Neither party sees the imposition of their best intentions upon others by force as a usurpation of the other's best intentions for themselves. They both see it as an alternative to chaos Both the Republican Party and Democrat Party see their role as compelling others to do what they want them to do by force of law. There is more real difference between Pepsi and Coke than there is between Republicans and Democrats. The whole thing is a 'good cop - bad cop' false dichotomy. Even if we had 100% Republican or 100% Democrat rule, we would still continue on 99% of the same course we're on. The sheer scope of what both parties want imposed upon others by force of law makes them much more alike than the differences in what they want to impose makes them different.