Democrat vs. Republican?
958562
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.
960143
the difference is that the republicans are far to the right of the majority of Americans on most significant issues and the democrats are far to the right of the majority of American on most significant  issues. that is the difference. no seriously there wasn't a big difference until the neocons started their caveman shtick.\n\nthose issues like immigration and gay marriage are distractions. elections are run by the PR industry... the same people that sell toothpaste. the point is to divert you away from issues like health care reform. polls show most people would support something resembling a single payer health care system... like they have in most european countries and Canada. where are the dems and reps on that? up each others butt. the insurance lobby pays a ton of money to candidates in both parties to keep health care reform off the agenda. that's why you see so many controversial bills pass with no debate. because they know the population would be opposed.\n\ndoes anyone remember the big debate about NAFTA? or the Telecommunications act? both of these were done under the Clinton administration.
806282
Democrat... ex-Republican.\n\nI was raised Republican and switched to independent in my late 20s then around 34 switched to full democrat.\n\nI believe my party, the democrats, to be the party of the ppl. I've watched more CSPAN debates than imaginable and can truly state, it is the democratic party up in Washington fighting for that poor redneck white man in the South that is voting Republican based on his prejudices... sad that they don't get it.
348732
Democratic party philosophy vs. Republican party philosophy.
164294
Political Party: Democratic-Republican
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).
789568
Voting Democrat, because the GOP are all, or nearly all, greasy amoral scumbags who have auctioned off our country to corporate lobbyists.\n\nAm I thrilled with the Dems?  No.  Do they represent "my values"?  No.  But we have 2 viable choices in this country, and that basically always means choosing the lesser of two evils.  Just shows what a miserable system it is.\n\nP.S. If the Republicans are the party of "personal responsibility" (pause for laughter), then Bush ought to repeal his tax cuts for the mega-wealthy in order to pay for his hugely expensive war of choice.  Because it's really not a question of who will pay - WE will, sooner or later - and you do understand that these are RECORD deficits - it's a question of who hands us the bill, and I feel that it ought to be the guy who ran up the tab.  That sounds like "personal responsibility" to me.\n\nP.P.S. - I can't even begin to imagine the thought process that leads to the conclusion that the GOP is working in the interests of the "middle class worker."  Sorry if you don't like the term "scumbags," but it's descriptive of a fact.
865922
Independent.  I don't want to be categorized as either, yet I tend to lean towards democrat because their interests lie in the every day, little guy problems, whereas the republicans are all about big business and whoever has the most money wins.\n\nI am probably more socialist than anything else.
969766
democrats used to stand for the working class - the tried and true american while the repiublicans for the "rich".  that, however is no longer the case.  the democrats stand for the hand outs - keeping people in the same rut instead of getting them off their butts and helping them up from the poverty or low income levels.  the republican's are now standing for what the dem's used too - conservative values.  i think to my grandfather - staunch union worker and democrat. he would be utterly dusgusted with the fact that the dem's are so liberal in the values and cut and run tactics in the war on terror.
57009
Some conservatives are Republican and some are Democrats. Since we have only two major parties, the reasons behind why a person chooses a party over the other can sometimes be baffling. That's why they say that there are conservative, moderate, and liberals in every party (and some fanatics and extremists, too from each of those three). The two parties do their best to represent all the members within. A person may be a social conservative, but an economic moderate and choose to be a Democrat because the economic issues hold more importance than social issues, or vice versa they may choose to be Republican because social issues are more important. You can have a socially liberal person who is also economically conservative and very moderate on other issues who due to their conservative stance economically chooses to be Republican. Or because of their very liberal social views will choose Democrat, or will choose neither because the issues that are important to them aren't strongly emphasized either way by either party and will register as independent (my sister being a good example)
743418
I vote for whomever is most conservative (believes in the Constitution as written and freedom). That is usually the Republican. However, I have voted for Democrats when they are more conservative than their Republican opponent (very rare, but it happens).
795709
A Democrat is a liberal while a Republican is a conservative.\nThe youth prefers the liberal while mature people likes the conservative.  Religious groups prefer the conservative but hates the liberals for championing abortion and gay marriages.
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.
884311
Democrats. Vote for the Democrats.
824432
a republican is the elephant and the democrat is the donkey. I alway remember it this way: an elephant(to me) is considered a luxury animal:doesn't do a lot of work, just eats and gets fat. A donkey, on the other hand, is a hard-worker, gets little respect and earns his keep. A republican sterotypically is rich,is interested in big businesses, while a democrat is underpaid, and ready to make change for the better(can you tell which party I'm supporting this election?)
1068746
There are two meanings here.  One democratic means we vote to decide policy the other is the "democratic party" which has a certain set of values it expouses that are different from that of the other dominant political party the "republican party".
848575
10-20 years ago it was simpler...the democrats were for blue collar and more environmental...the Repupl;icans were always for big business and a bigger military budget....classic bread and butter against guns...there was a balance, both got their way once in a while....now the issue is getting clouded because the Republicans have reversed their ideology (causing the Democrats to change as well) from nothing but the economy stupid to global intervention in the name of business.  but to be fair, there are traditionalists on both sides.