I think..maybe…there’s a debate tonight. If you have missed this info; I’m glad you heard it here! Anyway McCain/Obama are in town tonight…at Belmont; if you didn’t already know.
My friend Trevor wrote up this info on the main/big picture differences on the candidates and I thought he did a pretty good job. Hope this helps!
For me, understanding the basic ideologies behind each party was eye opening. When they talk you can hear what they are ‘actually’ saying. And when they stereotype the other party, you know exactly what they are referring to. Let’s first look at each party’s main things.
The Democratic Party- social justice/minority rights, and progress
The Republican Party- capitalism and traditional/conservative values
Now of course, when one party talks about another party, they want to emphasize the negative side of the other party’s stance. Because Democrats believe that government should be responsible for the people they govern, they want things in place to take care of the poor and fight for social justice here in the US. However, this does lead to more programs and of course, ‘more government’. So one of the negative stereotypes placed on Democrats is that they favor “Big Government”, and always want to raise taxes. This also leads to criticism of the government controlling too much. Their value on progress leads to accusations of turning their backs on history. And lastly, because of their value on change, they are labeled as “Liberals” (which they don’t like to call themselves).
Republicans believe that problems of the country can take care of themselves, as long as businesses are thriving. They think that if businesses are thriving that means the economy is booming and everyone is prospering. Because of this, they get criticized for being advocates of “Big Business”. This approach is more hands off than the Democrats and they are criticized for their lack of involvement. Their value on tradition leads to accusations of being stuck in the past and not looking to the future. Republicans are also labeled as “Conservative” (but contrary to the other party, the Republicans embrace this and would proudly call themselves a conservative).
Hopefully that helps in dissecting the rhetoric of the politicians as they start to try to win your vote in November. Sorry, I couldn’t get this out before their speeches.
Now, as I look at the main thing of each of the parties, I might think that more Christians would fall into the Democratic party. Isn’t this what God has called us to? Helping the poor, and widows? People who are overlooked by society? I also think that upholding traditional values, like the Republicans want is good. I mean, we were founded as a Christian nation right? Isn’t it our job to uphold these values, and not let the country go down the tubes? Truth be told, there are good things on each side of the fence.
But there is also bad in each party. As these values trickle into other issues, another value comes alongside their party’s values, individualism. Americans today have a very high value on individualism. This is where politics tend to clash with the things we see in the Bible. The Democrats’ individualism comes out in their views on abortion, marriage, and sex education. The Republicans on the other hand have a distrust of the government and misunderstand poverty as failure of the individual (laziness).
It seems to me that Christians involved in politics need to be as concerned about social justice and the poor as Democrats, and uphold Christian values, morals, and ethics like the Republicans. The American church today doesn’t fully believe or obey God’s clear commands in the Bible when it comes to helping the poor, and we are much more concerned about our rights and comfort. This leads to more mainstream Christians valuing the Republican’s ideology, overlooking their negatives, than vice versa.
So, basically it’s messy
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