Republican Democrat

Republican/Democrat Republican and Democratic are the two major political parties in the United States and form a huge portion of the country's governance. Republican and Democratic parties have dominated American politics for a long period of time. Even though these political parties dominate the political landscape of the United States, they have significant differences in their ideals and philosophies. These varying ideals and philosophies are attributed to the fundamental differences between republicans and democrats.

In addition to the fundamental differences, the two major political parties in the United States have relatively differing histories with regards to their formation and development. Since their inception, Republican and Democratic parties have experienced long transition in their ideological principles that has influenced their development. The Democratic Party started as the conservative Democratic Republican Party in the 1790s whose first presidential nominee was the conservative Thomas Jefferson.

The members of this party were anti-federalists who promoted and supported state sovereignty, the institution of slavery, free markets, and decentralized federal government (Berg-Andersson, 2001). However, the Democratic Party has experienced an ideological reversal to an extent that it is currently the liberal party. The Democratic Party abandoned its conservative approach in 1896 after the country experienced depression. The Republican Party was founded in 1856 as the liberal counterweight to Democrats that opposed institution of slavery, promoted an increasingly liberal immigration policy, and advocated for more money for public education (Rubino, 2013).

The party members were federalists who supported a strong national government as a counterbalance to the states. The Republican Party also shifted from the liberal approach to a conservative one in 1856 to counter the Democrats approach. As evident in the brief history of the development of these two parties, they have fundamental differences between them. The fundamental differences are attributed to different approaches that the parties have taken either liberal or conservative.

The fundamental ideology of the Republican Party is the belief that every individual is responsible for his/her place in the society. Consequently, the government should enable every individual to have the capability to secure benefits of society for himself or herself. The Republican ideological philosophy is based on restricting governmental intervention as a means of promoting individual prosperity. This philosophy has been the basis of the Republicans' approach to various governance and social issues.

Republicans believe that governmental intervention should only be permitted in specific situations where the society can act effectively at the individual level ("Differences Between Republicans and Democrats," n.d.). Based on the foundational belief that personal destiny is within individual control, governmental power and resources should be easily accessible to people through state and community leaders rather than centralized federal government. The Democratic Party has a different fundamental ideology, which is based on the belief that the government has the responsibility to take care of every individual.

In this case, the government should take every possible measure in caring for all people even if the process requires giving up some individual rights or lowering enterprise and initiative. Based on this ideological philosophy, the party advocates for centralization of power in the federal government except on issues.