Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Andrew Yang

2019-04-13T21:03:44Z

Florida dave: I changed some incorrect info

'''Andrew Yang''' is a [[technocrat]] who has been endorsed by [[white supremacist]]s and [[Richard Bertrand Spencer|Richard Spencer]] for the [[Democratic party]] [[2020 presidential election|2020 presidential nomination]]. Most of his base is in the youth population. He is a single issue candidate, UBI. UBI or Universal Basis Income, is a [[socialist]] proposal that would give every American between 18 and 64 1,000 USD per month. He is also concerned with the decline of the white working class, the opioid epidemic, and the raise in suicide rates. He is one of the few democrats that doesn't blame the white race or the wealthy for all of society's problems. <ref>https://www.thisisinsider.com/white-supremacists-are-disillusioned-by-trump-and-joining-the-yang-gang-2019-3</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Andrew}}

[[Category:Democrats]]

Andrew Yang

2019-04-13T21:02:15Z

Florida dave: I fixed an error

'''Andrew Yang''' is a [[technocrat]] who has been endorsed by [[white supremacist]]s and [[Richard Bertrand Spencer|Richard Spencer]] for the [[Democratic party]] [[2020 presidential election|2020 presidential nomination]]. He also has a large youth following. He is a single issue candidate, UBI. UBI or Universal Basis Income, is a [[socialist]] proposal that would give every American between 18 and 64 1,000 USD per month. He is also concerned with the decline of the white working class, the opioid epidemic, and the raise in suicide rates. He is one of the few democrats that doesn't blame the white race or the wealthy for all of society's problems. <ref>https://www.thisisinsider.com/white-supremacists-are-disillusioned-by-trump-and-joining-the-yang-gang-2019-3</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Andrew}}

[[Category:Democrats]]

Andrew Yang

2019-04-13T21:01:16Z

Florida dave: I edited it

'''Andrew Yang''' is a [[technocrat]] who has been endorsed by [[white supremacist]]s and [[Richard Bertrand Spencer|Richard Spencer]] for the [[Democratic party]] [[2020 presidential election|2020 presidential nomination]]. He also has a large youth following. He is a single issue candidate, UBI. UBI or Universal Basis Income, is a [[socialism]] proposal that would give every American between 18 and 64 1,000 USD per month. He is also concerned with the decline of the white working class, the opioid epidemic, and the raise in suicide rates. He is one of the few democrats that doesn't blame the white race or the wealthy for all of society's problems. <ref>https://www.thisisinsider.com/white-supremacists-are-disillusioned-by-trump-and-joining-the-yang-gang-2019-3</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Andrew}}

[[Category:Democrats]]

Andrew Yang

2019-04-13T20:58:04Z

Florida dave: I added more info

'''Andrew Yang''' is a [[technocrat]] who has been endorsed by [[white supremacist]]s and [[Richard Bertrand Spencer|Richard Spencer]] for the [[Democratic party]] [[2020 presidential election|2020 presidential nomination]]. <nowiki>He also has a large youth following. He is a single issue candidate, UBI. UBI or Universal Basis Income, is a socialist propose that would give every American between 18 and 64 1,000 USD per month. He is also concerned with the decline of the white working class, the opioid epidemic, and the raise in suicide rates. He is one of the few democrats that doesn't blame the white race or the wealthy for all of society's problems automato</nowiki><ref>https://www.thisisinsider.com/white-supremacists-are-disillusioned-by-trump-and-joining-the-yang-gang-2019-3</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Andrew}}

[[Category:Democrats]]

Andrew Yang

2019-04-13T20:51:38Z

Florida dave: I changed the word "cultural marxist to technocrat

'''Andrew Yang''' is a [[technocrat]] who has been endorsed by [[white supremacist]]s and [[Richard Bertrand Spencer|Richard Spencer]] for the [[Democratic party]] [[2020 presidential election|2020 presidential nomination]].<ref>https://www.thisisinsider.com/white-supremacists-are-disillusioned-by-trump-and-joining-the-yang-gang-2019-3</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Andrew}}

[[Category:Democrats]]

Democratic Party

2019-02-11T20:12:00Z

Florida dave:

{{AmericanPoliticalParty
| party_name=Democratic Party
| party_articletitle = Democratic Party (United States)
| party_logo = [[Image:democraticpartyusalogo.png|200px]]
| Thankssite = [http://www.democrats.org www.democrats.org]
| headquarters = 430 South Capitol Street SE (next to the [[Murder of Seth Rich|Seth Rich bike rack]]) [[Washington, D.C.]] 20003
| chairman = [[Thomas Perez]]
| houseleader = [[Nancy Pelosi]]
| senateleader = [[Chuck Schumer]]
| foundation = 1828
| ideology = [[Liberalism]] [[Keynes]]ianism [[Socialism]] [[Progressivism]] [[Hollywood values]] Historically: [[Racism]] [[White supremacy]] Segregationism
| fiscalpolicy = [[Left-wing]]
| socialpolicy = Left-wing to [[Far-left]]
| colors = Blue (unofficial)
| footnotes =
}} [[File:Dem-leaders.jpg|right|450px|thumb|A contemporary watercolor of Democratic presidents. Clockwise from far left: Presidents Jimmy Carter, John Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt. Jackson is considered the founder of the party. Despite Jackson's [[genocide]] of [[Native American]]s, his portrait still grace's the $20 bill.]]
:''This article is about the Democratic Party of the United States. For parties named "Democratic Party" in other countries, see [[Democratic party (disambiguation)]]''
:''For the grammatically-correct name of the party, see [[Democrat Party]]''
The '''Democratic Party'''<ref>This is the official name of the party.[https://www.democrats.org/about/our-party/party-organization]. Some refer to it as the Democrat party, implying the party is not democratic. The term is said to grate on Democrats' ears.</ref> ('''D''') is one of the two major political [[parties]] in the [[United States of America]]. Slavery, segregation, and control of minorities were the founding principles of the Democratic party, and which the GOP was founded to oppose.<ref>The rights and dignity of the individual remain the core principal of the Republican party, be it opposition to slavery, abortion, big government, or high taxes.</ref>

The party is [[pro-abortion]] and anti-[[free enterprise]], supports higher taxes, wealth confiscation and redistribution, over-regulation, anti-gun policies, and a much larger, more invasive government. By contrast, the [[Republican Party]] is generally [[pro-life]] and pro-free enterprise, supporting lower taxes, gun rights, individual liberty and small, responsible government.<ref>http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democrat_vs_Republican#Role_of_Government</ref> Members of the Democratic Party are commonly known as Democrats. In recent years Democrats have become [[radical]]ized and increasingly embrace [[totalitarian]] [[socialism]].

The party is dominated by [[Progressive]] [[Millennial]]s reared in [[public school]]s and state universities who believe that the [[Constitution]] needs to be torn up because it was written by a bunch of white-male slaveholders,<ref>https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5439334O</ref> and that whites today - including the descendants of 600,000 white male Union soldiers who died to free Black slaves - need to be ostracized and punished.<ref>https://cis.org/Renshon/Shades-Richard-Nixon-Obama-Latinos-Punish-Our-Enemies</ref> [[Gender psychosis]] and promoting racial divisiveness have replaced economic wellbeing as key issues of concern. Gone are the [[labor union]]s which formed the backbone of the [[New Deal]] and [[Great Society]], their jobs shipped to the [[Third World]] by [[globalist]]s in the name of income equality and replaced by government handouts and [[opioid]]s.<ref>If "Third World" is a "racist code word" as some progressives contend, it was coined by liberal academics and globalists during the [[Cold War]].</ref>

==Opposition party during the Trump Administration==
[[File:When Willie met Kamala.jpg|right|350px|thumb|Democratic 2020 presidential frontrunner [[Kamala Harris]] with [[Willie Brown]]. Brown authored the 1975 law making homosexuality legal in California and compared the Rev. Jim Jones of the [[People's Temple]] to Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. Harris made [[gay marriage]] legal in California by not defending [[Proposition 8]] in federal court.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzyXNWYmfXg Jim Jones, The Most Admired Democrat of The 1970s, Censored Info], youtube</ref>]]
The Democrats won the popular vote for President in 2016 by 2.7 million votes.<ref>although, contrary to [[liberal denial]], over 800,000 illegal immigrants likely voted. Lucas, Fred, "[http://dailysignal.com/2016/11/28/more-than-800000-noncitizens-could-have-voted-in-2016-election-experts-say/ More Than 800,000 Noncitizens May Have Voted in 2016 Election, Expert Says]," ''The Daily Signal''. O'Reilly, Bill (November 29, 2016). [http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2016/11/29/bill-oreilly-amazing-amount-confusion-over-illegal-aliens-voting/ Bill O'Reilly: Amazing amount of confusion over illegal aliens voting]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved November 2016. Scarborough, Rowan (January 26, 2017). [http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/26/hillary-clinton-received-800000-votes-from-nonciti/ Trump argument bolstered: Clinton could have received 800,000 votes from noncitizens, study finds]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved January 27, 2017; and Republican candidates received 49.13% of the nationwide total votes cast for House races in 2016 and won 55.4% of U.S. House seats.{{cite news|url=https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2016|title=United States House of Representatives elections, 2016|accessdate=}}</ref> However, while Clinton won the three wealthiest states of New York, California and Massachusetts by 7 million votes, she lost the other 47 states by a combined 4 million votes.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdpubsPLCMo</ref> Republicans carried the Electoral College with 306 electors and maintained control of the House and Senate in the 115th Congress.

Typically the party's top fundraiser is elected party chairman. In 2017, Rep. [[Keith Ellison]] held the distinction. He was endorsed by Senators [[Bernie Sanders]],<ref>https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/keith-ellison-democratic-national-committee-chair/</ref> [[Chuck Schumer]],<ref>"DetrowEllisonTape"</ref> [[Harry Reid]]<ref>{{Cite news|date=November 13, 2016|last=Strauss |first=Daniel |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/harry-reid-keith-ellison-231297|title=Reid endorses Ellison for DNC chairman|newspaper=POLITICO|access-date=}}</ref> [[Elizabeth Warren]], [[Martin Heinrich]], Representatives [[John Lewis]], [[Luis Gutierrez]], [[Tulsi Gabbard]], the [[AFL-CIO]], among many others.<ref>{{cite web|first=Daniel|last=Strauss|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/keith-ellison-dnc-endorsements-232420|title=Ellison adds more congressional endorsements in DNC bid|website=[[Politico]]|date=December 9, 2016|access-date=}}</ref> However, the prospect of an African-American [[Muslim]] leading the party frightened off the party's [[intolerant]] establishment, and [[Tom Perez]] was considered a suitable replacement.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/samharris/comments/77k5v4/dnc_hides_behind_identity_politics_while_purging/</ref> A special position which had never existed before, Deputy Chair, was created for Ellison.

In February 2019, Virginia governor [[Ralph Northam]] admitted to being one of two people in a photo, one wearing blackface and another dressed as a [[KKK]] member.<ref>Chretien, Claire (February 1, 2019). [https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/yearbook-page-of-virginia-gov.-who-defended-infanticide-shows-kkk-costume Yearbook photo of Virginia gov. who defended infanticide shows KKK costume]. ''LifeSiteNews''. Retrieved February 1, 2019. See also:
*Nolte, John (February 2, 2019). [https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/02/02/nolte-ralph-coonman-northam-medias-governor/ Nolte: Ralph ‘The Coonman’ Northam Is the Media’s Governor]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved February 2, 2019.</ref> In response, racist Democrats then tried to prevent Northam's resignation by exploiting mutliple [[sexual assault]] allegations against the [[African American]] Lt. Governor.<ref>https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democratic-party-of-virginia-says-sex-assault-claim-against-lt-gov-fairfax-of-profound-gravity</ref> Then, the Attorney General who would be third in line of succession revealed that he, too, had also appeared in blackface at a college party in the 1980s.<ref>https://www.vox.com/2019/2/6/18213902/ralph-northam-justin-fairfax-mark-herring-blackface-virginia-governor-line-of-succession</ref>

===115th Congress===
{{See also|Left-wing violence in the Trump era|Kavanaugh smear}}
Although the Democrats had earlier derided conservative Republicans as being the "party of No", the aftermath of the 2016 elections showed that the Democrats would rightfully assume that label.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/26/new-party-no-dems-prepare-for-battle-with-trump-on-cabinet-picks-agenda.html New Party of No? Dems prepare for battle with Trump on Cabinet picks, agenda]. ''Fox News''. December 26, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2016.</ref> They defined themselves in total opposition to President Trump's actions, even if his actions once aligned with their claimed beliefs.<ref>Turley, Jonathan (December 29, 2018). [https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/423178-donald-trump-is-completely-transforming-the-democrats Donald Trump is completely transforming the Democrats]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved December 29, 2018.</ref>

Despite the criticisms of DNC chair [[Tom Perez]] and other Democrats of President [[Donald Trump]] for allegedly having a poor personality and using poor language, Perez has himself proudly used filthy language in political speeches, such as saying that Republicans "don't give a s***" about voters.<ref>Weber, Joseph (April 20, 2017). [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/20/race-to-gutter-dems-new-message-is-republicans-don-t-give-sh-t.html Dems' new message: Republicans 'don’t give a sh-t’]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved April 20, 2017.</ref> As a further sign regarding his party's hypocritical decline into using filthy language occurred when it, around the same time as Perez's comments, started selling shirts saying that "Democrats give a s*** about people."<ref>Freddoso, David (April 20, 2017). [http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/change-is-here-dems-go-from-prudish-ads-to-selling-sht-shirts/article/2620715 Change is here: Dems go from prudish ads to selling 'sh*t' shirts]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved April 20, 2017.</ref><ref>https://twitter.com/GOP/status/854698283129864196</ref> This showed a blatant departure from [[Michelle Obama]]'s "when they go low, we go high" phrase she and Democrats enjoyed using.<ref>Nazarian, Adelle (April 28, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/28/america-rising-pac-releases-ad-highlighting-democratic-partys-race-to-the-bottom/ America Rising PAC Releases Ad Highlighting Democratic Party’s ‘Race to the Bottom’]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved April 29, 2017.</ref> In addition to this, California Senator [[Kamala Harris]]<ref>Rodriguez, Katherine (May 7, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/05/07/video-sen-kamala-harris-uses-f-word-public-event-health-care/ VIDEO: Sen. Kamala Harris Uses the F-Word at Public Event About Health Care]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved May 8, 2017.</ref> and New York Senator [[Kirsten Gillibrand]]<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/11/new-york-senator-drops-f-bombs-during-speech.html New York senator drops F-bombs during speech]. ''Fox News''. June 11, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2017.</ref> used the f-word at public events. These incidents were seen throughout the Democrat Party.<ref>Caton, Alex (April 24, 2017). [https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/24/politicians-cursing-tom-perez-democrats-215068 Why Democrats Are Dropping More F-Bombs Than Ever]. ''Politico''. Retrieved May 12, 2017.</ref> Some Democrats even used profane language, such as the f-word, against President Trump himself.<ref>
*Chumley, Cheryl K. (May 22, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/22/donald-trump-lefts-frequent-target-f-bombs/ F-bombing Trump — the left’s new weapon of choice]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
*Nazarian, Adelle (May 21, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/05/21/california-democratic-party-leader-leads-fck-donald-trump-chant-at-convention/ California Democratic Party Leader Leads ‘F*ck Donald Trump’ Chant at Convention]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved May 22, 2017.</ref> Even "conservative" Democrats such as West Virginia Senator [[Joe Manchin]] displayed [[liberal values]] through his vulgar language along with his beliefs.<ref>Weaver, Al (August 7, 2017). [http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/joe-manchin-i-dont-give-a-s-t-if-i-win-re-election/article/2630818 Joe Manchin: 'I don't give a s--t' if I win re-election]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved August 7, 2017.</ref><ref>Thomsen, Jacqueline (August 7, 2017). [https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/345589-manchin-i-dont-give-a-sh-t-if-i-win-reelection Manchin: 'I don't give a s---' if I win reelection]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved August 7, 2017.</ref>

In May 2017, the DNC raised $4.29 million, the lowest raised in the month since 2003.<ref>Persons, Sally (June 21, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/21/dnc-hits-another-fundraising-low/ DNC hits another fundraising low]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved June 21, 2017.</ref><ref>Bowden, John (June 21, 2017). [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/338864-democrats-only-raised-43-million-in-may-worst-fundraising-since-2003 Democrats raised just $4.3M in May]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved June 22, 2017.</ref> The RNC, on the other hand, raised a record $10.8 million the same month.<ref>Kew, Ben (June 21, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/21/rnc-raises-more-dems/ Dems Fundraising Lowest Since May 2003; RNC Raises Record $10.8 Million]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved June 21, 2017.</ref>

The Democratic Party shifted its policies further to the Left than ever before during the Trump Administration.<ref>Shaw, Adam (April 25, 2018). [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/04/25/reparations-income-handouts-guaranteed-jobs-dems-tilt-hard-left-with-new-pet-projects.html Reparations, income handouts, guaranteed jobs: Dems tilt hard left with new pet projects]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved April 25, 2018.</ref><ref>Llorente, Elizabeth (July 18, 2018). [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/07/18/socialists-working-from-within-to-push-democratic-party-further-left.html Socialists working from within to push Democratic Party further left]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved July 21, 2018.</ref> They became increasingly radical,<ref>Adelmann, Bob (June 26, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/29388-the-war-on-trump-from-confrontation-to-harassment-to-violence The War On Trump: From Confrontation to Harassment to … Violence?] ''The New American''. Retrieved June 26, 2018.</ref><ref>Duke, Selwyn (July 6, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/29469-democrats-descending-into-dangerous-radicalism Democrats Descending Into Dangerous Radicalism]. ''The New American''. Retrieved July 6, 2018.</ref><ref>Murphy, James (October 10, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/30299-democrats-become-increasingly-combative-as-thirst-for-power-intensifies Democrats Become Increasingly Combative as Thirst for Power Intensifies]. ''The New American''. Retrieved October 10, 2018.</ref> with the mainstream of the party including elected officials calling for abolishing ICE<ref>Jasper, William F. (August 4, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/29709-the-communists-behind-the-abolish-ice-occupy-ice-agitation The Communists Behind the “Abolish ICE,” “Occupy ICE” Agitation]. ''The New American''. Retrieved August 4, 2018.</ref> and embracing full-fledged socialism.<ref>Shaw, Adam (September 18, 2018). [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/18/socialism-rises-in-democratic-party-as-primary-season-upsets-comes-to-close.html Socialism rises in Democratic Party as primary season of upsets comes to close]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved September 19, 2018.</ref> In addition to their opposition to [[religious freedom]] and Second Amendment rights, Democrats and other leftists now began openly calling for reducing [[free speech]].<ref>Duke, Selwyn (July 7, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/29471-the-democrats-dropping-mask-now-they-aim-to-end-free-speech The Democrats’ Dropping Mask: Now They Aim to End Free Speech]. ''The New American''. Retrieved July 7, 2018. See also:
*Williams, Thomas D. (July 1, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/07/01/williams-why-liberals-have-flip-flopped-on-free-speech/ Williams: Why Liberals Have Flip-Flopped on Free Speech]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved July 1, 2018.</ref> Some publicly included illegal migrants as part of their voting base.<ref>Multiple references:
*Schallhorn, Kaitlyn (October 15, 2018). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/georgia-dem-gubernatorial-nominee-says-blue-wave-will-include-undocumented-immigrants Georgia Dem gubernatorial nominee says 'blue wave' will include undocumented immigrants]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
*Mastrangelo, Alana (October 12, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/10/12/democratic-candidate-stacey-abrams-undocumented-immigrants-are-part-of-the-blue-wave/ Democratic Candidate Stacey Abrams: ‘Undocumented’ Immigrants Are Part of the ‘Blue Wave’]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
This marked a big change compared to the public statements of Democrats only a few years prior:
*Kirkwood, R. Cort (October 24, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/30439-on-illegals-democrats-sounded-like-trump-but-were-counting-future-votes On Illegals, Democrats Sounded Like Trump, But Were Counting Future Votes]. ''The New American''. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
*Mikelionis, Lukas (October 24, 2018). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-illegal-immigration-tune-has-changed-over-years-despite-incoming-caravan Democrats' illegal immigration tune has changed over years despite incoming caravan]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
See also:
*Dinan, Stephen (October 18, 2018). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/18/texas-democrats-ask-noncitizens-register-vote/ Texas Dems ask noncitizens to register to vote, send applications with citizenship box pre-checked]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
*Hope, Merrill (October 19, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/border/2018/10/19/texas-democrats-encouraged-noncitizens-to-vote-with-altered-registration-forms-says-complaint/ Texas Democrats Encouraged Noncitizens to Vote with ‘Altered’ Registration Forms, Says Complaint]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
*Mikelionis, Lukas (October 19, 2018). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-democrats-under-investigation-after-sending-applications-with-citizenship-box-pre-checked-to-non-citizens Texas Dems under investigation after sending voting applications with citizenship box pre-checked to non-citizens]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
*Kirkwood, R. Cort (October 19, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/30384-letter-texas-democrats-trolled-for-illegal-votes Letter: Texas Democrats Trolled For Illegal Votes]. ''The New American''. Retrieved October 20, 2018.</ref> In August 2018, the DNC reversed a recent ban it had made on donations from fossil fuel companies since they were a large source of revenue for the party.<ref>Hagen, Lisa; Cama, Timothy (August 10, 2018). [https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/401356-dnc-passes-resolution-on-fossil-fuel-donations DNC reverses ban on fossil fuel donations]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved August 10, 2018.</ref> With good reason, the Republican Party began describing the Democrats as "an unhinged mob."<ref>Pappas, Alex (October 12, 2018). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-hammers-mob-message-for-midterms-as-dems-howl-over-label GOP hammers ‘mob’ message for midterms, as Dems howl over label]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved October 12, 2018.</ref>

Even though Democrats were extremely nasty and ruthless when promoting the [[Kavanaugh smear]], they came to the conclusion that they were not "ruthless" enough when they lost.<ref>Nolte, John (October 9, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/10/09/democrats-consider-becoming-more-ruthless-losing-kavanaugh-battle/ Democrats Consider Becoming ‘More Ruthless’ After Losing Brett Kavanaugh Battle]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved October 12, 2018.</ref> Some Democrat politicians elected to Congress in 2018 were vocal in ridiculing Christians.<ref>Kirkwood, R. Cort (December 13, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/30918-the-democratic-party-s-new-face-congressional-muslims-who-ridicule-christians-and-more The Democratic Party’s New Face: Congressional Muslims Who Ridicule Christians and More]. ''The New American''. Retrieved December 13, 2018.</ref><ref>Pollak, Joel B. (December 15, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/15/ilhan-omar-trolls-mike-pence-jesus-take-the-wheel/ Ilhan Omar Trolls Mike Pence: ‘Jesus Take the Wheel’]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved December 16, 2018.</ref><ref>Richardson, Valerie (December 17, 2018). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/17/ilhan-omar-spurs-uproar-over-mike-pence-jesus-take/ Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar spurs uproar over Mike Pence 'Jesus take the wheel' tweet]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved December 17, 2018.</ref>

