America’s mini parties
Harjit Gill
The United States is the only country in the developed world with only two political parties representing the people. Both the Democrats and Republicans are basically coalitions of different factions and interest groups, some of whom have very little in common with each other. The agendas of the parties are difficult to define due to the broad range of interests that exist within each party. Essentially, both the Republicans and Democrats are little more than a loose coalition of what might be termed “mini-parties.”
The Democrats have progressive, liberal and conservative factions. Progressive democrats support strong state involvement on economic issues and value individual liberty on social issues. The agenda of progressive democrats is most similar to the agenda of the NDP and the progressive wing of the Bloc Quebecois in Canada.
Liberal democrats have similar views on economic issues, but are more free enterprise oriented. As for social issues, liberals are generally progressive but not to the same degree as the progressive wing. Hillary Clinton is an example of a liberal democrat in the U.S..
Conservative democrats tend to be neoliberal in orientation and are more socially conservative in comparison to other factions of the Democratic party. They tend to support the Republicans on economic issues such as free trade. Many are also pro-life and support tax credits to religious institutions that provide welfare services. This faction is strongest in the southern states.
Republican factions include populists, liberals and staunch conservatives. Liberal republicans, like conservative democrats, take a neoliberal approach to the economy, but are generally liberal on social issues. The liberal faction of the party is strongest in New England and in the Northeast. Women within the Republican party are more likely to be liberals. The values are somewhat similar to former Progressive Conservatives who are now Liberals in Canada.
Staunch conservatives, also known as neoconservatives, consist of those who are conservative on both economic and social issues. They support less government interference in domestic issues, but when it comes to the international arena, this faction supports large defence buildups and intervention in foreign countries. The Christian Right, for the most part, supports this agenda.
As for populist republicans, they are conservative on social issues but, unlike other republicans, support a more interventionist government domestically. Further, they are more likely to be working class. Populists support policies that help both the traditional conservative and domestic agenda. One example is an increase in the child tax credit. This policy is pro-family and helps to raise living standards.
Because of the range of views among the differing factions in both the Democratic and Republican parties, many potentially divisive problems have been developing. Within the Democratic party, policy regarding abortion could become increasingly problematic. The majority of Democrats are traditionally pro-choice. However, a majority of Hispanic people support the Democratic party but generally hold pro-life views.
Within the Republican party, many populists, as well as some neoliberals, hold concerns regarding neoconservative foreign policy. It is believed that this is a contradiction of conservative principles, since it leads to a lack of focus on domestic issues as well as budget deficits and increasing national debt.
Being a Democrat, for example, does not always guarantee that you support your party. For instance, I personally support conservative democrats as well as populist republicans. And it is not uncommon for liberal republicans to feel philosophically closer to some Democrats than to other Republicans.
A solution to the lack of cogent policy agendas would be for both the Democratic and Republican parties to break up and form new parties. This would help to increase voter turnout and bring more excitement to political life in the country. Most importantly, the parties would have an actual identity and be more united on key issues.
Harjit Gill is a history graduate and is currently pursuing a commerce degree.
