|
|
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United
States, the other being the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party
in the United States.[2][3]
Since the 2006 midterm elections, the Democratic Party is the majority party
for the 110th Congress; the party holds an outright majority in the House of
Representatives and the Democratic caucus (including two independents)
constitutes a majority in the United States Senate. Democrats also hold a
majority of state governorships and control a plurality of state legislatures.
In 2004, it was the largest political party, with 42.6 percent of 169 million
registered voters claiming affiliation.[4]
The Democratic Party traces its origins to the Democratic-Republican Party,
founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other influential opponents of
the Federalists in 1792. Since the division of the Republican Party in the
election of 1912, it has consistently positioned itself to the left of the
Republican Party in economic as well as social matters. The economically
left-leaning activist philosophy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which has strongly
influenced American liberalism, has shaped much of the party's economic agenda
since 1932. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition usually controlled the national
government until 1964. The civil rights movement of the 1960s, championed by the
party despite opposition at the time from its Southern wing, has continued to
inspire the party's liberal principles.[1]
|