===116th Congress===
In August 2018, [[Gallup]] reported that 57% of Democrats had a positive view of socialism, the first time more Democrats thought highly of it compared to [[capitalism]], which was at 47%.<ref>Pollak, Joel B. (August 13, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/08/13/gallup-democrats-prefer-socialism-to-capitalism/ Gallup: Democrats Prefer Socialism to Capitalism for the First Time]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved August 13, 2018.</ref><ref>Berry, Susan (August 13, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/08/13/gallup-democrats-view-socialism-more-positively-than-capitalism/ Gallup: Democrats View Socialism More Positively than Capitalism]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved August 13, 2018.</ref><ref>Chasmar, Jessica (August 13, 2018). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/13/democrats-view-socialism-more-favorably-capitalism/ Democrats view socialism more favorably than capitalism: Gallup]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved August 13, 2018.</ref> Although the Democrat establishment was already very left-wing, the base began electing anti-establishment Democrats who were even further to the left.<ref>Llorente, Elizabeth (July 7, 2018). [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/07/07/in-socialist-candidates-election-success-some-see-ominous-rejection-democratic-old-guard.html In socialist candidates' election success, some see ominous rejection of Democratic 'Old Guard']. ''Fox News''. Retrieved July 7, 2018.</ref>

In Marxist–Leninist and [[Maoist]] theory, a [[United front]] is a [[coalition]] of [[leftist]] organizations that [[collude]] for the purpose of taking over a [[government]]. In the 116th Congress, the [[Committees of Correspondence for Democratic Socialism]], [[Democratic Socialists of America]], [[Freedom Road Socialist Organization]], and [[Communist Party of the United States]] formally created a united front of the nation's four largest [[communist]] organizations to take over the Democratic party.<ref>https://m.theepochtimes.com/how-57000-socialists-and-communists-plan-to-take-over-the-democratic-party_2654589.html</ref> The umbrella group is known as the [[Left Inside/Outside Project]] and consists of 57,000 [[community organizer]]s.<ref>https://organizingupgrade.com/the-left-we-want/</ref>

Upon taking the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrat [[Eliot Engel]], the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, announced he would dissolve the terrorism subcommittee and replace it with a Trump investigation subcommittee.<ref>Singman, Brooke (January 11, 2019). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-foreign-affairs-committee-chairman-engel-seeks-to-replace-terrorism-panel-with-one-to-probe-trump New York Dem shutting down terrorism committee to create Trump investigation panel]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved January 12, 2019.</ref>

Democrats became so far-left that [[George McGovern]]'s official 1972 campaign agenda was moderate-to-conservative in comparison.<ref>Lehrer, Eli (February 5, 2019). [https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/428559-1972-campaign-reveals-how-much-modern-democrats-have-changed 1972 campaign reveals how much modern Democrats have changed]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved February 5, 2019.</ref>

===Tolerance of anti-Semitism===
[[File:Farrakhanclinton.jpg|right|350ox|thumb|Democrats push anti-Semitism into the mainstream. [[Al Sharpton]], [[Jesse Jackson]] and [[Bill Clinton]] appear on stage with notorious anti-Semite [[Louis Farrakhan]], September 2018. Within a month, America suffered the worst mass killing of Jews in its history at the Tree of Life synagogue in [[Pittsburgh]].<ref>https://www.jta.org/2018/09/07/news-opinion/bill-clinton-shared-stage-louis-farrakhan-aretha-franklins-funeral</ref>]]
The Democratic party has been accused of enabling anti-Semitism. [[Women's March]] co-founders [[Tamika Mallory]] and [[Linda Sarsour]] have been criticized for their outspoken support anti-Semite [[Louis Farrakhan]].<ref>Shaw, Adam (January 19, 2019). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/womens-march-supporters-peel-off-amid-anti-semitism-scandal Women’s March losing steam, supporters amid anti-Semitism concerns]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved January 18, 2019.</ref> Mallory attended a [[Nation of Islam]] event hosted by Farrakhan, during which he referred to the "Satanic Jew" and declared that "the powerful Jews are my enemy".<ref name="KicinichImploding">{{cite news |last1=Kicinich |first1=Jackie |title=A Record Number of Women Were Just Elected, but the Women's March Is Imploding |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-record-number-of-women-were-just-elected-but-the-womens-march-is-imploding |accessdate=|publisher=[[The Daily Beast]] |date=19 November 2018}}</ref>

Noted speakers and participants at various Women's March events included<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hall |first1=Ellie |last2=Baer |first2=Stephanie K. |title=After A Year Of Controversy, Thousands Of Women Gathered For The Third Annual Women's March |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/2019-womens-march |accessdate=|work=Buzz Feed News |date=20 January 2019 |quote=}}</ref> Presidential hopeful Sen. [[Kirsten Gillibrand]],<ref>https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-gillibrand-womens-march-anti-semtism-20190117-story.html?outputType=amp</ref> Rep. [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jezebel.com/womens-march-2019-alexandia-ocasio-cortez-marches-in-n-1831897150|title=Women's March 2019: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Marches In NYC, Kirsten Gillibrand Speaks in IowaÂ|first=Emily|last=Alford|website=Jezebel}}</ref> Rep. [[Ayanna Pressley]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://boston.cbslocal.com/2019/01/19/2019-womens-march-boston-new-hampshire/ |title=Women’s March Rallies Held Around New England |last=Burton |first=Paul |date=2019-01-19| website=Boston CBS Local |access-date=}}</ref> Rep. [[Barbara Lee]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Thousands-rally-for-rights-at-Women-s-March-in-13547251.php|title=Thousands rally for justice at Women’s March in SF |last=Hernández |first=Lauren |date=2019-01-20|website=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=}}</ref> and House [[Speaker Nancy Pelosi]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Khalil |first=Ashraf |title=A scaled-down, but still angry, Women’s March returns |url=https://www.apnews.com/8029f12bf8b148da8ad40a4dd6d3c76e |accessdate= |work=Associated Press |date=20 January 2019 |quote=In San Francisco, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in the march and video on Twitter showed people clapping and cheering as she passed.}}</ref>

Two directors of the U.S.-based Jewish NGO the Anti-Defamation League, along with the president of the Zionist Organization of America, have criticized Sarsour's stance on Israel. Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL's director, has said that Sarsour's support of BDS "encourages and spreads anti-Semitism".<ref name="Sales">{{cite news|title=[http://www.jta.org/2017/05/02/news-opinion/united-states/linda-sarsour-why-the-palestinian-american-activist-has-courted-controversy Linda Sarsour: Why the Palestinian-American activist is controversial]|agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=May 2, 2017}}</ref> Sarsour has refused to condemn Farrakhan's extremely anti-Semitic rhetoric.<ref name=jpost>{{cite news|title=[http://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Womens-March-leaders-refuse-to-condemn-Farrakhan-after-antisemitic-speech-544074 Women’s March leaders refuse to condemn Farrakhan after antisemitic speech ]|work=The Jerusalem Post|date=March 3, 2018}}</ref> Sarsour has called for [[Muslim]]s to carry out [[jihad]] against [[President Trump]] and has praised Imam Siraj Wahhaj,<ref>Siraj Wahhaj has said, "It is my duty and our duty as Muslims to replace the [[U.S. Constitution]] with the Quran." He has also said, "If [[Allah]] says 100 strikes, 100 strikes it is. If Allah says cut off their hand, you cut off their hand. If Allah says stone them to death, through the [[Prophet Muhammad]], then you stone them to death, because it’s the obedience of Allah and his messenger—nothing personal." Siraj Wahhaj is also the father of one of two men arrested on August 8, 2018, in [[New Mexico]]. The two were training 11 children to carry out [[Young mass murderers|school shootings]]. A 3-year-old boy was killed during an exorcism at the desert compound.</ref> named in court documents as an alleged “co-conspirator” in the [[1993 World Trade Center bombing]]. Awad is co-founder and Executive Director of the [[Council on American Islamic Relations]] (CAIR) which has direct ties to [[Hamas]].

Rep. [[Rashida Tlaib]] supports the [[Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions|BDS movement]].<ref>Chasmar, Jessica (December 4, 2018). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/4/rashida-tlaib-newly-elected-democrat-endorses-anti/ Democratic Rep.-elect Rashida Tlaib endorses anti-Israel BDS movement]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved January 5, 2019.</ref> Tlaib made a [[Liberal bigotry|bigoted]] tweet accusing Jewish-Americans of having divided loyalties, an attack frequently made by anti-Semites.<ref>Multiple references:
*Starr, Penny (January 7, 2019). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/01/07/democrat-rashida-tlaib-blasted-for-antisemitic-tweet-accusing-dual-loyalty-israel-bds/ Democrat Rashida Tlaib Blasted for Antisemitic Tweet: ‘They Forgot What Country They Represent’]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
*Re, Gregg (January 7, 2019). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rashida-tlaib-accused-of-anti-semitic-slur-days-after-profane-anti-trump-tirade Rashida Tlaib accused of anti-Semitic slur, days after profane anti-Trump tirade]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved January 8, 2019.</ref> Tlaib did a selfie with a [[Hezbollah]]-praising activist to also denied Israel's right to exist.<ref>Multiple references:
*Klein, Philip (January 14, 2019). [https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/democrat-rep-rashida-tlaib-photographed-with-pro-hezbollah-activist-who-says-israel-has-no-right-to-exist Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib photographed with pro-Hezbollah activist who says Israel has no right to exist]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
*Richardson, Valerie (January 14, 2018). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/14/pro-hezbollah-activist-posts-photos-rashida-tlaib/ Pro-Hezbollah activist posts photos with Rashida Tlaib at swearing-in ceremony]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
*Brest, Michael (January 14, 2019). [https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/14/israel-palestine-tlaib-picture-extremist-abbas-hamideh/ Anti-Israel Extremist Says He was At Tlaib's Private Dinner After Swearing In]. ''The Daily Caller''. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
*Danan, Deborah (January 15, 2019). [https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2019/01/15/democrat-rep-rashida-tlaib-poses-with-pro-hezbollah-rabid-anti-israel-activist/ Rashida Tlaib Poses with Pro-Hezbollah Activist]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved January 15, 2019.</ref> ''New York Magazine'' named her one of 10 activists who may become the future of the Democratic Party as the "new Obama."<ref>[http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/muslim-woman-congress-shes-also-palestinian-869782483 Middle East Eye, Multimedia 'Staying out of the ring is not an option’: Palestinian woman runs for Congress], Ali Harb Friday 23 March 2018</ref> Tlaib was sworn in surrounded by a group that included Sarsour and Nihad Awad as her special guests.<ref>https://bigleaguepolitics.com/new-muslim-congresswoman-invites-linda-sarsour-and-cair-representative-as-her-guests-to-congressional-ceremony/</ref>

Rep. [[Ilhan Omar]] is known for her anti-Semitism,<ref>https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2019/01/17/ilhan-omar-tweet-controversy/2603030002/</ref> insensitivity and mocking remarks about [[Christian]]s,<ref>Pollak, Joel B. (December 15, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/15/ilhan-omar-trolls-mike-pence-jesus-take-the-wheel/ Ilhan Omar Trolls Mike Pence: ‘Jesus Take the Wheel’]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved December 16, 2018.</ref> and [[homophobic]] comments directed against colleagues.<ref>https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrat-ilhan-omar-accused-of-breathtaking-bigotry-after -saying-lindsey-graham-is-compromised.amp</ref><ref>https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/01/17/rep-ilhan-omar-furthers-homophobic-conspiracy-that-lindsey-grahams-compromised/amp/</ref> Omar claims [[Israel]] has hypnotized the [[planet]] and supports BDS.<ref>http://thefederalist.com/2019/01/18/cnn-not-know-question-ilhan-omars-conspiracy-theories-anti-semitism/</ref><ref>https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/269488770066313216</ref><ref>Pollak, Joel B. (January 28, 2019). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/01/28/zoa-slams-adl-for-accepting-ilhan-omar-non-apology-for-antisemitism/ ZOA Slams ADL for Accepting Ilhan Omar’s Non-Apology for Antisemitic Rhetoric]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved January 28, 2019.</ref> Despite this, Democrats gave her a seat on the House Foreign Policy Committee.<ref>Tapscott, Mark (January 21, 2019). [https://www.theepochtimes.com/gop-punishes-steve-king-anti-semitic-dem-gets-choice-committee_2774145.html GOP Punishes Steve King, Anti-Semitic Dem Gets Choice Committee]. ''The Epoch Times''. Retrieved January 21, 2019.</ref>

The fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, Rep. [[Hakeem Jeffries]], defended Tlaib and Omar as "thoughtful colleagues." Tlaib is a member of a [[Facebook]] group that posts anti-Semitic videos and memes. ''The Daily Caller'' reported that a key fundraiser for Tlaib posted a [[Holocaust denial]] video.<ref>https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-lawmaker-defends-house-freshmen-accused-of-anti-semitism-as-thoughtful-colleagues</ref>

==Political positions==
The views of individual Democrats sometimes diverge from the party's official stance as expressed in its national [[party platform]], however unlike the Republican party, the Democratic National Committee has not allowed dissenting opinions to share the podium on matters such as abortion at National Conventions.<ref>[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_03/005787.php] , http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_03/005787.php, March 6, 2005</ref> The Democratic party also adopts policy positions and platforms at the state, Congressional district and local levels.

Democrats frequently support the [[minimum wage]], workplace protections, the legal "right" to [[abortion|murder unborn human beings]], [[gun control]], the [[homosexual agenda]], and the [[separation of church and state]].

===Social issues===
:{{See also|Secular leftists and psychogenic illness}}
David Kupelian wrote: "Perhaps this is the reason, as I document in my book “The Snapping of the American Mind,” scientific surveys by both [[Gallup]] and SurveyMonkey show [[Democrats]] are roughly twice as likely as [[Republicans]] to be mentally ill.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2017/06/understanding-trump-derangement-syndrome/ UNDERSTANDING TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME] by David Kupelian</ref>

====Infanticide====
:{{See also|Abortion|Infanticide}}
In 2019, [[New York]] Governor [[Andrew Cuomo]] signed into law a Democrat infanticide bill.<ref>https://www.brighteon.com/5997992499001</ref> The more [[politically correct]] legal term is "[[abortion at dilation]]" or "[[dilation and evacuation]]," formerly referred to as "late tri-mester," "final tri-mester" and "[[partial birth abortion]]."<ref>[https://www.brighteon.com/5997992499001 WARNING GRAPHIC: Proof That Late Term Abortion Is MURDER], The Pete Santilli Show, February 3, 2019.</ref> Gov. [[Ralph Northam]] of [[Virginia]] defended [[infanticide]].

In 2016, the Democrats adopted one of the most [[Far-left|extreme]], [[pro-abortion]] platforms in its history, supporting unrestricted abortion, supporting the repeal of every single law in existence that limits abortion including those that formerly received bipartisan support, and forcing taxpayers to fund murder.<ref>Bilger, Micaiah (June 28, 2016). [https://www.lifenews.com/2016/06/28/democratic-party-platform-calls-for-forcing-americans-to-pay-for-abortions/ Democratic Party Platform Calls for Forcing Americans to Pay for Abortions]. ''LifeNews.com''. Retrieved December 26, 2016.</ref> Additionally, the Democrat presidential nominee [[Hillary Clinton]] was one of the strongest supporters of abortion in U.S. history.<ref>Ertelt, Steven (October 19, 2016). [https://www.lifenews.com/2016/10/19/hillary-clinton-defends-killing-babies-in-partial-birth-abortions-government-shouldnt-step-in/ Hillary Clinton Defends Killing Babies in Partial-Birth Abortions: “Government Shouldn’t Step In”]. ''LifeNews.com''. Retrieved December 26, 2016.</ref> In April 2017, [[Tom Perez]] became the first DNC chairman to demand that members of his party strictly conform to his extreme [[pro-abortion]] positions.<ref>Williams, Thomas D. (April 23, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/23/dnc-chair-calls-for-abortion-rights-litmus-test-for-democrats/ DNC Chair Calls for Abortion Rights Litmus Test for Democrats]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved April 23, 2017.</ref>

====Gender confusion====
Democrats believe it is possible for modern science to turn a man into a woman, and vice versa. In recent years, Democrats have promoted the idea by actually applying medical services, hormonal treatment, and surgery to children below the age of consent.

White Democratic leaders — but not blacks or Latinos <ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuDPBLJ9gqg</ref>— consistently favor measures such as the establishment of [[same-sex civil union]]s or "marriage". On May 9, 2012, [[Barack Obama|President Obama]] announced that he supports same-sex "marriage".<ref name="ABC News">{{cite web|url=http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/obama-sex-marriage-legal-16312904|title=Obama Affirms Support for Same-Sex Marriage|date=May 9, 2012|work=ABC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2012/05/09/politics/obama-same-sex-marriage/index.html|title=Obama announces he supports same-sex marriage|last=Gast|first=Phil|date=May 9, 2012|publisher=CNN|accessdate=}}</ref>

====Identity politics and women====
{{See also|Left-wing war on women}}
While the modern Democrat party is built on a foundation of [[identity politics]] which includes [[feminism]], since the 1990s it has done more harm than good in protecting women's rights.<ref>https://qz.com/980766/the-truth-about-false-rape-accusations/</ref> While being financially supported by wealthy sexual predators, [[Hollywood values|Hollywood]], [[Leftwing war on women|media executives and personalities]],<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/10/us/men-accused-sexual-misconduct-weinstein.html</ref> it has used false accusations of sexual misconduct against political opponents, casting doubts on the legitimate claims of real victims of sexual assault.<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/opinion/false-assault-story.html</ref>

Democrat mega-donor [[Harvey Weinstein]], who saved the Clinton presidency with the Clinton Legal Defense Fund to counter charges of [[sexual assault]] and harassment, has conducted an unrelenting war on women in the two decades since Clinton's exoneration. His movies that perpetuate [[Hollywood values]] are hailed by [[mainstream media]] critics as dynamic cultural achievements.

===Economic issues===
In the field of economic policy, Democrats tend to favor high progressive taxes, more regulation, less personal freedom, and more government control and spending.

The Democratic Party has historically had ties to [[labor union|organized labor]].<ref>http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/913wopoz.asp Paying Dues - The Democrats settle up with their union bosses, [[Weekly Standard]], July 25, 2007</ref> However, the influence of organized labor has waned as the portion of the unionized workforce has dropped in the "gig economy" that is more service oriented. Contrary to the claims of liberals and Democrats, the Democratic Party is strongly supported by the wealthy, while the GOP represents the poor in the U.S.<ref>Starr, Penny (October 21, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/10/21/economic-profile-50-states-republicans-represent-poor-democrats-rich/ Economic Profile of 50 States Reveals Republicans Represent the Poor, Democrats the Rich]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved October 21, 2018.</ref>

The [[National Education Association]],<ref>[http://www.nea.org/index.html National Education Association homepage]</ref> the largest union of public school teachers, is a backbone of the party, typically supplying the largest number of delegates to its national conventions.

Democrats claim that they want to help low-income Americans and want to accomplish this by increasing the tax burden on the wealthiest Americans. However now only half of Americans pay federal taxes, and the other half receive federal benefits.

====Healthcare collectivization====
Many Democrats advocate a [[socialist]] [[big government]] [[single-payer]] health insurance system and used the budget reconciliation act to ram through an unpopular plan that required individuals to purchase insurance with the threat of fines for non-compliance. A new entitlement and income transfer program was created which favored some of their core constituents. On March 21, 2010, [[ObamaCare]] was passed on a straight party-line vote, and President Obama signed it into law on March 23, 2010.

The party grossly overplayed its hand, mistaking its internal unity as a national consensus. And the Obamacare plan was promoted by mainstream media sources with thousands of fake news stories, blatant lies, distortions, and deceptions, even by President Obama himself promising Americans if they liked their insurance policy, they could keep it. Many Democrats argued that there may be some advantages to a universal health care system. Democrats generally regard [[universal health care]] coverage to be a priority because of the appeal to voters with nothing to contribute to their own care and are without any kind of [[health insurance]]. Others argue that the United States must compete with foreign countries where the public treasury covers all health care costs which supposedly gives foreign companies an advantage over U.S. products. Another argument is that prior to ObamaCare, uninsured people would fail to get preventative care and would go to hospital emergency rooms for treatment, resulting in higher health care costs and large subsidies paid by people with health insurance.

The employer mandate required employers with 50 or more employees to provide some sort of health insurance plan for their workers. The net result was job loss and little new job creation, as many existing small businesses were forced to pare down their workforce to 49 employees and other jobs were never created because of the added costs and burden.

====School choice====
An organization affiliated with the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] called the [[Progressive Policy Institute]] headed by [[John Podesta]], claims a long-standing opposition to school vouchers.<ref>21st Century Schools Project Bulletin: Special Edition [http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=900001&contentID=250630 ''Putting Vouchers in Perspective''], PPI E-newsletter 2 July 2002</ref> Jonathan Alter of ''Newsweek'' warned that opposition to vouchers might alienate some traditional Democratic voting blocs:
:"Can wealthy white liberals - many of whom send their kids to private school - really say to poor parents: 'We can have choices, but you must not?'...This is a glaring hypocrisy sitting at the heart of the liberal opposition to targeted vouchers… Right now, Democrats are in a highly compromised position on education."<ref>[http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=newsLetter&sectionID=29&NLissueID=4&articleID=11&altCol=2 Center For Education Reform, Monthly Letter to Friends No. 75], Back to School 2002.</ref>

====Global warming vs middle class living standards====
:{{See also|Green New Deal}}
Two other important coalition groups also find themselves in direct conflict with each other within the Democratic party coalition--[[Environmentalist]]s and Labor Unions. While environmentalists support efforts like clean air and alternative fuels, for example, this creates tension with the workers of American automobile manufactures whose jobs are threatened by environmental policies such as increasing regulations and high costs. Such policies can lead to cutbacks and layoffs. Balancing these issues is difficult because some sacrifices of interests must be made by both sides.

===Legal issues===
====Immigration and elections====
Democrats have generally favored legislation that makes it more convenient to vote multiple times, including early voting and no-excuse absentee voting. Democrats have encouraged voting by non-citizens and illegal aliens. Democrats have supported litigation to address redistricting to create minority [[segregation|segregated]] districts.

Democrats have favored extension of the [[Voting Rights Act]] based on 1965 demographics without revision. The law provides for federal [[U.S. Justice Department]] intrusion into the sovereign electoral rights of states. The law was passed in 1965 by a [[coalition]] of Republicans and handful of Democrats due to the regular Democrats' century-long tradition of segregation, [[racism]], voter suppression and [[Klan]] violence against [[Blacks]].

