All fringe parties aside, The United States basically has a two party system, in which Democrats and Republicans compete for control of both the federal and state governments in the United States. Though they disagree on many issues, in the United States as compared to other countries this differences are marginal. Some countries have dozens of parties that vie for power and have the need to form a coalition government. In those countries there are parties who believe in communist ideals who are competing with other parties with capitalistic ideals. These stark contrasts are of a much less degree with the two primary parties in the United States. Each party has a storied history dating back hundreds of years.
The Republican Party was formed in 1856 when their party nominated John C. Fremont for the office of president. Obviously, he did not win. On the parties website they affiliate themselves as the party that nominated Abraham Lincoln and one that got it’s start speaking out against slavery. Today, they still run on a similar platform they did at their start by wanting government interference in every day Anerican life to be kept to a minimum. Their original slogan speaks to this, “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men.” (GOP Website). They attribute to their accomplishments the, at the time highly charged legislation that Lincoln signed into law: “The Emancipation Proclamation.” The party’s “mascot” is the elephant, which has it’s orgin from the mid term elections of 1874 when democrats attempted to sway voters by telling them that President Ulysses Grant was going to try to seek a third term. Thomas Nast, was a cartoonist for Harpers weekly who depicted a donkey that represented the democrats, trying to scare a Republican elephant. Both symbols became engrained into the parties DNA and are still presently used today. (GOP Website).
The Democratic Party has existed for over 200 years. The Democratic Party has its origins in from the Anti-Federalists who were on the opposition of the policies of Alexander Hamilton in the late 18th century. They first ascended to power in the election of 1800 with the election of 1800.
The democratic party bills themselves as the “party of the people,” wanting to help working class citizens have a fair shot at becoming successful and not being stopped by government or factions of society who own the wealth and have a monopoly on power. They support civil rights, heath care for all, and workers rights. They count important figures such as JFK and Franklin D Roosevelt as members of their party and of course the current president, Barack Obama.
Gun control is an issue that is currently in the political discussion and one that both parties have very different viewpoints on.
Since one of the United State’s most tragic events of Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, the issue of gun control has resurfaced on the front burner. The casualties were drastic, 20 first-graders, either 6 or 7 years old, lost their lives to semi-automatic rifle fire within five minutes while before the shooter took his own life. (Bismarck Tribune, 2013).
Gun control is an issue with a powerful lobby of support and also citizens that fall polarized on either side of the issue. As a result, in the news coverage of the current state of the issue, with the latest update being gun measures failing the senate by a margin of six votes, different media outlets while reporting on the same issue, do so in different ways. Fox News, which is the media network that most sympathizes with Republicans by having reputation for a strong right wing slant, covered the story differently than the other major media publication’s coverage of the same issue.
After a massacre occurred in Sandy Hook, a political issue that had been largely put on the back burner re-emerged in the forefront of political discussion. The issue was mostly divided along party lines, as the vote on the issue indicated.
The New York Times called out Fox News for what they considered to be biased coverage of the issue. They said that “The Decision not to show the president’s angry rejouring to the Senate votewas the latest example of Fox’s evident lack of interes in the gun violence debate”. (NY Times).
In analyzing the April 7th, 2013 article, “Background check plan defeated in Senate, Obama rips gun bill opponents” one begins to see some grounding in the reputation that Fox News denies about it being slanted one direction to the other. This comes through in the article in discussion. By looking at syntax choices in the headline and comparing it with Fox’s competitors, there is, in the very least a different between their coverage and other media houses.
Yahoo news called the failure of the measure to pass “likely demise of the biggest package of gun legislation in Congress in two decades. “ (Yahoo, 2013).
The two parties differ not on the need for more gun control, but on the premise of how that is likely to come about. The democrats believe that less guns, and tighter controls on who gets them will lead to less gun violence. Republicans counter that background checks proposed by democrats will only be an annoyance for law-abiding citizens and that “bad guys” will still be able to get them through illegal procurement.
