What is the difference between a Republican and a Democrat?

In quotes, 'I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican.' —Dan Quayle (Vice President under George HW Bush who couldn't spell potato) 'I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.' —Adlai Stevenson — Ran for the White House twice. Lost it to a Republican twice 'The difference between Republicans and Democrats is this: Republicans suck and Democrats blow.' —Lewis Black, comedian 'I belong to no organised party. I am a Democrat.' —Will Rogers, political humorist 'As people do better, they start voting like Republicans — unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing.' —Karl Rove, political strategist 'I never said all Democrats were saloonkeepers. What I said was that all saloonkeepers are Democrats.' —Ambrose Bierce 'The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door. That's the only difference.' —Ralph Nader — ran for the White House twice; came in third to a Democrat and a Republican. Something that anyone interested in US political history will quickly realise is that the parties have switched sides on issues a few times. The minor issues have come and gone, but each party has occupied opposite ends of the political spectrum in their time. The Democrats can trace their origins to Thomas Jefferson, who was a proponent of states' rights, something the Democrats are fundamentally against today. Democrats are often painted as government-expanders and lovers of bureaucracy. They are considered more inclined to expand the federal government, which is something Jefferson and his allies fought passionately against. The Republicans were formed just before the American Civil War, at a time when they were the liberals and the Democrats were the conservatives. They fought against the spread of slavery, and, after the war, for civil rights. Within a century, they found themselves fighting against civil rights when the Democrats adopted a new platform. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A4538793

Not much any more.