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10.4 Political Viewpoints in America - Coggle Diagram
10.4 Political Viewpoints in America
The United States is a republic. This means, as citizens, each person has a vote to elect the person they want to represent them in government.
Obviously, this applies to the federal government where we elect presidents, senators and representatives.
However, this power does extend to the state level, where we elect governors and state senators or representatives.
And this also applies to the local level where we can elect judges, mayors, city council members, and even things like sheriffs and dog catchers.
These people will go out and campaign and deliver their messages and visions for the country.
However, the views that these people have and the views that you have are generally placed into one of two camps because in this country, we are dominated by a two-party system.
That means the two most powerful political parties in the country are the
democrats
and the
republicans
.
The democrats and republicans are the two sides of the same coin. Generally, they oppose each other on almost every issue that the country faces.
Democrats
The Democrats usually represented with a blue color are on the left of the political spectrum.
Most Democrats support progressivism and seek to change the country from its traditionalist roots, especially in the case of social reforms.
Some Democrats can be liberal. This means they are very far to the left on some issues.
Republicans
Republicans are represented with a red color and are on the right of the political spectrum.
Most Republicans support traditionalism which has roots in religion and will generally balk at progressivism especially if that violates their religious and moral beliefs.
Some Republicans are conservative. This means they fall very far right on the political spectrum.
The middle
In the middle we have moderates and independents.
Moderates are those who belong to one of the two parties, but they don’t always follow the traditional paths of Republicans or Democrats. Generally, they are represented by a greyish blue or red. Moderates can are often labeled as center-right or center-left depending on which way they lean in the political spectrum.
Independents are often unaffiliated with a political party, and in cases of elections, will often vote for the person they like the best based on the overall position of the candidate on political topics as opposed to voting based on party. Independents are often represented with a grey or purple color, signifying their unaligned status or their mixed views of politics.
Moderates and independents may be conservative on some issues and liberal on others.