Hello and welcome to a video summarising everything you need to know when it comes to government and politics. My name is Barbara and in this video I will essentially outline the two major political parties in the US and this video is really useful if you're studying US politics as part of your coursework or exams. So let's get started. Now, when it comes to understanding the political landscape of the US, do make sure that you understand the difference between the Republican party and the Democrat party. So let's start with the Republicans and this is essentially the logo. Now Republicans advocate for limited government intervention on domestic issues but they also dominate when it comes to international relations. While on the right, Republicans are pro-military, pro-business, pro-religion and they campaign for people to have freedoms and to take personal responsibility for their actions. Also, if by the way you're not entirely clear on what right wing versus left wing means, make sure you check out our other video where we outline the difference between right wing and left wing political views. Now, go and batch the Republicans. Do bear in mind, these are some elements of Republican party beliefs. Of course, do go into depth when you look at our revision worksheets and so on if you want to get more information. However, these are the top five takeaways when you want to understand what the Republican party really stands for. So first, the Osberg remind that Republicans mostly favor rapidly increasing the military budget and they take hard lines against other international countries like Iran. Secondly, Republicans are very pro-second amendment, so the right to bear arms and they support carrying concealed weapons in public. If you want to have more information about different amendments, we have a video on this to make sure you check that out. Now, thirdly, Republicans are generally against abortion, contraception and things to do with the LGBTQ community in terms of their rights and they hold generally speaking the belief that legalizing these things can ruin society. So they're very, very traditional in their conception of the traditional family. The fourth element of the Republican party is when it comes to tax, they favor tax cuts for all and for the market to control the minimum wage. So they don't necessarily favor the state imposing a certain minimum wage that businesses have to give their workers. They favor more a market approach whereby it's the market and it's up to individual businesses to decide how much to pay their workers. And fifthly, Republican policies favor strong border controls and limited immigration as opposed to more open Democrats. Now in contrast to Democrats, and as you can see, there's logo here, they are usually what we call more to the left of Republicans on many issues, but please make sure you don't confuse them with being extreme left because they don't necessarily sit that left on the spectrum. Now for starters, Democrats support domestic social services majorly, but they are not entirely aggressive when it comes to foreign policy, of course, this is in contrast to the Republicans. Also being more liberal, they root for a strong government to improve social structures and support equality and communal responsibility within a country. Now these are five takeaways to bear in mind when it comes to Democrats and their general beliefs. So firstly, the more reluctant to use military force against other countries such as Iran and they advocate for slow increases in military budgets. So this money, they'll rather see it spent elsewhere rather than just on military and military aid. Secondly, Democrats favor gun control laws and legislations arguing based on the increase in the number of shootings and their responsibility by civilian gun holders. Now the third element is when it comes to social issues. Democrats openly support abortion as well as LGBTQ rights as people should have the freedom of choice. Fourthly, when it comes to things like the death penalty, a majority of Democrats tend to oppose it and fifthly Democrats favor higher taxes for high income earners and the increase of minimum wage by the government. So they favor a governmental approach to imposing at least a basic minimum wage that all employers must follow. So that's all when it comes to understanding the Republican versus Democrat party in a nutshell in the US. If you found this video useful, would really appreciate it if you give it a big thumbs up but also make sure you visit our website www.firstreachuters.com that you will find lots of useful revision material. Thank you so much for listening.