[gamesetmatch4]

Hey everyone. I was trying to compare the main differences between the United States Democratic and Republican parties. I noticed at my library that they had a copy of the "Conservative Handbook" which detailed the main issues today for conservatives and I was wondering if there were any books out there that detailed the main issues with the liberal/US Democratic views? I know there is the Democratic Party platform but wanted a book.

Thanks!

[Beachcomber]

The Future of Liberalism by Alan Wolfe is a good read. It's a good combination of philosophical ideas and practical applications.

I highly recommend it.

[nucklepunche]

You do not need to read a book to understand the difference. You can explain what the two sides believe in a paragraph each. I think you can sum up the ideas of each party in five points.

REPUBLICANS

- Low taxes on the rich are a good thing since they will use their tax breaks to hire more people and this will reduce unemployment.

- Labor unions are a bad thing since they make it difficult for businesses to compete and actually hurt the workers more than they help.

- Welfare programs are bad since they reduce poor people's incentive to work to escape poverty.

- Traditional Christian values are a good thing government should have the right to enforce morality to some extent.

- The United States should promote its interests in the world through maintaining a strong military.


DEMOCRATS

- High taxes on the rich are a good thing since they reduce increasing wealth inequality.

- Labor unions are a good thing since they secure the rights of workers to decent wages and benefits.

- Welfare programs are good since they take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.

- Traditional Christian values may or may not be a good thing, but the government has no right to enforce them.

- The United States should promote its interest in the world through diplomacy and international bodies like the United Nations.


There are also third parties as well. Libertarians are extremely right-wing on economics but very left-wing on foreign policy.

LIBERTARIANS

- Taxation is theft and should be reduced as much as possible.

- Labor unions are acceptable as long as they do not use force to achieve their goals.

- Welfare programs are bad because they are funded by taxation and taxation is theft.

- Traditional Christian values may or may not be a good thing, but government has no right to enforce them.

- The United States should adopt an isolationist foreign policy.


CONSTITUTION PARTY & GREEN PARTY

The Constitution Party is essentially the same as the Republican Party on all the issues only they tend to be more firm in those beliefs than Republicans The Green Party is essentially the same as the Democratic Party on all the issues only to a greater extent as well. The only difference is that both the CP and GP are isolationists in foreign policy. This is not to say these are the only political views represented in the USA. I for one am a left-libertarian, meaning I am anti-government and anti-welfare state but also anti-corporate and pro-union. The trouble with the political spectrum of the USA is it is too narrow. Most people think that you either love big government and unions and hate big corporations or you hate the government and unions while gushing on corporations.

[Ash Faulkner]

^ Very fair summary.

[Red Barn]

^ I agree that Nucklepunche's summary is fair enough, but I don't think it hurts to consider the economic realities mediating the potential effectiveness of these positions.

For instance: while it's true that the Democrats have traditionally supported labor, it's also true that pro-labor policies have been increasingly difficult to implement as union density has plummeted. Without the votes and cash that organized labor used to provide, it seems less and less likely that pro-labor policies will ever win the day, regardless of how much individual Democrats might wish to see this happen. With union density now less than 7% in the private sector, and corporate political spending at stratospheric levels, this probably isn't going to change any time soon.

The same is true of progressive taxation, which used to be a staple of the Democratic Party's platform. The Party's inability to overturn the Bush tax cuts makes it plain that economic elites have more clout than ever before, and that even a sitting Democratic President can't make the most basic kinds of changes to tax policy, no matter how eminently reasonable these changes might seem to ordinary voters.

Ditto social spending and job creation. You'll notice that the current administration has supported job creation in the private sector as the primary way out of the recession, and that "austerity" has hit social programs very hard indeed. Regardless of how Democratic incumbents might actually feel about these measures, the sad truth is that Republican-style policies are the order of the day, and that there doesn't appear to be a hell of a lot the Democrats can do about it.

In the past, it's been the policy of many Left and Left-ish Americans to vote Democratic on the grounds that they're at least a bit more worker-friendly than the Republicans. This strategy seems less and less promising nowadays, though, and it's hard to say how long the Democrats can keep afloat under these circumstances. I myself would hope that this trend gives a boost to the Green and Socialist Parties, but this hope is probably pretty slim. I agree with Nuckle that our collective political imagination is absurdly narrow, and it's hard to imagine a major change so long as popular media restrict the discourse to a two party narrative.

[anticlimacus]

This strategy seems less and less promising nowadays, though, and it's hard to say how long the Democrats can keep afloat under these circumstances.

