Bernard Said:

How do the Democratic-Republican and Federalist parties compare to american politics today?

We Answered:

Well, it depends upon your perspective.

The Federalists were essentially the founders of today's Democrats. The major difference being that they opposed slavery while the Democrat-republicans (founders of today's Republicans) were actually PRO slavery.

Hamilton was a Federalist and wanted to open the U.S. to foreign trade. Jefferson (D-r) was opposed. Hamilton sent John Jay (with President Washington's permission) to England to negotiate a treaty of commerce and protection. The U.S. was essentially broke financially and had no money to fund a standing military to combat the piracy taking place in the Mediterranean. (hence the lyrics in the Marine Corps Hymn: "From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli...") Jefferson still viewed the English as the enemy and push come to shove would have preferred doing business with the French. What Jay returned with, so heavily favored the English that even Washington was unhappy with it. As President though, he had to openly support Jay's Treaty. Such support came at a cost. Jefferson openly and repeatedly accused Washington of treason and eventually, wore him down to the point that Washington announced he would step down from the office of President.

Hamilton was all in favor of BIG government and pushed heavily for the adoption of the Constitution. Jefferson, Madison and a host of others opposed, fearing that it would strip states of their rights and worse still, it would infringe upon the rights of all men to be free. Hamilton offered the compromising solution of a Bill of Rights. In truth, he thought it was silly, that the new Constitution would spell out clearly the rights and responsibilities of both the people and the states. Jefferson feared that anything the government could give, the government could take away.

So, how does that compare with today's politics?

You have the Democrat taking over the U.S. auto industry with their bail out money -- Congress now owns GM and Chrysler. They also own the majority of the finance and lending institutions by way of TARP. For those who would scoff, I point out the Congressional appointed buy out of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America. When BofA CEO Ken Lewis realized just how far in the hole M-L was ($17,000,000,000 loss in the last quarter of 2009), he tried to back out of the deal by siting the MAC Clause. Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Frank, Geitner and ultimately Obama himself, said No, the deal stands" and then forced Lewis out of office. Congress by way of the Health Care Reform now will take over the health insurance industry AND the pharmaceutical industry. And, they've "borrowed" some $878,000,000,000 from our former enemy: the communist Chinese. Even if we were to try and repay this astronomical amount over a 30 year period with no interest accrued we're still looking at annual payments of $22,000,000,000! We now have among other "Czars" a "Pay Czar" who dictates how much people whose companies took the bail out or TARP money can make. BIG government? Infringement upon the rights of the people?

If you rewrite and think the first amendment in the Bill of Rights, it basically states that no one individual, group, company or religious group has a greater say or voice by way of federal privilege or favor over all others. Now, look at the auto industry. GM and Chrysler took the bail out money and are now owned by Congress. Ford did not take the money. If the executives at Ford should make a bad business decision, they will have to deal with it, regardless of how much money it costs them. They could go out of business on a bad decision. Chrysler and GM's executives make an equally bad decision and it costs them huge money. Congress will just infuse the company with more money to keep it from failing. Are they being shown favor over Ford?

To fund the new Health Care Reform, those making $200K or more will be charged taxes the rest will not. The "non-partisan" Congressional Budget Office reports that it will cost Americans $500,000,000,000 over the next 10 years in new taxes and it will also require $523,000,000,000 in cuts to Medicare over the next 10 years. You will pay 10 years and get 6 years of "coverage." Not to mention that there is nothing in this new law requiring the insurance companies to maintain their present premium rates or requiring them to lower their premiums. Think about that a moment. How then is this supposed to drive down the cost of health care? About 15 years ago, Hillary (and Bill Clinton) shoved HMO down our throats. They demonized doctors and pharmaceutical companies for having dared make a profit. They stripped doctors of their decision making regarding our health care and turned it over to the "for profit" insurance companies stating that they would be most interested in keeping the cost of health care down. Needless to say, it failed miserably. So, now you've got Obama and company demonizing doctors, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies. Those same insurance companies the Clinton's empowered. They also reported an average profit margin of 4% last year. Meaning that as an investor, John Deere and Tupperware were both better money makers.

You are going to pay for 10 years and get 6 years of coverage. What happens at the end of that 6 years?

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

"I predict future happiness for America if they can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

"A government large enough to provide everything, is powerful enough to take it all away." Thomas Jefferson

And long about the 1840s, the Republicans opposed slavery while the Democrats were in favor (of). The Democrat like to claim responsibility for Civil Rights, but in truth, they were opposed and filibustered against.

Ruth Said:

What happens if someone run for President as Democratic-Republican, will you guys like that?

We Answered:

Haha... that's funny! But we actually still do have Democratic-Republicans, but they just dropped the Democratic part... (The Democratic-Republican became Jackson Democrats which were unified until the Civil War era, when the Democratic party split into Northern and Southern Democrats on the issue of slavery... then the Republicans became more like Southern Democrats... so anyway, long story short... I'd say that Democrats are the descendants of the Democratic-Republicans)

Kristin Said:

What side of the political spectrum are the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties on?

We Answered:

The modern political parties are a direct result of the parties of Hamilton and Jefferson:

Hamilton's Federalist Party - Republicans today

Jefferson's Republican-Democrats - Democratics today

Christopher Said:

Why would James Madison write an essay in The Federalists papers if he was a Democratic Republican?

We Answered:

He was speaking for himself.