Democrats oppose immigration reform due to the fact non-citizen voters are often needed to win elections.<ref>https://cis.org/Huennekens/Aliens-and-Voter-Fraud</ref>

====Fascism, violence and censorship====
[[File:Ralph Northam (D-VA) in blackface.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Democrat shill [[Don Lemon]] (left); Democratic Governor Ralph Northam in blackface (right).<ref>https://www.thewrap.com/cnn-misidentifies-virginia-gov-ralph-northam-as-a-republican-during-coverage-of-racist-old-photo/</ref>]]
:{{See also|Democratic Socialism|Liberal bigotry|Liberal intolerance}}
In the 21st century the party has increasingly shown signs of [[fascist]], [[authoritarian]], and [[totalitarian]] tendencies. Its upper ranks are controlled by corrupt officials who advocate mob violence.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/10/hillary-clintons-approval-incivility-democrats-overreach-conundrum/?utm_term=.54e859301444 Hillary Clinton’s approval of incivility, and the Democrats’ overreach problem], By Aaron Blake, ''WaPo'', October 10, 2018</ref>

Under the [[progressive]] leadership of Barack Obama, the Democratic party became increasingly [[intolerant]] and [[racist]].<ref>https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/05/politics/obama-race-relations-poll/index.html
</ref> The moderate and conservative wings of the party were alienated by [[identity politics]] and the party's lurch to the [[extreme left]].<ref>https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/barack-obama-won-the-white-house-but-democrats-lost-the-country/</ref> Since the Democratic party leadership have openly advocated [[violence]] against [[law enforcement]], political opponents, and citizens, <ref>https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/obama-war-on-cops-police-advocacy-group-225291</ref> many voters fled to the [[GOP]].

In the 21st century the party has become obsessed with [[gender psychosis]] as a political issue.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/11/22/daily-202-rust-belt-dems-broke-for-trump-because-they-thought-clinton-cared-more-about-bathrooms-than-jobs/58339cf3e9b69b7e58e45f1b/ The Daily 202: Rust Belt Dems broke for Trump because they thought Clinton cared more about bathrooms than jobs], By James Hohmann, ''Washington Post'', November 22, 2016.</ref> It has become emboldened with impatient, unbalanced [[Millennial]]s, many of which embrace [[communism]] and a [[single-party]] to attack Americans' democratic rights.<ref>https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/nov/4/majority-millennials-want-live-socialist-fascist-o/ </ref> Incivility, threats, and outright violent assaults against anyone – elderly and handicapped included – perceived to be in opposition to their aims has become the norm. Hillary Clinton's promise of a return to civility after the [[2018 Midterm elections]] did not prevent freshman Rep. [[Rashida Tlaib]] from using words no [[rational]] person would use in front of their own mother to refer to the [[President of the United States]] moments after she/he/they were sworn into office.

Where violence has proven ineffective, frivolous lawsuits intended to break enemies, and corrupt [[Civil service system|civil servant]]s at the federal and state level, have been marshaled into an extremist force to compel compliance and subservience to their [[globalist]] [[socialist]] agenda.

Prominent Democrats have asserted that the men and women who risk their lives for the safety and well-being of all Americans and work in the [[Immigration and Customs Enforcement]] agency are akin to the [[Ku Klux Klan]].<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/politics/democrats-plot-response-to-trump-on-immigration-amid-fears-they-could-go-too-far/2018/11/17/9c330af8-e9ae-11e8-b8dc-66cca409c180_story.html Democrats plot response to Trump on immigration amid fears they could go too far] by David Nakamura, Seung Min Kim, ''Washington Post'', November 17, 2018</ref>

===Foreign policy issues===
====The War Party====
The Democratic party has become the War Party in the United States. It seeks to fuel and exacerbate tensions between the United and Russia and other non-Communist regimes. It actively used domestic surveillance and police state tactics against opponents who criticized the [[military industrial complex]]. It supports [[open borders]] in the United States to strengthen the party with illegal and indigent voters, yet opposes Russia's open borders policy with Ukraine by using sanctions intended to defend Ukrainian borders and sovereignty.

In the [[Arab Spring]], Democrats forced a [[regime change]] against a US ally, armed radical Islamic terrorists and provided training, logistical support, and aerial coverage in combat. It provided weapons transport from Libya and [[Qatar]] to arm the [[Islamic State]].

The Democratic party started the so-called Syrian "civil" war, which has cost a half a million lives and created a global refugee crisis.

Both the Syrian and Libyan crisis', started by Democratic war policy, created a 4 million man exodus of migrant invaders, 85% predominantly male of military age, to invade European civilization.

The Democrat war machine brought back the institution of Black African [[slavery]] as a vital part of Libyan [[economy]] after it disposed of an American ally.

==Religion==
In the United States, there is some correlation between religious and political affiliation, though people of all faiths and denominations can be found among the supporters of each of the main parties.

Historically, [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] voters have had a tendency to identify with the Democratic Party; in recent decades there has been little difference. However, Catholic politicians are mostly Democrats, including Speaker of the House [[Nancy Pelosi]]. However, several general ideals of the Democratic Party's platform — most notably, the party's overall support for the legality of [[abortion]] and many methods of [[contraception]] — are contrary to the position of the [[Catholic Church]]. In 2012, there was a controversy regarding a national organization of religious women ("nuns") speaking out against House Republican budget proposals. This resulted in a national publicity tour and protests called "Nuns on the Bus".

With regard to Protestants, members of [[Evangelical]] churches in recent years have voted about 70-80% Republican. However, the large majority of Democratic Party members are Protestants. One unusual feature of the Democratic Party, however, is that it draws substantial support both from committed African-American Protestants (most of whom are Baptists) and from secular and atheist voters. The strong opposition to [[homosexuality]] found among many Black Protestants contrasts strikingly with the support frequently shown by other Democrats for the [[homosexual agenda]]. One reason for this contrast could be the Democrats' strong support for minority rights.

Democrats also generally believe that organized religion should be separate from public life, and as such are typically supported by the [[ACLU]]. For example, in 1999 the Congress took up a bill to protect the display of the [[Ten Commandments]]. In the House of Representatives, over 3/4ths of the Democratic party members voted to remove the display.<ref>https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/06/18/gun.rollcall/ten.commandments.html</ref> The measure did not pass the Congress, and as a result when a member of the Alabama Supreme Court, [[Roy Moore]], posted a [[Ten Commandments]] display in his courthouse, the ACLU was able to have the display removed.

=== Religious affiliation and voting ===
Pew Forum reports about the religious affiliation of voters who voted for Barack Obama in 2012:
{{Cquote|About seven-in-ten religiously unaffiliated voters (70%) and Jews (69%) voted for Obama in 2012. A similar share of Jews in our survey (64%) say they are Democrats, while all three subsets of religious “[[nones]]” ([[Atheism|atheists]], [[Agnosticism|agnostics]] and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular”) lean in that direction as well.<ref>[http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/23/u-s-religious-groups-and-their-political-leanings/ U.S. religious groups and their political leanings]</ref>}}

===Post Civil War===
Religious lines were sharply drawn.<ref>Kleppner (1979).</ref> Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Scandinavian Lutherans and other pietists and evangelicals in the North were tightly linked to the Republican Party. In sharp contrast, liturgical groups, especially the Catholics, Episcopalians, and German Lutherans, looked to the Democratic Party for protection from pietistic moralism, especially prohibition. Both parties cut across the class structure, with the Democrats more bottom-heavy.

Cultural issues, especially prohibition and foreign language schools became important because of the sharp religious divisions in the electorate. In the North, about 50% of the voters were pietistic or evangelical Protestants who believed the government should be used to reduce social sins, such as drinking. Liturgical churches (Roman Catholics, German Lutherans, Episcopalians) comprised over a quarter of the vote and wanted the government to stay out of the morality business. Prohibition debates and referenda heated up politics in most states over a period of decade, as national prohibition was finally passed in 1918 (and repealed in 1933), serving as a major issue in the North between the wet Democracy and the dry GOP.<ref>In the South the Democrats were mostly on the dry side. Kleppner (1979).</ref>

==History==
'''First Party System'''

Democrats claim that [[Thomas Jefferson]] founded their party in 1792 at the start of the [[First Party System]]. The [[Republicans (Jeffersonian)|Jeffersonian Republicans]] was a political party established under the leadership of Jefferson and [[James Madison]]. At the time, it was generally called the Republicans, but it had no relationship to today's Republican Party, founded in 1854. The 1816 election was the last occasion when the Federalist Party nominated a presidential candidate. In the 1820s, the Jeffersonian Republicans split into several fractions. [[Andrew Jackson]] emerged as the candidate of one of these groups and was elected president in 1828. Well into the 21st century, Jefferson and Jackson have been regularly honored by local Democrat parties with an annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/us/jefferson-jackson-dinner-will-be-renamed.html|title=Jefferson-Jackson Dinner Will Be Renamed|date=August 8, 2015|work=New York Times|accessdate=|first=Ashley|last=Southhall}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2015/11/16/colorado-democratic-party-considers-renaming-annual-jefferson-jackson-dinner/123835/|title=Colorado Democrats consider renaming Jefferson Jackson dinner|work=The Denver Post|first=John|last= Frank|date=November 16, 2015|accessdate=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/07/jefferson_jackson_renamed_loui.html|title=As state Democratic parties rename their Jefferson-Jackson dinners, will Louisiana change 'J-J?'|work=The Times Picayune|first=Kevin |last=Litten|date= July 23, 2015|accessdate=}}</ref>

Most historians regard Jackson's 1832 campaign organization as the beginning of today's Democratic Party. The Democratic Party itself traces its origin to Jefferson's Republicans.<ref>World Book</ref> The leadership of the Jeffersonian Republicans, including [[John Quincy Adams]] and [[Henry Clay]], created the National Republican Party. Adams supporters called themselves National Republicans, antecedents of the Whig and later the Republican parties.<ref name="presidents">William DeGregorio, ''The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents'', Gramercy 1997</ref>

The modern Democratic party was formed during 1828-34, under the national leadership of Jackson and Van Buren, with organizations in all the states comprised of local political leaders. This became the era of [[Jacksonian Democracy]]. The Jacksonians resembled the [[Jeffersonian Democracy|Jeffersonians]] especially in terms of anti-elite rhetoric of opposition to "aristocracy" (that is, wealthy old families), distrust of banks (and paper money), and faith in "the people." By his extensive use of federal [[Spoils system|patronage]], President Jackson removed old office-holders to make way for party loyalists. With the emergence of the Whig Party, the nation now had a new party system, the [[Second Party System]], which lasted until 1854.

The party held its first national convention in 1832 to choose a new running mate for Jackson; it nominated Martin Van Buren for vice president and endorsed the reelection of Jackson. Jackson easily defeated Clay in 1832. In the political realignment of 1828-32, some of Jackson's supporters from the election of 1828, especially businessmen and bankers, switched to the opposition Whig Party as Jackson crusaded against the [[Second Bank of the United States]]. The name "Democratic Party" became common by the mid-1830s.

=== Jacksonian Democracy===
[[image:donk1837.jpg|thumb|1837 cartoon shows Democratic Party as donkey]]
The new party dominated the [[Second Party System]] (as political scientists call it; historians call it "Jacksonian Democracy", 1832-54). After 1832, the Democratic Party drew support from a cross-section of the country; every group was represented. However, the vast majority of rich merchants, bankers, and plantation owners were Whigs, as were most evangelical Protestants. The party was strongest among traditionalistic farmers, frontiersmen, unskilled workers, Irish Catholics, and local or state political leaders. It was weakest in [[New England]], where industrialization turned most factory workers and white-collar workers into Whigs, but was dominant in all other regions. The key issues it promoted were opposition to elites and aristocrats, popular democracy (in terms of voting rights and access to government patronage jobs) and opposition to the Bank of the United States (Jackson vetoed its charter renewal in 1832). The policies were known as [[Jacksonian Democracy]]. [[Image:Jackson1832.jpg|thumb|300px|left]]

Banking and tariffs were the central domestic policy issues from 1828 to 1852. The Democrats favored the [[Mexican-American War]]; Whigs opposed it. Democrats attracted Catholic Irish and German immigrants and denounced anti-immigrant nativism. Both the Democrats and Whigs were divided on the issue of slavery.

In the 1830s the Loco-Focos in New York City were radically democratic, anti-monopoly, and proponents of [[laissez-faire]]. Their chief spokesman was writer [[William Leggett]]. At this time labor unions were few; some were loosely affiliated with the party.

The economy went sour in the late 1830s with Van Buren getting the blame; he lost reelection as president in 1840 to the Whig [[William Henry Harrison]]. The Democrats gained the White House back in 1844 with [[James K. Polk]]. He had a successful term, then retired. The Democratic National Committee was created in 1848 at the convention that nominated General [[Lewis Cass]], who lost to General [[Zachary Taylor]] of the Whigs. In state after state, the Democrats gained small but permanent advantages over the Whigs, until by 1852 the Whig Party was fatally weakened by divisions regarding the issue of slavery and they soon vanished.

The Democratic party dominated the North from the 1840s to 1854. Northern Democrats opposed banks, criticized corporate practices, and preached the ideals of a free society. They called for rapid territorial expansion of the United States, saying that in territorial expansion lay a means for thwarting the pretensions of the [[Slave Power]].

[[Franklin Pierce]] of New Hampshire was elected president in 1852, followed by [[James Buchanan]] of Pennsylvania in 1856. They proved poor presidents who lost control of the slavery issue, and the party, as the nation broke apart and fought the [[American Civil War]].

====Racist and segregationist traditions====
[[File:Png;base64766baf9bf9385bcf.png|right|350px|thumb|Andrew Jackson not only founded the Democratic Party, but he also founded the infamous Trail of Tears.]]
:''See also [[Trail of Tears]], [[genocide|Ethnic cleansing]] and [[Dred Scott decision]]''
The 21st Congress was controlled by the Jacksonian Democrats. The first major bill they passed was the [[Indian Removal Act]], authorizing the removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminoles from the South to a territory west of the Mississippi River which became [[Oklahoma]]. The bill was controversial, opposed by many Christians and Northerners. During the first stage of the Choctaws’ forced migration begun in 1831, thousands died during the journey. Each successive stage was marred by a lack of food, shelter, and protection from the elements. Diphtheria and typhoid were rampant. Over the decade, more than 46,000 Native Americans experienced these conditions.

Historian John Toland maintains that the [[Nazi Party]]'s segregation and deportation of [[Jew]]s into ghettos and concentration camps were derived from the Democratic Party's segregation and deportation of Native Americans to reservation land.<ref>https://jewishjournal.com/culture/food/182867/honoring-native-american-voices-recognizing-tragic-history-and-praising-brave-spirits/</ref>

In the 31st Congress, the Democrats had a majority in the Senate and a large plurality in the House, while the [[Free Soil Republican]]s held only 9 seats. The [[Whig]]s held the second largest contingent as well as the White House. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which penalized local and state officials in free states who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave on demand of a slave owner. Any person aiding a runaway slave by providing food or shelter was subject to six months' imprisonment and a fine. Slave owners needed only to supply a sworn affidavit to a U.S. Marshal to capture an escaped slave. Since a suspected slave had no [[Jury trial|right to trial]], the law resulted in the kidnapping of free blacks by bounty hunters and conscription into slavery in both free states and slave states, as suspected fugitive slaves were denied the right to a legal defense. The law's passage ultimately led to the demise of the Whigs and rise of Free Soil-Republicans.

Jackson had appointed his [[Attorney General]], Roger B. Taney, to fill the seat of retiring Chief Justice [[John Marshall]]. In 1846, [[Dred Scott]], an African-American slave living in Missouri, filed suit against his master for his own freedom. Scott argued that he had legally gained freedom in the 1830s, when he had resided with a previous master in the free state of Illinois and a portion of the Louisiana Territory where slavery was banned. After a series of legal battles lasting over a decade, the case made its way to the Supreme Court.

Democrat President [[James Buchanan]] said in his inaugural address that the issue of slavery would soon be "finally settled" by the Supreme Court.<ref>Simon (2006), pp. 117–120</ref> Taney sought to permanently remove slavery as a subject of national debate. All the Democratic appointees on the Court were outraged over what they saw as "Northern aggression" towards slavery, an institution they believed was critical to "Southern life and values."<ref>McPherson171174</ref> In the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the Taney Court ruled that persons of African descent could not be, nor were ever intended to be, citizens under the U.S. Constitution. Taney wrote that the framers of the Constitution believed that blacks “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect;" and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. The court also declared the [[Missouri Compromise]] unconstitutional, thus permitting slavery in all territories of the westward expansion.

The ''Dred Scott'' decision received strong criticism and bolstered the growing popularity of the [[Republican Party]]. Republicans rejected Taney's legal reasoning and argued that the [[Declaration of Independence]] showed that the [[Founding Fathers]] favored the protection of individual rights for all free men, regardless of race.<ref>Simon (2006), pp. 138–139</ref> Many Republicans accused Taney of being part of a conspiracy to legalize slavery throughout the United States.<ref>Simon (2006), pp. 155–156</ref>

===Civil War and aftermath===
During the [[Third Party System]] (1854-1896) the Democrats became the minority in the face of the newly formed Republican Party (formed by former Whigs and Free Soil [[abolition]]ists), which controlled nearly all northern states by 1860, bringing a solid majority in the Electoral College. A powerful Republican issue was the allegation that northern Democrats, including "Doughfaces" like Pierce and Buchanan, and advocates of [[popular sovereignty]] like [[Stephen A. Douglas]] and [[Lewis Cass]], were accomplices to the [[Slave Power]]. The Republicans meant by Slave Power the conspiracy of slaveholders to seize control of the federal government and block the "progress of liberty."
[[File:371px-Scourged back by McPherson & Oliver, 1863, colourised.jpg|left|275px|thumb|''Another definition of [[Progressive|Progressivism]]:'' Prior to the end of slavery and suppressing the vote for 100 years, then later keeping Blacks dependent on [[entitlement]]s, Democrats used the whip to keep Blacks in line.]]
In 1860 the Democrats were unable to stop the election of Republican [[Abraham Lincoln]], even as they feared his election would lead to civil war. The party was divided between North and South. The northern wing nominated Douglas, and the southern wing nominated Vice President [[John C. Breckinridge]]. Douglas campaigned across the country and came in second in the popular vote, but carried only Missouri. Breckinridge carried 11 slave states.

The heart of Democrat Resistance in the North resided in New York. The New York City draft riots (July 13–16, 1863) were the largest civil and racially-charged insurrection in American history, aside from the Civil War itself. Initially intended as a protest against the draft, it turned into a race riot. Workers feared free black people would compete for jobs. Black people throughout the city were attacked. 120 people were killed, public buildings, churches, homes of various abolitionists or sympathizers, and many black homes were ransacked or destroyed. The Colored Orphan Asylum was burnt to the ground.

The Republican Party was beginning a 50-year era of dominance (1858-1910). During the war, Northern Democrats divided into two factions, [[War Democrats]], who supported the military policies of President Lincoln, and [[Copperheads]], who strongly opposed them. Historian Kenneth Stampp has captured the Copperhead spirit in his depiction of Democratic Congressman Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana:
{{quotebox|There was an earthy quality in Voorhees, "the tall sycamore of the Wabash." On the stump his hot temper, passionate [[partisan]]ship, and stirring eloquence made an irresistible appeal to the western Democracy. His bitter cries against [[Protectionism|protective]] [[tariff]]s and national banks, his intense [[race prejudice]], his suspicion of the eastern Yankee, his devotion to personal liberty, his defense of the Constitution and state rights faithfully reflected the views of his constituents. Like other Jacksonian agrarians he resented the political and economic revolution then in progress. Voorhees idealized a way of life which he thought was being destroyed by the current rulers of his country. His bold protests against these dangerous trends made him the idol of the Democracy of the Wabash Valley.<ref>Stampp, 211.</ref>}}

The Democrats lost consecutive presidential elections from 1860 through 1880 (but 1876 was in dispute); 1884 was their next victory. The Democrats were weakened by "The Cause" in the Civil War but benefited from resentment toward Republicans for its effort to promote equality for blacks in Reconstruction. The Republicans received the eternal hatred and hostility of Democrats, and shied away from social issues for the next 150 years, focusing instead on its original purpose of preserving the Union through national security, and on economic issues. The [[Redeemers]] gave the Democrats control of every Southern state. [[Ku Klux Klan|Democratic terrorism]] at first was focused on Republicans; once the Republicans had been chased out, the lynching of Blacks peaked about 1892 with over 150 victims, or about one every two days.

Jim Crow and the disenfranchisement of black voters in most of the South took place 1890-1900. From 1880 to 1960 the "[[Solid South]]" voted Democratic in all presidential elections (except 1928). After 1900 the key election in southern states were white-only caucuses;<ref>The system remained in place until the [[McGovern-Fraser Commission]], which unseated white big city Democrat bosses at the national convention.</ref> victory in that primary was "tantamount to election."

Though Republicans continued to control the White House until 1912 (except 1884 and 1892), the Democrats remained competitive in the states, especially in the mid-Atlantic and lower Midwest, and controlled the House of Representatives for most of that period. In the election of 1884, [[Grover Cleveland]], the conservative Democratic Governor of New York, won the presidency, a feat he repeated in 1892, having lost in the election of 1888.

====Civil service replaces Reconstruction and the spoils system====
[[File:Lynch.jpg|thumb|450px|The first victims (yellow line) were Republican [[carpetbagger]]s; once they were driven out the Democrats turned on Blacks (blue line). Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S., and is based on the 1952 Negro year Book.]]
:{{See also|Civil service system}}
While the Democratic party lost the Civil War, it won the battle to control the United States Civil Service [[bureaucracy]].<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/21/trump-vs-the-deep-state Trump vs the Deep State], Evan Osnos, ''[[The New Yorker]]'', May 14, 2018</ref> Since the end of Reconstruction in 1876 and passage of the 1882 Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, the Democratic party is no longer dependent on the spoils system and winning elections to maintain its power.

With the defeat of the Democrats and the South, to the victors went the spoils. Republicans immediately stripped [[white]] [[male]]s who engaged in rebellion against the [[United States]] of the [[vote]], and gave it to Blacks. The white males who were deprived of the vote were also barred from holding any civil service position and were universally Democrats. Newly freed Blacks also held local, state and federal elected and non-elected positions. Many whites were barred from holding office and voting. This disenfranchisement created enormous resentment among Democrats, so they formed the [[Ku Klux Klan]] to engage in voter intimidation and suppression.