As usual, Red Barn, your analysis is precise and very illuminating...I always enjoy your posts. However, it seems you have slighted, a bit, the degree which the Democrats do have strong allies outside of labor, and always have. For instance, right now the Dems have a good hold on big finance which is the dominant economic factor for the global economy. In addition, with the Republicans going even further right than what they were just ten years ago, and ten years before that, it seems that the Dems will always have an ongoing vote from popular movements because they will continue to employ the liberal language as a foil to the Republican reality. The Dems will continue to be, at the very least, not Republicans, and will therefore continue to get votes from popular movements, labor groups, and liberal activist groups--just look at Obama's latest election and how much he swayed the progressives. It doesn't matter that he has acted center right. The progressive groups are still going to fight for Obama, by virtue of the fact that he's not Republican. Money coming in from big finance, and perhaps big pharma and other major contributors who have found support from Obama will be the main thrust of his campaign and re-election.

As far as any real changes to the current system, I think it is highly doubtful. The US is much too saturated by corporate money and the military industrial complex, coupled with global insecurity concerning its global hegemony. Any important changes--something that would dramatically alter the power structure between corporatism and militarism would result in violence of some sort. Not necessarily direct violence, but in terms of witholding resources, lowering wages, attacking worker's rights, etc. Many look to Wisconsin as a sign of hope--I simply see it as a sign of the times. I think the best thing that groups can do is begin poaching at the seams in local communities and experimenting with something different so that when the end does come, there may just be something there to take its place. But at this point, America is a bit unsalvageable, at least on my reading. This may sound cynical, and it is. But as I alluded to in my prior sentence, it need not be the last word. The time is now to start builidng anew, even if we know that more suffering is to come.

[Red Barn]

However, it seems you have slighted, a bit, the degree which the Democrats do have strong allies outside of labor, and always have. For instance, right now the Dems have a good hold on big finance which is the dominant economic factor for the global economy.

I'm sorry - I didn't mean to give this factor short shrift at all. In fact, I totally agree.

I think, actually, that the banking sector's influence over the Party has grown stronger exactly as labor's has grown weaker. I agree that opposing interests have been present for ages, but, with labor almost completely absent, the Democrats have been effectively forced to cave in to Wall St. on every conceivable point - and to much more disastrous effect than would have been the case in decades past. (And if the Bush/Obama bailouts weren't enough to demonstrate this sad state of affairs, President O's pathetic excuse for "regulation" certainly ought to be enough for just about anybody.)

As far as any real changes to the current system, I think it is highly doubtful. The US is much too saturated by corporate money and the military industrial complex, coupled with global insecurity concerning its global hegemony. Any important changes--something that would dramatically alter the power structure between corporatism and militarism would result in violence of some sort. Not necessarily direct violence, but in terms of witholding resources, lowering wages, attacking worker's rights, etc. Many look to Wisconsin as a sign of hope--I simply see it as a sign of the times. I think the best thing that groups can do is begin poaching at the seams in local communities and experimenting with something different so that when the end does come, there may just be something there to take its place. But at this point, America is a bit unsalvageable, at least on my reading. This may sound cynical, and it is. But as I alluded to in my prior sentence, it need not be the last word. The time is now to start builidng anew, even if we know that more suffering is to come.

I don't think this sounds overly cynical at all; I think it's just common sense, and that you've expressed it very well. (I always like your posts, too. )

As a long-time Anarcho-Syndicalist, I've always put a lot of faith in labor activism - not because I support organized labor under capitalism as an end in itself, but as a kind of template for future social organization under some form of Libertarian Socialism. With unions effectively defunct, and class consciousness completely perverted, it's hard to know how to proceed, though, or where to "rebuild," as you put it. I don't, for instance, see the kind of re-examination of Leftist ideas that 30 years of flat wages and an economic collapse ought to have produced. I compare popular reaction to this crises with popular reaction to the first Great Depression, and I feel positively stymied. I mean, except for the predictable up-tick in religious fundamentalism, and a renewed interest in Right Libertarianism (both financed and manipulated by corporate interests, I might add) it's hard to find an organized, popular critique of the current system anywhere.

(But maybe all this is more than our OP bargained for? I see that this is her/his very first post, and I sincerely hope all this gloom hasn't scared her away for good. )

[CounterChaos]

President O's pathetic excuse for "regulation" certainly ought to be enough for just about anybody.

Sandori drops his head and sadly nods in agreement...