Ununited States of America...

[harm]

What is a few causes of separation between the two parties? Maybe if we shine a light on the separation of the 2 parties, we can actually get some positive **** done together as a united country.

[LoZz]

iraq
cival rights? (rights of gays etc)
nationalism

i think thats where the 2 differ

[jankren]

By parties you mean Republican and Democrat? In my opinion they are only two sides of the same coin.

[Cassy]

I think its because non-partisanship is discouraged by public figures. Example being Michael J Fox. He runs a genuinely non-partisan organisation that supports any political candidate that supports stem-cell research. What does he get for that? He gets called a Democrat whore who abuses his condition to garner sympathy to promote baby culling by that arch-tosspot Rush Limbaugh.

That's the destiny that awaits you if you dare to be moderate in America.

[Legio XX Valeria Victrix]

It's scary how many people cannot ceonceive of a middle ground in the political spectrum. Unfortunately, I fear that their influence is such that it IS actually tearing moderate America asunder.

[MET]

the biggest problem here is that america isn't a united country, but rather states working together...
every state has differnt laws, some states are extremely right, others are slightly right.
but, the simple problem is that the usa is a republic, not a democracy. just ban democracy, and the problem is solved.

[Gelgoog]

its not like this big seperation between the parties is anything new. the two used to represent alot of different things. back some time ago the democrats used to be the conservative party which was strongly backed by the anti-unionist south. the republicans were the socialist types. now they are both kind of the same thing.

[William the Bastard]

I still do not know where the USA actually is! I think it's over there *Points left*! Hehehe

[vizi]

You mean the Republicrats?

They are merely trying to wrest away power that the state should posses to make the USA a more centralized nation. Federal government with more and more power means that this nation will fail.

Back in the 1860s the Democrats had the right idea but supported a horrible issue. Then the Republicans had the right idea in the 20th century but now both sides just want to screw the American populace over.

More state power. The federal government lacks the flexibility to provide proper governance to the states because the regions of the USA have so many different needs and socially acceptable practices.

Eliminate Neo-Conservatives and Democrats they are both want to take away your rights as a citizen on whatever state you live in. They want to ruin your state. They want to ruin the USA.

[William the Bastard]

Just putting it out there but does anyone think it may be divide and conquer tactics?

[Dunecat]

Read history.

This is nothing new.

We're more united than ever, due the fascist leaders in our country wresting control away from the states, eliminating state's rights, and burning the constitution. (half the crap that goes on nowadays in the central government is forbidden or not listed as an expressed power. Ex? Hurricane Katrina, and SE Asia tsunami. Pass a law, grant an amendment, THEN send them money, not this elastic bs. Past presidents have not send aid to states from the FEDERAL government on the same grounds.)

[/rant]

[RusskiSoldat]

Well, neither of the parties has a long established and traditional ideology, and both have changed with the times to reflect popular moods.
The Republicans and Democrats both encompass a wide variety of groups which, in a parliamentary system, would all have their own party.
I'd say this is for the better, as one the most varied political environments are the most unstable ones (case in point: the Republic of Italy). The focus on Republicans has recently been on the evangelical right, possibly because they're one of the very few groups that completely supports one party or the other.
The red state/blue state divide isn't as deep as the sensationalist media makes it out to be:

As you can see, most countries fall under some shade of purple and very few are outright red or blue.
Given that America has been doing fine for the past century or so precisely through the parties making big deals out of red herring issues that time eventually forgets, I'd say the system is working and working well.

[Erik]

When two groups are very similar they will often fight each other to death over the tiny things that set them apart.

This, I think, is also what's happening between the Republicans and the Democrats.

It probably has to do with competition.
With the two parties being so similar they try to win over the same groups of voters.

In multi party systems this is even more clear.
Usually the left-wing parties and right-wing parties will fight more amongst each other than against each other.
From a politicians p.o.v. this makes sense because left-wing politicians won't be able to win over many right-wing voters, but they can steal a lot of votes away from the parties closest to them.

[RusskiSoldat]

In most stable republics, there are two main parties with some minor ones.
Germany is a prime example of this.
France and UK both provide that one party clearly rules most of the time, despite the fact that the runner up is usually lacking a couple of percentage points.

[Hells Bells]

What is a few causes of separation between the two parties? Maybe if we shine a light on the separation of the 2 parties, we can actually get some positive **** done together as a united country.

You mean a one party system? Stalin likes your reasoning but you would be purged.

The dominance of the 2 parties cannot be tolerated any longer. I will create a new party based on common sense, otherwise the nation will fall to corruption and ignorance. Unfortunately it already has fallen to corruption and ignorance but a man can try eh?

[harm]

It seems that a hitler-esk patriotism needs to evolve in the US to influence other countries to the Westward way of thinking. Especially in the Middle East. This move is semi going on right now, but I feel the US is too laggy because of the Liberals that don't get with the program. They don't see the end result of how it can effect the world in a positive end result.

Yes, a more close knit ideology in the US would kick ass.

--please don't get hung up on the word Hitler and Jew killing.

[awisler]

a large problem is, the first time people hear about the two political parties from someone they respect a lot(parents, other family, good friends, teacher ect) they immediately swear their loyalty to that party and dont even know much about it or what it does. i think that there should be a test given each year, small test, listing about 5 columns. each one has seperate ideas, none of them listed. for example column one could be moderate views, column 2 right wing/moderate, and column 3 left wing/moderate, with columns 4 and 5 being extreme left or extreme right winged.

the student taking then test then chooses the one he/she agrees with most, of course it will be more simplified in the lower grades. they will then be told what they associated with. hopefully most of them havent been exposed to the politcal party ideas yet. this way they can be associated each year with the party they tend to agree with.

from here, when they turn 18 to vote, they can already have an idea of who they usually agree with, and also be used to choosing based on their own thoughts rather than the influences of others.

havent put much thought into this, so im sure there are flaws, but just an idea. either that or get rid of parties, but i highly doubt we could manage that.

[Thanatos]

How could you possibly get rid of parties? Parties represent factions, and factions have and always will exist.

[harm]

Be hard to get rid of the parties, but we can expand the power of the president. So, when the republicans have the congress again..and later get the presidency back, we can go ape ****. Who cares about liberals when we have all 3 branches of government again. Plus, we have a good radio force that bashes the New York Times pretty good and other papers. We should get a few strong right wing movie stars to take to our liking so we can get Hollywood influence working for us or at least balance it out some. Country music has some influence but doesn't really spread much.

Basically, if we wash out the media enough. We can easily hamper more citizens. With more presidential power, and interpreting the constitution to our liking. It's easy as apple pie.

[Wheem]

fascist leaders in our country wresting control away from the states, eliminating state's rights, and burning the constitution

This has been going on for quite some time. Abraham Lincoln is a prime example of a horrible President that pissed all over the constitution to centralize power.

Democrats and Republicans are all too often nothing more than different sides of the same coin. Too many in both party want a strong central government with big spending, they just want to spend money on different things. Generally speaking though, the Democratic party is much more anti-freedom (due to socialistic stances and frequently trying to interpret away the second amendment).

Im not a big fan of either party, but I'll take a Republican over a national-level Democrat, nearly every time. Some southern Democrats might be alright, but darned if Im gonna vote for a socialist or New England / San Francisco liberal *barf*