Is there a Difference between Republicans and Democrats?

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I was having a really interesting conversation with some friends and we were discussing politics and all the corruption in politics. It came up that there always seems to be plenty of blame to go around and it's always Republicans blaming the Democrats for everything and the Democrats blaming the Republicans for everything. As often happens, the conversation ends up saying that both parties are bad and isn't it a shame. It got me thinking and it actually strikes me as a form of Fashionable Cynicism. It's so easy to just let go of distinctions and say that everyone is bad and why don't we just form a 3rd party where everything will be hunky-dory?

It seems to me that the more difficult work is taking the time to actually determine if there is, in fact, a qualitative difference between the two parties. I'm not an expert or a historian, but it seems to me that there REALLY IS a qualitative difference. From my layman's perspective, it seems that whenever there is a Republican scandal, the person is always impugned by not only the media and Democrats, but his own party talks tough about it and he/she eventually quits/leaves office, whatever. It also seems to me that whenever there is a Democratic scandal, it's covered up or minimized in the press, and their fellow Democrats "circle the wagons" and defend it and try to shift the blame elsewhere. That person fights to stay in power as long as possible. That seems like a qualitative difference to me.

Another qualitative difference in the parties is some of the issues they stand for. It's more often than not the Democrat party that defends the criminal, defends the terrorist, but pushes for a woman's right to choose to kill her baby. It's the Democrat party that declares the Iraq war a defeat, accuses the military of blatanly killing civilians, threatens to withdraw funding for the troops in the middle of war, wants to talk to our enemies on a presidential level, pushes higher taxes and more spending. These are all issues that stem from a fundamental difference in worldview on what is right and what is wrong.

I know that the Republicans are not perfect. There is a distinct segment of the Republican party, of which McCain is a part, that is "moderate" and, frankly, shares many of the values with the Democratic party. That definitely muddies the waters when trying to look at the two parties.

However, I DO believe that there is a qualitative difference between the two parties. The Republican party is more on the conservative side of the spectrum and the Democrat party is more on the liberal side of the spectrum. The Republican party tends to favor the free market system; the Democrat party tends to favor more government involvement.

Yes, it takes a little bit of work to not just throw up your hands and declare the whole system corrupt. But I think if you do that work, you will find there is a big difference between the parties.

My biggest plea is to not check out and give up. Stay in there and figure out what you believe and figure out what others believe. Stay involved. If you do, you're choice will become clear.
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