By 1876, the situation had become ungovernable for Republicans.<ref>"the Compromise of 1877, which resolved the disputed presidential election of 1876 by awarding the presidency to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes (who had lost the popular vote) in exchange for the removal of federal troops from the South after the Civil War (which benefitted Democrats, who wished to end Reconstruction and return white supremacy to southern state governments)." [https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/the-gilded-age/gilded-age/a/gilded-age-politics-patronage Gilded Age politics: patronage]. khanacademy.org</ref> The Republicans had been able to pass the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments which guaranteed Blacks basic equality and civil rights, but eventually had to declare an amnesty for whites who engaged in rebellion. Reconstruction ended, and Republicans withdrew from [[social engineering]] which had divided the country so deeply and stirred up such bitterness and hatred among Democrats toward both Blacks and Republicans. Reconstruction earned Republicans the undying [[hatred]] of Democrats.<ref>See for example [https://youtu.be/-yY7g2jOquM James O'Keefe debate with Hairy Hillbilly Hippie] for an example of a partisan Democrat who votes against his own economic interests.</ref><ref>See excerpt from [[Dinesh D'Souza]]'s, ''[https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/dinesh-dsouza-the-secret-history-of-the-democratic-party Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party]'', Regnery Publishing, July 18, 2016.</ref>

Cleveland was the leader of the [[Bourbon Democrats]], the conservative wing of the party. They represented business [[elitism|elites]], supported banking and railroad goals, promoted capitalism, opposed imperialism and U.S. overseas expansion, opposed the annexation of [[Hawaii]], fought for the [[gold standard]], and opposed [[Bimetallism]]. They strongly supported ending Republican spoils with the [[Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act|Civil Service Reform Act]] and opposed corruption of city bosses, leading the fight against the Tweed Ring. The leading Bourbons included [[Samuel J. Tilden]], David Bennett Hill and William C. Whitney of New York, Arthur Pue Gorman of Maryland, Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, William L. Wilson of West Virginia, [[John Griffin Carlisle]] of Kentucky, William F. Vilas of Wisconsin, J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska, John M. Palmer of Illinois, Horace Boies of Iowa, L.Q.C. Lamar of Mississippi, and railroad builder James J. Hill of Minnesota. A prominent intellectual was [[Woodrow Wilson]]. The Bourbons were in power when the [[Panic of 1893]] hit; it was a deep depression and they took the blame. A fierce struggle inside the party ensued, with catastrophic losses for both the Bourbon and agrarian factions in 1894, leading to the showdown in 1896.

===Bryan and anti-Semitism===
[[Image:Dead-dem1880.jpg|thumb|425px|right|In 1880 when General Hancock (right) became the presidential nominee of the Democrats, Republican cartoonists showed the Democratic party history as a horror chamber featuring atrocities in the Civil War era; the donkey" shows the party as a coalition of the rear end of the South joined to the rear end of the North]]
[[Grover Cleveland]] led the [[bourgeois]] [[Bourbon Democrat]]s but as the [[Panic of 1893|depression of 1893]] deepened his enemies multiplied. The Panic of 1893 started in February 1893, a full month before Cleveland became president. Convinced that the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, passed under the administration of [[Benjamin Harrison]], was largely responsible for the alarming drain on federal gold, President Cleveland called Congress into special session to urge its repeal. Congress consented, but only after bitter debate that divided the Democratic party into two hostile camps-the eastern "goldbugs" and the silver wing of the West and South that was to propel young [[William Jennings Bryan]] to the fore in 1896.<ref name="presidents" />

At the 1896 convention, the silverite-agrarian faction repudiated the president and nominated the crusading orator [[William Jennings Bryan]] on a platform of inflation through "free" silver. The idea was that minting huge numbers of silver dollars would flood the economy with cash and end the depression. Eastern Democrats, unable to accept the party's free-silver platform and unwilling to support McKinley for his tariff views, nominated their own candidate, John M. Palmer of Illinois and called themselves the National, or Gold, Democrats.<ref name="presidents" /> The [[Gold Democrats]] attracted prominent figure such as segregationist [[Woodrow Wilson]] and historian [[Frederick Jackson Turner]] (known for ignoring the contributions of minorities) who refused to vote Republican.

Bryan became an overnight sensation among Democrats with his "Cross of Gold" speech: {{Cquote|"You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQQ0AjqzFxQ</ref>}} Implicit was his assertion that the religious group responsible for the death of Christ was also the source of the United States’ economic woes.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mJLHrb-o5E0C&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=You+shall+not+press+down+upon+the+brow+of+labor+this+crown+of+thorns,+you+shall+not+crucify+mankind+upon+a+cross+of+gold.%27%27+The+antisemitism+evoked+by&source=bl&ots=fp9QYcxY3W&sig=ACfU3U3zQFaSOMeeKxu8DlnOdXz5RdWb7A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjyyr_4tYfgAhXL5YMKHQ5_DKgQ6AEwDnoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=You%20shall%20not%20press%20down%20upon%20the%20brow%20of%20labor%20this%20crown%20of%20thorns%2C%20you%20shall%20not%20crucify%20mankind%20upon%20a%20cross%20of%20gold.''%20The%20antisemitism%20evoked%20by&f=false Antisemitism in America], Leonard Dinnerstein, Oxford University Press, Nov 2, 1995, p. 50.</ref> Crisscrossing the Midwest and East by special train, he gave over 500 speeches to audiences in the millions. In St. Louis he gave 36 speeches to workingmen's audiences all over the city, all in one day. Most Democratic newspapers were hostile (except [[William Randolph Hearst]]'s ''New York Journal'') but Bryan seized control of the media by making the news every day, as he hurled thunderbolts against "Eastern monied interests," a codeword for "Jewish bankers."<ref>https://twitter.com/jdickerson/status/788461796772446208</Ref> Using [[fraud]] and [[violence]], and rallying support by appealing to white supremacy, the Democrats held on to their power in Southern states. Many Democrats refused to endanger [[white supremacy]] by voting against the Democratic Party.<ref>https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_org_populist.html</ref> Ethnic Democrats, (especially Germans and Irish), however, were alarmed and frightened by Bryan.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=XpCgCNZwpvoC</ref> The middle classes, businessmen, newspaper editors, factory workers, railroad workers, and prosperous farmers generally rejected Bryan's crusade.

Bryan was overwhelmed by [[William McKinley]] in the most exciting race in national history.<ref>Refuting Bryan's charges, historians have discovered there was little coercion of workers.</ref> McKinley promised a return to prosperity based on the gold standard, support for industry, railroads and banks, and pluralism that would enable every group to move ahead. Bryan did, however, win the hearts and minds of a majority of Democrats. The election of 1896 was a political realignment. The victory of the Republican Party marked the start of the "Progressive Era," from 1896 to 1932, in which the GOP usually was dominant.

===Wilson and the KKK===
:{{See also|Plessy v. Ferguson}}
Melville Fuller was appointed Chief Justice by President [[Grover Cleveland]] in 1888. Fuller managed Democrat [[Stephen A. Douglas]]'s campaign in the [[1860 presidential election]]. He was known as a Copperhead Democrat. In 1896, a Fuller Court decision declared that racial segregation does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment so long as the "separate but equal" doctrine is followed. The decision allowed the continued existence of Jim Crow laws for another six decades.

The [[Fourth Party System]] began with the 1896 election, a realignment during which the GOP controlled the presidency for 28 of 36 years. The GOP dominated most of the Northeast and Midwest, and half the West. One of the consequences of the Democratic victories in the South was that many Southern Congressmen and Senators were almost automatically re-elected every election. Due to the importance of seniority in the U.S. Senate, Southerners were able to control most of the committees and kill any civil rights legislation.<ref>https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_org_democratic.html</ref> [[William Jennings Bryan]], with a base in the South and Plains states, was strong enough to get the nomination again in 1900 (losing to McKinley) and 1908 (losing to Taft). [[Theodore Roosevelt]] dominated the first decade of the century—and to the annoyance of Democrats "stole" the trust issue by crusading against trusts.
[[File:320px-Birth of a Nation theatrical poster.jpg|left|200px|thumb|'''Birth of a Nation''' released in 1915 depicted the history of the Democratic Party after the Civil War. In 1992, the [[Library of Congress]] deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.]]
Anti-Bryan conservatives controlled the convention in 1904, but they faced a [[Theodore Roosevelt]] landslide. Bryan dropped his free silver and anti-[[imperialism]] rhetoric and supported mainstream [[progressive]] issues, such as the income tax, anti-trust, and direct election of Senators. He backed Woodrow Wilson in 1912, was rewarded with the State Department, then resigned in protest against Wilson's non-pacifistic policies in 1916. Northern Democrats were progressive on most issues, but generally opposed prohibition, were lukewarm regarding [[women's rights]], and were reluctant to undercut the "boss system" in the big cities.

Taking advantage of a deep split in the GOP, the Democrats took control of the House in 1910 and elected the Northern segregationist Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and 1916. Wilson successfully led Congress to a series of Progressive laws, including a reduced tariff, stronger antitrust laws, the [[Federal Reserve System]], hours-and-pay benefits for railroad workers, and outlawing of child labor (which was reversed by the Supreme Court). Furthermore, constitutional amendments for prohibition and woman suffrage were passed in his second term. In effect, Wilson laid to rest the issues of tariffs, money and antitrust that had dominated politics for 40 years.

In 1915 the epic [[Hollywood]] film, ''Birth of a Nation'' was released with its portrayal of black men, many played by white actors in blackface, as unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white women, and the portrayal of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] (KKK) as an heroic force.<ref>[http://www.moviejustice.com/vault/index.php?p=getitem&db_id=4&item_id=27 MJ Movie Reviews – Birth of a Nation, The (1915) by Dan DeVore] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707194449/http://www.moviejustice.com/vault/index.php?p=getitem&db_id=4&item_id=27 |date=July 7, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://themovingarts.com/revered-and-reviled-d-w-griffiths-the-birth-of-a-nation/|first=Eric M.|last=Armstrong|title=Revered and Reviled: D.W. Griffith's 'The Birth of a Nation'|work=The Moving Arts Film Journal|date=February 26, 2010|accessdate=|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529224316/http://themovingarts.com/revered-and-reviled-d-w-griffiths-the-birth-of-a-nation/|archivedate=2019-01-31|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It was the first American motion picture to be screened inside the [[White House]], viewed there by President [[Woodrow Wilson]], members of his cabinet, and their families.<ref>{{harvnb|Stokes|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fGJFpiTjbKwC&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=%22operators+wearing+full+evening+dress+utilized%22&source=bl&ots=AOFjf60Rc_&sig=GJ-f9FVH8MfOtgnzIJLQV_3l-DU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_m5hUMf9JI-whAfz6oCQAg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22operators%20wearing%20full%20evening%20dress%20utilized%22&f=false 111]}}</ref> In a letter to the White House press secretary the author of ''The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan'' which the film is based,<ref name="Franklin pages 417-434">Franklin, John Hope "''The Birth of a Nation'': Propaganda as History" pages 417–434 from ''The Massachusetts Review'' Volume 20, No. 3, Autumn 1979 page 421.</ref> wrote: {{cquote|"The real purpose of my film was to revolutionize Northern sentiments by a presentation of history that would transform every man in the audience into a good Democrat...Every man who comes out of the theater is a Southern partisan for life!"<ref name="Franklin_430">Franklin, John Hope "''The Birth of a Nation'': Propaganda as History" pages 417–434 from ''The Massachusetts Review'' Volume 20, No. 3, Autumn 1979 page 430.</ref>}} In a letter to President Wilson, Thomas Dixon Jr., who authored the book and screenplay, boasted: {{cquote|"This play is transforming the entire population of the North and the West into sympathetic Southern voters. There will never be an issue of your segregation policy".<ref name="Franklin_430"/>}} Dixon was alluding to the fact that Wilson upon becoming president in 1913 had imposed segregation on federal workplaces in Washington D.C. while reducing the number of black employees through demotion or dismissal.<ref>Yellin, Eric S. (2013). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx-NiOJ3n-AC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127 Racism in the Nation's Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson's America] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207065000/https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx-NiOJ3n-AC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127 |date=February 7, 2018 }}''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. p. 127. {{ISBN|9781469607207}}</ref>
[[File:1924 DNC convention.jpg|right|250px|thumb|1924 Democratic Convention.]]
Wilson ordered [[Jim Crow]] segregation in the federal government offices in Washington DC, wiping out 50 years of social progress for African-Americans. No longer could blacks and whites work together in government offices, eat in the same cafeterias, our use the same bathrooms. The Wilson administration went a step further. Through the Treasury Department's Office of the Architect, the bureau charged with construction and maintenance of federal buildings, federal buildings throughout the nation were ordered to furnish segregated bathrooms, even in Northern states were practices as such were virtually unknown.<ref>''American Nightmare: The History of Jim Crow'', Jerrold M. Packard, St. Martin's Press, 2003, pp. 124-125</ref>

Wilson led the U.S. to victory in the World War and turned his attention to foreign affairs. He wrote parts of the [[Versailles Treaty]], especially the new [[League of Nations]]. But in 1919 Wilson's political skills faltered, and suddenly everything turned sour. The Senate rejected Versailles and the League, a nationwide wave of strikes and violence caused unrest, and Wilson's health collapsed. The GOP came roaring back in a landslide in 1920, as [[Warren G. Harding]] defeated a Democratic ticket memorable for having [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] as the vice presidential nominee.

At the 1924 Democratic National Convention, the big fight was over a resolution denouncing by name the [[Ku Klux Klan]]; it was pushed by New York governor [[Al Smith]] and Alabama Senator Oscar W. Underwood in order to embarrass the front-runner, William McAdoo of California. After furious debate, the resolution failed by just a single vote. At its peak in the mid-1920s, the KKK claimed to include about 15% of the nation's eligible voters, approximately 4–5 million people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2730 |title=Ku Klux Klan in the Twentieth Century |author=Lay, Shawn |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |publisher=Coker College }}</ref> The Klan split in the party over cultural issues, especially [[Prohibition]], facilitated Republican landslides in 1920, 1924 and 1928. However [[Al Smith]] did build a strong Catholic base in the big cities in 1928, and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s election as Governor of New York that year brought a new leader to center stage.

=== New Deal coalition of liberals and segregationists ===
:{{See also|Economic planning|New Deal and Fascism}}
The [[stock market crash of 1929]] and the ensuing [[Great Depression]] set the stage for a more progressive government and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] won a landslide victory in the [[United States presidential election, 1932|election of 1932]], campaigning on a platform of "Relief, Recovery, and Reform." This came to be termed "[[New Deal|The New Deal]]" after a phrase in his acceptance speech. The Democrats also swept to large majorities in both houses of Congress, and among state Governors. Roosevelt altered the nature of the Party, away from laissez-faire capitalism, and towards the [[administrative state]] and [[entitlement]]s. Conservative Democrats were outraged; led by [[Al Smith]] they formed the [[American Liberty League]] in 1934 and counterattacked. They failed and either retired from politics or joined the GOP. A few of them, such as [[Dean Acheson]] found their way back to the Democratic Party.
[[Image:509px-FDR in 1933.jpg|thumb|left|200px|President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] (1933-1945)]]
After making gains in Congress in 1934 Roosevelt moved left and embarked on a big spending program called "The Second New Deal." It was characterized by building up labor unions, nationalizing welfare by the [[WPA]] (with 2 million unemployed men), setting up [[Social Security]] and raising taxes on "economic royalists."

Roosevelt's [[New Deal]] created an Alphabet soup of government programs. They imposed strong regulations on the banking and financial system, transportation, communications, stock markets, labor-management relations and housing. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) imposed restrictive covenants on mortgage underwriters to discourage government-backed home loans in areas "infiltrated" by "inharmonious racial or nationality groups."<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-deal-as-raw-deal-for-blacks-in-segregated-communities/2017/05/25/07416bba-080a-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474_story.html The New Deal as raw deal for blacks in segregated communities], Charles Lane, ''[[Washington Post]]'', May 25, 2017.</ref> Restrictive covenants were legal documents to ensure that blacks could not buy homes in white neighborhoods. These covenants forbade the owners and their heirs from selling their property to blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities. Because of these covenants, if the owners sold to a minority, the neighborhood property association had the right to sue in court to ensure that property and homes did not change hands and became the property of minorities.

Roosevelt built up the "[[New Deal Coalition]]", a powerful coalition of voters and special interest groups. Key components included corrupt big city political machines and labor unions. Key voter groups included traditional white segregationists, Southerners, Catholics, Jews, and liberals, as well as some Northern blacks. This united voter base allowed Democrats to be elected to Congress and the presidency for much of the next 30 years.

After a sweeping landslide reelection in 1936—losing only Maine and Vermont—Roosevelt stunned the nation, and his party, by calling for legislation to enlarge the Supreme Court by five new members. A firestorm of opposition erupted, led by his own vice president [[John Nance Garner]]. Roosevelt was defeated by an alliance of Republicans and conservative Democrats, who formed a coalition that managed to block nearly all socialist planning. (Only a minimum wage law got through.) Angry with dissenters in his own party, Roosevelt tried to destroy them. In 1938, he actively campaigned against five incumbent conservative Democratic senators; all five senators won re-election. In 1940, Roosevelt broke with tradition and sought a third term as President. The decision was controversial - his own vice president quit over the matter while Democrat Governor [[Strom Thurmond]] supported his third term.<ref>https://www.americanheritage.com/content/what-trent-meant</ref>

On the eve of [[World War II]], Roosevelt appointed [[Joseph P. Kennedy]], father of John Kennedy, [[Bobby Kennedy]], and [[Ted Kennedy]] as Ambassador to [[Great Britain]]. Joe Kennedy was a notorious [[anti-Semite]] and [[Nazi]] sympathizer. At the time of the [[Kristallnacht]], the ''New York Times'' reported Kennedy had a solution to the problems of German Jews: ship them all to [[Africa]].<ref>https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-kennedys-answer-to-the-jewish-question-ship-them-to-africa?ref=home?ref=home</ref>

====FDR's Southern Strategy====
To win election, FDR forged a coalition of Northern Democrats and Southern segregationists by placing [[John Nance Garner]] of Texas on the ticket as his running mate. The Democrats won an overwhelming majority in the House, picked up 97 seats, bringing the total to 313. On the Republican side the first African-American in the 20th century, and the first since Reconstruction, Rep. Oscar De Priest was re-elected. The Democratic chairman of the new Congress' Committee on Accounts, Rep. Lindsay Warren, ordered a De Priest staffer and his son to be thrown out of the House's whites-only cafeteria. There was a separate facility for blacks in the basement. De Priest introduced a resolution calling for an investigation. On the House floor, De Priest refuted Warren's claim that African-Americans had always been banned from the restaurant, recalling that he and other black patrons had frequented the House cafeteria. De Priest implored his colleagues to support the resolution, remarking, {{quotebox|“If we allow segregation and the denial of constitutional rights under the Dome of the Capitol, where in God’s name will we get them? If we allow this challenge to go without correcting it, it will set an example where people will say Congress itself approves of segregation.”<ref>https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/D/DE-PRIEST,-Oscar-Stanton-(D000263)/</ref>}} [[File:LynchinginAmerica-6ngpoajqm9pq7z40qd21q4ejl9fx6zrggi1pq7r5bic.png|right|300px|thumb|FDR always opposed federal anti-lynching legislation, first introduced by Republicans, as part of FDR's Southern Strategy.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/12/07/is-it-time-for-progressives-to-stop-venerating-fdr/?utm_term=.2b894a27cc04</ref>]] The effort to desegregate the Democrat-controlled House cafeteria was defeated. Civil rights were not on the party agenda. FDR always opposed the federal anti-lynching law as part of FDR's Southern Strategy. Anti-lynching bills were first introduced by Republicans. The Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill was introduced in 1934, calling on the Roosevelt administration to take an active role in ending lynching in the United States. Senators Edward Costigan of Colorado and Robert Wagner of New York sponsored the bill. Under its provisions, any state officer who failed to exercise diligence in protecting a person under their care from a lynch mob or who neglected to arrest persons involved in a lynching, could themselves be subject to federal imprisonment for five years and a $5,000 fine. In 1935 attempts were made to persuade Roosevelt to speak out in support of the bill. However, Roosevelt refused. He argued that the white voters in the South would never forgive him if he supported the bill and he would, therefore, lose the next election.

Even the appearance in the newspapers of the lynching of Rubin Stacy failed to change Roosevelt's mind on the subject. Six deputies were escorting Stacy to Dade County jail in Miami on July, 19, 1935, when he was taken by a white mob and hanged by the side of the home of Marion Jones, the woman who had made the original complaint against him. ''The New York Times'' later revealed that "subsequent investigation revealed that Stacy, a homeless tenant farmer, had gone to the house to ask for food; the woman became frightened and screamed when she saw Stacy's face."<ref>https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-costigan-wagner-act/</ref> The Costigan-Wagner Bill had wide support; however, the bill was defeated in 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938 and 1940.

Ever since the Draft Riots of 1863, New York was the bastion of Democratic Resistance in the North. It was a Republican mayor however who made the first efforts to coax traditional black Lincoln Republicans into the New Deal coalition. Fiorello La Guardia was a [[RINO]], or Republican New Dealer. Roosevelt provided federal funds to La Guardia and withheld support from La Guardia's opponents. After the 1935 Harlem riot, La Guardia decreed that African-Americans were not to be arrested for anything, and that police patrolling [[Harlem]] could not carry nightsticks.<ref>[https://vault.fbi.gov/.../Eleanor%20Roosevelt%20Part%2016%20of%2040 Eleanor Roosevelt Part 16 of 37 - FBI — The Vault, p. 46]</ref> Not until the presidential election of 1960 when John Kennedy intervened for the release of Martin Luther King, who was jailed by local Democrats two weeks before the election in Atlanta following a non-violent protest, did the majority of Blacks begin voting Democratic ''en bloc''. The transition was solidified four years later when anti-Vietnam war candidate Barry Goldwater defied Republican Congressional leadership and voted with Southern Democrats to oppose the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It was the first time a GOP nominee carried the South in over 100 years. In fact, it was the only states Goldwater carried.

====Relief efforts====
Journalist John Flynn reported on an investigation by the Senate Committee on Campaign Expenditures: {{quotebox|"The WPA foremen were given a sheet upon which they had to report on the standing of the reliefers in the political campaign. It became a part of [[Harry Hopkins|Mr. Hopkins]]' [[WPA]] organization in Kentucky to learn how many of the down-and-out had enough devotion to Franklin D. Roosevelt to be entitled to eat. It was not sufficient for an indigent Kentuckian to be just down and out and hungry. He had to believe that the President of the United States was his redeemer and had to be ready to register that belief at the polls. The reliefers were asked to sign papers pledging themselves to the election of the senior senator from Kentucky. They were given campaign buttons and told to wear them and there were instances where, if they refused, they were thrown off the WPA rolls. All this, of course, was in a Democratic primary where only Democrats could vote. But there were a lot of poor Republicans in Kentucky who couldn't vote in the Democratic primary so long as they were Republicans. So they were told to change their registration and become Democrats, or no WPA jobs for them.}} Similar abuses were found in other states.

