What are the characteristics of democrats and republicans?

Republicans are a coalition of economic conservatives and Christian conservatives. Democrats are economic liberals and the people the Christian conservatives annoy.

Democrats and Republicans and Liberals are all different.

Liberals believe people should be able to do anything that doesn't harm another person, and that the forces of nature (i.e. free market) should be unadulterated. Liberalism is closest to anarchy (which is NOT chaos, but the belief that people should not be subjected to other people's laws).

Republicans generally believe that change is bad, they wish to "conserve" the beliefs of yesteryear. Republicans are regressive rather than progressive. They believe in wealth, and they believe that the USA is a meritocracy where the richest people are the people who work the hardest. They also generally believe in fundamentalist Christian ideology, such as the Earth is only a few thousand years old and evolution is fake. They push to make christian sins into laws, such as criminalizing homosexuality and interracial marriage.

Democrats believe that there is always room for change, and push to change things for the better. They believe that we should keep on searching for ways to promote human rights, and that all people deserve to start out with the same basic rights. They think religious sins should not be made into criminal actions just because one religion's great book says it should. They think people have the right to do what they want to do with their own bodies. They also think a society should take care of all of their young, old, and very ill. They realize that the USA is not a meritocracy, and that a person can work 80 hour weeks for 50 years in hard labor and never become rich, while some people become rich simply by being born. They want every child in this country to be able to start out on 1st base, rather than some starting out on 3rd base or home plate while others start way back in the parking lot.

To Kirsten K above, I would rather be a communist then.

Dems.= Balancing of social castes, taxing to build a better stronger economy and infrastructure, and belief in freedom to live your life how you choose.

Reps.= Enforces capitalistic social castes, lower taxes for the rich and corporations, and enforcing their moral views on your everyday life.