The difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Most Republicans are Republicans because that's what you do if you fall into that particular social or economic class. There are very few "true" Republicans just as they are very few "true" Democrats. Most Democrats are Democrats because they can't fathom Republican thinking. A typical non-politically active citizen who votes for the President of the United States really only has two choices regardless of their own personal views. Republicans vote Republican because that's what Republicans do, it's what their daddy's did. A Republican thinks "things are fine the way they are, the system is working for me, I am prospering, so don't rock the boat." Democrats vote Democratic because they see that things could be better with change, perhaps the system isn't working for them, perhaps they are struggling, oppressed or suffering. Maybe they're fine they just imagine something better. The idea of the true Republican or Democrat is basically pointless in today's media driven Electoral Circus.
The ideals at the core of both parties have basically been lost today. They have become abstracts, little more than talking points, tag lines. We live in a world of the Have's and the Have Not's. The Happy and the Unhappy, The Settled and the The Change. The Oppressed and the Non-oppressed.
The typical Democrat may understand and agree with the core ideal of the right to bear arms but they also understand that inner city kids running around with automatic weapons is a serious problem. The typical Republican fights any form of gun regulation and has never been to the inner city or is making a living off of the gun industry. Taken to the extreme if a Democrat doesn't like a President he dreams of the day he will no longer be in office. A Republican will just shoot him. In a free country you get all kinds of people in all kinds of situations it's unavoidable. The real problem is that when you force everyone into a two party system you polarize one side as having to be against the other. It's an us against them mentality and it's wrong. You can agree with someone on every point but one and still end up on the other side of the fence. It's bad way to do the business of Democracy.