Republican vs. Democrat

Vaulk

No...I'm pretty sure it's just that Democrats are running on extremist ideas...and most people (Regardless of which way you lean) don't want anything to do with extremism.

someone234

The answer is YES so much.

MayCaesar

The premise of the question is that deep thinking about issues necessarily leads to the individual voting for Democrats. This premise is flawed and, ironically, in turn is an example of lack of deep thinking about issues and simplifying them down to the level of "Party X is right and Party Y is wrong".

I like to think of myself as a pretty deep thinking, and politics especially is one of my fields of interest. I dislike both major American parties, but if I were forced to vote for one of the party, I would vote Republican. Here is why.

---

As a libertarian, I strongly believe in the idea of free market and full human rights. Out of these two, the free market comes first: I see a free market economy as a foundation of a prosperous society, and human right guarantees can only truly be built upon the foundation which is a prosperous free economy.

Out of these two parties, Republican party is a much stronger advocate for an unregulated free market; not quite as far into the concept of small government as I would like (and I definitely strongly dislike the protectionist anti-free market policies the current administration is carrying out under full support of the Republican leadership),  but much closer to it than most parties in the world I am familiar with.
Democrats are the exact opposite of it: they prefer planned economy, high restrictions against ideologically undesirable market activities, removal of economical incentives for personal growth, transfer of resources from those who excel at multiplying them to those who excel at consuming them, and so on. They are not exactly a classic socialist party, but they are getting closer and closer there with each year. I liked the economical policies of Democrats circa 1995; nowadays, I find them distasteful.

With regards to human rights, both parties are lacking severely - but, again, Republicans are lacking a bit less. Republicans prefer to maintain the status quo, refusing to acknowledge the needs of discriminated groups, and instead champion the image of the happy white heterosexual male farmer - as if this demographic is somehow more important than others. 
Democrats, instead, try to escape the status quo - into an ideological dystopia, where, instead of genuinely equal treatment of various demographic groups, people are separated into groups based on their "privilege", and "less privileged" people gain more economical and social benefits, than "more privileged" people. 
This is the case where it is better not to touch the status quo at all, than to twist it into something far more sinister.

I also find the Republican foreign policies to be more reasonable and pragmatic, than Democratic foreign policies. There are countries which are better bombed, with the leadership dethroned - than built relationships with, disregarding their human rights stances. And while the current administration tries to play nice with North Korea and Russia, overall the Republican policies favor sanctions towards malicious regimes over constantly giving them an Nth chance.

Democratic party has its advantages over Republican party as well. Democrats favor diplomacy over brute force a bit more than Republicans, which is useful in many situations, especially in the interaction with economical and military allies. Democrats are more interested in moving education, healthcare, science and technology forward, while Republicans are more inclined to use the already existing education, healthcare, science and technology to their full potential - disregarding the fact that they do not age well. Democrats also offer a more friendly rhetoric overall, while Republicans constantly paint doomsday scenarios in order to scare their supporters into choosing security over freedom.

However, these advantages are nowhere near what I require to vote for a party that stands so far away from my personal values. I would never vote for Republicans either, unless I am forced to - but the idea of voting for Republicans still seems more appealing to me than the alternative.

---

You may disagree with this interpretation, and it is absolutely fine to do so: different people have different values and preferences. However, I hope my explanation helps you appreciate the complexity of the situation, and realize that the issue of choosing between the two major parties in the US is not black and white and has many levels of depth.


 

Vaulk

@MayCaesar

I'm finding your evaluation to be a most accurate interpretation of my sentiments exactly.  I don't particularly find either party to be without serious flaws and both are responsible for egregious problems in our Country.  It would seem though that we can't truly find a middle ground (Independent) to take control of the Country. 

With thought regarding why our two options have always been polar opposites...I honestly think it's needed.  If our Country swung too far to the left...we'd need a right leaning powerhouse to pull it back.  Likewise if we went too far to the right then we'd need left leaning power to bring us back on track.  If we leaned one way or the other...I doubt a middle ground independent party would do the trick of equalizing.  

