It seems that the backdrop more every major political race is the butting heads of conservatism versus liberalism, Republican versus Democrat. The confusion that may accompany the barrage of information presented may actually deter people from voting at all. In fact, the two parties' ideologies seem to share many of the same goals for the economy, foreign policy, and personal liberties. Furthermore, both Democrats, the supposedly liberal party, and Republicans, the supposedly conservative party, have been appointed to the highest office, the President of the United States of America. In most cases, the President has been effective in building notable progress in our nation's growth, regardless of the political party that they belong to. Upon closer examination into the history of the Democratic and the Republican parties, we are able to determine that the political philosophies from which they originate have glaring contrasts in their ideologies, but may also share a few similarities.