During the whole period of American history, its core was mostly centered on the problem of racism and of its pejorative attitude to the racial minorities and Afro-Americans in particular. That had a great impact on the social and political life of that time. It was proved by fact that American history did not witness the representatives of Afro-Americans taking the President’s office. Today’s America observes a dramatic increase in population diversity which is still growing. That fact has been unequally reacted by the Republicans and Democrats. That was revealed during the elections of the last year when the Americans witnessed the first Afro-American taking President office. Hence, a great number of questions appear concerning the involvement of the race aspect in the election campaigns of Republicans and Democrats. It is explained by many reasons.
It is necessary to mention that Republican ideology has always been deteriorative towards national minorities. Constant Republican policy focused mostly on the white people layer and that does not have any support among the Afro-American population. That is why the rise of the population diversity was negatively perceived by the party because of earlier negligence of Afro-Americans’ interests. Moreover, Republicans believe that the existence of diversity is the most dangerous obstacle on the way to liberty and integrity since it provokes many conflicts between people. They insist on the fact of necessity to include the idea of equality and cultural integrity. As it can be seen, the Republican ideology is rather contradicting in terms of racial aspects (Maynor, J. W. 2003). On the one hand, Republicans support freedom and justice and, on the other hand, their policy is mostly oriented to the rise of the white working class.
It is wrong to believe that positive Republican policy toward national minorities was strictly motivated by the political outlooks only. To my mind, the Republican’s idea to involve more Latinos and Afro-Americans in order to be competitive with Democrats was an outright manifestation of hidden racial goals using it as a decisive moment during elections. The feeble outcome of the election for Republicans was explained by the unwillingness of the party to accept the current demographical changes. Perhaps, McCain’s failure was due to the rapid rise of population diversity and, as a result, Republicans lost the people’s trust. (Peter Katel 2008, p. 579).
The Republican’s conservative ideas and restricted outlook hampered the successful result of the elections since their doctrine is in the past. Moreover, the growing new population stands beyond the working-class conservatism and is more interested in radical changes. On the other hand, in the interview about the force coming elections, the Institute Professor, Chomsky was persuaded in the victory of the Republican candidate, John McCain. He stated that McCain is “the down-to-earth ordinary American and it happens so that he is one the richest people in the Senate” (Ghoshroy, B. 2008).
In their turn, Democrats’ ideology is basically focused on the manifestation of social freedoms and class equality. It protects the rights of national minorities and recognizes the fact of cultural diversity. Currently, the Party is gaining popularity among the young people whose outlooks are mostly liberal.
In comparison with Republican Party, Democrats have a more beneficial position concerning the phenomenon of population diversity rise due to their liberal streams that are also more popular among the national minority groups. The situation became more obvious after Barack Obama’s success at the elections. The adaptation of Democrats to the extreme rise of a multiplicity of the population even promoted the democratic movements in the United States. The increase was the sign for people to discover that America is not the country where the leading positions belong to the European class and racial prejudices have just become old-fashioned. By means of this, Democrats’ major cores are not only to defend the minorities’ voters but also to induce the core class to realize the results of the democratic revolution. That idea is based on the fact that the recognition of the equality of rights was the trigger point among the voters. Viewing the point from the Democrats’ position, the members of the party took a beneficial position relying upon no the corresponding democratic processes during the election.
It is obvious that the rise of the diversity of the population was due to the recent elections, as well. Peter Katel (2008) expresses his strong belief concerning the tough connection between the race factor and the elections. He emphasizes that Barack Obama, being the representative of Democrats, did not express many expectations from the elections relying on racial prejudiced ideology which is based on the historical aggressive attitude to Afro-American people. However, the incumbent president consciously uses his race as a weapon against the Republican and conservative Democrats. In other words, Obama’s goal is to involve the post-racial policy which finds the support of both Parties. His recognition of the race factor only justifies the idea that does not acknowledge the absence of freedom of cultures and freedoms. However, the positive reaction of the white working-class on the newly elected president constitutes its readiness for alterations and acceptance of the rapid democratic changes.
The relation between two confronted races will decrease the outcome of the elections (Bartels, L., 2008). The President himself believes that, despite the acknowledged democracy, racial predetermination will affect the next elections. Owing to that, the problem of racism is on the agenda. It is also supported by the fact that the majority of the opponent voters represent the older generation whose stereotypes are conservative rather than liberal. Still, the Democrats’ strategy was rather persuasive and justified the idea of the democratic image of the country. Besides, the growth of political awareness among the younger generation has contributed to the victory of the Democrats’ candidate at the election.
After a detailed consideration of the problem leads to the conclusion the reaction to the rise of the population was rather contradicting. It is explained by the historical, social, and cultural factors and has both internal and external impacts. The former one is revealed historically, namely the race factor which is closely connected with population diversity and extremely affected the shift of American outlook on racial prejudices. The latter one means that the integration of minority groups was due to the similar current tendency taken in the East. Anyway, taking into consideration all factors, nowadays, the Democratic Party takes a more beneficial position than Republican representatives just because of the introduction of a powerful democratic wave all over the world. To improve the situation for the better, Republicans should think over a completely new policy that would not contradict the development of the current society.
Reference List
Bartels, L. (2008) Race in the Race. Web.
Barbara Ghoshroy (2008) Chomsky discusses the 2008 Election. The Tech. 128(52). Web.
Maynor, J. W. (2003). Republicanism in the modern world. Great Britain: Wiley-Blackwell.
Karel, P., (2008). Race and Politics. CQ Researcher. 18(25), 570-600.