Vic wrote on Nov 26
th, 2016 at 5:23pm:
Sorry about the length - but this is a simple explanation. I get a bit lost with the political system our American cousins use.
"In general, the Republican Party is often referred to as the "right wing," while "left wing" denotes the Democratic Party. So, a "right wing" Democrat would be a conservative democrat, while a "left wing" Republican would be a liberal Republican.
However, these labels are the opinions of the speaker. When a person uses jargon such as this in conversation, I've found that it is best to ask that person to describe exactly what he/she means because what it means to one person may not be the same meaning to another.
To me, this two-party system is like a balanced scale. On one side is the Democratic Party while on the other is the Republican Party. The platform of each party changes with the various elections, so one time the Democrats will promote and idea while the Republicans may champion the same idea during a different election.
The main difference between the two parties boils down to this. Democrats believe that the Federal government should ensure that every citizen should receive the same, fair treatment, as well as being responsible for "curing" the nation's ills, such as poverty.
Republicans generally believe that government should be minimized, except to provide for the common defense of the country through a strong military; this frame of reference believes that limited government would allow its citizens to address the ills of society, such as unemployment through job development.
http://www.education.com/question/social-studies-wing-republican-democrat/ That's true, Vic, but Trump has just blown this formula up. Trump has socialist policies on US industry and libertarian policies on tax. He aims to restore tariffs, provide corporate handouts, protect favoured companies and foster monopolies. At the same time, he plans to halve corporate tax from 33 to 15%, cut income taxes, and do away with Obamacare (which will cost the states billions in Medicaid). The effect of these policies, according to the independent ratings agencies, will be ten trillion on the deficit in 8 years.
Trump's a big spender and a low taxer. He is, as they say, all things to all people. And he will find out very quickly that these policies aren't feasable, as "the Establishment" and the "mainstream media" and all those people who've been so mean and nasty to Trump, have been saying all along.
Year 9 maths, innit.