The two major political parties in the United States include the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The parties originated from the opposition to the strong central government the Federalists established, and represent the interests and needs of the common free Americans. Each party views the role of the government differently. The parties differ on issues, including the tax policy, social issues, labor and trade, and crime and individual liberty. The Republican Party favors diminished government control and regulation, and embraces a laissez-faire approach to social welfare and economic growth. The Democratic Party focuses on a more aggressive posture linked to government activism in the pursuit of social welfare and economic growth.
Similarities and differences exist between the Democratic and Republican Parties in the arena of social welfare and public policy. The parties stand out at one end of the public policy spectrum on social welfare and class issues. Both parties support the social assumption of ‘incomplete welfare state’ formulated by sociologist Nathan Glazer (Waters 12). The incomplete welfare state assumption denotes a lack of a fully developed system of statutory social protection. The advocacy in both parties calls for a mixed economy, a welfare state, and liberal democracy. Both parties highlight the inaccuracy of the limits of social welfare policy to depict a complete American welfare state. Large corporations and corporate lobbies provide political contributions to the parties. Corporations and corporate lobbies command programmed and spontaneous political actions and represent the standard interest and pressure group political concerns. The core of both parties builds on idealism considering the social movements that created the parties influence them.
The parties offer contrasting programs on economic issues that meet the distinctive needs of the class-based constituencies. The Republican Party believes in tax cuts for corporations and the people irrespective of their income levels. The party opposes the increment of minimum wage based on the belief that businesses ought to keep production costs low for Americans to access services and products. The Republicans favor free trade policies and opportunities to keep production costs lower for the American public and make the business environment more profitable. The Democratic Party believes in higher taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals and lower for middle and low-income individuals and families. The party favors minimum wage increments to enable the American people to get more money to access services and purchase goods. Democrats favor trade restrictions that serve to protect local jobs and local entrepreneurs.
In the social welfare domain, the Republican Party highlights the need for social welfare programs and advocates diminished government control and funding to support private organizations. They believe in the easy management ideological movements compared to social coalitions (Grossmann and David 130). Private organizations support people in need and exhibits non-biases. They believe government involvement to a higher degree impacts the quality of services people receive and drives up costs. Republicans believe in personal responsibility to allow individuals choose what they do without breaking existing laws. The Democratic Party also acknowledges the need for social welfare programs and advocates the government’s important involvement in running social welfare programs as the representative of the people (Grossmann and David 123). The party encourages the channeling of additional tax money into the social welfare programs in areas such as health care. In the personal liberty domain, Democrats believe in the importance of legislation to restrict freedoms. They back systems based on legislative systems to limit individual freedom.
Works Cited
Grossmann, Matt and David A. Hopkins. "Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats: The Asymmetry of American Party Politics." Perspectives on Politics, vol. 13, no. 1, 2015, pp. 119-139.
Waters, Malcolm. Daniel Bell: Key Sociologists. Routledge, 2002.
