Can someone tell me what the characteristics of a Republican and a Democrat? I need real answers because I’m trying to find out which one I am. I may be something else too…Libertarian…I really don’t know what each one means, but when I registered to vote I just put Republican.
If you put Republican when you registered to vote, you’re a Republican. In terms of what party you agree with more, read the party platforms and decide which you agree with more.
Here’s the 2008 Republican platform and the 2008 Democratic platform.
You don’t want to be a Republican, because Republicans are evil. No, wait. It’s the Democrats who are evil. No, that can’t be right. Crap. I hate it when I get my talking points mixed up.
Surely this depends on the signficance, in the state where BaconAndEggs resides, and on his reasons for registering as a Republican? I’m no expert in the US electoral system, but my assumption is that the point of registering as a Republican is so that you can vote in the Republican primary and so influence the selection of the Republican candidate in the general election? But this means that you want to influence the Republican party, not that you necessarily support it.
Educate the ignorant; what, in general, is the signficance or consequence of registering a party affiliation in the US electoral system?
The historic broad differences have centered around whether or not government can create a better society.
In practice, platforms reflect ideals and not practice.
Declaring party affiliation lets you participate in promoting that Party’s candidates and processes. It is not a requisite for general elections. Look up the rules for party affiliation for your particular state to find out how to affiliate and unaffiliate, and how that affects your opportunity to participate in the primaries.
Surely there’s enough evil to go around?
Mom! Dad! It’s evil! Don’t touch it!
Adding confusion to the mix, there are probably several slightly (and very) different answers out there, all depending on perspective. One reason is that Parties (capital P) define themselves, but parties (small p) have competing interests in shaping the platform and defining the Party. Then there’s parties trying to define each other.
And the Libertarian Party platform. It might also be worth looking into the local parties in whatever state you live, because there can be huge differences in how Republicans and Democrats and others act from state to state. A New York Republican probably couldn’t get elected in Alabama and a California Democrat would probably not win in Texas.
Not all states require you to identify a party when you register to vote. Michigan, for one, requires no such thing and I don’t see why any state does. From my biased perspective, if you value those less fortunate than you, if you think that government can be part of the solution to society’s shortcomings, and if you have a basic distrust of big business, you’re a Democrat. If you think government is evil and that lowering taxes is the only function of government, you’re a Republican.
For some states its only a formality. Here, you can declare your affiliation at the polls and thus take whichever primary ballot you want. After you vote, there’s another desk with a long line of people waiting to change their registration back to “Independent.” 
That is just soooo New Hampshire.
It’s much as you said above. The main benefit of being a member of a party is, in the event that the state you live in has closed parties, that you can vote for candidates in the primaries. But this doesn’t change my answer. If you join the party, you’re a member of the party, even if you don’t share the stated views of the party…even if the only reason you’ve joined is to vote in the primaries for the candidate who will be most easily defeated in the general election. There’s no litmus test for party membership; no test of ideological conformity.
Biased? Really?
Democrats want the whole country to improve. Republicans always say they want “a level playing field” but actually just want rules they can game to get a hidden advantage.
Charity vs. greed.
And to balance that out with an equally absurd strawman from the other side:
Democrats think that the government can solve all your problems.
Grammatical errors notwithstanding: :rolleyes:
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we next need some folks to come in and start the RHINO and PUMA chants so we can define a true Scotsman.
Defining Democrat or Republican is like trying to define Christian - ask three Christians what it means and they’ll tell you that three different things - and that the other two christians all believe the same things they do (or close enough).
In reality, the only thing all Democrats have in common is that they usually vote for Democrats, and the only thing that all Republicans have in common is that they usually vote for Republicans. (And Christians vote for Jesus. :D) If you ever ever ever try to get more specific than this, somebody will tell you you’re strawmanning, because by the time they’re done scotsmanning your description is completely incorrect and refers to nobody in the party at all.
Disclaimer- I’m a liberal Dem
IMO, the biggest difference between liberals and conservatives is their opinion on the role of government in a given field. For instance, liberals generally think that government is the best choice to deal with helping the poor because its ideally fair and dispassionate while still ensuring that someone get the help they need. Conservatives (and correct me if you think this is grossly wrong), OTOH, think government should generally be as small as possible and that private individuals and charities are a better choice to help the poor. Conservatives are generally distrustful of government’s motives while liberals see government as the best-suited actor for providing certain services.
Both sides have their crazies, though. Liberals have people who want to out and out own all the means of production (real socialists, IOW, not the people Tea Baggers scream about). Conservatives have people who think Obama is a secret Kenyan and others who think Atlas Shrugged describes the real world. If I had to wager a guess, over time the percentage of crazies in each party is about equal, however good or bad one side looks at a particular moment.
Liberals typically vote for Dems, while conservatives typically vote for Reps, but a lot depends on the local scene and candidates. Read up on the platforms and look at what politicians of both parties actually do while in Congress/the Presidency. As others have mentioned, the main benefit of party registration is voting in closed primaries, but there’s also an element of “I think this side is more often right* and I’d like to be affiliated with them.”
*- ‘Right’ can be thinking their policies are better, or that they’re more moral, or whatever.
Of course, the “which primary do you vote in” business leaves a lot of people without any official party identity at all. Montana, for instance, has open primaries (you can only vote in one, but you choose which one at the polling station with no extra paperwork at all), so I’m technically independent, but I still vote almost exclusively for Democrats. Usually I don’t bother with the primaries at all, since they’re usually completely decided by the time Montana gets around to voting them. This past cycle it wasn’t completely decided, so I took a Democrat ballot, but if it had been down to one Democrat candidate and two Republicans at the time, I would have taken a Republican one.
Non-sense. Historically the republicans were for more centralized power and the democrats favored states’ rights. This all changed in the late 60s when the republucans decided that they were going to go after the white southern male vote which had historically been democratic because of reconstruction.
Furthermore, a lot of Republicans think that government can create a better society by enforcing Biblical precepts.