A Dime's Worth of Difference

Are you a republican? Or are you democrat?

If you are pro-choice, then you must be a democrat, right? Wrong. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is a pro-choice republican, and is the party's current front-runner for the 2008 presidential race. Two pro-life democrats have recently achieved success at the national level--Senator Bob Casey and Congressman Heath Shuler.

But republicans are for smaller government, and democrats want more federal programs, right? Not necessarily. Plenty of republicans support fat subsidies and welfare programs (Bush even signed a law extending welfare benefits) and a good chunk of democrats are fiscally conservative (Clinton slashed welfare while he was in office).

The elder George Bush raised taxes while he was running the country, while John F. Kennedy--a champion of the Democratic Party--favored lowering taxes to increase long-term growth and revenues.

So what's the difference between the parties?

The truth is that there is not a dime's worth of difference between the two parties. No matter who has been in power, spending has been increasing steadily, while performance has been in rapid decline. When was the last time the federal government passed a law that had a significant impact on your life? For the majority of mainstream America, it is difficult to answer this question.

Extremists and special interest groups divide the country with hot-button issues and soundbytes, leading to a perceived difference between the parties. But ask yourself this: when was the last time there was significant abortion reform? When was the last time the tax system received an overhaul? What recent education legislation has led to an improvement in our schools? Both parties voted for war in Iraq, isn't it likely that those who voted to engage in the conflict only switched sides because they felt it was popular?

Nothing is getting done. The parties read the polls, attempt to adjust their strategies to find votes, then pass watered-down, rhetoric-laden, paper-wasting legislation that only complicates our problems.

My republican friends love to talk about Bush's tax cuts and how he's shrinking government. But federal spending is at its highest level since World War II. And it's not just military spending. Democrats complain about cuts in benefits and programs under the Bush Administration, saying he has not compromised. But according to the Heritage Foundation, from 1998-2003, education spending increased 72%, community and regional development spending jumped 92%, and spending on medicaid and medicare went up 45% and 16%, respectively. All of these figures continue to rise. Aren't these issues supposed to be the backbone of the Democratic Party?

So who is making the decisions? Where is the reform? Sadly, special interest groups have the control. The Center for Responsive Politics offers some important insight into who holds the strings. The Republican Party receives its biggest support from the financial sector, single-issue groups, and miscellaneous businesses, in that order. The Democratic Party's top contributions come from single-issue groups, the financial sector, and lawyers and lobbyists, in that order.

What we can glean from these unfortunate statistics is that single-issue groups have a tremendous amount of power in our government, the financial sector is continuing to build loop-holes into our tax laws, and lawyers, lobbyists, and big business are getting their way. Which of these groups supports mainstream America?

We are being fooled into believing there are two sides to every issue. The truth is that reform is only happening on a micro-scale, benefiting only small, specific groups. We need macro, wholesale reform. We need honest change.

So are you a republican or a democrat? Now ask yourself this: does it make a difference?