The Political Culture of the Democratic and Republican Parties

Although political parties have been a pervasive part of American politics, studies of their internal organization and style have not received a great deal of attention. Some commentators have noted that their deceptively similar governing forms two major parties are distinctively separate entities,' and others have observed that the two parties are different not only in name, program, and coalitional components but also in type, yet no one has attempted any systematic comparison.2 It is contention of this article that despite similarities in governing forms, and even policy outcomes, there is nonetheless a fundamental difference between national Democratic and Republican parties. That difference can be seen not so much in outcomes, which must pass through filter of political reality, as in mode by which internal politics is conducted. The difference is not one of purpose, but of political culture. I am relying on definition of political culture in International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences: