What is a Democrat?

[Harjanika]

As a Brit, I am confused. On another thread I mistook a Democrat for a Republican (Thomasi). So I am now questioning to myself what a Democrat truly is. Thank you

[Sordhau]

As a Brit, I am confused. On another thread I mistook a Democrat for a Republican (Thomasi). So I am now questioning to myself what a Democrat truly is. Thank you

Republican is when you do everything wrong on purpose because you hate the people.

Democrat is when you do nothing at all on purpose because you hate the people.

[The Jamesian Republic]

That depends

Democrat- Could mean you believe in democracy like Christian Democrat or Social Democrat both believe in democracy but with Christian values or strong welfare systems
Republican - Could you believe in a republic

In American politics

Democrat- Liberalism
Republican- Conservatism

[Sordhau]

Democrat- Liberalism
Republican- Conservatism

Point of order: both parties are liberal and conservative by every definition save for the American one, so this doesn't help explain anything to an outsider.

[Ethel mermania]

that is the 64 dollar question, The party itself doesn't know

the party needs to decide if it leans liberal or leans leftist. When it makes up its mind, we will be able to answer your question

[Grinning Dragon]

OOh, final jeporday.
What is those guys with the blue donkey/jackass logo?

[Harjanika]

So, no one knows?

[Thomasi]

History

In the mid 1800s the Republic party was the abolitionist party and the party of civil rights & the democrats were the party of slavery.

The North Republican, South Democrat held until FDR

After FDR Democrats were the Economically Left socially conservative party and the GOP was the Economically not as far left but close and socially liberal.

After 1964 the Democrats became Economically Left and Socially Liberal with the GOP changing to Economically Right and pro big business and socially conservative aka the southern strategy.

Today the Democrats Include everyone from Economically conservative socially liberal, to Economically Left and Socially Liberal.

The issue is we have some "Cancel" culture has started affecting peoples jobs and careers because they don't use politically correct language or don't agree 100% with the extremes which don't just want equality (which is what I want) they want the whole language and culture to change to accommodate for specific groups of individuals.

That is what is dividing the democrats the most.

I got jumped on for simply pointing out that most Americans don't care about being woke but care about feeding their family and getting a better fairer economy and better healthcare and so on.

So what is a democrat, Anyone in-between Manchin and AOC.

[Washington Resistance Army]

So, no one knows?

I would say no. The Democrats have a pretty serious identity crisis, especially when compared to the GOP which has a pretty set belief system even if it is dogshit.

[Sordhau]

So, no one knows?

Dems are socially progressive, economically liberal, politically conservative.

Reps are socially traditionalist, economically liberal, politically conservative.

The differences are few enough to not really matter in the grand scheme of things.

[Thomasi]

So, no one knows?

Dems are socially progressive, economically liberal, politically conservative.

Reps are socially traditionalist, economically liberal, politically conservative.

The differences are few enough to not really matter in the grand scheme of things.

Republicans are NOT economically liberal. If not for our two DINOs we would have passed a massive $6T economic package for the lower class americans.

[Port Caverton]

So, no one knows?

Dems are socially progressive, economically liberal, politically conservative.

Reps are socially traditionalist, economically liberal, politically conservative.

The differences are few enough to not really matter in the grand scheme of things.

What is "politically conservative"?

[Sordhau]

Dems are socially progressive, economically liberal, politically conservative.

Reps are socially traditionalist, economically liberal, politically conservative.

The differences are few enough to not really matter in the grand scheme of things.

Republicans are NOT economically liberal. If not for our two DINOs we would have passed a massive $6T economic package for the lower class americans.

That has nothing to do with economic liberalism, but okay.

[Thomasi]

Republicans are NOT economically liberal. If not for our two DINOs we would have passed a massive $6T economic package for the lower class americans.

That has nothing to do with economic liberalism, but okay.

Economically Liberal and Economic Liberalism are completely different. The latter is "free market" and low government interference.

