Hello world,
Welcome to my first blog post. I firmly believe that most people pay very little attention to politics. And I firmly believe that most people don't understand some of the basic premises behind the parties and what they stand for. This is my attempt make some sense of it all.
Before I met my husband, I considered myself to be a liberal: My definition "For freedom". Therefore I voted Democrat, without a clue. When I met Sean, he explained that the words liberal and conservative refer to SIZE and SCOPE of government. As we discussed issues, I discovered that I'm as fiscally (money) conservative as they come!
So here's the first lesson:
The GOP = Grand Ole Party - The Republican Party, conservative re: conservatively sized government (supports smaller government, less government programs, less spending, more personal responsibility). In school we are taught they are kind to BIG BUSINESS. In truth, they tend to be kind to all business, because businesses generate jobs, which generate more people collecting wages. With so many working, income tax rates can be lower because more people are paying them, sales taxes can be lower, because more people can afford to buy things. More people buying means greater need for goods and services, and more jobs. A cycle. Therefore, in general - Republicans lower taxes. On the social side, I don't agree as vehemently. The GOP is against gay marriage and pro-life. Pro-2nd Amendment (the right to bear arms), pro-constitution in general.
Democrats - liberal re: liberally sized government (support larger government, more government programs, higher spending, less personal responsibility). In school we are taught they are kind to the poor. In a way, they are. They support more programs like welfare. They typically raise taxes to pay for government spending on these programs. They believe taxing businesses and the rich is good policy. In general, Democrats raise taxes. On the social side, Democrats are pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, and anti-2nd Amendment rights.
A couple additional points - Right is the conservative side, Left is the liberal side.
ReplyDeleteYou may at times hear people refer to the "religious right". Many very religious people are conservatives because of their beliefs on the social issues (gay marriage, abortion).
There is an contradiction here. Republicans want the government out of their business - on fiscal items (money, taxes, spending), but want government IN your face on social issues (declaring who can marry, etc). The further RIGHT would be the libertarians - who believe the government should get out of ALL business. Extreme right are anarchist, who want no government at all. The further left - would be socialists or communists, those that believe all money should be distributed equally.
Because of our two party system, voting outside the Republican or Democrat parties can be akin to throwing your vote away. So most of us choose one of the two big parties.
At the urging of my husband I need to clarify the 2nd Amendment situation... many Democrats are pro-gun rights. Southern Democrats largely value their 2nd Amendment rights. To be correct, I should have said "the current Democrat Leadership is anti-gun".
ReplyDeleteIn the same sense - there are many conservative Democrats. The lines get muddied sometimes. This is why I believe people can use help navigating the political waters. Not many of us have time to make sure we understand. In some situations you can hear a story reported by liberal media and again by conservative media, and hear two entirely different stories. I'm going to do my best to give both sides fair coverage, of course, with my opinions included. When I make statements about the "typical" or the "usual" in this blog, I'm referring to the commentary you will see in the news and on the federal level unless otherwise specified.