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American Political System: Difference between revisions
→Political Parties: accuracy (offer not available within the Beltway)
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There are two major parties in the US today. Americans' general feeling about these parties is that one is [[Kick the Dog|evil]] and the other is [[What an Idiot!|inept]]. Which is which depends on who you ask.
* The '''[[wikipedia:Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]''' is traditionally viewed as being center-left, although in most Western countries, they would be considered centrist or tepidly social-democratic. Somewhat socially liberal and fiscally left-wing (although they have a small fiscally conservative contingent). Strong in urban areas, the Northeast, and the West Coast, and among minorities, youth, and poor-to-working class voters
* The '''[[wikipedia:Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]''', or the GOP (Grand Old Party, despite being younger than the Democrats), is the center-right party in American politics. Unified by fiscal conservatism, and a lot (but not all) of them are social conservatives. Strong in rural areas and the South, and among evangelical Protestants and middle class-to-affluent voters. They currently hold the [[Donald Trump|presidency]], Senate and House of Representatives.
These definitions apply to the current time; the Democrats used to be the party of white landowners and former slaveholders in the South, but lost their support—and several legislators—due to the Civil Rights Acts, and Nixon and Reagan both campaigned to disillusioned Southern voters. Conversely, the Democrats picked up African-Americans because they were attracted by Lyndon Johnson's 'Great Society' initiatives and more recent Democrat campaigning on civil rights issues. The Republicans were established from the remains of the leftist Whig Party, and it used to be even worse—for a good 30-year period, both parties had right and left wings, which ended shortly before [[World War One]].
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