Summary: The Ignorance Equation

Politics has changed so much over the years that it has become a knockout fight between Demarcates and Republicans. Centralism has disappeared in favor of extreme left and extreme right. Congresswoman Olympia Snowe left congress as a result of this change. Snowe now aids in the effort to reform congress by encouraging less extremism and more cooperation. She hopes to change the environment in congress and increase cooperation and advancement in the political system. The approval rating of congress is declining. Freakonomics Radio asks different politicians and scholars from both sides of the political spectrum what ideas and practices must go to improve the political atmosphere and

The 1964 American election between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater has strong similarities with the 2016 election between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump. In both cases, the democrat candidates focused more on their counterpart’s rhetoric rather than uphold their own ideas in an attempt to persuade voters to support them. This essay will argue that the Democrat candidates of the 1964 and 2016 elections, in many instances, instead of focusing on their political proposals, focused on anti-intellectualism by emphasizing their opponent’s extremist right-winger rhetoric. This comparison shows the enduring trends of right-wing extremism, racial conflicts, and republican divisiveness. To prove this argument, this text will analyze Democrat campaign advertisements in both campaigns, Nelson A Rockefeller speech at the 1964 National Republican convention and Jeb Bush interview to NBC.

The very first U.S. president, George Washington, once declared the danger of political division, warning “they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines.” He continues his claim with an explanation of the negative effects that parties can cause in government. Despite this wise, respected man’s heeding, the U.S. has quite obviously split into two major parties, Republican and Democratic. Americans have allowed their personal opinions and preconceived notions to jeopardize the efficiency of government. It seems that the title of a party overpowers the importance of individual ideas. A 2014 poll further emphasizes contemporary idiocy. According to a National Science Foundation study, only three out of four Americans are aware the Earth revolves around the sun. Despite the conclusive and extensive scientific research regarding the topic, these people are entirely unaware of their insignificance in this universe, solidifying their knucklehead status. Ignoring the facts, their preconceived conclusions run their lives Even in a day and age with unbelievable technology and access to information, humans, especially Americans, have armed themselves with nothing but firearms and

First, I must make an observation on the criteria many believe the definition of both parties. According to the encyclopedia Britannica the criteria for being a republican, “The Republicans advocate reduced taxes as a means of stimulating the economy and advancing individual economic freedom. They tend to oppose extensive government regulation of the economy, government-funded social programs, affirmative action, and policies aimed at strengthening the rights of workers. Many Republicans, though not all, favor increased government regulation of the private, noneconomic lives of citizens in some areas, such as abortion, though most Republicans also strongly oppose gun-control legislation. Republicans are more likely than

The growing ideological gap between the United States’ two major political parties, in other words, rising levels of political polarization, has had a negative impact on American politics as it results in Congressional inefficient, public apathy, and economic inequality.

This point is also clearly evident today. During the election this year, the Republican Party ran on a platform that included

            If the party was like that over seventy-five years ago, and many would consider such thoughts corrupt, the Republican Party surely must have changed over such a long time. The success of the Democrats during the Great Depression and World War II led many to believe that the Republican Party was the cause of the Great Depression. Its policies certainly would direct themselves toward the contrary yet still the blame rested on them. The blame still rested

Concerning the debate on our economy, republicans generally believe strongly in the power of a free market system, reduced income tax rate, more spending from the people, and less spending from the government. The Republican Party wants the tax rate to not be affected regardless of how much wealth a person has, and wants the tax rate to be reduced in order to

The Republican party or Grand Old Party (GOP), for over 150 years, has maintained itself as a major political party within the United States of America. As a whole, the republican party follows the belief of military build up ,less taxes, and more importantly, a limited government. However, throughout recent years there has been an influx of conservative values being spread throughout the GOP. These values include harsh stances against: homosexuality, immigration, and abortion. This recent “conservative trend” has caused many to see the party as out of date. Ironically, it has not always been like this, as the party was once what would be defined as “liberal”. These liberal views included support of “conservatism” and universal health care(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/four-things-republicans-used-to-believe-2011-07-18). So, what happened? In short, the conservative influx in the 1950s would lead to this drastic change of views, which would lead us to today 's far right republican party. In order to-

