The late Gov. George Wallace said "There's not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrat and Republican parties." That may have been true in the 1960s but it's not true today. Let's look at some of the differences.
On stimulating the economy - Democrats believe they know best how to spend my money. Example: the $900 billion stimulus package enacted by Democrats in 2009 and the proposed $3 trillion stimulus offered by President Joe Biden now.
Republicans believe I know best how to spend my money. Example: tax cuts by President Reagan, President George W. Bush, President Donald Trump, all resulting in booming economies rebounding us out of recessionary periods.
On racism - When Republicans heard the racist comments by US Representative Steve King (R-Iowa), they urged him to resign and stripped him of his committee assignments.**
Democrats? Recently a Texas party leader made a racist comment about Sen. Tim Scott. He offered to resign, but the local party refused his resignation. Neither the Texas Democrat Party or the national Democrat Party condemned his actions. When photos surfaced a few years back of Virginia Gov. Northam in blackface at an earlier age, the party offered no criticism. When candidate Joe Biden made racist jokes in 2020, the Democrat party chose him to be their candidate for President. When Sen. Tim Scott offered police reform legislation in 2020, Democrats refused to provide any votes. When President Trump offered to negotiate on immigration reform to benefit Hispanics/Latinos, offering a package that was more generous than President Obama's DACA Executive Order, Democrats walked away from the negotiating table and never came back.
On taxes - When Democrats speak of taxes, they refer to it as the Government's money. When Republicans speak of taxes they refer to it as my money and your money.
On vaccines and fighting the Coronavirus - President Trump initiated Operation Warp Speed, burned down red tape and collaborated with the pharmaceutical industry to assist in bringing to market vaccines from four different companies (note: I am counting Astra Zeneca's vaccine even thought it is not yet in use in the US). These vaccines were created in record time. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, highly revered by Democrats and the media, said at the outset of the pandemic it would be 18 to 24 months at best before a vaccine could be available. The collaborative approach brought vaccines to market in nine (9) months.
President Biden is initiating what I call "Operation No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" and is rewarding the pharmaceutical companies who created vaccines in record times by trying to strip them of their ownership of those vaccines. Stealing intellectual property is a great way to provide incentive for the pharmas to rise to the occasion next time a pandemic occurs.
On Taxing the rich - As with big pharmas above, Democrats feel that if you have something and someone else wants it, they can take it from you and give it away.
Republicans believe that if someone earns something they are entitled to keep it. Republicans also realize that rich people can hire expensive tax accountants and lawyers to find loopholes and if that doesn't work, rich people can afford to move away (examples: see the number of rich people who have left NY and NJ due to high tax rates).
On taxing corporations - Democrats view corporations as big fat cows available to be milked for as many tax dollars as can be had. Corporate profits are obscene and taxing them has no effect on anyone, it's like a victimless crime.
Republicans realize that if corporate taxes go up, corporations will implement one of the following options a) raise prices, which hurts the poor and middle class most; b) reduce dividends, which impacts poor and middle class people the most by holding down the value of their 401k and IRA retirement funds; c) avoid a and by by firing Americans and hire foreign workers, which hurts poor and middle class the most; d) move the company to another country and pay no US taxes and not be subject to many US laws (which was happening often prior to President Trump and Republicans reducing the corporate tax rate to be competitive with other countries).
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* I wrote a similar blog quite some time ago. This is an update with new comparisons.
** Steve King's situation is the one that comes readily to my memory. Please submit other examples if you can, I'd be happy to look into them and amend this posting.
Then there is the elephant in the room (pardon the pun), many Democrats accuse President Trump of racism. I don't agree. I have yet to see anyone offer evidence of his being racist. On the other hand, President Trump has a solid record of aiding blacks while he was in office. If you care to submit such evidence, I'll be happy to investigate it and, if it is correct, amend this posting appropriately. Don't cite his comments about the event in Charlottesville because I've seen the whole, unedited tape of what he said and not just the CNN edited tape and his comments were not racist. And I won't accept citing the Muslim ban because a) being against people of a particular religion is not racism (words matter - per Merriam-Webster, racism is discrimination based on color) and b) when the policy was implemented it was implemented in a way that was not biased.
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