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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Fashionable Cynicism

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I was in the break room of my workplace the other day and they had the TV on (to CNN, of course) and it was talking about the financial issues that were going on. So, I was standing there watching it for a minute when another co-worker came in. Without provocation, he said something like, "Bah, might as well just vote for Ralph Nader" and then left.

I've had other occasions where I've asked family or friends what they thought about the elections and they have almost invariably gone the way of criticizing both candidates and criticizing the whole process. They bemoan the corruption in the system and write it all off as not worth following.

While I totally understand the frustration with the corruption in the system (see here), these two examples strike me as what I call "Fashionable Cynicism" There is the kind of cynicism where someone is fully aware of the faults and expects the worst. That I can understand.

However, this fashionable cynicism strikes me as fundamentally false. By decrying the whole political landscape and lumping everything together as bad, these people are actually failing to engage with the issues. They are actually choosing to blow it off and just think about something else.

I can understand, believe me. Sometimes it's just too overwhelming to think about all the issues going on in the world. Sometimes it's really scary to think about it. Or you just feel helpless to do anything. Or it's just inane and doesn't make any sense. These, to me, are honest, authentic responses.

But when people stand on the sidelines and criticize the whole process, and yet are too uninformed to even understand what's really going on, that to me is just a cop out. It's their way of just not dealing with it.

But deal with it we must. The consequences of going through life uninformed are too grave. We must do our part to make sure this country remains strong.

If you're just angry with all politicians, do something to make it better! Don't just complain about it. If it's overwhelming to you, start with a small area and become familiar with that and let that lead you into more and more broad areas of knowledge. If you feel helpless to do anything to change things, rebuke that lie! You are not helpless! You can start by becoming informed. You can give money to a cause. You can volunteer. You can talk to friends and family. You can start a blog. :-)

The way I see it, people who are just generally critical of the whole political process are not much different than someone who is just talking in their sleep. I just want to shake them and say, WAKE UP! There's a whole world out there in need of engaged people making a difference and your cynicism isn't helping at all.

Also, once you start to really get informed of the events going on around us, you will begin to see that not everything is just bad. I want to shout out kudos to all the Republicans in the House. They have been fighting valiantly for us and I feel personally grateful to them this day.

If you're out there and you feel a general level of cynicism toward the whole political process, I want to challenge you to take a hard look inside yourself and see if you aren't just avoiding it. Don't avoid it! Do something about it!