The United States Republican Party is one of the two biggest political parties in the United States of America. The other large party is the Democratic Party. The United States also has many other small parties known as third parties.

The Republicans are often called "the right" or "conservatives". The Republican Party itself is also known as the GOP, which stands for "Grand Old Party." The symbol of the Republican party is the elephant. This symbol was first used in 1874 in a political cartoon (pictured), by Thomas Nast.^[1]

Current Republican beliefs

Currently, the Republican Party is identified as conservative and right-wing.

Not all Republicans believe in all of the same things, but generally these are the things many Republicans support:

• the 2nd Amendment (oppose gun control)
• the death penalty for certain cases
• the U.S. having a strong military
• the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
• a school voucher system (the government giving money to parents who send their kids to private school, in areas with a failing school system)
• capitalism, laissez faire or supply-side economics
• oppose illegal immigration, but support legal immigrants
• less government control of the economy
• less government spending
• lower taxes for everyone
• oppose government run health care
• the 9th and 10th Amendments (the federal government should have less power over the states)
• abortion should be illegal in all or many cases
• oppose same-sex marriage, but not a civil union

---

Democratic Party (United States)

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29

Philosophy and role in government

Sometimes Democrats are called "the left", "liberals" or "progressives", even though not all Democrats are left-wing or liberal. Many Democrats, particularly in the South and Rocky Mountains of the United States, are conservative or moderate). In the United States, each of the political parties are large coalitions that cover many different kinds of ideology. A mostly Democratic state is sometimes called a "blue state".

Democratic beliefs

Generally Democrats support:

• Progressive income tax, increasing overall tax income
• Higher corporate taxes and recapturing income from overseas profits
• Expanding spending on government programs
• Spending on business, education, infrastructure, clean-energy
• Abortion (spending on reproductive issues)
• stem-cell research
• Reducing the use of US troops in international affairs, downsizing the military
• Equal rights (without regard for race, creed, gender or sexual orientation) through Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity laws.
• Restrictions of weapons use through government oversight
• Keynesian, and a mixed economy
• Universal healthcare
• Regulating business and the economy
• Support same-sex marriage

Most support for Democrats comes from states in the Northeast, and Pacific Coast areas of the USA, but there are Democrats elected to office in all other states too.

Symbols

The symbol of the Democratic Party is the Donkey. Since the election of 2000, the color blue has become a symbol for Democrats.^[source?]