America is famed for being a nation that respects the rights of the people and makes sure that the governance of the land is streamlined towards the same direction. More often than not, the ruling party is forced to be on its toes on these matters as the opposition acts as the watchdog. Well, this two party system seems to work perfectly well for the nation. The paper below explores the history of these two party systems and their implications in this year’s presidential elections.
Democrats and Republicans
It sis the election year again and the Americans are getting ready for the presidential polls later this year. The two presidential hopefuls; Barrack Obama of the Democrats and Mitt Romney of the Republicans have brought each other to task over several issues affecting the land. These include economic policies, foreign affairs, immigration, healthcare policies among other issues. During the three presidential debates that have been held so far, the differences between the two have clearly come out. They have different ideologies and they believe in different ways of doing things. The exchanges seen in the debates are much similar to the exchanges seen in the campaigns. This implies one thing; the differences are not so much on the two leaders, rather, it is the difference in their parties. The differences in ideologies come about from the ideologies upheld and sustained in the individual parties. As such, Obama does not just give his stand on these issues. Rather, he gives the stand of the Democrats. The same happens to Romney. Understanding this brings a different angle to the American politics. It is clear that the two parties have a very strong influence on the stand that the presidential hopefuls take. As such, there is the need to explore these party ideologies. This paper is dedicated to clearly bring out the differences between the democrats and republicans. In so doing, it will first look at the history of the multi-party system in America then proceed to look at the history of the two parties. This will help to bring out the differences between the two, and the similarities if any. Overall, the paper takes the position that the Democrats and Republicans have their differences based on the liberal and conservative lines.
The first step will be looking at the history of the two party systems in America as this will give a basis for looking at the individual parties. According to Anon. (2011), the history of the two party systems was started by the 1787 Constitutional Convention that was held at Philadelphia. At this time, it was noted that all the political parties fell under the power of the Federal Government. However, it was noted that this would have quite a great impact on the entire American land if the federal government retained all these powers. This was mainly because the Americans in the different states believed in their own rights and freedoms. Putting all the power under the government meant that their rights could be easily tampered with. There was the need for a system that could regulate, control or check these powers. The people needed to come up with a regulatory system.
This concern came about mainly because there were no defined political parties at the time (Abraham, 2012). Abraham argues that after the 1776 Declaration of independence where America liberated itself from the British rule and before the victory on the independence war of 1783, the American colonies united to form a confederate. This confederation was aimed at forming alliances with the European countries and to unite the people in case there was the need to wage a war. In creating the confederate, the Articles of Confederation of 1781 had to be written. These could be termed as the first attempt of the US at having a constitution. This Confederation Articles, however, were soon to be deemed inadequate and there was the need for a constitution. This led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 which eventually saw the creation of the American Constitution in 1789 (Abraham, 2012).
On paper, this process might appear as if it was a simple or smooth one. However, this is not the truth of the matter. In real sense, there was a strong struggle before the document was finally created (Berg-Anderson, 2001). During the creation, the road to the two party systems in America was defined. During the constitutional Convention, there were the Federalists and Non-Federalists. The federalists felt that there was no problem in having a constitution that united the nation and gave strong powers to the constitution. However, the Anti-Federalists were of a different opinion. They felt that if all the powers were given to the federal government, there was a very great possibility that the government would overpower the sovereignty and authority of the individual states. This would mean that the individual rights of the citizens, which were highly respected and observed in the American community, would be infringed. This argument led to the creation of the Bill of Rights (Abraham, 2012) which meant that the federal government’s powers were restrained.
Despite the creation of the Bill of Rights, the struggle between the Federal power and the State sovereignty still persisted and this defined the road to bi-party system even more. As of 1789, the U.S never had a two-party system. In fact, George Washington was a president who had no party. However, as by the end of his two terms as president, a sharp rivalry had grown between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both of whom were Federalists. Jefferson came up with the issue of Democratic - Republican Party. This party had two sections; the republican which implied the rule of law and the democratic which implied the people’s will. As such, the dynamics of the party had it that the will of the people was observed yet there was an aspect of the rule of law. That is, the people participate in electing a legitimate government, and then the government uses the law of the land to govern the people. It is given the authority through the electoral process. This Democratic-Republican Party reigned from 1800 to 1828. However, the party dynamics were changing. The Democratic-Republican Part eventually broke, forming the Democratic and Republican Parties. This division brought about the two party systems in America. The first party to be created was the Democratic Party which was born in 1824 (Abraham, 2012). The first president with the Democratic Party was Andrew Jackson who was a popular war hero. The Republican Party, on the other hand, was born in 1856 from the Abolitionist Movement (Berg-Anderson, 2001). This party was anti-slavery and called for more openings in business. Abraham Lincoln ran on the Party’s ticket and became the first president of the US from the Republican Party.
