Recognizing the Tenets on Both Sides of the Aisle

Several weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to write for this same section. I remember going through the newspaper and feeling the immense joy of finding my published work. However, this joy did not last long. Just a few days later, while waiting for the cruiser, I was approached by a stranger and heckled at for being a Republican based on my views in the publication. This fellow described me as being emotionless and uncaring for the wellbeing of the homeless and poor. Fortunately for me, his words did not faze me too deeply then, since it seemed like he had just come back from a rough night at the Jug. However, the more I thought about his comments, the more they began to bother me. All I had done was write an article commenting on President Trump’s UN speech, and now here I was being accused of being insensitive to the homeless. Over the past several decades, the Republican Party has been under constant attacks for being the party for the privileged few against the unfortunate poor. I’m here to explain why this misconception is wrong and simply a marketing ploy by the Democrats, and why the Republican Party has and will continue to be the best party for all Americans. 

I was not always a Republican. For the

majority of my life, I believed in the values of the Democratic Party. I believed in gun control, the reduction of our military’s budget and certain laws pertaining to individual privacy. Now this might come as a surprise to some, but I still believe in these same values today despite now considering myself a Republican. Simply put, one can disagree with some of the values of their respective party and still stay loyal to the party. Consequently, we can all agree that both major political parties seek the betterment of all citizens, regardless of their economic and political ideologies. In my opinion, what separates these parties is not their final goals, but rather the steps they believe are needed in order to reach these aspirations. In this regard, I believe the strategy of the Republican Party is far superior. 

The majority of differences between the two parties boils down to the simple contrast between big and small government. Democrats tend to favor a government that consistently takes a large role in the lives of citizens. Republicans, on the other hand, believe that power is best utilized when it is in the hands of the people. The party seeks to ensure that our governing bodies only possess the absolute minimum of power that is required to keep the country running smoothly. This is the very vision that our founding fathers envisioned when they set out to create the building blocks of this great nation. Last time I checked, our constitution begins with the phrase “we the people”, not “we the governing officials.” It is not such a radical idea to believe that power should be held at the levels of government that are closest to the voices of the citizens and constituents that make up the majority of this country. Based on the Pew Research Center on U.S. Politics and Policy, “only 20% of Americans today say they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right.” These findings support the Republican Party’s desire for a smaller national government and more

influential state and local governments. 

Take for example, the major parties’ differing views on economic policy. Democrats believe in high tax rates in order to fund their expensive government run programs that do indeed lead to minor immediate benefits, but have little to no effect in the long run and simply burn through the hard earned cash of citizens. Republicans, on the other hand, argue that our country benefits the most when money is managed by the people themselves. At the end of the day, dozens of countries have good political leaders, but only the USA has the industry leaders that helped make this country as great as it is. When moguls such as Steve Jobs and Eli Whitney made inventions, they not only benefited themselves but also created positive externalities for all Americans to enjoy, rich or poor. Republicans want to ensure that this unprecedented American progress continues by fighting to keep capital and other means of production in the hands of the people and not in the bureaucratic offices of Washington. 

However, at the end of the day, we are all Americans, regardless of our political preferences. Polarization may create good soundbites for news outlets, but it is not doing anything to help America prosper. So instead of heckling strangers about our differences, let’s work together to ensure that the American spirit lives on.

Contact Svetlin Sabev at [email protected].