During the 2000 presidential elections, broadcast stations across the country agreed to use the same basic graphic to represent states won by Republicans, the red states, and Democrats, the blue states. While the Democrat and Republican parties dominate America's political landscape, their ideals still differ greatly. Prominent differences are between the parties' platforms concerning the role of government, economy and taxes, and the costs and role of the military. Republicans are usually considered conservative and against the bureaucracy often associated with big government. To them, big government is wasteful and an obstacle to getting things done. One of the Republican Party's platforms is to reform the government. "We look to government " local, state, federal " for the things government must do, but we believe those duties can be carried out more efficiently and at less cost. For all other activities, we look to the private sector; for the American people's resourcefulness, productivity, innovation, fiscal responsibility, and citizen-leadership have always been the true foundation of our national greatness" (Reforming). The Democratic Party tends to favor a more active role for government in society, and believes that such involvement can improve the quality of people's lives, and help achieve the larger goals of opportunity and equality. "The modern Democratic Party generally supports a strong federal government with federally financed social services and benefits for the poor, the unemployed, the aged and other groups " (Editors).
One of the challenges of the Democratic Party's stance on the role of government is how a more active government will affect the economy and taxes. "While Republicans believe in balancing spending cuts with tax cuts across the board, Democrats believe in cutting taxes for the middle and lower class, while raising them for the upper class " (Republican).