In order for the parties to have such defined paths, it is obvious that there had to be some major differences between them. As such, looking at the party ideologies could help to know the differences between the two and how they affected the people to follow them. According to Neely (2008), the two parties differ significantly in their ideologies. These ideologies give the party identification. Nuechterlein (2011) observes that the main ideological difference between the democrats and the republicans is that the republicans are conservatives while the democrats are liberals. The conservatives are more of patriotisms while the liberalists are quite cosmopolitan in their loyalties. There is a need to explore these differences further and the magnitude of their effect to the government. This is as explained below.
Patriotism which is the nature of the republicans is associated with pride and the politics of class (Nuechterlain (2011). It argues that there is nothing wrong with this nature of politics just as long as the situation is contained. This brings about the conservative nature which implies that there is no need to change the matter or state of affairs. This brings a sharp division between the democrats and republicans. The democrats are more liberal and they can adapt new loyalties. They are suspicious of the motives of the conservatives since it the former seem to be concerned with the politics of class. As such, the Republican Party is seen as the party of the rich while the Democratic Party is seen as the party which considers the interests of all the citizens in an equal manner. This could be the reason as to why most of the Americans today, except for the die-hard republicans, associate with the Democratic Party. It is also the reason as to why the Party has held the position of power for a considerably longer time. Abraham (2012) observes that most Americans tend to associate with the politics and ideologies of the Democratic Party. Even when they vote in a Republican President, it is argued that the decision is largely based on the personality of the individual, the ability of the person to rule rather than the association with the Republican Party. From this section, it can be argued that the main differences in the parties at the time of their formation lay in the ideologies of the different parties. The Republicans were seen as the Northern, pro-business and anti-slavery party while the Democrats were identified as the populists from the south.
At the beginning, the Republican Party seemed to be doing quite well. However, the Great Depression of 1929 changed turned things around and this has remained to date. According to Abraham (2012), the depression gravely affected businesses and the people felt disappointed. One of the major pillars of the Republican Party was shaken and this changed the patriotism of the people from the party. At that time, the Democratic Party redefined itself and asserted the perception of the party of the people. It was concerned with the interests of the people such as the middle class and the poor, the labor movements which were large and still growing and the poor. This explains why the party won the favor of the people. At the time, most of the Americans were not wealthy. It was also the time at which the nation was re-organizing its economic structures and the people had issues that needed to be attended to. The laborers had to fight for their rights at the workplaces, seeking better worrying conditions and better packages. All the people needed at the time was a government that understood their needs and one that was ready to look into their matters. The poor needed to be considered as members of the society who needed to be uplifted. The people could not find all these in the Republican Party but the Democratic Party was ready to look into their matters. This swayed the favor, to a great extent, to the Democratic Party. Faced by such a dilemma, the Republican Party had to try and redeem itself in the eyes of the people. As such, the party tried to reflect itself not as a party of the privileged, but as a party that looked keenly into matters that affected individual people. They were concerned with the issues of tax cuts, observation of the individual and state rights as well as the reduction of government expenditure. Well, this strategy did not do much to redeem the party’s face. After all, they did not reflect the intricate values of the party and, after all, the loyalty had already shifted to the Democrats. This is the perception of the parties that has persisted to date; with the Democratic Party being seen as the party of the people while the Republican Party is seen as the party of the privileged. From this explanation, it can be argued that the difference between the parties can be attributed to the ideologies and the values of the parties. These were defined right from the conception if the parties, and though there has been various attempts to try and change the some of the issues, the history of the parties still determines a lot in terms of winning party loyalties.
Since the 1864 when America practically became a two party state, the differences between the parties have been shifting over several issues as they keep arising in the society. Some of the difference timelines are given by Abraham (2012). At the time of formation in 1864, the differences lay in the stand on slavery and industrialization. The Democrats from the south were seen as the populists who were poorer and who were dominate by the Republicans from the North. The republicans were inclined to business and industrialization, which appealed to the people. They were also against the slavery. In the 1910s there was a difference as pertains to the World War 1 as the people debated on whether to get involved or not. Then came the depression of the 1930s, the Republicans were perceived as the party of the rich while the Democrats were seen as the party of the Labor Movements and the poor. These dynamics have been changing over time, as the Democrats later lost their attachment to the poor after the Vietnam War, and they started moving towards the political right where they started challenging the Republicans over the issues of tax cuts. Since the reign of Franklin Roosevelt, the two parties have sharply divided the people on the matters of class lines and economics (Berg-Anderson 2001).
