There is no doubt that there are differences between the ideologies and beliefs of major political parties in the United States and the term political spectrum is used to refer to these differences in which the ideas associated with the democratic party are known as the left of the political spectrum while the ideologies of the republican party are referred to as the right of political spectrum. Most of the US citizens have both sides of the spectrum however; they agreed and believe to one more than the other.
The origin of the terms can be traced back to the French revolution wherein the liberal sat to the left of the legislative assembly while the conservatives, to the right. Basing from the viewpoints and beliefs of the two parties, it can be said that the said that a citizen may take will be greatly affected by their position and class in the society, their status quo. Both parties have different views regarding certain issues. For example, the Democrats believe that taxes are just right and acceptable while the Republicans believe that taxes only interfere with the free market system.
Another issue is the role of the government in the market system. The Democrats believe that it is only right for the government to take part in the market system and rule over it by setting certain standards for companies within its scope. On the other hand, the Republicans believe that the economy works best when it is absolutely free from any control of the government believing that the market forces can be trusted to meet not only the needs of the business and consumers but of the workers as well.
Basing from their beliefs regarding the role of the government when it comes to economic aspects as well as payment of tax, the left of the political spectrum or the Democratic parties favors the citizens with a lower status quo and the right or the Republican otherwise. Thus, the status quo that can be considered as one of the most influential factor for the development of the personality and belief system of an individual plays a lot in determining the kind of party that that certain individual is likely to take.
Whom you will favor depends on who is beneficial for you and it can be said to be the Democrats for the lower class and the Republican to those in the upper class. Regarding the side that one may take either the Republican, Democrat or other party, the class is not the only basis. There are so many aspects of which religion is one. Most of the time, different churches believe that their religion must not be linked with politics. However, this is not always the case.
It had been proven that religion is very important in deciding the side to trust and support. Thus, every party tends to get the approval of religious organizations to help them in the time of the elections. Records states that as of the year 2004, there had been about 55 million Republican parties, 72 million Democrats and 42 million independents in the United States. Thus, most politicians believed in the ideology of the Democrats or had realized that it is what the majority of the population believes as well.
However, it had been proven that that is not always the case; it is not always the Democrat that is being elected by the people. Also, the number of supporters by the left and the right varies trough time which makes the election in the United States really interesting. There are several factors that affect the candidacy of a certain group or people of which the status quo and religion are two of the most significant. However, there are still some other factors that contribute to the view of a citizen that cannot be neglected.
Since every individual has his or her own experiences in life that determines the side that he or she wants to take, it hard to predict the outcome of any election just as it is hard to know the thoughts and attitudes of a certain person. However, it is the uncertainty involved in every election is what makes flavor to any election.
Reference
Dancels, H. , Hiller, B. (No Date). The political spectrum. Retrieved February 01, 2008 from http://www. district94. dupage. k12. il. us/social_studies/political_spectrum/political_spectrum. htm