====Communist infiltration====
[[Image:Fbisilvermasterfilevol15p4.JPG|right|250px|thumb|[[CPUSA]] defector [[Louis Budenz]] testified he could name 400 individuals involved in the [[CPUSA#Secret apparatus|Communist conspiracy]];<ref>[http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft296nb15t&chunk.id=d0e6193&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e4718&brand=eschol FBI Headquarters File 100-63, Louis Francis Budenz, Internal Security—C, Serial 122.]</ref> others testified there may have been over 1000.<ref>Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations ([https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/McCarthy_Transcripts.htm McCarthy Hearings 1953-54]).</ref> The [[Silvermaster group]] infiltrated 27 high level Stalinist [[KGB]] operatives into government jobs in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, including the first General Secretary of the [[United Nations]], the first head of the [[International Monetary Fund]], the head of the [[Manhattan Project]] as well as speech writers and staff assistants for both the President and Vice President.<ref>So thorough was [[KGB]] penetration of the Roosevelt Administration, that when [[Army Signals Intelligence]] cryptographer [[Meredith Gardner]] extracted the names of [[Hans Bethe]], [[Niels Bohr]], [[Enrico Fermi]], [[Harold Urey]], [[Edward Teller]] and 11 other scientists working on the [[Manhattan Project]] from a December 2, 1944 KGB encipherment, [http://www.nsa.gov/venona/venon00014.cfm Venona 1699 New York to Moscow, December 2, 1944]. KGB agent [[William Weisband]] watched him do it. ''VENONA: Soviet Espionage and the American Response, 1939-1957'', Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner, eds., (Washington, D.C.: [[National Security Agency]], Central Intelligence Agency, 1996) [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/preface.htm]; The ''Baltimore Sun'' (Laura Sullivan, "SPY'S ROLE LINKED TO US FAILURE ON KOREA," 6/29/00) reported that a report newly declassified by the US National Security Agency (NSA) shows that William Weisband alerted the Soviets to extensive US eavesdropping in 1948, resulting in a complete blackout of information from the communist bloc for more than two years. This crippled the NSA's intelligence gathering efforts in the late 1940s and begins to explain why the US was caught unprepared for the [[DPRK]]'s 1950 invasion of the [[ROK]]. NSA historian David A. Hatch, who authored the report, said, "This report answers several significant questions. Up until now, there has been a great lack of knowledge surrounding some of these events ... and this should help sharpen [the public's] understanding." [Ed. note: This article was included in the US Department of Defense's Early Bird news service for June 29, 2000.] [http://www.nautilus.org/archives/napsnet/dr/0006/JUN29.html#item8]</ref><ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060820054409/http://www.nwc.navy.mil/press/review/2000/summer/re2-su0.htm ''The Venona Progeny''], Hayen B. Peake, Naval War College Review, Summer 2000, Vol. LIII, No. 3. "[[Venona]] makes absolutely clear that they had active agents in the U.S. State Department, Treasury Department, Justice Department, Senate committee staffs, the military services, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the [[Manhattan Project]], and the [[White House]], as well as wartime agencies. No modern government was more thoroughly penetrated." [[Hayden B. Peake]] is the curator of [[Central Intelligence Agency]]’s (CIA) Historical Intelligence Collection. [http://intellit.muskingum.edu/alpha_folder/P_folder/peake.html]</ref><ref>[http://education-research.org/PDFs/Silvermaster015.pdf FBI Silvermaster file Vol. 15, pg. 4 pdf.]</ref>
]]
:{{See also|Progressives for Obama|Students for a Democratic Society}}
The New Deal was infiltrated with [[Russia]]n controlled [[Communists]] from the beginning.<ref>The [[Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy]] wrote in its final report, "The first fact is that a significant Communist conspiracy was in place in Washington, New York, and Hollywood." [http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/appa6.html Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, Appendix A 6. The Experience of The Bomb]; the report also included, "At this distance it is difficult to conceive the intensity of Communist conviction in the 1930s....Looking back, however, we see more clearly the dilemma ... By 1950... the United States Government possessed information which the American public desperately needed to know: proof that there had been a serious attack on American security by the [[Soviet Union]], with considerable assistance from what was, indeed, an “enemy within.” The fact that we knew this was now known to, or sufficiently surmised by, the Soviet authorities. Only the American public was denied this information. [http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/appa7.html Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, Appendix A 7. The Cold War]</ref> [[Harold Ware]] was a [[Communist Party USA]] (CPUSA) official in the [[Agricultural Adjustment Administration]] (AAA) and founded the [[Ware group]]. The group consisted of young lawyers and economists, had about 75 members in 1934 and was divided into about eight cells. The AAA was later found [[unconstitutional]], but by that time the Communist operatives had established jobs in the [[civil service system]] and were simply reassigned elsewhere in government. [[Alger Hiss]], [[Lee Pressman]], [[John Abt]], [[Charles Kramer]], [[Nathan Witt]], [[Henry Collins]], [[George Silverman]], [[Marion Bachrach]], [[John Herrmann]], [[Nathaniel Weyl]], [[Donald Hiss]] and [[Victor Perlo]] were all members. [[Harry Dexter White]], who was involved in the most auspicious policy [[subversion (political)|subversion]] as Director of the Division of Monetary Research in the [[Treasury Department]], was also affiliated with the group. The Ware group was the CPUSA's covert arm at this time. Each of these agents not only provided classified documents to Soviet intelligence, but was involved in political influence operations as well.

In 1934, a Congressional Investigation was held to examine statements by Dr. William A. Wirt, who headed the Office of Education which later became the [[Department of Education]]. Dr. Wirt had attended a dinner party with several [[Brain Trust]]ers at the home of his secretary, [[Alice Barrows]].<ref>A June 1945 [[Venona project]] decryption of Soviet [[KGB]] wartime cables from the Washington D.C. KGB Office to Moscow's Eighth Department, the political intelligence wing, relayed information on matters regarding Attorney General Francis Biddle. KGB agent [[Charles Kramer]], who served on the staff of several U.S. Senate Subcommittees, and Barrows are the sources of the information. ''Venona 3706 KGB Washington to Moscow, 29 June 1945.'' Mary Van Kleek who headed the Russell Sage Foundation and also served on the Board of the National Council, visited Washington weekly to meet with Barrows and [[Greg Silvermaster|Nathan Gregory Silvermaster]].

During [[World War II]] Barrows was the Executive Secretary of the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship. This organization was declared in 1953 to be a [[Glossary of espionage terms#Fronts and cutouts|Communist front]] organization by the [[Subversive Activities Control Board]] (SACB). In its Findings of Fact, the SACB said the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, "advances positions...markedly pro-Soviet and...anti-United States Government...is a Communist-action organization which has as its primary purpose to advance the objectives of the world Communist movement under the [[hegemony]] of the Soviet Union; it has the policy to support and defend the Soviet Union under any and all circumstances...We conclude that the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, Inc., is substantially directed, dominated, and controlled by the Communist Party of the United States...and is primarily operated for the purpose of giving aid and support to...the Soviet Union, a Communist foreign government." ''[http://ets.umdl.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=usfexec;cc=usfexec;q1=Barrows;rgn=full%20text;idno=81242.0001.001;didno=81242.0001.001;view=image;seq=511;page=root;size=s;endseq=3;frm=frameset Reports of the Subversive Activities Control Board.]'' Washington. United States Government Printing Office. 1966. Vol. 1, p. 501.</ref>
Barrows began working for the Office of Education in 1919 and was a member of the CPUSA, which advocated the violent overthrow of the United States Government. Several of the Brain Trusters present revealed to Wirt they were CPUSA members. Wirt testified,
{{Cquote|I was told they believe that by thwarting our then evident economic recovery, they would be able to prolong the country’s destitution until they had demonstrated to the American people that the Government must operate business and commerce. By propaganda, they would destroy institutions making long term capital loans—and then push Uncle Sam into making these loans. Once Uncle Sam becomes our financier, he must also follow his money with control and management.<ref>Hearings, House Select Committee To Investigate Certain Statements of Dr. William Wirt, 73rd Congress, 2nd Session, April 10 and 17, 1934.</ref><ref>''Dr Wirt faces the cameras and tells all'', Literary Digest v. 117 (April 21, 1934) p. 7.</ref><ref>FBI Silvermaster file [http://education-research.org/PDFs/Silvermaster053.pdf Volume 53 June 1946], p. 78 pdf.</ref>}}
Outside government, the [[far-left]] was exerting considerable influence in the labor movement. It dominated the new [[Congress of Industrial Organizations|CIO]], and was building a network of membership organizations. The [[American League Against War and Fascism]] was formed in 1933 and, in 1937, became the American League for Peace and Democracy. There followed the [[American Youth Congress]], 1934; League of American Writers, 1935; National Negro Congress, 1936; and the American Congress for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom, 1939. All had significant [[Stalinist]] connections, and fought furious battles with the anti-Communist left.<ref>

Leuchtenburg (1963) 281-3; Irving Howe, Lewis A. Coser, and Julius Jacobson, ''The American Communist Party: a critical history, 1919-1957'' (1957); James R. Barrett, ''William Z. Foster and the Tragedy of American Radicalism'' (2002).</ref>

Several liberal New Deal economists in the [[McCarthyism|McCarthy era]] fled to [[Maoist]] [[China]] to experiment with their real ambitions after being hindered by [[democracy]], law, and the [[Constitution]].<ref>Unlike the landlords of sharecroppers, these former American civil servants turned Chinese Communist civil servants simply outlawed "landlordism," and exterminated the landlords, saving the state treasury billions in agricultural subsidies.</ref> Their time in China is memorialized in history as the [[Three Years of Disasters]].<ref>Historian Frank Dikötter asserts that "coercion, terror, and systematic violence were the foundation of the [[Great Leap Forward]]" and it "motivated one of the most deadly mass killings of human history". Dikötter, Frank (2010). pp. x, xi. ISBN 0-8027-7768-6</ref> The death toll of this [[socialist]] experiment is estimated at 55 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liberation.fr/planete/2011/06/17/la-chine-creuse-ses-trous-de-memoire_743211|title=La Chine creuse ses trous de mémoire|last=|first=|date=|website=La Liberation|publisher=|language=fr|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref>

After [[World War II]], [[Moscow]] ordered all American communists to go underground and join the Democratic party. The story of [[Frank Marshall Davis]], Barack Obama's mentor,<ref>http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/main/AboutHFP/tabid/64/Default.aspx</ref> is intertwined with the Hawaii Democrats rise to power.<ref>http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-frank-marshall-davis-network-in-hawaii/</ref>

Communists controlled the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), the ILWU controlled the Hawaii Democratic Party, and in 1954, union-based election campaigns launched the Hawaii Democrats into control of the state legislature. Hawaii's first Democratic Governor Jack Burns said,
{{Cquote|Every guy in the ILWU was at one time or another a member of the Communist Party of America. This is where they got their [[community organizing|organizational information]] and how to organize, and how to bring groups together and how to create cells and how to make movements that are undetected by the bosses.}}
In 1959 Hawaii became a state.<ref>http://hawaii.gov/statehood/history</ref> when Burns captured the governor's office in 1962 the Democrats created a [[single party control]]ed state unbroken for four decades until the election of [[Republican]] Governor [[Linda Lingle]] in the aftermath of the [[9/11 attacks]] in 2002. During those decades in some sessions sat as few as one Republican legislator.

In 1976 the Democratic-controlled Hawaii State Legislature passed a resolution honoring [[Koji Ariyoshi]], a lieutenant of [[Mao Zedong]], the single biggest mass murderer of all time. Herbert Romerstein,<ref>[http://education-research.org/CSR/romerstein.htm The Education and Research Institute], Washington, DC.</ref><ref>[http://intellit.org/alpha_folder/R_folder/romerstein.html Herbert Romerstein], ''The Literature of Intelligence: A Bibliography of Materials, with Essays, Reviews, and Comments'', J. Ransom Clark Emeritus, Muskingum University, New Concord, Ohio. Published in 2007: J. Ransom Clark, Intelligence and National Security: A Reference Handbook (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International Reference, 2007. [http://www.greenwood.com/psi/book_detail.aspx?sku=C9298])</ref> formerly head of the office to Counter Soviet Disinformation at the United States Information Agency (USIA) commented, "this was the atmosphere that young Barack Obama grew up in...We honor Soviet spies."<ref>[http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/Transcript_May_22_edited_version.pdf ''The Stealth Candidate''], Edited Transcript May 22, 2008, Briefing on Barack Obama's Communist Connections Featuring Cliff Kincaid and Herbert Romerstein. Accuracy in Media.</ref><ref>Mao and Ariyoshi were Soviet operatives prior to the death of Stalin and the [[Sino-Soviet split]].</ref>

===Truman to Kennedy: 1945–1963===
[[File:FDR Truman and KKK.jpeg|left|200px|thumb|]]
:{{See also|Brown v. Board of Education}}
Harry Truman took over unexpectedly in 1945, and the rifts inside the party that Roosevelt had papered over began to emerge. Former Vice President [[Henry A. Wallace]], a progressive, denounced Truman as a war-monger for his anti-Soviet programs, the [[Truman Doctrine]], [[Marshall Plan]], and [[NATO]]. By cooperating with internationalist Republicans, Truman succeeded in defeating isolationists on the right and pro-Soviets on the left to establish a [[Cold War]] program that lasted until the fall of Communism in 1991. Wallace supporters and fellow travelers of the far left were pushed out of the party and the CIO in 1946-48 by young anti-Communists like [[Hubert Humphrey]], [[Walter Reuther]], and [[Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.]]. [[Hollywood]] emerged in the 1940s as an important new base in the party, led by movie-star politicians such as [[Ronald Reagan]], who at this point in time strongly supported Roosevelt and Truman. Reagan was elected president of the [[Screen Actors Guild]] and left the party over communist infiltration of his union.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=I4-UBnd20K4C&pg=PA155 Ronald Reagan in Hollywood: Movies and Politics]</ref>

On the right, the Republicans blasted Truman's domestic policies. "Had Enough?" was the winning slogan as Republicans recaptured Congress in 1946. Many party leaders were ready to dump Truman, but they lacked an alternative. The party was split three ways. [[Henry Wallace]], who Roosevelt threw off the ticket in 1944 ran as a [[Progressive]] while [[J. Strom Thurmond]], who remained a staunch supporter of FDR split off and ran as a [[Dixiecrat]]. Republican overconfidence led to many failing to show up at the polls and Truman was reelected in a stunning surprise. However, all of Truman's Fair Deal proposals, such as universal health care were defeated by the [[Conservative Coalition]] in Congress. His [[nationalization]] of the steel industry was reversed by the Supreme Court.

In foreign policy, Europe was occupied as troubles mounted in Asia. China, a major ally in the war against [[Japan]], fell to the Communists in 1949. Truman, under the [[UN]] banner, entered the [[Korean War]] without formal Congressional approval—the last time a president would ever do so. When the war turned to a stalemate in 1951 he fired General [[Douglas MacArthur]], a hero to conservatives. Republicans blasted Truman's failure to stop Communist gains in Asia. A series of petty scandals among friends and buddies of Truman further tarnished his image, allowing [[Dwight Eisenhower]] and the Republicans in 1952 to crusade against "Korea, Communism and Corruption." Truman dropped out of the presidential race early in 1952, leaving no obvious successor. The convention nominated [[Adlai Stevenson]] in 1952 and 1956, only to see him overwhelmed by two Eisenhower landslides. Stevenson, a New Deal liberal, adopted the traditional Democratic Southern Strategy of choosing a Southern white male for Vice President in both elections to appeal to Southern voters, who regularly would not allow African Americans to register to vote.

The election of a Republican for the first time in 20 years was momentous. Eisenhower appointed Republican California Governor [[Earl Warren]] as [[Chief Justice]] of the Supreme Court. All the other members had been appointed by Roosevelt and Truman who believed courts should defer to the policymaking prerogatives of the White House and Congress. Warren convened a meeting of the justices and presented to them the simple argument that the only reason to sustain segregation was a deep-rooted belief in the inferiority of African-Americans. in ''[[Brown v. Topeka Board of Education]]'', Warren produced a unanimous decision that said: {{quotebox|"Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group…Any language in contrary to this finding is rejected. We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”}}
In Congress, the powerful duo of House Speaker [[Sam Rayburn]] and Senate Majority leader [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] held the party together, often by compromising with Eisenhower. In 1958 the party made dramatic gains in the midterms and seemed to have a permanent lock on Congress. Indeed, Democrats had majorities in the House every election from 1930 to 1992 (except 1946 and 1952). Most southern Congressmen were conservative Democrats, however, and they usually worked with conservative Republicans. The result was a [[Conservative Coalition]] that blocked practically all socialist domestic legislation from 1937 to the 1970s, except for a brief spell 1964-65, when Johnson neutralized its power.
[[File:Tumblr nhc7n7dI8o1qar30zo1 640.png|right|300px|thumb|John Kennedy was elected using the same Southern Strategy FDR did by putting a Texan on the ticket.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23535517?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents John F. Kennedy's Southern Strategy, 1956-1960], Guy Paul Land, ''The North Carolina Historical Review'', Vol. 56, No. 1 (January, 1979), pp. 41-63.</ref>]]
The nomination of [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1960 energized the Catholic population, which jammed motorcades and turned out in heavy numbers (over 80% voted for Kennedy), while also causing a backlash among white Protestants (over 70% of whom voted for Republican candidate [[Richard Nixon]]). Reaching beyond the traditional Irish, German, Italian and Polish Catholic ethnics, Viva Kennedy set out to mobilize the previously passive Latino vote, and it perhaps provided the margin of victory for Kennedy in Texas and New Mexico. His brother, [[Robert Kennedy]], who managed the campaign, opposed the outreach to Black voters and sided with traditional Southern racists of the New Deal coalition.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kLspqSlNjfYC&pg=PA309&lpg=PA309&dq=three+Southern+governors+told+us+that+if+Jack+supported+Jimmy+Hoffa,+Nikita+Khrushchev,+or+Martin+Luther+King,+they+would+throw+their+states+to+Nixon&source=bl&ots=9PCWxfix0P&sig=ACfU3U2rlCOdSQJLr7w1x8AhpeJODSmG6w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj58fD9uIngAhWMoYMKHRY0CPAQ6AEwCnoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=three%20Southern%20governors%20told%20us%20that%20if%20Jack%20supported%20Jimmy%20Hoffa%2C%20Nikita%20Khrushchev%2C%20or%20Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20they%20would%20throw%20their%20states%20to%20Nixon&f=false Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero], [[Chris Matthews]], Simon and Schuster, Nov 6, 2012, p. 309.</ref> Bobby Kennedy was furious with campaign aides for talking with King, and felt it would cost them the election.

Kennedy's victory reinvigorated the party. His youth, vigor and intelligence caught the popular imagination. In foreign policy he was strongly anti-Communist, and promptly launched an invasion of Castro's Cuba; it failed badly. A few new programs like the Peace Corps harnessed idealism. In terms of civil rights legislation, his proposals were all cautious and incremental. In three years he was unable to pass any significant civil rights legislation.

Kennedy's election did mark the coming of age of the Catholic component of the New Deal Coalition. After 1964 middle-class Catholics started voting Republicans in the same proportion as their Protestant neighbors. Except for the Chicago of [[Richard J. Daley]], the last of the Democratic machines faded away. His involvement in Vietnam proved momentous, for his successor Lyndon Johnson decided to stay, and double the investment, and double the bet again and again until over 500,000 American soldiers were fighting in that small country.

====Southern Manifesto====
:{{Main article|Southern Manifesto}}
The Southern Manifesto was a document issued in response to the Supreme Court 1954 ruling ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', which integrated public schools. It was signed by 101 members of Congress from the former Confederate States - 99 Democrats and 2 Republicans. John Sparkman the 1952 Vice Presidential candidate as part of the Democrat's Southern Strategy, [[J. William Fulbright]] mentor of Bill Clinton, Richard Russell of the [[Warren Commission]], [[Sam Ervin]] of the [[Watergate]] Committee, Hale Boggs father of [[NPR]]'s Cokie Roberts and Wilbur Mills were all signatories. It reads in part: {{quotebox|"This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally affected. It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding....We commend the motives of those States which have declared the intention to resist forced integration by any lawful means."}} [[File:Little Rock Nine.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Republican President Dwight Eisenhower called out the 101st Airborne to protect Black school children from Democrat protesters after a Democrat governor refused to implement a desegregation order written by the Republican Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.]]
One of the first challenges to ''Brown v. Board of Education'' was when Democrat Gov. [[Orval Faubus]] ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African-American students from enrolling at [[Little Rock]] Central High School. Central High was an all-white school. Faubus ordered the troops to "accomplish the mission of maintaining or restoring law and order and to preserve the peace, health, safety and security of the citizens." A force of 289 soldiers was assembled. The commander told nine black students, 6 girls and 3 boys ages 15-17 years old who were attempting to enter the school, to return home. The standoff continued for three weeks. Little Rock Democrat mayor Woodrow Wilson Mann appealed to President Eisenhower to help end the deadlock. Eisenhower sent the [[101st Airborne Division]] to federalized the entire 10,000-member Arkansas National Guard. The students were allowed to enroll.

Faubus was re-elected in 1958 with 82.5% of the vote over a Republican challenger. Faubus ordered the closure of four public high schools that year, preventing both black and white students from attending school while seeking a two and a half year delay on de-segregation until January 1961 in Federal Court when there would be a possibility of a Democratic president. Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson told Sen. Richard Russell, {{quotebox|"These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again."<ref>Said to Senator Richard Russell, Jr. (D-GA) regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1957. As quoted in [http://books.google.com/books?id=HS9aAAAAYAAJ ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream''] (1977), by Doris Kearns Goodwin, New York: New American Library, p. 155.</ref>}}

===LBJ and civil rights===
:{{See also|Johnson administration}}
The New Deal Coalition began to fracture as union and religious leaders demanded support for [[civil rights]], upsetting the party's traditional base of Democrat segregationists who themselves became dependent on government largess. In 1948 the party platform finally showed some support for civil rights. The Republicans first introduced civil rights legislation with the Civil Rights Act of 1875 which included the [[14th Amendment]] and [[15th Amendment]], the earlier [[13th Amendment]] and [[Emancipation Proclamation]], and first passed anti-lynching legislation in 1922 which Democrats killed by [[filibuster]]s.<ref>https://www.nationalreview.com/2012/05/party-civil-rights-kevin-d-williamson/</ref>
[[File:3ffad1524670ef2d42f101e26139da67.jpg|right|300px|thumb|A new level crudeness: Johnson shows off scars from gallbladder surgery to photographers and the world. Johnson is said to have given instructions to staff and press interviews while sitting on the toilet.<ref>https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4617681/toilet-time-lbj</ref> Johnson regularly used the "N" word.]]
The party's reversal on civil rights culminated with Democratic President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] finally signing the [[bi-partisan]] [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], which he called "the N****r Bill."<ref>http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/lyndon-johnson-civil-rights-racism</ref> In lobbying for the bill, Johnson said, {{quotebox|"I'll have them n*gg*rs voting Democratic for two hundred years."<ref>Said to two governors regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to then-''Air Force One'' steward Robert MacMillan as quoted in [http://books.google.com/books?id=lJz-yIZNE2sC ''Inside the White House''] (1996), by Ronald Kessler, New York: Simon and Schuster, p. 33.</ref>}} Democrats tried to block passage by filibustering for 75 hours, including a 14 hour and 13-minute speech by Sen. [[Robert Byrd]], who later became Senate Democrat Leader in the Reagan era. The filibuster failed when the Senate invoked cloture for only the second time since 1927.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Civil_Rights_Filibuster_Ended.htm|title=Civil Rights Filibuster Ended |work=Art & History Historical Minutes|publisher=United States Senate|accessdate=}}</ref> The law was intended to block Republican gains in the South and buy off Blacks with [[affirmative action]] programs. According to LBJ biographer Robert Caro, Johnson told his chauffeur: {{Quotebox|"Let me tell you one thing, n*gg*r. As long as you are black, and you’re gonna be black till the day you die, no one’s gonna call you by your g*dd*mn name. So no matter what you are called, n*gg*r, you just let it roll off your back like water, and you’ll make it. Just pretend you’re a g*dd*mn piece of furniture."<ref>https://slate.com/culture/2002/05/lbj-s-alleged-compassion.html</ref>}}
African-Americans formed an anomalous coalition with low income Democrat white racists who were dependent on New Deal and [[Great Society]] [[welfare]] programs. Both African Americans and racist Democrats opposed Republican budget cuts. The coalition gave cover to bigoted Democrats to hide their racism, while accusing Republicans who wanted to balance the budget of prejudice. [[Malcolm X]] described it this way: {{quotebox|"The white Liberal differs from the white Conservative only in one way; the Liberal is more [[deceit]]ful, more hypocritical, than the Conservative. Both want power, but the White Liberal is the one who has perfected the art of posing as the Negro's friend and benefactor and by winning the friendship and support of the Negro, the White Liberal is able to use the Negro as a pawn or a weapon in this political football game, that is constantly raging, between the White Liberals and the White Conservatives. The American Negro is nothing, but a political "football game" that is constantly raging between the white liberals and white conservatives.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7YmjWW9tx4</ref>}}
Democrat Governor [[George Wallace]] won the South in 1968 in a three-way contest, but the South continued to reject Yankee liberals (Humphrey in 1968, McGovern in 1972, Mondale in 1984, Dukakis in 1988, Kerry in 2004). At the state and local level, the Republicans made slow but steady gains. As racism in the South declined, Republicans in the South increased.<ref>https://youtu.be/ol7OMGBDMao</ref>

The South became competitive in presidential politics as early as the 1920s and by 1980 gave strong support to Republican Ronald Reagan, rejecting northern liberal candidates.<ref>https://www.prageru.com/videos/why-did-democratic-south-become-republican</ref> Democrats responded with a new Southern Strategy - putting Southerners at the top of the ticket - Carter in 1976 and 1980, Clinton in 1992 and 1996, Gore in 2000, and calling Yankee Republicans "racist."