One article by Jonathan Weisman titled, “Senate Blocks Drive for Control” discusses how the senate failed to meet the vote for the 60 votes necessary. Charged with a choice either to remove considerable new gun limitations from the bill or to tolerate it to fall to a filibuster next week, Senate leaders plan to put it on hold after a trickle of votes Thursday. More than 50 senators — including a few Republicans, but lacking a handful of Democrats from more conservative states — had signaled their support for the gun bill, not enough to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster. While there was some across the isle reaching on this issue, it was mostly a split between democrats and republicans.
Another issue which is split across democratic and republican lines is the issue of abortion. Republicans generally take a stronger stance against abortion and democrats openly proclaim the right of women to choose. Though, it may be used more as a political issue used to influence the outcome of elections rather than one than one that republican lawmakers are actually serious about reversing Roe-vs-Wade in which the supreme court ruled that abortions should be legal. (Diffen, 2013). I cite as evidence for this when George W. Bush was had republican majorities in both houses of congress and no major legislation.
On national security both parties agree that America needs to be strong enough to defeat our enemies, but disagree on what that strength looks like. Republican Mitt Romney once said that, “The cost of preparedness may sometimes be high, but the cost of unpreparedness is almost always higher.” (MittRmoney.com, 2012). Republicans off the proposition to set the defense sending at a threshold of 4% of GDP while democrats believe that present-day spending is too high and feel that there is a need to cut the current level of spending. (Patriot Software, 2013).
Immigration is an issue that the Obama administration is proposing to focus on next, this coming after the president’s push for his gun legislative failed to cut the mustard in congress. Democrats sprinkle their rhetoric on immigration with talk of keeping out those who are committing crimes and are national security risks but want undocumented families to stay in the US for processing.(Barackobamama.com, 2013). Republicans desire to take more sweeping efforts to verge illegal immigration, most outstandingly George W. Bush signing into law in 2006 a fence separating Mexico with the United States. Bush said of his law that “Ours is a nation of immigrants – we’re also a nation of law” (BBC, 2006).
Republicans and Democrats differ on health care and welfare for the same reason. Republicans endeavor to create a climate where people can help themselves, while Democrats believe more that the society should take care of the weaker members of the society. This is why Democrats believe that everyone is entitled to having health care and by the same token people unable to find or hold down a job should be eligible for assistance by the state.
In looking at these issues and the different stances that the different parties take on them, I find myself more closely aligning with the Republicans. I buy into their argument on guns, that merely passing laws will not address the underlying symptoms that causes are country to have such high gun violence rates. I also believe that we will create a welfare state, and de-incentivize people to work if we provide too much for the people who are not working. Though in an ideal society everyone will have a job and health care, these things represent a cost, and when the state assumes that cost it places a burden on everyone within the society.
On abortion, I don’t see either political parties every having the power to reverse Roe versus Wade, so I think it is less of a real issue and more of a political issues used during elections. I think the decision passed down by the supreme court will hold regardless of which party is in power.
Though I am aligning more with Republicans here, I also never want to become a voter who only votes for a specific party. Rather, I would like to weigh each individual candidates on their merits and make my decisions accordingly.
Works Cited
"Background Check In Peril In Senate - ABC News." ABCNews.com - Breaking News, Latest News & Top Video News - ABC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.
"Background check plan defeated in Senate, Obama rips gun bill opponents | Fox News." Fox News - Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.
"BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush signs Mexico fence into law." BBC News - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 1
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"Our History | Democrats.org."Democrats.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2013.
"Our History - GOP." GOP - Welcome to the GOP. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2013.
"Loaded language poisons gun debate - CNN.com." CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.
"Senate rejects expanded gun background checks - CNN.com." CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.
"Senate rejects expanded gun background checks - CNN.com." CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.
"For gun control, now what? A look at the issue." The Bismarck Tribune. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
"Fox News, MSNBC and the Gun Debate - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