Ampersand

MayCaesar said:

The premise of the question is that deep thinking about issues necessarily leads to the individual voting for Democrats. This premise is flawed and, ironically, in turn is an example of lack of deep thinking about issues and simplifying them down to the level of "Party X is right and Party Y is wrong".

I like to think of myself as a pretty deep thinking, and politics especially is one of my fields of interest. I dislike both major American parties, but if I were forced to vote for one of the party, I would vote Republican. Here is why.

---

As a libertarian, I strongly believe in the idea of free market and full human rights. Out of these two, the free market comes first: I see a free market economy as a foundation of a prosperous society, and human right guarantees can only truly be built upon the foundation which is a prosperous free economy.

Out of these two parties, Republican party is a much stronger advocate for an unregulated free market; not quite as far into the concept of small government as I would like (and I definitely strongly dislike the protectionist anti-free market policies the current administration is carrying out under full support of the Republican leadership),  but much closer to it than most parties in the world I am familiar with.
Democrats are the exact opposite of it: they prefer planned economy, high restrictions against ideologically undesirable market activities, removal of economical incentives for personal growth, transfer of resources from those who excel at multiplying them to those who excel at consuming them, and so on. They are not exactly a classic socialist party, but they are getting closer and closer there with each year. I liked the economical policies of Democrats circa 1995; nowadays, I find them distasteful.

With regards to human rights, both parties are lacking severely - but, again, Republicans are lacking a bit less. Republicans prefer to maintain the status quo, refusing to acknowledge the needs of discriminated groups, and instead champion the image of the happy white heterosexual male farmer - as if this demographic is somehow more important than others. 
Democrats, instead, try to escape the status quo - into an ideological dystopia, where, instead of genuinely equal treatment of various demographic groups, people are separated into groups based on their "privilege", and "less privileged" people gain more economical and social benefits, than "more privileged" people. 
This is the case where it is better not to touch the status quo at all, than to twist it into something far more sinister.

I also find the Republican foreign policies to be more reasonable and pragmatic, than Democratic foreign policies. There are countries which are better bombed, with the leadership dethroned - than built relationships with, disregarding their human rights stances. And while the current administration tries to play nice with North Korea and Russia, overall the Republican policies favor sanctions towards malicious regimes over constantly giving them an Nth chance.

Democratic party has its advantages over Republican party as well. Democrats favor diplomacy over brute force a bit more than Republicans, which is useful in many situations, especially in the interaction with economical and military allies. Democrats are more interested in moving education, healthcare, science and technology forward, while Republicans are more inclined to use the already existing education, healthcare, science and technology to their full potential - disregarding the fact that they do not age well. Democrats also offer a more friendly rhetoric overall, while Republicans constantly paint doomsday scenarios in order to scare their supporters into choosing security over freedom.

However, these advantages are nowhere near what I require to vote for a party that stands so far away from my personal values. I would never vote for Republicans either, unless I am forced to - but the idea of voting for Republicans still seems more appealing to me than the alternative.

---

You may disagree with this interpretation, and it is absolutely fine to do so: different people have different values and preferences. However, I hope my explanation helps you appreciate the complexity of the situation, and realize that the issue of choosing between the two major parties in the US is not black and white and has many levels of depth.


 

I often find defences of Republicanism are like this, based on unfounded and poorly thought out assumptions where the the belief is founded in truisms.

I mean they talk about how "a free market economy as a foundation of a prosperous society, and human right guarantees can only truly be built upon the foundation which is a prosperous free economy" but both the democrats and the republicans support a mixed market regulated economy. They differ on the details like the Republicans want less regulation on environmental controls and more regulation of sexual health services, but none of them are going anywhere near a free market economy which has little to nothing to do with freedom or liberty (basically no country has ever had an actual free market) and the results would clearly be disastrous - think of how rural America would collapse without the massive farm subsidies it pays out and the import controls it has in place so US farmers can compete with the third world. Or how throughout the entire history of the world all the countries with democracies have had a mixed and regulated economy. 

Or his description of how the Wall Street affiliated Democrats who have continued the proud American tradition of giving massive support to Capitalist businesses are somehow socialist.

It's like a description of a bizzaro fantasy reality. So in answer to the OP the answer seems to be they don't really think about it very much and just buy into an ideology.