Parties Now And Then Essay Research Paper

Back in the 1780’s, when the constitution was still being written, there were no Democrats or Republicans; the political groups that were most present were the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. These two groups eventually formed into the political groups of today, with their ideas changed. Basically the Anti-Federalists believed that the idea of a Representative Government wouldn’t work in a large scale, they said that it could only work in small communities where the people all held similar beliefs and interests. The Federalists on the other hand thought that there should be a very strong National Government, located far from its citizens. As you can see these two groups have very differentiated opinions. In this essay I will discuss some of the views that they had on different political and social issues.

In the era of today the Federalists and Anti-federalists are virtually non-existent. The two groups that are prevalent today are the Republicans and Democrats. These two groups formed partly from the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The Republican party of today is very much like the Anti-Federalists of the 1780’s. They believe very strictly in the basic principles of the Constitution. They believe that the individual rights of people should be protected as outlined in the Bill of Rights. They believe that they must retain those principles that are worth retaining while still being receptive to new ideas. They also believe that the proper government function is to do for the people those things that have to be done, but can’t be done as well by an individual, and that the most effective for of government is one that is closest to the people. To basically put it the Democrats were in favor of a very powerful national government. They thought that the government should be very controlling of people?s lives, and that that was the only way to successfully run a country.

As I have stated earlier I am going to talk about certain views and goals

that the different political parties. The first issue that I will touch

upon is education. The Republicans believe in strengthening America’s

education system. The want to totally reform the system that is already

standing; they want to set higher goals and make schools safer. The

Democrats on the other hand have a different view on education. The

Democrats plan to invest a lot more of our money into schools and at the

same time expect more from them. The Democrats and Republicans basically

agree on the same things about education: they want to reform the schools

and make have higher expectations. Relating to the Federalists and

Anti-Federalists, I believe that if they had an issue on education it would

much be like the issues of today. The Anti-Federalists would believe in

almost the same beliefs as the Republicans. It is really hard to say

because in the 1780’s education was most commonly not a big issue; the

Federalists would most likely believe in how the Democrats do today. I

don’t really have a view on how the education system should be dealt with, I

do however believe that the Federal government should not be involved in

the education system, I think that it should be up to the states and they

should pass out the funds and make the laws about schools.

The second issue that I will talk about is taxes. Taxes are probably the

most controversial issue out of all of them. The Republicans want to change

the tax system by making it so that over six million families will not have

to pay income tax. They also want to cut taxes in many places, they want to

eliminate the death tax, reduce the marriage penalty, and double the child

credit among other things. The Democrats on the other hand want to make

more tax cuts and hope that America is debt-free by 2012. The Federalists

and Anti-Federalists as I stated before were much like the Democrats and

Republicans of today. The Federalists like the Democrats probably believed

that there should be more taxing, and that the idea of the people paying a

lot was a good idea. The Anti-Federalists on the other hand most likely thought

that taxation should be adequate but not in excess. The government back in

those days didn’t have as many things to pay for so the demand for tax money

wasn’t as great as now. On this issue I would have to agree with the

Republicans more, they believe in less taxation and I think that is a good

idea.

There has always been the issue of National Defense in almost every election since it all started. The Republicans of this election believe that a very capable and modern military is needed to form the building blocks of peace. They also think that the military of today should be better supported, respected, and must be challenged and transformed into the military of the future. There final point is that there must be a military capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century. The Anti-Federalists believed very strongly in a military. They put it in the constitution that the government was allowed to have an army. Since they were very much like the Republicans I believe that they would support their views on defense. The Democrats also believe that there should be a very strong defense system. The impression that I get from them is that they want to have everything ready and just sit and wait for a war. The Democrats will spend a portion of the surplus money into the defense making America the safest country in the age of the missile. The Federalists didn’t have a surplus of money back then so I don’t believe that they could have a view on what to do with it. They also wanted a very strong national defense, but they seemed to lean more towards the Federalists on this issue. If you were to compare all the four political parties on this issue, you would find that they are all very similar in their thoughts. They only had small differences in their opinions. I think that there should be a very strong national defense, but not one that is just sitting waiting for the first opportunity to blow things up or engage in war.

The very final topic that I will talk about is the environmental issues. I think that I would have to side with the Democrats on this view. They have all sorts of plans on how to get cleaner energy, cleaner air and water, and to stop all the pollution. They seem to be the more professional side on the matter. They believe in making a difference and not just talking about it. The Republicans on the other hand don’t really seem to have a plan. They are just going to give out more incentives for helping out the environment. They don’t really state how they are going to do it but they say that the system of mandate, regulate, and litigate doesn’t work and needs to be updated. They don’t tell how they are going to do it, just that it needs done. The Federalists and Anti-Federalists don’t really have views on the environment. In those days it wasn’t a big deal to them and it wouldn’t for the next many years to come until America recognized its problem.

As you can tell in this article the Federalists and Anti-Federalists didn’t have much of a view on the modern or most recent issues of today. They did have views on a few but not as many. Much as I stated before the Federalists were most like the Republicans and the Anti-Federalists were mostly like the Democrats. These two parties didn?t limit them; I believe that they got many ideas from many different parties. The presidential election coming up is going to be a very close race and I am eager as to how the American public will respond to their issues. Good luck everyone!