The Democratic and Republican parties are the two parties that have existed the longest in American history--w
485473
The reason as I see it is this: they have been able to adapt to the changing times.  Both parties have been very good at taking positions on issues brought up by 3rd parties, thereby gaining the issue and keeping 3rd parties at bay that might threaten them.  \n\nFor example in the late 19th century the Democrats were able to fend off the Populist party by taking a popular position on the silver standard at the time.  The Republicans did essentially the same thing with progressive ideas around the turn of the century with T. Roosevelt. \n\nAn example today would be the Greening of the Democratic party on environmental issues to off set the Green Pary.  For the Republicans, there is a growing faction of liberty Republicans that is competing with the Libertarian party.  \n\nYes, money is a big factor, but I contend that if the 2 major parties refused to take up the issues brought to the forefront by these 3rd parties, that eventually a 3rd party could use that issue to bring down one of them or at least make themselves one of the big boys.  \n\nI think that today Immigration is splitting the Republicans and the War is dividing the Democrats, those issues are going to have to be addressed by the parties or it will open up a golden opportunity for a 3rd party to do some real damage.\n\nMoney can win elections but only if the issues are being addressed by a major player because if their not then someone else will.
147251
Independent\n\nNeither party represents Americans anymore!
242108
Good question. Anerican politics can be very complicated.\n\nGenerally, the Republican Party can be seen as the equivalent to the "Tories", the Democratic Party can be seen as the equivalent to Labour, although the American spectrum is a little bit more to the right. From what I've heard about the modern Liberal party, they are probably equivalent to Libertarians- although it's hard to peg your Liberal party down on the political spectrum.\n\nBut until the 1960's, it wasn't that cut and dry. The Democrats had many Conservatives in the south and elsewhere. And the Republicans had many liberals/moderates in the Northeast. The Republicans, after all, were the ones who freed the slaves during the Civil War. The Democrats, as a matter of fact, encouraged the formation of the KKK as a means of intimidating republicans(most of the Republicans in the south after the civil war were black ).\n\nBut even with those contradictions, the Democrats have almost always been perceived as more of "the people's party" and the Republicans have been more of a "Pro-Business" party.\n\nAs I said, the 60's and the Nixon "Southern Strategy" sort of caused a realignment. Conservatives moved to the GOP(Republican party) and liberals moved to the Democrats- although the seeds of this were already in each party, and there had been a slow drift both ways throughout the 20th century.
929597
Both do. If you do not follow the party line you get no help for something you want for your home people. The Dem's follow the Dem leadership & the repubs follow theirs. We have no independent people in washington any more. I am old enough to remember Barry Goldwater. He use to say. " I dont care who came up with the idea, If it is good I will vote for it And to hell with the party" I wish we had more people like him now but both parties would make sure you never heard from them.
666382
We have multiple third parties in this country.  It's just that they don't have as much resources or funds as the Democrats and Republicans, so most of the time they end up being either regional parties or one-issue parties.
280149
The Republican party holds the majority in all three branches of government.
353775
To be fair, the party in power (particularly when said party controls all three branches of government) tends toward corruption, irrespective of which party it is. That said, yes, the republicans are very much THE ultimate party of corruption. There has been a steady flow of this sort of nefarious wrongdoing since they assumed power and it will continue until the American people wake up and throw them out of office. I have high hopes for the 2006 elections but I also had high hopes in 2004...
986376
It is Grand Old Party, as said previously, but many people seem to be making up how that came about.\nIn the 1870s the Republican Party re invented itself and tried to tie itself in with the original Republican party of 1793 (the party of Jefferson) by calling itself "grand old"
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Grand Old Party. You can learn more about the history of its use and even the history of the elephant symbol by visiting the official website of the Republican Party: www.gop.com\nThe same is true for the Democratic Party: www.democrats.org
246169
The Democrat and Republican Parties are the two major parties and generally are the only parties represented on a federal level.  However, there are other parties that exist.  Here are some of the more credible and prevalent third parties and links to explain their positions:\n\nGreen Party\nhttp://gp.org/about.shtml\n\nLibertarian Party\nhttp://www.lp.org/article_85.sht\n\nNatural Law Party\nhttp://www.natural-law.org/platform/index.html\n\nAmerican Reform Party\nhttp://www.americanreform.org/arp-issues/\n\nConstitution Party\nhttp://www.constitutionparty.com/party_platform.php\n\nIn addition to these, there are many other obscure, single-purpose parties that never get any support.  For example, there is a party that only seeks to get alcohol prohibited.  Hope this helps.\n\nP.S.  The Green Party and Natural Law parties are toward the left (The Green Party is way to the left, moreso than the Democrats).  The other parties I listed are more to the right.
703973
The democratic party. California is the one party state. Arnold is just an exception.
625633
I think its called the green party. People have ran in this, it is neither Republican or Democratic.
1081699
Democrats kiss up to the women and minorities because that's all they have. The Democrats are an ineffective party and they've proved it many times. The more American 1st party is that which represents all people and not certain groups. Which none have done.
607660
There are many other parties out there. Besides, in reality we only have one party in the spotlight. Republicrates. There is no difference between the Republican Party and the Democrates. \n\nThere are the Libertarians, the Constitutionalists, Socialist, Green Party, the Communist Party....the list goes on and on. \n\nIt isn't true that no other party can be voted in. People just need to have the guts and faith that their vote does count. Both the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party saw HUGE increases in their votes during the last several presidential elections. It can happen. \n\nOne thing I think we need to remember is that the executive branch is not the be all and end all of government. We need to focus on who is in Congress....that's where it matters most.
81656
yes the two main are Democratic Party (DNC) and Republican Party (RNC) Then the third parties  37 total. then the other parties..16!  But this is not the list of ones in history!
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.
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Yes, they are both useless.\n\nPolitical parties were not part of the vision of our founding fathers, and are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. George Washington actually opposed the formation of political parties. \n\nWe are taught in school that the strength of the American political system lies in the fact that we have a "two-party process." This is akin to teaching that babies come from storks. It is a fairy tale we spin out to avoid messy details of reality we prefer not to face.\n\nThe reality is that America is now a one-party state. The Democratic and Republican parties have become nothing but two divisions of the same party. Both divisions are corrupted to the core, lap dogs for the special interests. No matter who wins, we always get more spending, more taxes, more inflation, more bureaucracies, and LESS FREEDOM.