Between Democrats and Republicans, palpable divergences

Unlike here in our country, where we do not find any distinction among various political parties, in the US, the differences between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are very clear, distinctive, palpable, and unequivocal. They are easily distinguishable names and brands.

Just like soft drinks, where Pepsi is known for its blue color, and Coca-Cola is identified with red, the Democrats are widely associated with blue while the Republicans are red. It must be stressed though that their differences are much deeper than meets the eye. They differ in principles, values, beliefs, perspectives, and paradigms. Their views also differ on such themes as the economy, geopolitics, business principles, world trade, foreign affairs, labor, education, health, social welfare, immigration, reproductive health, taxation, local and state autonomy, and the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.

The traditionally blue states, or generally perceived as predominantly Democrat states are California, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, New York, Virginia, Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maryland, Vermont, Rhode Island, and, of course, the District of Columbia, the nation's capital which has always been blue since time immemorial. Red states include Alaska, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Even Florida is now red along with Georgia, although President Biden won in that crucial battleground state in 2020.

Famous Democrats and among the greatest American presidents, including former US presidents, were Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton (he was acquitted in an impeachment case), Barack Obama and Joe Biden. In earlier history, the more noted Democrats were the seventh president Andrew Jackson, the eighth president Martin Van Buren, the eleventh president James Polk, the fourteenth president Franklin Pierce, the fifteenth president James Buchanan, the president seventeenth Andrew Johnson, and the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president Grover Cleveland. They are generally more pro-people, pro-labor, pro-immigrant, pro-environment, and pro-choice.

On the other hand, famous Republicans are George HW Bush, his son George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon (he resigned, he was almost impeached), Dwight Eisenhower, and Herbert Hoover. In earlier US history, the Republican presidents included Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president and perhaps the greatest of all, as the emancipator of all slaves, the eighteenth president Ulysses Grant, the nineteenth president Rutherford Hayes, the twentieth president James Garfield, the twenty-first president Chester Arthur, the twenty-third president Benjamin Harrison, the twenty-fifth president William McKinley, the twenty-seventh president William Howard Taft, the twenty-ninth president Warren Harding, and the thirtieth president Calvin Coolidge. The Republicans are those who want a strong military, small government, big business, less taxes, and less welfare benefits for the people.

In America, the lines are clear and the choices are very distinct. Here in the Philippines, we do not know what is the difference between PDP Laban and Lakas CMD. We have no idea what distinguishes the NUP and the NPC. There is no more distinguishing character between the NP and the LP. We do not even know what this Partido Federal is. It just emerged from thin air. Everything is personality oriented. We hope that someday our party system becomes more pronounced and stronger. We do not necessarily ape the Americans, but their model is worthy of consideration. A two-party system instead of multi-party scheme is more in keeping with the culture and temperament of the Filipinos.