Two Political Parties

            Introduction

            The United States is well-known for its two-party political system, where Republicans constantly compete with Democrats, trying to promote their political ideals, and searching the means for maintaining their continuous political leadership. Despite the traditional view that the Republican and the Democratic Party are completely different, they are able to find agreement on numerous political and social issues.

            Thesis: beyond the controversial issues of federalism, unilateral military aggression, abortion, and same-sex marriages, both the Democratic and the Republican parties promote the need for prison privatization and military budget increase, supplemented by the political striving to cut the tax burden on the rich.

            Similarities

            1. Neither the Republicans, nor the Democrats are prepared to increase the tax burden, which the American population currently carries. On the contrary, both parties are devoted to an idea of performing a significant tax cut, which will further promote the well-being of the rich and will only aggravate the social and financial state of the poor. “The Republicans passed the Bankruptcy Bill favoring credit card businesses over Americans whose budgets are destroyed by job loss or medical bills” (Freeman 329). In their turn, the Democrats have passed the Welfare Reform Act, cutting benefits for the poorest layers of the American population.

            2. The Republicans and the Democrats promote the need for prison privatization and support the national strivings to prohibiting all types of drugs (Freeman 331). The War on Drugs is included into the set of political provisions which both parties follow and recognize as the essential components of their successful political performance.

            3. Democrats and Republicans unanimously oppose to tortures in prisons, and support the need to increase military budgets. Neither of the two parties has ever expressed the desire to cut military expenses and to re-direct the released financial resources to support numerous social initiatives.

            Differences

            1. The Democratic and the Republican parties will hardly find agreement on the issue of federalism and the limits of the federal power for states. Democrats are confident that the rights and the powers of the states should be expanded; Republicans suppose that greater limitations should be placed on the federal power, promoting the centralization of political powers in the U.S. (Pillai).

            2. Democrats do not accept the Republican view of unilateralism and military aggression. “The doctrine of unilateralism says that the United States should use military force without any assistance from other nations whenever it believes there is a threat to its security or welfare” (Pillai). In distinction from Democrats, Republicans support the viewpoint that the United States should always find agreement with other nations when acting in the international political arena.

            3. The Republican idea of national stability is excellently well described in a simple phrase “individual success” (Freeman 330). That means that Republicans emphasize the importance of individual strivings to better quality of life, and neglect social and political barriers that can prevent parties from achieving the desirable political outcomes. At the other side of well-being debate Democrats promote their vision of fairness. “They are rather skeptical that there is a linear relationship between individual effort, ability and reward and feel that a major function of government is to make life fairer” (Freeman 334). Unfortunately, neither of the two parties has succeeded to identify the criteria for achieving fairness and individual success in politics; and here, Republicans are absolutely similar to Democrats.

            Conclusion

            Despite the increasing gap between the Republican and the Democratic parties, both fail to provide clear criteria that will determine the success of their political initiatives. Republicans and Democrats may promote different views on abortion, military aggression, and same-sex marriages, but one thing is evident: the striving to dominate on the political arena will always serve the central political motive for both parties, regardless the specific political conditions in the U.S.

Works Cited

Freeman, J. “The Political Culture of the Democratic and Republican Parties.” Political

Science Quarterly, vol. 101, no. 3 (2001): pp. 327-56.

Pillai, P. “Differences Between the Democratic and the Republican Party.” 2008.

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