Mon Nov 03, 2014 at 06:33 AM PST

Perhaps the biggest difference between Republicans and Democrats

by akadjianFollow

       

Democrats believe in democracy.
They believe in representing everyone.

Republicans believe in Republican rule.
If you disagree with them, they will come after you Soprano style.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Bridget Ann Kelly, aide to governor Chris Christie.

If you agree with Republicans, they will change their position

The Affordable Care Act is based on the Heritage Foundation market exchange plan and is the same plan Mitt Romney implemented in Massachusetts.

Democrats took single payer off the table and removed the public option in order to gain approval from conservatives and conservative Democrats like Ben Nelson in a two-year process.

No Republicans ever voted for the bill. Instead, they decided to use it to relentlessly campaign against Barack Obama and Democrats.

Definition of a Republican compromise: Republicans get 100%, Democrats get nothing

Byron York, debate moderator: ”“Is there any ratio of cuts to taxes that you would accept? Three to one? Four to one? Or even 10 to one?”

Rick Santorum: “No. The answer is no.”

I’m going to ask a question to everyone here on the stage. Say you had a deal, a real spending cuts deal, 10-to-1, as Byron said, spending cuts to tax increases…. Who on this stage would walk away from that deal? Can you raise your hand if you feel so strongly about not raising taxes, you’d walk away on the 10-to-1 deal?

Not a single Republican candidate would accept anything other than 100% of what Republicans want.

Republicans can’t even talk to Democrats or they are threatened by their members

Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona in an interview for Esquire:

It's become shirts versus skins far too often. A couple of years ago, I got invited to play basketball with the president, myself and nine other House members. And I was in the White House in the basement lacing up my shoes, and I got a call on my cell phone. Somehow somebody patched it through, and it was a woman from Arizona, a constituent, crying hysterically. 'Don't play basketball with that man!' she said. It's become terrible. It really has.

Republicans believe Republicans should rule; Democrats should be shut out of the room

Republican Charlie Winburn, City Councilman from Cincinnati, at a debate in October:

You see the statehouse is run by Republicans whether you like it or not… nothing gets done up there without the approval of Republicans. Mr. Thomas is a Democrat and that's why he won't get anything done. Even if he is elected he'll be shut out of the room. He will not be heard and he will absolutely not do anything for you.

So Republicans believe in shutting Democrats out of the room (even though half of Ohio voted Democratic) and you don’t think this is a problem?

Isn't the "room" the statehouse and shouldn't Democratic representatives be in that room?

I guess the only solution is that everyone should become Republican because … golly gee, Republicans have always been open-minded and willing to work with people with different beliefs.

Republicans shut down the government when they didn’t get their way

Republicans have rigged state elections all over the country to keep Republicans in power

In 2012, Barack Obama was elected President by nearly 3.5 million votes. In Congressional races, Democrats drew nearly 1.4 million more votes than Republicans yet Republicans won control of the House 234 seats to 201 seats.

Source: Mother Jones.

And yeah, Maryland and Illinois are gerrymandered for the Democratic Party. This is wrong.

They pale by comparison to the extreme efforts in Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Michigan. These were the result of a $30 million corporate special interest group project called the Redistricting Majority Project Redistricting Majority Project that favored Republicans and was hugely successful.

Apparently, $30 million in special interest group money can buy you a good number of congressional seats in a congressional election year like 2010.

Republicans have become a government-hating cult; I don’t even know if they can tell you why any more

The parties are radically different

The conservative story is that both parties are the same. Democrats are just as bad. It’s how they blunt their extremeness. They throw accusations at the other side. And they get away with it because they have their own billion-dollar media networks and the rest of corporate media is afraid to offend them.

Only the Democratic Party isn’t the same. The Democratic Party believes in compromise and representing everyone. They don’t shut down bridges if they don’t agree with you. They didn't have a $30 million plan to rig elections by capturing certain state governments in 2010. They don’t shut Republicans out of the room (Republicans have refused to enter the room and then screamed that they've been shut out).

Democratic plans to win elections look like "let's encourage more people to vote."

The Republican plan for the mid-term elections is literally to hide their beliefs. They’re going to message you better.

Americans have said they want a government that works. The Republican answer to this has been we are going to cock up America even more to make it appear dysfunctional because we believe this will benefit us in the election.

In other words, we have a story about how government doesn't work and we’re going to prove it to you by grinding everything to a halt.

If you believe in one-party rule, Republicans are for you. If you believe in government by and for the wealthy and corporate special interests, Republicans are for you.

Democrats believe something different. Democrats believe in democracy. They need to articulate this belief better and stand firmly for it more when they're in office. But they believe in democracy.
I’m not sure why they don’t advertise it more.
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David Akadjian is the author of The Little Book of Revolution: A Distributive Strategy for Democracy.