Democrats are generally more liberal. They believe in a larger federal government, and often implement tax plans to try to help the less privileged. They tend to believe the government must look for the greater good above the individual person in terms of welfare and do what is necessary to make the populace more "equal". They assert that the values our country holds must evolve over time, and, therefore, tend to support such controversial choices as Pro Choice and gay marriage.
Republicans are generally more conservative. They believe that the answers do not lay with the government generally, but rather with the people. They want less government interference and tend to believe more strongly in property rights and less strongly in well-fare rights, holding economic equity above equality. Many republicans are religious and tend to hold to the morals characterizing the Founding Fathers, which results in general disapproval of abortions and, for some, gay marriage.
Additional input and opinions from contributors:
Democrats are liberals while Republicans are conservatives.
As for the terms "liberal" and "conservative", their meanings and connotations have become very confusing. "Conservative" and "Republican", and "Liberal" and "Democrat" have somewhat become interchangeable in today's society. However, "conservative" really means that one believes that things should stay the same, while "liberal" means that one believes things should change. Historically, societies had not been very free, so historical Liberals generally supported increased freedoms. The Founding Fathers of the United States were Liberals during their time, since they supported freedoms that did not exist in their society--they wanted things to change. However, today they would (probably) be considered Conservatives, since they supported limited government. Classifying people's political views today by these words is very confusing. Since today a "Conservative" is generally a Republican, and a "Liberal" is generally a Democrat, how does one classify someone who belongs to a third party? For example, Libertarians support economic freedoms as Republicans do, indicating they are Conservatives. On the other hand, they also support social freedoms as Democrats do, indicating they are Liberals. However, since historical Liberals (not to be confused with today's Democrats) were freedom-lovers, supporting all types of freedoms make Libertarians the ultimate Liberals, right? But then again, Libertarians are the ultimate proponents of the Republican roots of limited government. Libertarians want to limit government (in all areas) far more than Republicans, making Libertarians the ultimate Conservatives. Since one person can simultaneously be classified as super liberal and super conservative (which are opposites), these words do not have very good definitions in today's society and have very different meanings to different people.
Republicans believe people are best taking care of themselves or helping others through private charity. Democrats believe the government is best at taking care of people.
Note: If you would like to add to the answer, click on the "Discuss Question" button below.
A cynic's answer: Republicans lack hearts, Democrats lack brains. Another cynic said that the Republicans do not know how to govern and the Democrats do not know how to get elected.
76 Republicans, 74 Democrats
The Democrats before 1930s were much more socially conservative and fiscally conservative compared to the Liberal Republicans.
57 Democrats , 41 Republicans and 2 Independents
In the US, Democrats are generally the left party, where Republicans are right.
The Republicans were in mroe power than the Democrats at the time. Keegan is silly.
Yep, Democrats want to give the dime away, and the Republicans want the people to earn it.
Democrats are usually considered to the left of Republicans, although this generally only comes down to a difference in rhetoric. Generally, there is not much difference between the two parties in practice.
Democrats are the donkeys and the Republicans are the elephants.
OBAMA =)
Democrats generally support more government power while Republicans support more state power and less government power
Democrats tended to favor a laissez-faire goverment.
A cynic's answer: Republicans lack hearts, Democrats lack brains. Another cynic said that the Republicans do not know how to govern and the Democrats do not know how to get elected.
republicans are conservative and do not like change democrats are liberal and embrace change
Democrats. Republicans have the elephant.
Its 50:50
the main thing was prohibtion- democrats wanted to bann alchohal but the republicans were trying to save it