Chapter 8. Political Parties Vid: Two Parties Dominate U.S. Politics

Chapter 8. Political Parties Vid: Two Parties Dominate U.S. Politics - https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=1kkV7vJdBzE

Politics is a marketplace of ideas and the groups that promote them. Among the most prominent of these groups are the Democratic and Republican parties. [music, clapping] The Democrats and the Republicans have controlled the White House and the Congress for one and a half centuries but the two parties have always been adversaries, aggressively competing for America’s middle ground voters. Frank Donatelli is Deputy Chairman to the Republican National Committee. Historically the Republican Party has stood for smaller federal government, for lower taxes, for less federal spending, probably having problems solved more at the state or local level or just at the in the private sector. Internationally, uh the party favors a strong national defense, uh in America acting in its own self self interest but obviously in conjunction with its allies. The rival Democratic Party has a different philosophy. At the Washington independent research group the Brookings Institution, senior fellow Michael McDonald. Ideologically the Democratic Party is liberal, elective center in the United States uh and generally uh therefore a larger government, larger role of government and regulating society, providing benefits and services to uh people within the society, mainly lower class. The Democratic Party took that stance some seventy five years ago when Franklin Deleno Roosevelt became president at the height of the great depression. FDR launched a massive program called the New Deal with economic and social reforms meant to uplift average Americans. FDR’s Democratic coalition of large cities’ blue-collar voters and the southern states held until the nineteen sixties when the Republicans began to attract working-class whites, especially in the south. Michael McDonald describes today’s Democratic Party. So there’s a coalition there of um, of persons of color and then you also have uh, um people who are more highly educated, uh people who uh are also somewhat higher income as well who um uh form kind of a liberal elite, if you will, within the society and also women. Along with big cities the Democrats are strong in the industrial northeast, the Pacific coastal states, and with younger people. For the Republican Party, President Ronald Reagan, who held office from nineteen eighty one to nineteen eighty nine has become an iconic figure like FDR. Under the Reagan legacy for the Republicans is the prominent inclusion of social conservatives such as fundamentalist Christians and anti-abortion activists. The struggle for power between the Democrats and the Republicans goes beyond control of the White House. The Senate and the House of Representatives will also be a focal point on Election Day two thousand eight. Control of Congress will be essential to whoever wins the presidency, if they want their agendas enacted. Jeffrey Young, VOA News