[Sordhau]

That has nothing to do with economic liberalism, but okay.

Economically Liberal and Economic Liberalism are completely different. The latter is "free market" and low government interference.

This is a distinction without a difference.

[Untecna]

Liberal is just the term given to those who believe in liberalism. The two words are not different, they are a description and the ideology of which the description is, well, describing, when it comes to a person.

[Kasase]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrati ... ted_States)
a "democrat" is a supporter or member of that party in the link
there's your answer.

[The Colonial Dutch Union]

Due to trump and his shit:
Democrats: center-left(or far-left depending on what you count) to center-right
Republicans: center-right to far-right
Are generally like it.
Or really both could also be described as: corrupt month-peices for big business who give no shits about anything but winning elections.

[Emotional Support Crocodile]

The lesser of two evils.

[Ifreann]

A miserable little pile of secrets? Wait, no, that's something else...

[Harjanika]

Due to trump and his shit:
Democrats: center-left(or far-left depending on what you count) to center-right
Republicans: center-right to far-right
Are generally like it.
Or really both could also be described as: corrupt month-peices for big business who give no shits about anything but winning elections.

Ohhh! Same here with Labour and Conservatives!

[Haganham]

Democrat=urban fascism
Republican=rural fascism

[Ifreann]

Democrat=urban fascism
Republican=rural fascism

Nah.

[Ikania]

Let me try as best I can to explain the Democratic Party without much snark or simplification. Because it's honestly a very interesting question with an interesting answer. Forgive the length of this post, but I think understanding the history of the Democrats is important to understanding where they are today.

What is a Democrat? The meaning of the word in American political discourse has changed many times over the past two centuries. A Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party, the oldest continuous political party in the United States. With its roots in the original Democratic-Republican Party, the Democrats formed in 1828 on a set of common ideas: low tariffs, a weak central government, against the national bank, and for expanding the country's territory. Their opposition for most of this time were the Whigs, who favoured high tariffs, internal improvements, a national bank, and were against territorial expansion. There were anti-slavery northern Democrats and pro-slavery southern Whigs (Cotton Whigs), but for the most part it was a north-south divide.

By the time the civil war came around, the Whigs had fallen apart over divisions on slavery and immigration, and the Republican Party came around as a pro-tariff, pro-improvement and most importantly, abolitionist party. Northern Democrats mostly wanted to continue finding compromises on slavery to keep the union together, while Southern Democrats would rather die than give up their slaves. The party broke in two in 1860 shortly before the election of Lincoln (a Republican), and during the civil war, Northern Democrats supported the Union, although many pushed for a compromise that would allow the South to either secede or keep their slaves (they saw the war effort as a waste and futile effort). After the war concluded, the Democrats lost power for many years. They didn't win the Presidency until 1884. In this time, they mostly pushed for the end of Reconstruction in the South, and in the North, the business wing (Bourbon Democrats) supported low tariffs, low taxes, anti-imperialism and immigration. The party was controlled by the corrupt political machine called Tammany Hall, run by rich industrial bosses who used the votes of immigrants and the working class to get what they wanted. Their power waned by the end of the century.

In 1896, while the Republicans fell in line behind their own business wing, populist Democrats won control of the party, supporting radical measures against tariffs and against business. Their platform had to do with workers' rights to form unions, against the railroad monopolies, and mostly representing the interests of farmers and urban labourers. For the most part, however, the Democrats were the party of white supremacy, and from 1876 onward the Republicans gave up trying to enforce civil rights - this was the Jim Crow era. Most former slaveowners were Democrats, as were members of the Ku Klux Klan. Their voter base also included large amounts of Irish and Italian Catholic immigrants, which caused a bit of division around the time of prohibition. Notably, the Democrats didn't win any elections while the populists were in control. Instead, the progressive mantle was carried by western and northern Republicans, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Robert La Follette - ultimately, the Republican business wing won out.

