed to the spread of slavery, and held a Hamiltonian vision for modernizing the nation. In the modern political era, the GOP is usually considered the more socially conservative and economically neoliberal of the two major parties.\n\nThe current President, George W. Bush, is the party leader. Since 2002 the Republican Party has held a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It also controls a majority of governorships, and a majority of state legislatures.
164294
Political Party: Democratic-Republican
925870
well without being to long winded about it basically the republicans are for smaller goverment, states rights, low taxes and generally fear change they like our laws the way the are.they live and die by the constitution. The Dems are for larger goverment more goverment involvement,sometimes higher taxes and tend to want to reform our laws they feel some are outdated and need looked at. When you ask about social issues typically your Republicans stand on the Conservative side of social issues like most are pro-life(but yet support the death penalty) against gay marriage and support gun rights. As for Dems they tend to support gay marriage, some are anti-gun and most are pro choice. hopes this helps and by the way Bush has been labled a Conservative but in reallity his views are more towards the center.
942589
Democrats are people who like to help all people, especially the working class and poor.  Republicans like to cater to big business and extremely wealthy people and drop programs to help the needy.
943778
There are certainly extremists in both parties. The difference is that in the Republican party, they are on the fringe. In the Democratic party, they are in the mainstream.\nWould we be better off without them? Yes.\nIs there a snowball's chance in H-ll that this will happen? No.
582991
There aren't any major differences.  They are two factions of the same business party, representing the interests of the corporate elite.  Both republicans and democrats support increased military spending on an already gargantuan military budget, tax cuts to the wealthy, welfare "reforms" (which means eliminating aid to those in need), privatization of social services generally, opening up the environment for the benefit of corporate leaders (at the expense of humanity's existence), and the overarching concern for the global extension of capitalism (along with favoring "free trade" policies that encroach upon the democratic sovereignty of other nations).\n\nThey might differ on some social issues (e.g., abortion and gun control issues) that do not affect the bottom line, but we might wonder if these differences are really that important.\n\nBy having two parties, it provides the illusion that US citizens have a real choice at the polls and real democracy.  However, democracy is about leaders being accountable to the broad populace, and clearly this does not happen (regardless of political party in power).
124912
The major parties:\n\nDemocratic Party\nRepublican Party\nConstitution Party \nGreen Party\nLibertarian Party\n\nLot more details below:
348732
Democratic party philosophy vs. Republican party philosophy.
941887
Republicans believe that everyone has an equal chance to succeed, so they are against Affirmative Action and the like, because, unlike Democrats, they feel that minorities have every chance to do well.  Republicans believe in Equality.  Republicans believe in lower taxes and free trade\n\nDemocrats are more socialist.  They believe in the distribution of wealth.  They believe in the expansion of a welfare state.  They oppose a strong military and national defense.  They are for raising taxes and more government programs
215336
One of the most major differences (speaking more officially/ideologically, and leaving out de facto differences which are obvious enough today) is with respect to what the role of the state, and in particular the relationship of the state to individual liberty, should be. In general, republicans want as little government 'interference' as possible, and tend to be anti-taxation (to take one obvious example), on the grounds that 'It's my money and I should be free to do what I want with it; I know how to spend it better than the government does.' Democrats, on the other hand, tend to be more open to a system in which we all pay in, in the form of taxes, to fund social services like health care, education, and welfare.\n\nIf it clarifies things for you (or perhaps simply as a suggestion for further reading), I'd say that Robert Nozick, a libertarian, is a very good example of republican-style thought, whereas John Rawls would be much more of a democratic-style thinker -- major contrast between the two of them.
28444
In a brief nutshell, today's Republicans (the Good Old Party, GOP) are characterised by a want for 'smaller' government, a more agile (not necissarily bigger) military, and a connection with (usually religious) blue-color 'everyman' workers.  They believe in a government that is reflective of overarching, 'home grown' family values, as can be best seen in their "Contract With America". Democrats are more for creating a social welfare society, and believe that goverment should play a more active role in daily life (though not necissarily intrusive).  Many people brand this party as being 'liberal', which is actually a fairly new designation considering many Democrats (also known then as Dixiecrats) were opposed to 'liberal' civil rights reforms in the 1960s.  Further, whereas Republicans target typically older citizens, Democrats tend to lean towards younger, educated professionals (for example yuppies) and are a favorite on college campuses.  Unfortunately, in today's America politics has become frieghteningly divisive.  We can't even have a hurricane (I cite Katrina) without people pulling out 'Repbulican this' or 'Democrat that'.  Further, the two parties aren't helping the matter either.  Whenever someone does something wrong (For example a Republican President or Democratic governor), it is suddenly the fault of the entire party, and not just that one person.  You seem educated enough to visit each party's website and read their platform.  Skip over anything with the word 'Iraq' or 'terror' in it (because these are in the spotlight, and are likely to be uselessly full of propogand) and instead read your opinions on issues that effect your daily life, such as public education, health care and taxes.  I think you (and many other people) would be surprised at how much the two parties actually agree on, but with different routes.
261581
Generally Republicans believe that business if left alone serves society. Democrats believe that people sometimes need assistance from the government. Republicans are more rugged individualists and Democrats believe we have a moral duty to help each other out. Republicans tend to rely on business to cure societal ills and Democrats tend to rely on government.
926778
Republicans and Democrats are just two sides of the same coin.  Republicans are pro gun anti abortion.  Democrats are anti gun, pro abortion.  Other than that it's all talk and smoke and infighting, they both serve their corporate masters.  When it comes to screwing over the working class and slowly taking away our freedoms it is bipartisan.
804438
Well let's see...\n\n+Democrats support peace, not war, like Bush.\n+They believe in the more middle class American, while Republicans only care about the rich\n+The economy is 10x better when a Democrat is in power\n+Dems usually support gay marriage, because gay people are people too, and so are black people. \n+They also care about the environment, while Republicans couldn't care less\n+Democrats are usually pro-choice as far as abortion goes, but they are not pro-abortion.
149323
There are quite a few to mention. Suffice it to say that the Democrats are more "liberal" in their views and the Republicans are more "conservative" in theirs.\n\nThis may seem a bit too simplified, but let's try it - and any political party experts may feel free to expand on or correct my ideas:\n\nDeath penalty:\nDemocrats: con\nRepublicans: pro\n\nAbortion:\nDemocrats: pro\nRepublicans: con\n\nGovernment size:\nDemocrats: large\nRepublicans: small\n\nDefense spending:\nDemocrats: less\nRepublicans: more\n\nEducation spending:\nDemocrats: more\nRepublicans: less\n\nLabor unions:\nDemocrats: pro\nRepublicans: con\n\nScrewing the public:\nDemocrats: YES\nRepublicans: YES\n(OK, that's just me being a cynic, but.....)\n\nFor another perspective, see the link below:
351183
Mainly nowadays political party is more accompanied to the political theory one believes in.  Democrats usually relate to liberalism - socialistic, focus on individualism, and freedom to do what you want so long as you don't hold back anyone from doing what they want.  Republicans usuually relate to conservatism - capitalistic, focus on conformitiy, and a strong national government.  Of course they can be switched up, but often not.  The main reason nowadays for political parties is to simply seperate yourself from the other side in order to present a solid political platform.