By the 1990s the GOP was competitive at the state and local level throughout the South. The Democrats made gains in the west through [[illegal immigration]],<ref>https://cis.org/Report/Injustice-All-Excerpt-Sellout-Inside-Story-President-Clintons-Impeachment</ref> converting [[California]] to a Democratic stronghold and gaining in fast-growing Arizona and Nevada. The Northeast became more and more a Democratic enclave, especially after 2006 when numerous Republican moderates were defeated for reelection. The Midwest remained a battleground. The Democrats made strong gains in Illinois but slipped a little in Minnesota.

====1964 Convention: Mississippi Freedom Party====
The Mississippi Freedom Party was organized by African Americans to challenge the establishment Democratic Party, which allowed participation only by whites. The party ran a slate of delegates with close to 80,000 people casting ballots.<ref>[http://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim63b.htm#1963msballot Freedom Ballot in MS] ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans</ref> The party hoped to replace the Regular Democrats as the official Mississippi delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

At the convention the party challenged the Regular Democrats' right to be seated, claiming that the Regular Democrats were illegally elected in a segregated process that violated both party regulations and [[federal law]].<ref>[http://www.crmvet.org/disc/mfdp.htm The Mississippi Movement & the MFDP] ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans</ref> The Equal Protection Clause had been on the books for nearly 100 years already. The Democratic Party referred the challenge to the credentials committee,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Branch
| first = Taylor
| title = Pillar of Fire
| publisher = Simon & Schuster
| date = 1998}}</ref> which televised its proceedings and allowed the nation to see and hear the moving testimony of several delegates and the retaliation inflicted on them by Democrats for attempting to vote.<ref>Carmichael, Stokely, and Charles V. Hamilton. ''Black Power: The Politics of Liberation,'' (New York: Random House, 1967), p. 90.</ref>

After that, most observers and pundits thought the credentials committee were ready to unseat the Regular Democrats and seat the Freedom Party delegates in their place. But some Democrats from other states threatened to leave the convention and bolt the party if the Regular Democrats were unseated. President Johnson wanted a united convention and feared losing support. To ensure his victory in November, Johnson maneuvered to prevent the Mississippi Freedom Democrats from replacing the all-white Regular Democrats.

Two future Democrat Presidential nominees, [[Hubert Humphrey]] and [[Walter Mondale]], denied Blacks [[equal protection]] and made a mockery of the [[civil rights movement]].<ref>https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2011/05/sad-story-humphreys-role-1964-democratic-convention/</ref> Johnson held a private meeting with Humphrey, Mondale, Roy Wilkins, [[Andrew Young]], [[United Auto Workers]] President [[Walter Reuther]] and [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] A plan was hatched to offer the Freedom Democrats two non-voting ''At-Large'' seats with observer status, rather than replace the all-white delegation which had been undemocratically and illegally elected.<ref>Mills, Kay, ''This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer,'' (New York: Plume, 1994), p. 5.</ref> Johnson arrogated to himself the right to pick which two, and Johnson chose one white and one black. Johnson dispatched Humphrey and Mondale and ordered them to make sure that “that illiterate woman," Fannie Lou Hamer would never be a delegate. Dr. King protested and was told by Reuther to shut up.

The offer was rejected, but Humphrey and Mondale remained powerhouse liberals in the Democratic party for another 20 years.

===War and stagflation===
[[File:View-of-moratorium-demonstrators-p.jpg|thumb|290px|Democrats protested the war they started. [[North Vietnam]]ese flags can be seen in the image.]]
The Democratic party split five ways in 1968 and became a minority party in presidential elections for decades; after 1964 they won a national majority of the popular presidential vote only in 2008. However, the Democrats won a plurality of the popular vote in 1976, 1992, 1996 and 2000. after the fiasco and riot that was the 1968 convention, the [[McGovern-Fraser Commission]] was appointed to reform the nominating process. Sen. [[George McGovern]] of South Dakota used the commission to rig his own nomination in 1972. McGovern's forces at the national convention ousted Mayor [[Richard J. Daley]] and the entire Chicago delegation, replacing them with insurgents led by [[Jesse Jackson]]. After it became know that McGovern's running mate, Thomas Eagleton, had received electric shock therapy, McGovern said he supported Eagleton "1000%" but he was soon forced to drop him and find a new running mate. With his campaign stalled for several weeks, McGovern finally selected [[Sargent Shriver]], a Kennedy-in-law who was close to Mayor Daley. On July 14, 1972, McGovern appointed his campaign manager, Jean Westwood as the first woman chair of the Democratic National Committee. McGovern emulated an earlier populist Plains preacher, William Jennings Bryan, with his antiwar sentiment and redistributive politics. He was defeated in a landslide by incumbent [[Richard Nixon]], winning only Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.

The [[Watergate affair]] of 1973-74 made mistrust of government a central issue, especially after [[Gerald Ford]] pardoned Nixon in September 1974. Together with a bad economy, the Democrats made major gains in the 1974 off-year elections. In 1976 Ford was narrowly defeated by [[Jimmy Carter]], a former governor of Georgia.
[[File:CIE2HBhUcAAt22e.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976 and defeated in 1980.]]
Carter represented the total outsider, who promised honesty in government. He had served as a naval officer, a farmer, a state senator, and a one-term governor. His only experience with federal politics was when he chaired the Democratic National Committee's congressional and gubernatorial elections in 1974. Carter's "consolidation" of governmental agencies resulted in the creation of two new cabinet-level bureaucracies, the [[United States Department of Energy]] and the [[United States Department of Education]]. Carter began deregulation of the trucking, airline, rail, finance, communications, and oil industries, raised [[social security]] taxes, and appointed record numbers of women and minorities to significant government and judicial posts. He also enacted more environmental legislation, through the expansion of the [[National Park Service]] in [[Alaska]], adding 103 million acres of parkland. In foreign affairs, Carter negotiated the [[Camp David Accords]], the Panama Canal Treaties, the creation of full diplomatic relations with the [[People's Republic of China]], and the [[SALT II]] Treaty.

Carter failed to pass the Martin Luther King Holiday, implement national health care and raised Social Security taxes. The [[Congressional Black Caucus]] year after year submitted bills for the King holiday, but despite Democrat control of the House, Senate, and White House, their proposals were repeatedly rejected by racist Democrats. Not until Ronald Reagan and the Republican Senate of the 1980s was the holiday adopted. Stagflation with limited job opportunities were on the rise. Abroad, despite his stated objective of making [[human rights]] the focus of [[foreign policy]], his support for the [[Ayatollah Khomeini]] (the "Iranian Mandela" as the Carter State Department referred to him) and the rise of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]] set back [[women's rights]] centuries. Iranian students attacked the American embassy in [[Teheran]] and took Americans hostage for 444 days. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan later that year and the progressive Kool-Aid drinkers weakened the perception Americans had of Carter.

In 1980, Carter defeated liberal champion [[Edward Kennedy]] to gain renomination but lost to conservative [[Ronald Reagan]] by a landslide. The Democrats lost 12 Senate seats, and for the first time since 1954, the Republicans controlled the Senate. The House, however, remained in Democratic hands.

Jesse Jackson became the first African-American to win states in a major party primary election for president in 1984. But vote rigging at the convention sabotaged his efforts.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/20/us/disparity-between-jackson-s-vote-and-delegate-count-vexes-party.html DISPARITY BETWEEN JACKSON'S VOTE AND DELEGATE COUNT VEXES PARTY], by DAVID E. ROSENBAUM, ''New York Times'', May 20, 1984.</ref>

====Drinking the Kool-Aid====
[[File:Jim Jones and the Democrat party.jpg|right|350px|thumb|]]
:{{See also|Progressivism|San Francisco values}}
[[Willie Brown]], later mayor of [[San Francisco]] and [[Kamala Harris]]'s mentor, compared [[Jim Jones]] to [[Martin Luther King]] and [[Mahatma Gandhi]]. Brown endorsed Jones as “a close personal friend and a highly trusted brother in the [[National liberation struggle|struggle for liberation]]."<ref>https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/how-san-franciscos-democrats-made-jim-jones-and-then-made-his-memory-vanish</ref> [[Dianne Feinstein]] joined the rest of the San Francisco board of supervisors in honoring Jones “in recognition of his guidance and inspiration” in furthering “humanitarian programs.” Gov. [[Jerry Brown]] spoke at the [[People's Temple]]. At its peak, the Temple boasted 20,000 members.

Following the San Francisco mayoral election of 1975, the San Francisco District Attorney asked Timothy Stoen, a Temple member,<ref>Lindsay, Robert. "How Rev. Jim Jones Gained His Power Over Followers." ''New York Times''. 26 November 1978.</ref> to lead a special unit to investigate [[election fraud]] charges.<ref>Taylor, Michael, "Jones Captivated S.F.'s Liberal Elite", San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 1998</ref> Shortly thereafter Stoen was hired as an assistant district attorney.<ref>Reiterman, Tim and John Jacobs. ''Raven (book)|Raven: The Untold Story of Rev. Jim Jones and His People''. Dutton, 1982. ISBN|0-525-24136-1. p. 270.</ref><ref>Kinsolving, Kathleen and Tom. [http://www.culteducation.com/reference/jonestown/jonestown43.html "Madman in Our Midst: Jim Jones and the California Cover Up."] 1998.</ref> Stoen found no evidence of fraud, but Temple members later alleged that the Temple brought "busloads" of members from Redwood Valley who were not registered to vote in San Francisco, to vote in the San Francisco election.<ref>Crewdson, John, "Followers Say Jim Jones Directed Voting Frauds", New York Times, December 16, 1978</ref> It was Willie Brown who brought George Moscone and Jim Jones together.<ref>Reiterman, Tim, and John Jacobs. ''Raven (book)|Raven: The Untold Story of Rev. Jim Jones and His People''. Dutton, 1982. ISBN|978-0-525-24136-2. page 266.</ref><ref>http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown/</ref> Moscone, who owed his position as mayor to Jones in a tight race, appointed Jones chairman of the city’s Housing Commission Authority, effectively making Jones the city’s largest landlord. Moscone's press secretary stated that Jones "made his followers available to support [[progressive]] [[Democratic]] candidates."<ref>Los Angeles Herald Examiner, "The Political Pull of Jim Jones", November 21, 1978</ref>

Moscone's press spokesman explained it was "common knowledge that if you were going to run for office in San Francisco, and your constituency included the black, the young or the poor, you'd better have Jones in your corner." Of particular interest to politicians was the Temple's ability to produce 2,000 people for campaign work or attendance at an event with only six hours notice.
<ref>Lindsay, Robert. "How Rev. Jim Jones Gained His Power Over Followers." ''New York Times''. 26 November 1978.</ref> Moscone's aide stated that Jones offered thousands of "foot soldiers" willing to walk precincts and get out the vote, which was "an offer no politician in his right mind could refuse." Similarly, San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos stated that "If you were having a rally for a presidential candidate, you needed to fill up the crowd, you could always get busloads from Jim Jones' church."<ref>Richardson, James, [http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft0m3nb07q;brand=ucpress ''Willie Brown A Biography''], University of California Press, 1996, p. 250 {{webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5vybRDHsI?url=http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft0m3nb07q;brand=ucpress |date=January 24, 2011 }}</ref> The chairman of the county Democratic Central Committee, the governing body of the Democratic Party in San Francisco, referred to the Temple as "a ready-made volunteer workforce," and Jones was "a man who touched a component of the consensus power forces in the city, such as labor and ethnicity groups....here was a guy who could provide workers for causes progressives cared about."<ref>Taylor, Michael, "Jones Captivated S.F.'s Liberal Elite", San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 1998.</ref>

Herb Caen, a [[Pulitzer Prize]] winner for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', acted as a hype-generator for Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. [[Jane Fonda]] joined other celebrities in expressing that she was “familiar with the work of Reverend Jones and Peoples Temple and have no hesitancy in commending them for their example in setting a high standard of [[ethics]] and [[morality]].” <ref>Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27309 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 1023."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University. {{cite web |url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/TapeTranscripts/Q1023.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=|deadurl=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5wTIpY0di?url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/TapeTranscripts/Q1023.html |archivedate=2019-01-30|df= }} The concept often loosely mixed tenets of socialism. The Temple openly preached to established members that "religion is an opiate to the people." (Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27318 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 1053."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.) Accordingly, "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment{{spaced ndash}}socialism." (Layton 1999, page 53). In that regard, Jones also openly stated that he "took the church and used the church to bring people to atheism." (Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27580 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 757."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University). Jones often mixed those concepts, such as preaching that "If you're born in this church, this socialist revolution, you're not born in sin. If you're born in capitalist America, racist America, fascist America, then you're born with a big d***o in sin. But if you're born in socialism, you're not born in sin."(Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27318 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 1053."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.) {{cite web |url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/TapeTranscripts/Q757.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=|deadurl=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5wTIqQUvL?url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/TapeTranscripts/Q757.html |archivedate=2019-01-30|df= }}</ref> The Peoples Temple and the [[Nation of Islam]] held a joint event in the Los Angeles Convention Center in 1976 . Thousands packed the Civic Center. Two time [[CPUSA]] [[Vice President]]ial candidate [[Angela Davis]], along with the Lieutenant Governor and Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley attended the event. In speaking at the event Jones stated "We are grateful for this symbolic merging of our two movements . . . If the Peoples Temple and the Nation of Islam can get together, anyone can."

[[Rosalynn Carter]] called Jones at candidate Jimmy Carter's behest. She held a private dinner with him and had the Peoples Temple leader introduce her at the 1976 grand opening of the San Francisco Democratic Party Headquarters. Jimmy Carter’s running mate, Walter Mondale, met with Jones on the tarmac in San Francisco during the campaign.<ref>When Deputy Minister Ptolemy Reid traveled to Washington, D.C. in September 1977 to sign the [[Panama Canal Treaties]], Mondale asked him, "How's Jim?", which indicated to Reid that Mondale had a personal interest in Jones' well being, p. 173. Moore, Rebecca. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=16581 ''American as Cherry Pie''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029130010/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=16581 |date=October 29, 2014 }}, Jonestown Institute, San Diego State University</ref>
After Carter was elected, Jones dined with Rosalynn Carter at the head table at the Democratic National Convention.<ref>Layton, Deborah. ''Seductive Poison''. Anchor, 1999. ISBN|978-0-385-48984-. p. 53.</ref> Jones wrote to Carter requesting aid for [[Fidel Castro]], whom Jones had earlier met with in [[Cuba]].<ref>Reiterman, Tim, and John Jacobs. ''Raven (book)|Raven: The Untold Story of Rev. Jim Jones and His People''. Dutton, 1982. ISBN|978-0-525-24136-2. page 305.</ref> In a handwritten letter to Jones on White House stationery, the [[First Lady]] wrote "Your comments on Cuba have been helpful. I hope your suggestion can be acted on in the near future." Carter also wrote that "I enjoyed being with you during the campaign -- and do hope you can meet Ruth soon", referring to her sister-in-law, Ruth Carter Stapleton.<ref>LA Times November 21, 1978</ref> Mondale stated regarding the Temple that "knowing the congregations deep involvement in the major social and constitutional issues of our country . . . is a great inspiration to me."<ref>"First Lady Among Cult's References" {{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times |title=First Lady Among Cult's References; Mondale and Califano also listed |date= November 21, 1978}}</ref> [[Health and Human Services]] Secretary Joseph Califano stated "your humanitarian principles and your interest in protecting individual liberty and freedom have made an outstanding contribution to furthering the cause of human dignity." President Carter sent a representative to a dinner at the Temple at which Jones and Gov. Jerry Brown spoke.<ref>Mehren, Elizabeth, "Politicians Defend Associations With Jones", Oakland Tribune, November 21, 1978</ref>

Jones procured land in [[Guyana]] where nearly 1,000 of his followers settled in Jonestown, clearing the land, planting crops, and listening to him preach the gospel according to [[Karl Marx]]. “I call [[capitalism]] the [[devil]],” Jones said from the pulpit, “and [[socialism]] is [[God]].” A former member of the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission, Jones often quoted Marx's dictum, "From each as he is able, to each according to his need." One member said the Temple moved to Jonestown because "what we saw in the United States was creeping [[fascism]]. It was apparent that corporations, or the multinationals, were getting much larger, their influence was growing within the government, and the United States is a racist place."<ref>Tim Carter. [http://www.opb.org/radio/archives/2007/04/there_was_no_ch_1.php ''There was no choice in Jonestown that day...''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426000000/http://www.opb.org/radio/archives/2007/04/there_was_no_ch_1.php |date=April 26, 2007 }} Oregon Public Broadcasting Radio interview. 9 April 2007. {{cite web |url=http://www.opb.org/radio/archives/2007/04/there_was_no_ch_1.php |title=Archived copy |accessdate=|deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5wTJ4uKgA?url=http://www.opb.org/radio/archives/2007/04/there_was_no_ch_1.php |archivedate=2019-01-30|df= }}</ref>

Up to $65,000 in monthly [[welfare]] payments from [[New Deal]] and [[Great Society]] programs to Jonestown residents were signed over to the Temple.<ref>{{Harvnb|Layton|1998|p=103}}</ref> Officials from the U.S. embassy in Georgetown interviewed [[Social Security]] recipients on multiple occasions to inquire if they were being held against their will.<ref>Pear, Richard. "State Explains Response to Cult Letters." ''Washington Star News''. November 26, 1978.</ref> None of the 75 people interviewed, according to the embassy, said they were being held captive, were forced to sign over welfare checks, or wanted to leave Jonestown.<ref>Wessinger, Catherine. ''How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate''. 2000. ISBN|978-1-889119-24-3.</ref> Civil rights lawyers Charles Garry and Mark Lane, who represented [[James Earl Ray]], depicted Jonestown as a paradise and aggressively defended Jones in the media.

As reports seeped back of people who wanted to leave Guyana, [[Harvey Milk]] – the first openly gay elected official who was endorsed by the Temple for San Francisco city councilman – wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter defending Jones "as a man of the highest character," and stating that Temple defectors were trying to "damage Rev. Jones' reputation" with "apparent bold-faced lies".<ref>Milk, Harvey [http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown/milk.jpg ''Letter Addressed to President Jimmy Carter, Dated February 19, 1978''] {{Webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5vybbC0i4?url=http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown/milk.jpg |date=January 24, 2011 }}</ref> The Temple claimed that "reactionary forces were trying to destroy his [Jones] image because he is the most persistent [[Social justice warrior|fighter for social justice]].<ref>Peoples Temple, [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/3VictimConspirBrochure.pdf ''Victims of Conspiracy Brochure''], Jonestown Alternative Considerations, San Diego State University {{cite web |url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/JTResearch/opposition/3VictimConspirBrochure.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2019-01-31 |deadurl=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5vybVUjVl?url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/JTResearch/opposition/3VictimConspirBrochure.pdf |archivedate=January 24, 2011 |df= }}</ref>
[[File:The Jimmy Carter Jonestown Massacre.jpg|left|350px|thumb|'''Socialist paradise in Guyana.''' Its leader, a community organizer named Jim Jones, was very active in Democratic party politics.]]
Russian dignitary Feodor Timofeyev visited Jonestown for two days to gave a speech.<ref>Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27428 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 352."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094827/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27428 |date=March 4, 2016 }} ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> Jones introduced him saying, "For many years, we have let our sympathies be quite publicly known, that the United States government was not our mother, but that the Soviet Union was our spiritual motherland." Timofeyev opened the speech stating that the [[Soviet Union]] would like to send "our deepest and the most sincere greetings to the people of this first socialist and communist community of the United States of America, in Guyana and in the world". Both speeches were met by cheers and applause. Angela Davis addressed the crowd by shortwave radio saying, "when you are attacked, it is because of your progressive stand, and we feel that it is directly an attack against us as well."<ref>{{cite web|title=Statement of Angela Davis (Text)|url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=19027|publisher=Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple|accessdate=}}</ref>

Hearing allegations of abuse, Congressman [[Leo J. Ryan]] led a fact-finding mission to [[Jonestown]] which included in his group a staff member and future congresswoman, [[Jackie Speier]]. Ryan and four others were murdered when they attempted to leave. After the killings, Jones herded his followers into the camp's main pavilion and ordered them all to drink [[cyanide]]-laced Kool-Aid. 909 bodies, including 304 children, were found by Guyana police in following days. Some of the bodies had gunshot wounds.

