Politics and political issues have always been a hot topic and maybe now more than ever. In our current atmosphere everyone seems like they have an opinion and everyone wants a chance to be heard. The best way to get you voice heard is by voting. The first step for most voters is choosing a political party. The main two political parties are of course the Republican and Democratic Party; there are also the less known Libertarians and Green Party, on top of all that there are independents who believe no party fully represents them.
Republicans
As a whole the Republican Party is more right leaning or conservative. Republicans have more of a business mindset believing all should be taxed the same regardless of income, with the belief that wealthy individuals and entrepreneurs will use the extra money to invest and create more jobs to stimulate the economy. Republicans have a small government mindset. Believing the government should have less responsibilities and less influence on other private sectors, mainly the economic sphere. Republicans are often referred to as being influenced by religious principles.
Democrats
The Democratic Party is considered more left leaning or liberal. Democrats push for more social programs, often attempting to close the pay gap through taxes. Pushing for higher taxes on the upper class and lowering taxes on the lower class. Democrats believe the government should serve as a strong role in the lives of all Americans, and push for its influence in the regulation of businesses and the health care system. The Democratic Party is often fueled by and pushes to make social issues like gay marriage a main point in the political campaigns and decisions.
Libertarian
The Republican Party and Democratic Party are the main two political parties; however, there are several other political parties, one of which being the libertarian party. Libertarians side very strongly with the Republicans in the matter of economic freedom; however strongly agree with the Democratic Party in matters of social issues like gay marriage. The Libertarian party believes the government should have little to no influence into individual’s personal, family, and business decisions. One of their main believes is to substantially reduce the intrusiveness and size of the government at every level.
Now more than ever the lines between political parties are being blurred and seem less important. People find themselves agreeing with some of what a certain party believes and disagreeing with other aspects the party stands for. People now are very issue driven, they feel strongly in their opinion on a certain topic regardless of what their party’s stance is. Maybe we should change the importance of political parties in general and instead vote for who and what matches our opinions regardless of what color gets assigned to the individual or the bill.