The differences between the parties have persisted to date, and as the American population prepares for the polls later this year, there are some differences that can be observed between the two parties. First of all, there are the differences that are seen right from the nature of the parties as at the time of formation. This involves the issues of class. From the third presidential debate, it can be seen that Obama went on to challenge Romney on his policies and what they have for the poor, he went on to remind the electorate that his opponent said that there are 47% of Americans who are dependent on the government, branding them as economic burden to the nation. He claimed that Romney had written off the economic importance or contribution of the poor to the economy, disregarding their votes in the same breath. However, Obama went on to claim that he and the Democrats are concerned with the interests of these poor people. He argued that the success of these people counted as the success of America as a whole, and there is no way that he could afford to write them off. The Democratic campaigns are also centered on the economic policy suggested by Romney and his party, and this was also mentioned in one of the presidential debates. This is the issue of the tax cuts. The Democrats argue that the Republicans want to implement a tax cut, not a cut on the tax rates. This implies that the party is more concerned with the interest of the rich since they are the ones who feel the greater pinch of the taxes. Well, this just shows the difference between the parties.
The liberal and democratic differences between the Democrats and Republicans are also evident on some issues in this year’s elections. This is as explained by Diffen (2012) who cites that that the differences lie in some issues such as abortion and gay marriages. The Democrats still express their liberalism on these matters as they tend to support the gay marriages while the Republicans remain true to their conservative ways by refraining from supporting the gay marriages. However, there are still some people within the parties who tend to step off from the stand of their parties in this matter but the overall stand of the parties is that Democrats are okay with the gay marriages while the republicans are not. The same applies to the issue of abortion where the Democrats hold that abortion should not be made illegal. On the other hand, the Republicans hold strongly that abortion should be illegalized. Of course, there are other arguments as pertains to abortion with claims that it should be allowed under some circumstances and disallowed in others. However, in line with the traditional politics of stand-off between the republicans and democrats, the two parties still express difference in their stand on these issues. Other points of difference include the spending military where Democrats are in for more spending in the area while the Republicans are opposed to it. On the social and human ideas, the democrats go for social and community responsibility while the Republicans go for individualized justice and rights (Diffen, 2012). In a nutshell, being Democrat or a Republican in 2012 means having a defined and strong stand on the policy issues affecting the country at the moment and using the ideals of the parties to choose which side to incline to.
In conclusion, this essay has looked at the two-party system in the US. The aim was to look at the origin of the two party systems and the history of the two parties. It also compared the parties, looking at the differences and similarities between them, where the differences seemed to be more. The main source of the party differences is the ideological position on different matters where the parties always seem to take different sides. This is still the case as the country heads to the next presidential elections.
References
Abraham, D. (2012). A Brief History of the American Two Party System. Retrieved on 25th Oct. 2012 from http://www.davidkabraham.com/OldWeb/Beliefs/America/twopartysystem.htm
Anonymous. (2012). The Two Party System Woven into U.S Political History. Congressional Digest, Vol. 23(6/7). Retrieved on 25th Oct. 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=0d8510c0-8d7a-4c7a-8f93-1fd7935bd000%40sessionmgr115&vid=1&hid=119&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNwaWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4ODU2ODk3JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=12020333
Berg-Andersson, R. (2001). A Brief History of American “Major Parties.” The Green Papers, 2001. Retrieved on 25th Oct. 2012, http://www.thegreenpapers.com/Hx/AmericanMajorParties.html
Diffen. (2012). Democrat vs. Republican. Retrieved on 25th Oct. 2012 from http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democrat_vs_Republican
Neely, F. (2008). Testing Three Dimensions of Social Identity among Republicans and Democrats. Conference Papers – Midwestern Political Science Association; 2008 Annual Meeting. Retrieved on 25th Oct. 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=30678274-0626-47dc-bf27-c2ac4a6e14da%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=119&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNwaWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4ODU2ODk3JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=42977796Nuechterlain, J. (2011). America, America. First Thing: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, Jan. 2011, issue 209. Retrieved on 25th Oct. 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=d6a58184-6e8a-46ce-a0c5-471e09aeeab3%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=119&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNwaWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4ODU2ODk3JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=56673255