Not sure if you've been following along or not... BUT, the establishment Republicans you are describing were NOT fond of Trump. They discredited, fought him and tired to being him down every step of the way. Until it was clear he had a legitimate shot at winning, then and only then did the endorsements come rushing in as they feared for their own political futures. No, a large portion of America wanted change in their government, removal of corruption, and an outsider, not a career corrupt politician. And yes, a part of that change is an expectation that the Republicans will work with Democrats and Democrats will work with Republicans. They voted Trump into the Office of President because they believed he represents, at least in part, the changes they want. So you can bring out all the hypocrisy hyperbole you want about Republicans, while Democrats are wrapped up in their own hypocrisy which is clearly visible to anyone with a discerning objective eye. They carry the same exact polarizing politics that you're so righteously dismissing Republicans for having.

The polarization of the political parties is a reflection of a country, not simply a government divided, but the country’s populous in growing further apart. Alan Abramowitz indicates the polarization of the Democrats and Republicans causes them to be on opposing sides on almost all issues and Washington reflects the growing division within Americans (714). Thus the major problem with Polarization and gridlock is not the simply the inability to pass the legislation when gridlock occurs but what it does to the morale of American citizens. D.J. Flynn and Laurel Harbridge completed two surveys in order to study how partisan congress affects public opinion. A result from the study indicated most people will accept legislation in favor of the opposing party than they will gridlock (885) and while more research is needed the result of their survey is gridlock does cause a decrease in the populist confidence in Congress (Flynn, Harbridge 890). It is clear something needs to be done to improve the mindset of the American people. One of the best ways to improve the mindset of the American populace is for them to become more educated. When the country was first established, people were not privy to every action the congress was taking as it happened, and therefore the quibbles within congress were not in the forefront of people’s minds. Even Melnick illuminated the fact that the populist is now bombarded with opinions about what is happing in Washington. He indicated when the constitutional convention took place the meeting was behind closed doors miles from constituents allowing them

Republicans platforms values a foundation on the original principles of God that this country was founded on by our forefathers. Anything that forfeits the Christian faith they will not support such as abortion, same sex marriage, or gender identity restroom laws. They view marriage as to be between man and

As a general rule, policy articulation has never been the strong suite of Republican politicians. They are not called conservatives for nothing. Their belief system is rooted in the preservation of the past; and anything new or recent is seen as threatening to them. So for the most part, their electioneering campaigns are all about protecting what is perceived as their heritage, with campaign slogans like “take our country back”, “protect our way of life” “cut taxes” etc.

The Republican Party has had numerous attempts to move the otherwise known, GOP more right. The GOP is more favored at maintaining a "limited" government than the Democratic left side liberals who favors a government whose finances and expenses are handled by the government and other high ranking officials. The Republican party is more aimed at conservative values such as minimizing taxes, cutting back government welfare, the death penalty, government regulations of drugs and abortions, and many more. Recent attempts such as embracing non traditional issues such as cutting back government welfare and also their concerns to have the government regulate drugs and also abortions, have made a noticeable difference in public interest in the GOP

The Republican Party’s beliefs are far vaguer and broad than the Democratic Party’s. The Republican Party has a list about 11 core principles they follow whereas the Democratic Party has 9 points that go into much detail. The Republican Party believes in sticking true to the Constitution, whatever power the Constitution gives the government is the amount of power they should have and valuing human life. The Democratic Party’s preamble does not mention anything about sticking true to the Constitution or preserving human life. But they do talk about equal opportunity for everyone, allowing people to have access to affordable health care, a good job, a good home, have clean air to breath, clean water to drink. The Democratic Party also emphasizes that people who work in a business are just as important as those who own it, workers should be paid a wage that they can survive off of, taxes should be taken fairly, and that the government should not favor corporations who have are not practicing fairly by keeping their money abroad, mistreating their workers and mistreating the