Three survivors claimed they were given an assignment before the suicides began. They were given luggage containing $550,000 in U.S. currency, $130,000 in Guyanese currency, and an envelope, which they were told to deliver to the Soviet embassy in Georgetown, Guyana. The envelope contained two [[passport]]s and three instructional letters, the first of which was to Timofeyev, stating:
:''Dear Comrade Timofeyev, The following is a letter of instructions regarding all of our assets that we want to leave to the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Enclosed in this letter are letters which instruct the banks to send the cashiers checks to you. I am doing this on behalf of Peoples Temple because we, as communists, want our money to be of benefit for help to [[oppression|oppressed peoples]] all over the world, or in any way that your decision-making body sees fit.''<ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/letter_toFeodorTimofeyev.pdf "Letter to Feodor Timofeyev."] {{Webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5ryfcXgSk?url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/PrimarySources/financialLetters/letter_toFeodorTimofeyev.pdf |date=August 14, 2010 }} ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref>

The letters included listed accounts with balances totaling in excess of $7.3 million to be transferred to the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]].<ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/AnnieMcGowan_1.pdf "Letter from Annie McGowan."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205012201/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/AnnieMcGowan_1.pdf |date=February 5, 2015 }} ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref><ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/AnnieMcGowan_2.pdf "Another Letter from Annie McGowan."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205014539/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/AnnieMcGowan_2.pdf |date=February 5, 2015 }} ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> Jonestown was the greatest loss of American civilian lives in a non-natural disaster until the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].

===Battling Reaganism: the global warming hoax to defeat capitalism===
Instrumental in the election of Republican [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1980, were Democrats who supported many conservative policies. Among legislators, one of the most prominent of these conservative Democrats was Georgia congressman and second chairman of the [[John Birch Society]], [[Larry McDonald]], who was a passenger on [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] shot down by the Soviets near [[Moneron Island]] on September 1, 1983.
[[File:Carter mondale 1200.JPG|right|350px|thumb|Democratic nominee Walter Mondale on the campaign trail with Jimmy Carter in 1984.]]
The "Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterward, but they voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for [[George H. W. Bush]] in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were mostly white ethnics in the Northeast who were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion, and to his strong foreign policy. They did not continue to vote Republican in 1992 or 1996, so the term fell into disuse except as a reference to the 1980s. The term is not used to describe southern whites who became permanent Republicans in presidential elections. Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic pollster analyzed white ethnic voters, largely unionized auto workers, in suburban Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63 percent for Kennedy in 1960 and 66 percent for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that Reagan Democrats no longer saw Democrats as champions of their middle-class aspirations, but instead saw it as being a party working primarily for the benefit of others, especially African Americans and the very poor. Bill Clinton targeted the Reagan Democrats with considerable success in 1992 and 1996.

To oppose Reagan, Senate Democrats elected former Exalted Cyclops of Ku Klux Klan, Sen. [[Robert Byrd]] to lead them. Byrd once wrote, {{quotebox|"I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side. … Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."<ref>https://www.ocregister.com/2012/05/09/walter-williams-most-racists-were-democrats/</ref>}}

In response to Reagan's defense build-up and missile defense initiative, which bankrupted the Soviet Union and ended the specter of Mutually Assured Destruction, many Democrats adopted the [[KGB]] line of a nuclear freeze and [[global warming]] targeting America's manufacturing and economic base. These Russian-manufactured hoaxes on climate change were widely embraced by public sector unions in schools and universities to argue against reduced funding and budget cuts.

The failure to hold the Reagan Democrats and the white South led to the final collapse of the [[New Deal coalition]]. Reagan carried 49 states against former Vice President and Minnesota Senator [[Walter Mondale]], a New Deal stalwart, in 1984. Massachusetts Governor [[Michael Dukakis]], running not as a New Dealer but as an efficiency expert in public administration, lost by a landslide in 1988 to Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]], who had pledged "no new taxes."

After these landslide defeats, the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] was created. It was a [[racist]] organization formed by remnants of the [[George McGovern]] and [[Gary Hart]] campaigns - less the [[Rainbow Coalition]].<ref>http://www.blackcommentator.com/46/46_cover.html</ref><ref>https://ofamerica.wordpress.com/tag/democratic-leadership-council/</ref> By 1992 it had taken over the [[DNC]]. Democratic strategists sought to distance themselves from the [[civil rights movement]] and begin pushing the "centrist" candidacy of [[Bill Clinton]].<ref>[http://www.salon.com/2016/01/31/the_clintons_sordid_race_game_no_one_will_say_it_but_the_clintons_rise_was_premised_on_repudiating_black_voters/ The Clintons’ sordid race game: No one will say it, but the Clintons’ rise was premised on repudiating black voters], Corey Robin, ''Salon'', Jan 31, 2016</ref>

====As the South became less racist, it became more Republican====
In the century after the Republicans efforts for Black equality and the end of [[Reconstruction]] in 1877, the white South identified with the Democratic Party. The Democrats' lock on power was so strong, the region was called the [[Solid South]]. The Republicans only controlled parts of the Appalachian mountains, but they sometimes did compete for statewide office in the border states. Before Lyndon Johnson's [[War on Poverty]] - an effort to extend big government social spending on Blacks which the New Deal denied<ref>https://youtu.be/rLMh3O-4aNA</ref> - the southern Democrats saw their party as the defender of the southern way of life, which included a respect for states' rights and an appreciation for traditional southern "values" (including [[segregation]] of blacks). They repeatedly warned against the aggressive designs of Republicans and Northern liberals, as well as civil rights activists whom they denounced as "outside agitators."

However, between 1928 and 2004, the Democratic Party's lock on the South was broken.<ref>https://youtu.be/UiprVX4os2Y</ref> The long-term cause had to do with the South becoming more like the rest of the nation. It could no longer stand apart in terms of racial segregation. Modernization had brought factories, national businesses, and larger, more [[cosmopolitan]] cities to the South, as well as millions of migrants from the North and more opportunities for higher education. Meanwhile, the cotton and tobacco economy of the traditional rural South faded away, as former farmers commuted to factory jobs. As the South became less racist, it became more Republican.

Integration and the civil rights movement caused enormous controversy in the white South, with many attacking it as a violation of states' rights. When segregation was outlawed by Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices and by the [[bi-partisan]] Civil Rights acts of 1964 and 1965, a die-hard element of Democrats resisted integration, led by Democrats [[Orval Faubus]] of Arkansas, [[Lester Maddox]] of Georgia, [[Al Gore, Sr.]] of Tennessee, [[J. William Fulbright]] of Arkansas and, especially [[George Wallace]] of Alabama. These racists appealed to a less-educated, blue-collar electorate that on economic grounds favored [[New Deal]] legislation and opposed desegregation. After 1965 most Southerners accepted integration (with the exception of public schools). Just as the Republican, Martin Luther King had promised, integration had brought about a new day in Southern politics, freeing both blacks and whites from old hatreds and fears.

President Johnson's [[big government]] giveaways and [[affirmative action]] programs attracted Blacks for the first time, and they began supporting Democratic candidates, producing leaders such as Julian Bond and [[John Lewis]] of Georgia, and Barbara Jordan of Texas.

Using issues of cultural conservatism, especially opposition to abortion and homosexuality and support for school prayer, Republicans attracted strong majorities among evangelical Christians. They were nationwide, but strongest in the South; before the 1980s they were largely apolitical. Exit polls in 2004 showed that Bush led Kerry by 70-30% among Southern whites, who comprised 71% of the voters. Kerry had a 90-9 lead among the 18% of Southern voters who were black. One third of the Southern voters said they were white evangelicals; they voted for Bush by 80–20%.<ref>See the exit polls at {{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.3.html |date=2004-11-02\|accessdate=|title=U.S. PRESIDENT / REGION: SOUTH / EXIT POLL}}</ref>

In 1988, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), after decades of running their own presidential candidates, stopped running presidential candidates and has endorsed every Democratic presidential nominee.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pjFfE1MNFk Communists, the Democrat Party and Snopes]</ref><ref>[http://aun-tv.com/2015/08/did-the-communist-party-usa-take-over-democratic-party-in-1988/ Did The Communist Party USA Take Over Democratic Party in 1988?]</ref> Since the end of the [[Cold War]],<ref>[https://youtu.be/JVkkLDAm8I4 KGB Bezmenov 1985 - Four Steps to Subversion of a Nation], youtube.</ref> communists began rising in Civil Service and elected office as Democrats.<ref>[https://youtu.be/ZXLuqQe8DqQ Deep State Unmasked: State Dept on Hidden Cam "Resist Everything" "I Have Nothing to Lose"], ''Project Veritas''.</ref>

===Clintonism and the New Jim Crow===
[[File:Clinton gore.png|right|300px|thumb|]]
:{{See also|The New Jim Crow}}
In the 1990s the Democratic Party revived itself, in part by distancing itself from [[Jesse Jackson]] and the [[Rainbow Coalition]].<ref>http://www.blackcommentator.com/46/46_cover.html https://ofamerica.wordpress.com/tag/democratic-leadership-council/</ref> Jackson was the first African-American to win a major party primary in 1988. Blacks were getting a little too [[uppity]] in the eyes of the Clintons and Democratic party leadership.<ref>[http://prospect.org/article/crisis-working-majority-0 From Crisis to Working Majority], Stan Greenberg, ''The American Prospect'' 2, no. 7 (September 1991). Republished 24 May 2005</ref> Clinton defeated the incumbent [[George H. W. Bush]] in 1992, was the beneficiary of reduced defense spending with the end of the Cold War and a balanced federal budget. Clinton proposed [[welfare reform]] (cutting benefits and requiring many recipients to take jobs). Labor unions, which had been steadily losing membership due to [[globalization]] since the 1960s, found they had also lost political clout inside the Democratic Party: Clinton enacted the [[NAFTA]] free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico accelerating globalization over the strong objection of these labor unions.

Every year for twelve years, Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, who both always had at least one house of Congress controlled by Democrats, asked in their State of the Union addresses for Congress to create Enterprise Zones - special tax breaks for start-ups and businesses to relocate to blighted areas, predominantly black, inner-city urban areas - to create jobs and deliver services. Democrats didn't want Republicans to be seen as helping blacks. However in President Clinton's first 100 days, with a Democrat House and Senate, Democrats finally delivered Enterprise Zones after making African Americans wait 12 years to finally participate in the prosperity of the 1980s. [[Bill Clinton]] attacked [[Nancy Reagan]]'s anti-drug "Just Say No" campaign as "twelve years of neglect" and ratcheted up deaths caused by illegal drug use from 10,000 per year to 70,000.<ref>https://slate.com/news-and-politics/1996/06/clinton-s-drug-war.html</ref> The [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] took control of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate after the 1994 midterm election.

Under the Clintons, more the 250,000 [[African American]]s were imprisoned in the [[United States]] than under President Reagan,<ref>http://www.blackelectorate.com/articles.asp?ID=320</ref> a fact for which she takes credit for.<ref>https://www.thenation.com/article/hillary-clinton-does-not-deserve-black-peoples-votes/</ref> Cumulatively since the Clinton's passed their crime bill, 2.5 million adult black males—more than 10% of the population—were incarcerated, splitting up black families.<ref>http://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/incarceration_rates_growth_causes/</ref>

When the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] (DLC) assumed leadership of the party and its direction. Some liberals and progressives felt alienated by the Democratic Party, which they felt had given in to capitalism and was unconcerned with left-wing issues in general. Some Democrats challenged the validity of such critiques, citing the Democratic role in pushing the gay and progressive agendas.

=====Impeachment: lying under oath is not a crime=====
Clinton was impeached in a scandal involving [[sexual crime]]s in 1998 and acquitted in 1999 when Democrats considered that a sitting president who lies under oath to a federal judge was not a crime. Impeachment caused extreme partisan divisions within the country; however a healthy economy, with the lower mortgage interest rates due to reduced defense spending and the end of the Cold War, no one wanted to upset the apple cart. Democrats themselves were not keen on the idea of Al Gore becoming president, either.

===Election of 2000: Sore losers, revenge and divisiveness===
During the presidential election of 2000, the Democrats chose Vice President [[Al Gore]] to be the party's candidate for the presidency. Gore and [[George W. Bush]], the Republican candidate and son of former President George H.W. Bush, disagreed on a number of issues, including abortion, gun control, environmentalism, gay rights, tax cuts, foreign policy, public education, global warming, judicial appointments, and affirmative action.

Gore's affiliation with Clinton and the racist DLC machine<ref>http://www.blackcommentator.com/46/46_cover.html</ref> caused critics—Green Party progressive candidate [[Ralph Nader]] in particular—to assert that Bush and Gore were too similar, especially on free trade, reductions in social welfare, and the death penalty. "We want to punish the Democrats, we want to hurt them, wound them," Nader's closest advisor said.<ref>Harry G. Levinem "Ralph Nader, Suicide Bomber." ''The Village Voice'' May 3, 2004 at [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0418,levine,53179,1.html]</ref>

Gore won a plurality of over 500,000 votes but lost the electoral college by four votes. Gore asked for a recount in [[Florida]], re-opening the divisions caused by Clinton's impeachment.

Some Democrats blamed Nader's third-party spoiler role for Gore's defeat. Afterward, Gore began preaching progressive climate change eschatology, asserting that life on the planet would come to an end by the year 2013, and disappeared into obscurity.

Despite Gore's close defeat, the Democrats gained five seats in the Senate (including the election of [[Hillary Clinton]] in New York), to turn a 55–45 Republican edge into a 50–50 split (with a Republican Vice President breaking a tie). However, when Republican Senator [[Jim Jeffords]] of Vermont decided in 2001 to become an independent and caucus with the Democrats, the majority status shifted along with the seat, including control of the floor (by the Majority Leader) and control of all committee chairmanships. However, the Republicans regained their Senate majority with gains in 2002 and 2004, leaving the Democrats with only 44 seats, the fewest since the 1920s.

====2001–2003: Progressives allied with jihadis====
In the aftermath of the [[9-11 Attacks]], the nation's focus was on issues of national security. All but one Democrat<ref>Longtime [[CPUSA]] operative Rep. [[Barbara Lee]] of Texas</ref> joined the Republicans to authorize the use of force in Afghanistan and overthrow the Taliban. House leader [[Richard Gephardt]] and Senate leader [[Thomas Daschle]] pushed Democrats to vote for the [[USA PATRIOT Act]] and the 2003 [[AUMF]] in Iraq. [[Progressive]]s sympathized with terrorists who wanted to destroy [[Western Civilization]]. More rational Democrats expressed concern over the domestic effects, including potential government abuses of civil rights and civil liberties with the PATRIOT Act. Senator [[Russ Feingold]] was the only Senator to vote against the act; it received more resistance when it came up for renewal, but was renewed in 2006.

In the wake of the [[Enron scandal]], Congressional Democrats pushed for an overhaul of business accounting.<ref>See [[Andrew Weissmann]].</ref> This led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002.

Typically, an incumbent president loses seats in Midterm elections. However, in the aftermath of 19 terrorists entering the US during the Clinton administration as part of the [[multicultural]] experiment, who then murdered 3,000 Americans in the 9/11 attacks, Democrats lost seats in the House, Senate, and governorships in the 2002 midterms. Democrats flipped gubernatorial seats in New Mexico ([[Bill Richardson]]) and Arizona ([[Janet Napolitano]]) where Clinton [[cronyism|cronies]] were elected and Wyoming (Dave Freudenthal), it was offset by Democrats losing seats in South Carolina (Jim Hodges), Alabama ([[Don Siegelman]]) and, for the first time in more than a century the Democrats' Southern Strategy failed with the loss of Georgia (Roy Barnes).

Republican gains in [[The South]] had nothing to do with racism, and everything to do with Democrats' willingness to sacrifice national security for open immigration and [[diversity]]. It led to another round of soul searching about the future of the party's increasingly radicalized base. The party's miseries mounted in 2003, when a voter recall unseated their unpopular governor of California, [[Gray Davis]], and replaced him which a charismatic liberal Republican [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]. By the end of 2003, the four largest states had Republican governors: California, Texas, New York and Florida.

While the Gallup poll showed 72% public support for the [[War in Iraq]],<ref>https://news.gallup.com/poll/8038/seventytwo-percent-americans-support-war-against-iraq.aspx</ref> and with the party establishment drastically weakened, a handful of dissident anti-American and progressive protesters gathered in Chicago's Federal Plaza to hear an Illinois state senator named Barack Obama speak. Obama was one of the few, if not only, elected official in the country willing to express openly his lack of concern about the jihad against Western civilization. The protest was organized by the Communist party.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20100811115415/http://www.noiraqwar-chicago.org/?page_id=2</ref>

===Pelosi era===
In 2002, after [[Richard Gephardt]] resigned as minority leader to seek the Democratic nomination in the [[2004 presidential election]], Rep. [[Nancy Pelosi]] was elected to replace him, becoming the first woman to lead a major party in the House of Representatives. Pelosi's father was a Congressman from [[Maryland]] and later the Mayor of [[Baltimore]]; when Pelosi graduated from college in 1962 she didn't remain in Baltimore to serve her community but rather joined the white flight to California<ref>https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2006/10/07/family-dynasty-may-boost-pelosi-to-head-of-house-2/amp/</ref> where [[blacks]] were fewer in number.<ref>https://qz.com/393128/white-flight-decimated-baltimore-businesses-long-before-rioters-showed-up/amp/</ref> By the 1980s she became a protege of the progressive [[Willie Brown]].

A poll conducted by [[Fox News]] released in October 2007 found that 1 in 5 Democrats – nearly 10 million voters – thought the world would be better off if the [[United States]] were to lose the [[War in Iraq]].<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299374,00.html Nearly 1 in 5 Democrats Say World Will Be Better Off if U.S. Loses War], FOX News Poll, October 04, 2007.</ref> The poll found this sentiment 3 to 4 times higher among Democrats than among moderate, centrist, and Republican voters.

According to its 2008 platform, the Democratic Party claimed to have the objective of strengthening America, yet Democrat leaders were lax while jihadis grew exponentially on President Obama's watch<ref>[http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=22045 "Democrats, ACLU Outraged Over Traveler Terrorism Screening Program"] C. Johnson, Associated Press</ref><ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/01/smn.19.html CNN Saturday Morning News] Transcript: December 1, 2001</ref>

The Democratic Party favored free trade agreements, environmental regulation and so-called "trade impact assistance" or government handouts after trade agreements destroy private sector, taxpaying jobs.

At the Democratic National Convention in July 2016, no American flags were present while several attendees flew the Palestinian flag.<ref>Kassam, Raheem (July 25, 2016). [https://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/07/25/old-glorys-old-news-palestinian-flag-flown-dnc-delegates/ Old Glory’s Old News To The New Democrats As The Palestinian Flag Flies At The DNC]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved May 31, 2018.</ref><ref>Prestigiacomo, Amanda (July 26, 2016). [https://www.dailywire.com/news/7811/so-uh-guess-how-many-american-flags-were-dnc-amanda-prestigiacomo So, Uh, Guess How Many American Flags Were at The DNC.] ''The Daily Wire''. Retrieved May 31, 2018.</ref> The [[CPUSA]] urged people not to vote for Donald Trump even if they disliked Hillary Clinton (an indirect endorsement of Clinton).<ref> Although there are still some very substantial differences between communists and Democrats/liberals, the line between communists/Democrats/liberals continues to blur in the United States.</ref><ref>Ironically, the leading communist country in the world, [[Communist Party of China|communist China]], has moved farther away from communism and now has a mixed economy of [[capitalism]] and state-owned enterprises. [China's The Most Viciously Free Market Economy On The Planet Right Now], Forbes, 2015</ref> In general, the Democratic Party had been pro-[[Israel]] and pro-Russia. By 2017 Democrats blamed Russia for Hillary Clinton's loss. Obama evidently did nothing to prevent it.

====Election of 2004: the Hippies last stand====
[[Image:437px-The New Soldier.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Kerry's book, ''The New Soldier'' with [[VVAW]] activists flying the American flag upside down. By the time Democrats did start flying the American flag, they flew it upside down.]]
The 2004 campaign began in late 2002, when Gore said he would not run again. [[Howard Dean]], former Governor of Vermont, a war protester and critic of the Democrat establishment, was the front-runner leading into the Democratic primaries. Dean had immense progressive support, especially from the [[far left]] wing of the party. Massachusetts Senator [[John Kerry]], a [[Vietnam war]] veteran turned [[hippie]] who had heavy support from the Clinton Machine and DLC, was nominated because he was seen as more "electable" than Dean. Under [[Leader Pelosi]], Democrats moved to populist [[Trumpian]] positions that denounced free trade and the [[NAFTA]] agreement.

[[Babyboomer]]s - children born in the post-[[World War II]] "baby boom," despite their large numbers in the American electorate, were always wracked by political division stemming from the Vietnam war. The election of 2004 highlighted those divisions - Kerry the supposed "war hero" who then protested the war, and Bush the "patriot" who used family privilege to duck the draft and served in the reserves.

In the end, Kerry lost both the popular vote (by 3 million out of over 120 million votes cast) and the [[Electoral College]]. Republicans also gained four seats in the Senate and three seats in the House of Representatives, and for the first time since 1952, the Democratic leader of the Senate lost re-election. In the end, there were 3,660 Democratic state legislators across the nation to the Republicans' 3,557. Democrats netted governorships in Louisiana, New Hampshire and Montana. However, they lost the governorship of Missouri and a legislative majority in Georgia, which had long adhered to the Democratic racist tradition.

There were many reasons for the defeat. After the election, most analysts concluded that Kerry was a poor campaigner.<ref>Evan Thomas and Staff of Newsweek,''Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future''(2005)</ref> A group of Vietnam veterans opposed to Kerry called the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" undercut Kerry's use of his military past as a campaign strategy.<ref>See [[Jerome Corsi]].</ref> Kerry was unable to reconcile his support for the [[Iraq War]] with his opposition to the war in 2004, or manage the deep split in the Democratic Party between [[Patriot]]s and protesters of the war. Republicans ran thousands of television commercials to argue that Kerry had flip-flopped on Iraq. When Kerry's home state of Massachusetts' judicial system legalized radical progressive [[same-sex marriage]], the issue split liberal and conservative Democrats and independents. Kerry publicly stated throughout his campaign that he opposed same-sex "marriage," but favored [[civil union]]s. Ballot initiatives appeared in 11 states that brought citizens of both parties to the polls in large numbers; all 11 initiatives passed. [[Proposition 8]] in California won by a wide margin, but California Attorney General [[Kamala Harris]] bowed to [[LGBT]] groups and refused to defend citizen referendums in court. Some Democrats argued that flaws in vote-counting systems may also have played a role in Kerry's defeat in Ohio. Other factors include a healthy job market, a rising stock market, strong home sales due to [[FNMA|government subsidized interest rates]], and low unemployment.

After the 2004 election, prominent Democrats began to rethink the party's direction, and a variety of strategies for moving forward were voiced. Some Democrats proposed moving towards the right; others demanded that the party move more to the left and become a stronger opposition party. Rethinking the party's position on gun control became a matter of discussion, brought up by [[Howard Dean]], [[Bill Richardson]], [[Brian Schweitzer]] and other Democrats who had won governorships in states where Second Amendment rights were important to many voters.

