Political Parties

Political Parties in the United States today are an absolute joke. They're so far from their original basis and naming scheme that there's little to no sense one can salvage from their existence. For example:

The Democratic Party is labeled as Liberal. Liberal is an adjective meaning, "Pertaining to liberty." Liberty is freedom. Thus they are the party of Freedom. Only, they believe in Government spending and institution as a method to achieve their goals, which is forced confiscation of your dollar to be spent on programs dictated by the majority of the country. Freedom would be letting you choose to spend your dollar where you believe it should be spent. In reality the Democrats believe in restricting freedom for the greater good.

Originally conservatism was about conserving the freedom of individuals. It's a relatively recent party, formed shortly before the Civil War. Their primary platform was the abolishment of slavery. And ironically the first Republican President fought a war to enforce the central authority of the Federal Government. Ever since that little paradox, Conservatives haven't had the slightest clue what they stand for. The second Republican President opposed civil rights legislation and ended a government bureau for freedmen. Today the Republican Party still hasn't managed to reclaim its sanity.

Under Ronald Reagan's administration spending and tax cuts raised the deficit from 700 billion to 3 trillion. The War on Drugs began, resulting in an increased effort to prevent individuals from putting chemicals into their own body. And faith was integrated into politics to a greater degree than ever before. Despite the fact that his administration included irresponsible fiscal policies, errosion of the seperation of church and state, and rejected drug rights, Reagan's ideology has become the official philosophy of the Republican Party.

If you believe that the Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility you'll probably be shocked to learn that of the last 5 Presidents (not including Obama) every Republican has increased the debt/GDP, and every Democrat has decreased the debt/GDP.