Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP (abbreviation for Grand Old Party), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party.

Founded by anti-slavery activists, modernists, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers in 1854, the Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932. There have been 18 Republican presidents, the first being Abraham Lincoln, who served from 1861 until his assassination in 1865, and the most recent being George W. Bush, who served from 2001 to 2009. The most recent Republican presidential nominee is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who lost in 2012 to Democratic incumbent Barack Obama.

Although it is named after republicanism, that concept is no longer widely used. Instead republican ideals have been incorporated into the concept of conservatism, which serves as the ideological core of the party. This conservatism contrasts with the modern liberalism of the Democrats. The Republican Party's conservatism involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, business, a strong national defense, deregulation, restrictions on labor unions, social-conservative policies (particularly opposition to abortion), and traditional values, usually with a Christian foundation. The party is deeply split on the issue of how to deal with illegal immigration.

Common sense

Common sense is a basic ability to perceive, understand, and judge things, which is shared by ("common to") nearly all people and can reasonably be expected of nearly all people without any need for debate.

The everyday understanding of what common sense is derived from philosophical discussion, involving several European languages. Related terms in other languages include Latin sensus communis, Greek κοινὴ αἲσθησις (koinē aísthēsis), and French bon sens, but these are not straightforward translations in all contexts. Similarly in English, there are different shades of meaning, implying more or less education and wisdom: "good sense" is sometimes seen as equivalent to "common sense", and sometimes not.

"Common sense" has at least two specifically philosophical meanings. One is a capability of the animal soul (Greek psukhē) proposed by Aristotle, which enables different individual senses to collectively perceive the characteristics of physical things such as movement and size, which all physical things have in different combinations, allowing people and other animals to distinguish and identify physical things. This common sense is distinct from basic sensory perception and from human rational thinking, but cooperates with both. The second special use of the term is Roman-influenced and is used for the natural human sensitivity for other humans and the community. Just like the everyday meaning, both of these refer to a type of basic awareness and ability to judge which most people are expected to share naturally, even if they can not explain why.

Chris Matthews

Christopher John "Chris" Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American political commentator, talk show host and author. He is known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC. From 2002 to 2013, he hosted a syndicated NBC News–produced panel discussion program on weekends titled The Chris Matthews Show. Matthews appears on other NBC and MSNBC programs. Matthews is known for his Philadelphia accent.

Early life and education

Matthews was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Mary Teresa (née Shields) and Herb Matthews, a court reporter. His father was a Protestant of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry, and his mother was from an Irish Catholic family; Matthews is himself a Roman Catholic. He attended La Salle College High School. He is a 1967 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was also a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics.