Regardless of how good you think your dems are they still must work within thier party and cave to thier own beliefs to get things accomplished in a progressive liberal party. So while they might agree on no new restrictions for 2a, thier co-workers believe in many, so even if they make a compromise and find a middle ground it is going to be more restrictions.
The dems are represented by many unions and lobbyists working very much like a socialist labor party that believes by taking from those successful in the american dream and giving to those in the worst neighborhoods and poorest people in the forms of grants, free college for thier kids, and a general trickle up philosophy they can spread the wealth and make a better society. As well as more restrictions on businesses and higher taxes to fund thier trickle up philosophy. The businesses stagnate and because workers have so many rights the jobs just move overseas where the workers don't have those rights. Some jobs can't move overseas like teachers, police, nurses, and other public servants so they are the ones most represented through unions. Basicly government paid people dependent on government wages represented along with whoever helped with campaign money to get dems into power since they tend to have less resources to draw on they have to become more in debt with favors to get there. It is government for the government's sake.
Republicans on the other hand tend to be more for letting corporations do as they wish and get bigger and more powerful. Few restrictions, taking less taxes from all so they have less to spend on programs. A philosophy more along the lines of you end up and enjoy the lifestyle you can manage to reach, period. They tend to be less in debt by the time they come to power because they are more likely to have backing that already agrees with thier points of views. They are wealthy, have friends that are wealthy, and help eachother get contracts and into positions that when thier political career ends they have a nice cushion of favors built up from deciding which contractor gets which job. Sometimes its corrupt but more often its just business. HOWEVER they in general tend to be for less government agencies, requiring less taxes to support and slower increase in governmental power.
So neither side is ideal, both do a poor job of representing most of us, but one is for quick governmental expansion and reducing the rights of the individual in favor of the masses represented through union leaders that partialy represent the members of the union they speak for (dems.) While the other is more in it for thier own benefit but does not tend to be for infringing on the rights of the individual and expanding government power and control, on the contrary they like less oversight and want to keep things the same.
These are stereotypes and of course there are those that do not fit them. Take the Bush expansion of domestic spies and large branches of homeland security to accomplish that, more of a Democrat type of thing than republican. I can only imagine what the dems would have managed to accomplish if in power during 9/11.
But in general the stereotypes fit and while both will eventualy lead to an America we don't recognize I think that happens slower under the republicans and quicker under the Democrats.
I would rather be closer to the frontier times in rights than closer to the European system of rights.
Extreme capitalism with rights or Socialism with a police state, hmm.
