Whats the difference between Republican and Democrat?
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Your teacher is very smart in not answering because of the very ugly feelings about politics and our national future right now. There is a very good chance that, whatever you tell your parents the answer was, they would try to get the teacher fired.\n\nMy short answer is this:\n\nRepublicans feel they can help people by teaching them to help themselves over a long period of time. This is often called "tough love," where you force someone to be (smarter, richer, happier, whatever) or be miserable because he will not.\n\nDemocrats feel people who need help, need that help right now. By helping someone become a better citizen through direct help, that person can become a better tax payer and those additional taxes will help others.
133242
i'm going to attempt to answer this unbiasedly.\n\nthe simplest explanation i ever heard of the difference between the parties is that the republican party believes that the government is more important than the people (or a group of people or an individual), while the democratic party believes that the people are more important than the government.\n\nexamples:\nrepublican party believes in: pro-life, ban on gay marriage, pro big business (against unions, higher minimum wage, basically they are for anything that makes businesses more efficient and moneymaking for the company as a whole, with little regard for the employees), for capital punishment, lower taxes, smaller government (no social programs at all such as welfare or social security), bigger military, against affirmative action, for public displays of religion (as long as its christianity), tend to put much less emphasis on protecting rights and liberties such as freedoms of speech, expression, assembly, etc., and more along those lines.\n\nthe democratic party believes: pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, bigger social government (raises in government spending on welfare, education, social security, public services such as police and fire departments, etc.), drastic cuts in military, anti-big business (very pro-union and believe in protecting workers even at a corporation's expense), pro-affirmative action, anti-public displays of religion, against capital punishment, puts a much greater emphasis on protecting citizens rights with regard to free speech, religion, etc., and more along those lines.\n\nhope that helps.
895159
In theory, Republicans believe in strong state governments.   States should have the right to decide many issues for themselves.  Democrats believe in strong federal government deciding for all of the country.\n\nThe rest of the things you hear about are the sideshow political rhetoric that goes around.  Some is true.  Others are not.\n\nBoth parties have problems with abortion issues.  The Republicans are against it (for the most part), Democrats are for it.  Republicans are opposed to same sex marriages, Democrats are for them. Republicans believe by supporting business you create jobs which help others.  Democrats believe in helping the individual so he or she may find their own way.  \n\nIn the end, I think both parties are realizing they cannot hard line on issues.  Homeland Security, immigration, the exporting of American jobs, trade deficit are difficult issues that need to be dealt with quickly.  Taking a "this is my stance like it or leave it" stance does not sit well with voters.  I think, at least for the next couple of years, you will see the parties look more like each other than ever before.  \n\nWe are definitely a nation divided.  Many elections were very close.  This shows how much we need to stop looking at our differences and start working toward solutions.
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).
824480
This is actually close to the description I use to illustrate the basic difference between Republicans and Democrats:\n\nDemocrats will help feed the people fish.\nRepublicans will teach people to fish.\n\nThis philosophy is kind of a touchstone on how to think about the parties. Democrats are all about the individual, providing for one person at a time, reading to them. Republicans want to help the larger class of people, thus will provide teaching to help the people make their own way.
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Coincidently, the democrat party relies far more on huge donations, over 1 million, than does the republican party (opensecrets.org). \nBTW, republicans are far more personally charitable than are democrats, who seem to believe that charity is best handled through govt., of course, after the union bureaucrats get their "cut".
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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:
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Republicans believe they right and Democrats are wrong, while Democrats believe the exact opposite.
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Democrats believe that  we need big government to solve problems. Republicans believe people can solve problems if government will leave them alone and stop taxing them so much. Dem's are likely to believe unions are a good thing, Republicans are likely to believe that small businessmen are the backbone of our nation. Dem's want someone to take care of them. Rep want the chance to do for themselves. I hope this answer will help you to see the difference.
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Republicans typically believe in smaller government with more control allotted to the states. They believe in promoting business and lower taxes. They favor less government spending (although you wouldn't know it given the current crop). They believe in self reliance and do not support large social programs.\n\nDemocrats favor more centralized control in the form of a larger federal government with less power to the states. They traditionally sponsor more social programs and do not believe in lower taxes. \n\nThese are generalized positions and do not properly reflect the parties, but are rather intended as an overview. If you want real information I suggest visiting their party websites and reviewing their platforms.\n\nRNC http://www.gop.com\nDNC http://democrats.org
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Unfortunately they both stand for polarizing issues in a race to get as much money, power, influence to rule the country. \n\nHistorically the Republicans were a fiscally and socially conservative group that wanted the government out of people's lives. The democrats were more socially engaged and wanted government to provide opportunities to more economically challenged and were willing to spend to help equalize the playing field.\n\nToday neither is true and the more both sides demonize the other, the more the moderate middle (which is most of the population) gets drowned out with their vitriolic hatred. \n\nPower corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. To illustrate that point just read the paper.
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Republican = personal responsibility and meritocracy\n\nDemocrat = nanny-state, mediocrity, wealth redistribution (everyone is equally poor) and victim class
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A neocon is a former democrat who became republican.\n\nI'm glad i could help educate you.
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The basic difference is that Republicans follow a conservative philosophy and Democrats follow a liberal philosophy. \n\nA liberal would say that a proper role for government is to regulate and oversee the economy. Liberals say it's proper for government to ensure that companies do the right thing (such as pay minimum wages), and to ensure that people act responsibly in their finances (such as requiring contributions to retirement savings).\n\nA conservative would say that a proper role for government is to regulate and oversee morality. Conservatives say it's proper for government to ensure that people are punished for immoral acts (such as taking drugs), and that people act appropriately in their marriages (such as banning homosexual marriage).\n\nA libertarian would say that neither of those is a proper role for government. Libertarians say that the only proper role is to maintain an army for defense against invasion, to maintain a court system for ensuring justice, and other constitutionally defined roles. \n\nA populist would say that both economic and moral intervention are proper roles for government. \n\nSome people classify libertarians as conservatives and some classify populists as liberals. Those definitions fall apart when libertarians talk about moral issues like abortion (pro-choice) or drugs (pro-legalization). \n\nRalph Nader and Pat Buchanan both consider themselves "populists," but the press usually classifies Nader as liberal and Buchanan as conservative. Yet they agree entirely on their most important issue, opposing free trade and globalization. \n\nThe problem with a one-dimensional definition like liberal and conservative is that it doesn't define well political reality. The two-dimensional definition is better.
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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.
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Democratic party philosophy vs. Republican party philosophy.
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If you are a kid, it's time to go to school and ask for some civics lessons. The democrats are not homogeneous - that is one of the differences. Whereas the Republicans allow no discussion within their party - you have to support everything or you are not a republican - the Democrats are a broad house that allows differences of opinion.\n\nEven so, in both parties you'll find some that support and some that oppose both issues you mentioned. And there is definitely not general support for gay marriage in the Democratic party. In fact, it was President Clinton, a Democrat, who signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, which forbids the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. It was also Clinton who approved the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for the military, which forbids gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces. Under that legislation, several thousand men and women have been fired from the army in the last few years (despite the fact that they had important skills like Arab translation) \n\nThe person who told you that was the difference was incorrect.\n\nRepublicans used to be the party for fiscal management and responsibility, but they stopped that six years ago and have been on a huge spending spree with tax payer's money. In the process, they've created a national debt 50% higher (8 TRILLION dollars) that you as a kid can look forward to paying off for the rest of your life. Under Clinton, the nation debt REDUCED every year - so I guess the Republicans are no longer willing to be fiscally responsible.\n\nGenerally though, the Democrats are better at representing the interests of the majority of Americans (those earning less than $100,000 a year), and the Republicans are better at representing the rich. The Democrats want everyone to have health care, and for poor families to be able to feed their families. These are not priorities for Republicans.