Posted: 7/20/2004 1:40:58 PM EDT
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At times I get asked to explain the difference between a Republican and a Democrat. How would you explain it? |
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Especially now with the emergence of "moderates" on both sides, there's no real way to differentiate the two as both get pulled towards the center. A more important distinction exists between liberal and conservative. (As an aside, my opinion of moderates can best be summed up by my grandfather: "People who occupy the middle of the road usually get run over.") As a general rule, though, liberal Democrats tend to believe that government is the answer to any problem that may exist, while conservative Republicans tend to believe that the individual is responsible for their own actions and society is best left self-correcting. Another distinction can be made between methodology. Liberal Democrats tend to believe that the ends justifies the means (meaning they don't have a problem with activist judges, or ignoring laws that they don't think are "right," or passing laws that everyone else BUT themselves must comply with), while conservative Republicans tend to believe in equal justice before the law and the idea of "blind" justice (i.e., the law says A, and you did A, therefore you get sentence B; while Democrats believe that the law says A, and you did A, but you were bottle-fed as a child and born to a poor black family and therefore didn't mean to do A, or that while you did A, it was only an expression of outrage because of the social injustice of some white trader in 1700, and therefore don't deserve any sentence at all.) |
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They both say what they think their constituencies want to hear, and then act according to whatever will keep them in power. More and more I think that they are one party feeding at the same trough. The Democrats play to the liberals poor, minorities, unions, etc. The Republicans play to conservatives, upper middle class, rich, etc. It's all just "Political Theater". They all have one goal in mind - power. Oh yeah, and large corporate donations. Nah, I'm not cynical about politics........... |
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Republicans want everyone to succeed. They understand that when everyone earns more money, more taxes will be paid. Democrats want class warfare, they want class envy and they want distinct classes of people. Democrats want people dependant on the Government for their survival. Republicans want people to take responsibility for their actions. Democrats want to blame an object or a situation instead of the person who actually did whatever they are upset about. Democrats want to take money from the one that earned it and give it to someone who didn't. Republicans want people to get up off their lazy asses and earn a living. |