What is essential issue between Democrats and Republicans

[turbo]

It is very difficult to justify a two-party dichotomy in the US. For example, I am a fiscal conservative and a progressive on social issues. I really don't fit into either party, and haven't been enrolled in either since I enrolled as a Democrat temporarily to try to sway the result of the caucuses during the Gephardt/Jackson primary campaigns.

My wife and I are independents, and we do not vote for a candidate because there is a D or an R beside their name. Read the papers, watch the news, and try to determine how much of their "positions" are blather and pandering and how much is real, then vote accordingly.

 

[ThomasT]

... there is no parsimonious sentence that could sum up both parties.

How about the idea that candidates of either party can be expectied to act in the interest of big business and big finance?