Woodrow Wilson was the first "progressive" Democratic President, and he laid the groundwork for the party's later embrace of liberalism. While not a champion of civil rights (quite the opposite), he achieved a number of domestic reforms that made life better for the average worker. He outlawed child labour, created the eight-hour work day, and established overtime pay laws, among many other things. He also was the first truly internationalist President, having established the League of Nations, although his own country refused to join it.

Wilson was the last Democrat to hold the office until 1932, when the Republicans' longstanding support of laissez-faire capitalism and big business led to the Great Depression. In comes Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who created the "New Deal". The short story of the New Deal is that FDR spent a lot of money to create programs to employ people out of work; he invested heavily in the economy, and led the country out of its economic woes and into the 40s. Roosevelt, once and for all, broke the back of isolationism and brought America into the world during World War II. The United States led the founding of the United Nations, saw some advances in civil rights, and moved away from the ultra-capitalist economic philosophy that had guided it hitherto.

After Roosevelt and his successor, Truman, these were the Democratic Party's values: Liberalism, as a cohesive philosophy; interventionist foreign policy and strength against the Soviet Union; civil rights, first in small increments and then in leaps and bounds. The election of John F. Kennedy solidified the liberalism of the Democrats, as civil rights became one of his major initiatives. During the civil rights struggle of the 60s, JFK was assassinated, and his successor Lyndon B. Johnson used the good will and popularity of Kennedy to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was a turning point. Until now, there were conservative and liberal Democrats and Republicans - but that year, the Republican Party was seized by its conservative wing, while Johnson made it clear that the Democrats would no longer stand for racism and white supremacy. The south, which had always voted Democrat without fail, started to switch in droves to the Republican Party. In the next few years, evangelical Protestants coalesced with business interests to create a new brand of conservative, sometimes called neoconservatism. The Conservative Democrats made a few last stands, particularly the Presidential runs of Strom Thurmond and George Wallace, but by 1972 they were fast on their way out.

By 1980, the party lines had finally solidified to something you can recognize today. The Democrats were liberals, and the Republicans were conservatives. After twelve years of neoconservative government under Reagan and Bush, the GOP (as the Republicans are called) was more united than ever. And the Democrats, now the party of high taxes and unions, had to find a way to win in the late 20th century after some stinging defeats with George McGovern and Michael Dukakis. In comes Bill Clinton, whose politics are very similar to your own Tony Blair. He drove significantly to the centre ground, alienating some progressive Democrats but by and large maintaining high popularity among most voters.

Between 2000 and 2016, the progressive wing of the Democrats mostly kept quiet while the centrist mainstream did their thing. However, they more or less exploded when Bernie Sanders ran in 2016, not only appealing to the old guard left, but inspiring a new generation of young progressive voters. Joe Biden has tried to tie the knot between the moderate and progressive wing of the party, to some effect, but it remains to be seen how well that will work by 2024. The Republicans, meanwhile, have completely abandoned neoconservatism for right-wing populism under Donald Trump. This has had the effect of driving more centrist voters to the Democrats, only intensifying the party's division between its two factions.

What does it mean to be a Democrat in 2022? I would say this: higher taxes on the rich, universal healthcare, labour unions, an interventionist foreign policy, supporting the rights of LGBT+ people, women and minorities. The Republican Party by contrast is isolationist, anti-union, highly reactionary, and violently anti-abortion. There are isolationists in both parties, and you'll find that progressive Democrats sometimes have concerning similarities with Trumpist Republicans on foreign policy. But by and large, if we were to compare to your own parties...

The Democrats are Labour - its moderate wing more like Keir Starmer or the Lib Dems, its left wing more like Jeremy Corbyn. The Republicans are far past the Conservatives at this point, more akin to UKIP or the politics of Nigel Farage. Some disaffected progressives would find more in common with the UK Green Party than anyone. And, of course, the country is more polarized than ever.

I hope this answers your question.

[Hamidiye]

An american moderate right-winger who supports a specific faction of rich people and hates another.