Republicans and Democrats don’t agree on much, in this political climate the only time hands touch is when choking is involved. In my never ending quest to find middle ground I began with a few articles which led me down a week long social media, YouTube and article search.
- Trust of Government – In 2015 Pew Research did a study of 6,000 correspondents of their trust in government, while Republicans trusted the federal government 11% as compared 26% by Democrats it’s still a stark difference to the first time PEW research took the same test in 1958 when Americans as a whole were three quarters confident in the actions of the government. Neither side believes the government does a good job in raising the less fortunate out of poverty, protecting elections or on immigration (though the two are very torn on which way each should go).
- Infrastructure – Finding needles in haystacks may be more fun than appropriating funds for the monstrous project most Americans agree the US, her roads, government buildings, libraries and bridges could use a serious face lift.
- Michael Jackson – MJ was pretty freaking cool – While some may agree perhaps his career should have ended at Thriller, most of both parties love Michael Jackson.
- Israeli Conflict – I was reading about bipartisan support from 2013 that stated a majority of both parties agreed on their loyalty towards Israel! At the end of his Presidency, Obama refused to support Israel during an International dispute about land developments in disputed territories, serious support for Palestine has been prevalent since. Boy do the times change fast!
- The Death Penalty – Deep down when both sides hear of a mass killer public opinion a vast number support the death penalty as a majority of States still enact the policy. The past decade has seen a serious downward trend, however, to the tune of 54% favoring the cause according to PEW research. Interestingly, that number is up from 49% two years ago. Also worth noting is the disparity that makes up that number as 39% of Democrats favor while 77% in the Republican party favor and 52% for independents.
- Small Business – Democrats champion themselves representative of the middle class and Republicans champion a sense of individualism through limited government in favor of private industry. Both parties agree that a self-made man helps the local economy and hard work pays off.
- Red tape – While Democrats may advocate for bigger government and Republicans may feel the opposite both loathe bureaucracy though can’t seem to agree on how to change it. After all, government exists to create bureaucracy, it simply comes with the territory.
- Immigration weighs down our system – The crux of this argument is illegal immigration, while the parties may disagree about status both feel legal immigrants are not a burden on the US. Quite to the contrary, any ill will towards people permanently and legally moving to the US has been on serious decline since the 90’s with 54% of Republicans absent any negative feelings to Democrat’s 73%.
- Homosexuality should not be discouraged – Public perception of gay relationships and gay people raising children has raised substantially with 55% of Americans in favor according to PEW research. As for raising children 35% thought the idea as a negative trend.
- Terrorism – Everyone within the US can agree that defending the US against acts of terrorism by every race is important, key differences come in about the types of attacks and how to defend against them.
The date of this article is September 1st, 2018, as lines between the parties shift rapidly I’m sure these position too will change. I’ll update them once every year or so.
