GOVT 2305 Federal Government: The Nature of Party's Coalition

 You will successfully research and evaluate the nature of each party's coalition and explain the positions they take on policy issues.

In answering the question below, take the following two things into account:

1. The contrasting positions of Republican lawmakers and Democratic lawmakers on the various issues we examined.

2. The nature of the Republican Party coalition and the nature of the Democratic Party coalition. (Party coalition is the term for the groups that tend to support a particular party, such as the voting support that black Americans give to the Democratic Party.)

How does the nature of each party’s coalition explain the positions that each party’s lawmakers take on policy issues? In your answer, provide an example from at least three of the five policy issue sessions (the five sessions were: social issues, fiscal and monetary issues, welfare and income issues, regulatory issues, and trade issues). 

This particular essay seeks to provide a difference in the approach taken by the Democrats and the Republicans while formulating policy decisions.

In the political party system of the United States of America, the two parties are the Republicans and the Democrats. The former political party tends to have a very conservative approach in solving the social, political and economic issues through the system of legislations. Their basic political philosophy emanates from the conception of a laissez faire state. They believe that the Federal Governments should refrain from interfering in the activities of the people which they undertake in their daily lives. That is something which is reflected in their standpoint with regard to introducing the fiscal measures. They are more in favour of austerity measures and reduction of the level of public expenditure, alongside reducing the taxes (Grossmann and Hopkins). The Democrats on the other hand are guided by liberal principles which seek to increase the level of expenditure on public utility services that shall be conducive to upholding efficiency and social justice, instead of spending on military and warfare. An example with regard to establishing the difference of the standpoints of the Republicans and the Democrats can be the passing of the Obamacare and the abolition of it. The Obamacare was passed during the second term of Democrat, President Obama which sought to make healthcare and managing of expenses by students more affordable and easier, with the view to reach out to all sections of the society, especially the economically underprivileged ones. With the coming of the Republican government under President Donald Trump that was abolished citing the amount of pressure it was creating for the government to meet the aspirations of the people (Hershey).

With regard to the social issues, and the standpoint of the political parties, the issue of easening the stance of the respective goverrnments on the sexual minorities can be cited as an example. In the year 2015, gay marriages were legalized all throughout the United States of America, after a long standing struggle. President Obama had proclaimed on that occasion that it was a victory for America with a great deal of euphoria (Westfall et al). However with the election of President Trump in the year 2017, bad days seemed to have had befallen on the sexual minorities. The Republican President bound his party ideology of upholding conservative values sought to pigeon-hole the legislation without actually abolishing it. He had made it legal to discriminate against the sexual minorities of the country citing the entitlement of the people to their freedom of religion (Westfall et al).

The Democrat President, Obama had during his reign embarked upon increasing the level of taxes on individuals belonging to high income background in order to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of resources in the country (Draper). President Trump, a Republican had on the other hand departed from President Obama’s standpoint on welfare issues and decided to reduce the rate of taxes and welfare spending. Obama had also embarked upon a liberal trade policy whereby he had indulged in trade relations with several countries who could freely trade with America. On the other hand, President Trump sought to return back to idea of trade-protectionism to recover America from the recession (Draper).

This goes as far as the difference between the standpoint on policy issues between the Democrats and the Republicans.

References

Draper, Theodore. American business and public policy: The politics of foreign trade. Routledge, 2017.

Grossmann, Matt, and David A. Hopkins. Asymmetric politics: Ideological Republicans and group interest Democrats. Oxford University Press, 2016.

Hershey, Marjorie Randon. Party politics in America. Routledge, 2017.

Westfall, Jacob, et al. "Perceiving political polarization in the United States: Party identity strength and attitude extremity exacerbate the perceived partisan divide." Perspectives on Psychological Science 10.2 (2015): 145-158.