Political Party the Political System

¶ … Political Party

The political system in the United States has always focused on two major political parties which have, more or less dominated the party system for its entire history. The Democratic Party has a long tradition and is connected to important aspects of the U.S. history. However, at the moment, the Republican Party is the one which is considered to be at the helm of the country, despite the controversy and the narrow margins the two share at the poles.

The Republican Party represents the emergence of two centuries of history and reflects probably one of the most important segments of the American history. Its name is related to the institution of slavery and to the actions of Abraham Lincoln (Jenkins, 1997). More precisely, "the Republican Party was born in the early 1850's by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge" (Montgomery County Republican Party, 2008). Therefore, it can be said that the Republican Party's history is closely linked to one of the most stringent aspect in the history of the democratic process in the United States. Their slogan often included words such as freedom and land, an aspect which was in deep contrast with the Democrats' allegiance to slavery.

The doctrinarian approach of the political parties tends to chance in time particularly as a result of the evolutions of history and of the philosophical ideas. Therefore, although the notions of freedom and liberty continue to be part of the Republican creed, they no longer focus on issues such as slavery or the right of the individuals to vote. More precisely, there are particular aspects which tend to define the Republican doctrine at the moment. At the moment, it is considered that the best symbol of the Republican values is the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain. Therefore, "McCain is very much a traditional Republican, and the tradition of the Republican party is certainly conservative on fiscal issues and in favor of a strong defense, but equally important are the traditions of being pro-business and in favor of individual liberty" (Nalle, 2008).

The values of the current Administration were visible even in the State of the Union Address delivered by President Bush in January 2008. In this sense, he argued indeed for an increase in the measures for insuring homeland security and foreign security, as well as for measures aimed at increasing the possibilities of the population to ensure better life conditions for them and their families. Although they are not the proponents of social assistance and of a welfare state, the Republicans do believe in helping those in need by tax reduction and improvement of the legislative sector (the White House, 2008). However, given this desire to increase the security abroad and to promote democracy worldwide, lives of American soldiers were lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. Aside from this negative result of the U.S. Republican Administration, the place of the American culture in the world has decreased in the sense that in many parts of the globe this prone to war attitude of the Republicans is interpreted by the Muslim countries in particular as a violent attitude.

A positive element of the Republican Party is their intention to give back to the U.S. The traditional image of the promoters of democracy. This is an important element because it ensures that the image of the leader of the world is maintained. This approach was obvious even in the 2006 National Security Strategy which ended in the words "America must lead by deed as well as by example" (the White House, 2006).