====Pelosi and the Progressive takeover====
These debates were reflected in the 2005 campaign for Chairman of the [[Democratic National Committee]], which [[Howard Dean]] won. As a progressive, Dean was the first to shepherd civil unions through the Vermont legislature. He sought to move the Democratic strategy away from the establishment, and bolster support for the party's state organizations, even in Red states.

When the 109th Congress convened in 2005, [[Harry Reid]], the new Senate Minority Leader, tried to convince the Democratic Senators to vote more as a bloc on important issues; he forced the Republicans to abandon their push for privatization of retirement insurance and leave the collectivist model in place. In 2005, the Democrats retained their governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, electing [[Tim Kaine]] and [[Jon Corzine]], respectively. However, the party lost the mayoral race to [[Michael Bloomberg]] in New York City, a Democratic stronghold, for the fourth straight time.

The cost of fighting two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq simultaneously allowed [[China]], which was granted most favored nation trading status in 2001, to rush ahead in economic development and military modernization unchecked by American competition. Cheap Chinese made goods flooded the country, while American jobs were exported to China. Negative public opinion on the war in Iraq, along with widespread dissatisfaction among conservatives dragged President Bush's job approval ratings down to the lowest levels of his presidency. To win control the Democrats had to add 15 seats in the House (they added 30), and 6 in the Senate. In 2006, with [[lobbying]] scandals engulfing the Republicans, the Democrats used the slogan "culture of corruption."

The Democratic Party's electoral success in the 2006 midterms was attributed to running relatively moderate Democrats in close seats, such as the Senate races in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Montana.<ref>Dewan Shaila and Anne E. Kornblut, "In Key House Races, Democrats Run to the Right," ''New York Times,'' 2006-10-30; but compare Rick Perlstein, "Who deserves credit for the Democratic comeback?" ''The New Republic'' 2006-11-08 at [https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=w061106&s=perlstein110806]</ref> Exit polling suggested that corruption was a key issue for many voters.<ref>CNN, "Corruption named as key issue by voters in exit polls," 2006-11-08 at [https://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/07/election.exitpolls/]</ref> Democrats gained a majority of governorships and made gains in many state legislatures. No Democratic incumbent was defeated in any major race.

Senate Democrats promoted Harry Reid to Majority Leader. House Democrats chose Rep. [[Nancy Pelosi]] of California for Speaker, the first woman ever, but rejected her choice for House Majority Leader, electing [[Steny Hoyer]] instead of [[John Murtha]]. Members of Pelosi's own Democratic Caucus warned failure to deliver on their promises to clean up corruption could be damaging.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/news/stories/0507/4014.html Democrats divided on lobbying reform], Josephine Hearn and Jeff Patch, May 15, 2007. Retrieved from [[Politico]] 06/01/07.</ref> Twenty freshmen Democrats asked for legislation to establish an independent ethics commission within the [[legislative branch]] to investigate future ethical lapses by fellow members.<ref>Alexander Bolton, [https://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-press-pelosi-for-ethics-panel-2007-04-18.html''Dems press Pelosi for ethics panel''], The Hill, April 19, 2007.</ref> Pelosi resisted the reform.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7hE4HX-Cwo&NR=1 The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same], ''[[ABC News]]'', April 25, 2007.</ref>

===Obamunism===
{{Main|Obamunism}}
Led by [[anti-war]] radicals and [[jihad]]ist sympathizers, the party roared back with major gains in 2006, which it expanded in 2008 to sweep control of the national government and leave the GOP in a state of confusion and decline. The GOP bounced back in 2009, with near-unanimous opposition to contentious Democratic policies, especially stimulus spending and Obamacare. Polls show Obama's popularity began to erode after his [[Barack Obama approval ratings#Declines after the Gates flap|anti-police stance]] became apparent in the summer of 2009.

For the first two Obama years, the Democrats controlled the White House and a veto-proof Congress, ramming through unpopular legislation without bipartisan support such as [[Obamacare]]. In the [[2010 midterm elections]], Democrats received a "shellacking" for defying their constituents. In 2009 [[Bluedog Democrat]]s boasted 44 [[centrist]]s but by 2011 it had only 8 members. A [[bi-partisan]] core in the House was destroyed by progressives who now dominated the party. Suburbs and rural areas remained in Republican hands.<ref>[http://www.multistate.com/Site.nsf/Elections2006PostMaps?OpenPage Multistate.com] Post-Election 2006 Maps</ref> Voters in 2010, 2014, and 2016 rejected Democratic Party candidates at the local, state and national levels in record-setting proportions.

====The beginning of the end====
[[File:Maria-and-Che.jpg|right|300px|thumb|A Democrat organizer sports a poster of communist [[mass murder]]er [[Che Guevara]] at Obama campaign headquarters.]]
The [[2008 presidential election]] campaign featured a duel between [[Barack Obama]]—a black candidate, and [[Hillary Clinton]], a woman contender. Obama won with his oratory skills and a highly efficient fund-raising and strong organization in the caucus states, while Clinton appealed to [[feminist]]s and [[white supremacist]]s.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uWu0nSsg7w Hillary Clinton in Black History], youtube.</ref> The contest between Obama and GOP nominee [[John McCain]] showed Obama being the clear favorite, with the vast majority of polls (with the exception of early September) depicting Obama as the clear favorite.

The [[Obama Administration]] got off to a fast start taking on more government debt to finance massive bailouts to banks, increased regulation, and deep intervention in the automobile industry. All those policies were begun by Bush, and had failed to reverse the decline from the [[Recession of 2008]]. After Democrats passed the Economic Recovery Act of 2009, [[unemployment]] increased from below 7% to 10%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm|title=Employment Situation Summary|work=Bureau of Labor Statistics|date=August 1, 2014|accessdate=August 5, 2014}}</ref>

Democratic leaders endorsed various [[Democratic Health Care Plans]]; the question in 2009 was whether to allow "a crisis to go to waste." Many Democrats advocated a minimum wage increase; the Democrat Congress failed to act but Obama signed an [[executive order]] imposing a $15 minimum wage on federal contractors, a meaningless gesture as few federal contracts have minimum wage workers.

Democrats talked about increased taxpayer funding of higher education, particularly for scientific research, land-grant colleges, community colleges and historically black colleges. Obama established a White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-historically-black-colleges-and-universities|title=Executive Order 13532 -- Historically Black Colleges and Universities|date=February 26, 2010|accessdate=}}</ref> Democrats subsidized the interest rate out of the federal treasury for Stafford loan voters by cutting the rate to 3.4% and eliminated private banks as middlemen in federal student loans.<ref name=ed>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/higher-education|title=Higher Education|accessdate=}}</ref>

The Democratic Party felt the sting from the opposition and many Democrats began questioning their own leadership. Liberals were disenchanted with Obama's escalation of the [[Afghanistan War]]. American deaths more than doubled in Obama's first few years compared with the preceding eight years.<ref>Chesser, S.G. (2012, July 12). [http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R41084.pdf Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians - CRS Report for Congress]. Pg. 3. ''Congressional Research Service'''.</ref> The health care reform that consumed most of 2009 remained unsettled, as public opinion turned against it. Environmentalists seemed resigned to the failure of [[carbon tax]]es and a [[cap and trade]] program to reduce [[greenhouse gases]]. Most of the recession dragged. The stimulus bill was passed quickly in February 2009 over almost unanimous GOP opposition, but despite promises of "shovel ready" projects, most of the money was never spent to relieve unemployment, job creation and [[economic growth]] remained dtagnant for years.

The elections in November 2009 in New Jersey and Virginia went badly for the Democrats, as the GOP gained both governorships and many local races, not to mention the Democrats' fifth straight loss for the mayoralty of New York City.

In the [[2010 Midterm Elections]], the Republican Party gained 63 Representatives in the House (one of the largest amounts in its history and surpassing the 1994 landslide), almost gained a majority in the Senate, and gained a majority of governorships and state legislatures in one of its best election results in its history.

Obama won re-election in [[2012 United States Presidential Election|2012]],<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EULOYZ-mAG0</ref> even though the Republican Party held on to all its 2010 gains.

Although the Democrats had the opportunity to reverse the massive GOP gains in 2014 midtrems, they completely failed and allowed the GOP to make even larger victories. Even when the GOP held a majority of governorships so large that it would be difficult to hold them all, they actually gained two states, expanding their majority to 31 out of 50.

====Marxists crawl out of the closet====
Within the first six months of the new administration, Obama White House Communications Director [[Anita Dunn]] told a high school graduating class that communist [[mass murder]]er [[Mao Zedong]] - the biggest mass murderer in history by far - was her favorite "political philosopher."<ref>[https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2012/10/17/obama-debate-advisor-anita-dunn-mao/ Obama Debate Coach Named Mao as Favorite Political Philosopher] by Ben Shapiro, Breitbart News, 2012</ref>

[[Bernie Sanders]], a leading candidate in the Democratic Party's 2016 presidential nomination has a history of involvement with [[Marxism|Marxist]] organizations.<ref>[http://nypost.com/2016/01/16/dont-be-fooled-by-bernie-sanders-hes-a-diehard-communist/ Don’t be fooled by Bernie Sanders — he’s a diehard communist], New York Post by Paul Sperry, New York Post,January 16, 2016</ref><ref name="IS BERNIE SANDERS A COMMUNIST">[http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/is-bernie-sanders-a-communist/ IS BERNIE SANDERS A COMMUNIST?] by Joseph Farah, WND, 2016</ref><ref>[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenneth-d-ackerman/history-lesson-bernie-san_b_9355082.html History Lesson: Bernie Sanders is no 'Communist,' and 'Democratic Socialists' are as American as Apple Pie], Huffington Post, 2012</ref> Sanders had on the wall of his Senate office a flag of the [[Soviet Union]], a regime which [[democide|exterminated]] more than 50 million of its own peoples.<ref>[http://nypost.com/2016/01/16/dont-be-fooled-by-bernie-sanders-hes-a-diehard-communist/ Don’t be fooled by Bernie Sanders — he’s a diehard communist], New York Post by Paul Sperry, New York Post, January 16, 2016</ref>

In the 21st century the Democratic party dropped all pretense of advocacy for Human Rights in favor of forced [[collectivization]].

====Wasserman Schultz====
{{See also|United States presidential election, 2016}}
Again, in 2016, the Democrats performed very poorly, allowing the GOP to win the presidency with [[Donald Trump]],<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/08/first-polls-close-in-2016-race-trump-projected-to-win-ind-ky-clinton-wins-vt.html Trump wins presidency, defeats Clinton in historic election upset]. ''Fox News''. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> to maintain their House and Senate majorities,<ref>Bresnahan, John (November 9, 2016). [https://www.politico.eu/article/republicans-on-cusp-of-keeping-the-senate/ Republicans hold the Senate in a stunner]. ''Politico''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Hughes, Siobhan (November 9, 2016). [https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-are-confident-about-retaining-control-of-the-house-1478634160 Democrats Gain Seats in House, But GOP Retains Majority]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> to win the largest amount of governorships since 1922,<ref>Lieb, David A. (November 9, 2016). [http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-11-09/republicans-expand-control-of-governorships-legislatures Republicans governorships rise to highest mark since 1922]. ''U.S. News & World Report''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> and to win the most state legislative chambers in history.<ref>Bosman, Julie & Davey, Monica (November 11, 2016). [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/us/republicans-expand-control-in-a-deeply-divided-nation.html Republicans Expand Control in a Deeply Divided Nation]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved November 14, 2016.</ref> The Democrats held a record low amount of party trifectas in the states.<ref>Greenblatt, Alan (November 9, 2016). [http://www.governing.com/topics/elections/gov-republicans-add-dominance-state-legislatures.html Republicans Add to Their Dominance of State Legislatures]. ''Governing''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Siegel, Josh (November 9, 2016). [http://dailysignal.com/2016/11/09/republicans-maintain-strong-control-of-state-capitols-what-that-means/ Republicans Maintain Strong Control of State Capitols. Here’s What That Means.] ''The Daily Signal''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> Democrats lost 1,042 seats—including U.S. House, Senate, state governorship, and state legislative seats—during the eight years of [[Barack Obama]]'s tenure as U.S. president.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/27/democrats-lost-over-1000-seats-under-obama.html?refresh=true Democrats lost over 1,000 seats under Obama]. ''Fox News''. December 27, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.</ref>

The Democratic primaries were rigged against Bernie Sanders in favor of Hillary Clinton, and the party was shown to be helping Clinton behind the scenes.<ref>Griffin, Andrew (November 9, 2016). [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/bernie-sanders-us-election-president-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-democrats-primary-results-a7408451.html Donald Trump won election because Democrats rigged system to have Clinton beat Bernie Sanders, says WikiLeaks]. ''The Independent''. Retrieved November 11, 2016.</ref><ref>Hoft, Jim (October 18, 2016). [https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/10/obama-lectures-media-integrity-elections-forgets-democrats-just-rigged-primary-bernie/ Obama Lectures Trump on "Rigged" Elections — Forgets That Democrats Just Rigged Primary Against Bernie]. ''The Gateway Pundit''. Retrieved November 11, 2016.</ref> The DNC tagged the [[Jewish]] Vermont Senator in the Bible Belt as an "[[atheist]]", hoping to give her another advantage in the early Southern Democratic primaries. The DNC scheduled the Democratic primary debates during days of the week when most Americans wouldn't watch, such as Friday and Saturday nights. This was done to keep interest in the Democratic primary debates low and with Mrs. Clinton obviously having more name recognition, would have an early advantage over her lesser-known opponents. Even the leftist website [[Salon Media Group|Salon]]<ref>Demoro, Roseann (March 30, 2016). [http://www.salon.com/2016/03/30/10_ways_the_democratic_primary_has_been_rigged_from_the_start_partner/ 10 ways the Democratic primary has been rigged from the start]. ''Salon''. Retrieved November 11, 2016.</ref> and, later, [[Elizabeth Warren]]<ref>[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41850798 Elizabeth Warren agrees Democratic race 'rigged' for Clinton]. ''BBC News''. November 3, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2017.</ref> believed the primary was rigged against Sanders.

[[Donna Brazile]], the interim DNC Chair, shared Democrat primary town hall questions to the Clinton campaign in order to help her win the primary.<ref>Shaw, Adam (March 17, 2017). [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/17/brazile-admits-forwarded-debate-questions-to-clinton-camp.html Brazile admits she forwarded town hall questions to Clinton camp]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved March 17, 2017.</ref><ref>Ernst, Douglas (March 17, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/17/donna-brazile-admits-leaking-debate-questions-to-c/ Donna Brazile admits leaking debate questions to Clinton camp: ‘A mistake I will forever regret’]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved March 17, 2017.</ref> She continued to deny this fact through February 2017<ref>Scarry, Eddie (March 17, 2017). [http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/donna-brazile-finally-admits-she-shared-debate-questions-with-clinton-campaign/article/2617742 Donna Brazile finally admits she shared debate questions with Clinton campaign]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved March 17, 2017.</ref> and blamed [[Russia]] for the ordeal.<ref>Hudson, Jerome (March 18, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/18/donna-brazile-admits-to-sharing-debate-questions-with-clinton-camp-blames-russia/ Donna Brazile Admits to Sharing Debate Questions With Clinton Camp, Blames Russia]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved March 18, 2017.</ref> Later, in November 2017, Brazile revealed that not only did Obama leave the DNC deeply in debt due to his 2012 re-election campaign,<ref>Boyer, Dave (November 2, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/nov/2/brazile-says-obama-left-dnc-deep-debt-clinton-camp/ Brazile says she found DNC deep in debt from Obama, controlled by Clinton a year before nomination]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved November 3, 2017.</ref> but the Clinton campaign effectively controlled the DNC as early as 2015, and the DNC worked to keep Sanders from winning the nomination.<ref>Multiple references:
*Brazile, Donna (November 2, 2017). [https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774 Inside Hillary Clinton’s Secret Takeover of the DNC]. ''Politico Magazine''. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
*Pappas, Alex (November 2, 2017). [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/11/02/donna-brazile-found-proof-dnc-rigged-nomination-for-hillary-clinton.html Donna Brazile: I found 'proof' the DNC rigged the nomination for Hillary Clinton]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
*Neuman, Scott (November 3, 2017). [http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/03/561768006/book-reveals-clinton-campaign-effectively-controlled-dnc-as-early-as-2015 Book Reveals Clinton Campaign Effectively Controlled DNC As Early As 2015]. ''NPR''. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
*[http://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Did-the-Democratic-Party-have-an-anti-Sanders-bias-513279 Did the Democratic Party Have an Anti-Sanders Bias?] ''The Jerusalem Post''. November 4, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
The incident highlighted the growing divisions in the party:
*[https://www.voanews.com/a/democrats-cry-foul-rigged-primary-election/4098967.html Democrats Cry Foul Over 'Rigged' Primary Election]. ''Voice of America''. November 3, 2017. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
*O'Reilly, Andrew (November 3, 2017). [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/11/03/donna-brazile-allegations-highlight-mounting-schism-within-dnc.html Donna Brazile allegations highlight mounting schism within DNC]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
*Nolan, Lucas (November 3, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/11/03/bitter-hillary-supporters-blast-brazile/ Bitter Hillary Supporters Blast Donna Brazile, Elizabeth Warren on Twitter over Rigged Primary Revelation]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
The mainstream media avoided these revelations:
*Flood, Brian (November 3, 2017). [http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/11/03/big-three-networks-skip-donna-brazile-bombshell-that-dnc-was-rigged-for-clinton.html Big Three Networks skip Donna Brazile bombshell that DNC was rigged for Clinton]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
Brazile walked back from what she revealed soon after:
*Crookston, Paul (November 3, 2017). [https://freebeacon.com/politics/brazile-backtracks-clinton-dnc-claims-never-said-hillary-rigged-election/ Brazile Backtracks on Clinton-DNC Claims: ‘Never Said Hillary Rigged Election’]. ''The Washington Free Beacon''. Retrieved November 3, 2017.</ref>
[[File:Sethrich-e1494948876256.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Seth Rich (1989-2016) was an IT specialist at DNC headquarters in Washington DC. His bullet-ridden body was found on a dark street two weeks before the convention that nominated Hillary Clinton.]]
The release of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails provided to [[Wikileaks]] by Seth Rich<ref>https://youtu.be/Kp7FkLBRpKg </ref> showed clear [[collusion]] between Clinton, [[mainstream media]] outlets, and the DNC to smear [[Bernie Sanders]]. Thousands of hopeful millennials felt betrayed by the Democratic party. DNC Chair [[Debbie Wasserman Schultz]] was forced out on the eve of the convention, less than 24 hours after dozens of emails were published showing her and her staff rigging the primary elections for Hillary Clinton.

The [[Whistleblower Statutes|whistleblower]] Seth Rich was gunned down execution-style in early July 2016, two weeks before the convention. Wikileaks founder [[Julian Assange]] offered $20,000 cash reward for the arrest and conviction of Seth Rich's killers or killer. Hillary Clinton said of Assange, "Can't we just drone this guy?"<ref>http://truepundit.com/under-intense-pressure-to-silence-wikileaks-secretary-of-state-hillary-clinton-proposed-drone-strike-on-julian-assange/</ref> In October WikiLeaks released a transcript of Hillary's private paid speech to [[Goldman Sachs]]. To silence Assange, Wikileaks internet access was cut within the [[Ecuador]] embassy, where he was granted asylum. Wikileaks Director, Prof. Gavin Macfayden, was found dead the following week. Macfayden's death was the third of a close associate of Assange in 6 months.<ref>https://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/790004642038050816/photo/1</ref>

====Awan scandal====
On February 2, 2017 ''Politico'' reported 5 House IT staffers, including 3 brothers later identified as Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan, were relieved of access to House computers and had been under criminal investigation since late 2016.<ref>https://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/house-staffers-investigation-equipment-234586</ref> The brothers managed office information technology for Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee handling matters on war and [[terrorism]].<ref>https://dailycaller.com/2017/02/04/exclusive-house-intelligence-it-staffers-fired-in-computer-security-probe/#ixzz4b5enE6c9</ref> Imran Awan worked for ex-DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz,<ref>http://observer.com/2017/02/imran-awan-democrat-debbie-wasserman-schultz-criminal-investigation/</ref> had access to her iPad and password,<ref>https://dailycaller.com/2017/03/09/suspect-in-house-it-security-probe-also-had-access-to-dnc-emails/n</ref> took $100,000 in cash from an [[Iraq]]i company,<ref>https://dailycaller.com/2017/02/20/exclusive-house-dem-it-guys-in-security-probe-secretly-took-100k-in-iraqi-money/</ref> and was a suspect in the [[leak]]ing of DNC emails to Wikileaks. Despite verbose allegations of "Russian hacking," the DNC never allowed the FBI to examine its servers to determine if indeed the DNC had been hacked, or did the leaks come from an inside source.<ref>https://dailycaller.com/2017/03/09/suspect-in-house-it-security-probe-also-had-access-to-dnc-emails/</ref> The suspects may have been involved in a leak of information that lead to the ambush and death of Navy SEAL William Ryan Owen.<ref>http://www.americanow.com/story/society/2017/02/06/muslim-spy-ring-linked-navy-seals-death</ref> Furthermore, because the suspects were [[Muslim]],<ref>http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-01/house-democrats-delayed-dismissal-it-staff-hackers-because-they-were-muslim-american</ref> their activities were covered up and they were not fired until after the death of Owen. Even then, they were initially relieved of duties without their names being released, two weeks later fired,<ref>https://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/house-staff-criminal-investigation-234714</ref> and three weeks after that in a series of press leaks identified as prime suspects in what the media called the "Russian hacking" scandal.

On May 18, 2017, Wasserman Schultz threatened the Capital police chief for impounding evidence in the [[Awan investigation]]. The Awan brothers were former IT specialists working for Wasserman Schultz with access to DNC data, and for House Democrats on the Intelligence Committee.<ref>https://dailycaller.com/2017/05/24/wasserman-schultz-threatened-police-chief-for-gathering-evidence-on-her-it-staffers-alleged-crimes/ </ref>

On May 24, 2017 federal prosecutor Beranton J. Whisenant Jr. was found murdered in Florida with a bullet in his head.<ref>https://www.cbsnews.com/news/beranton-whisenant-jr-federal-prosecutor-found-dead-on-florida-beach/ </ref><ref>http://www.wptv.com/news/state/federal-prosecutor-beranton-j-whisenant-jr-found-dead-on-hollywood-florida-beach </ref><ref>http://yournewswire.com/voter-fraud-investigator-murdered/ </ref><ref>https://steemit.com/chainbb-general/@stevescoins/additional-information-possibly-connected-to-the-whisenant-murder </ref> Curiously, the local police handled the investigation. Ordinarily, in the murder of a federal official, the FBI should investigate.<ref>http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article152629589.html </ref> Whisenant's body was found on a beach in the home congressional district that Wasserman Schultz represents in Congress.

==Symbols==
The most common symbol for the party is the donkey, although the party itself never officially adopted this symbol.<ref>[http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/06/history_of_the.php History of the Democratic Donkey].</ref> Some historians suggest the jackass was born 1828 when Jackson was sometimes called a jackass by his opponents as a play on his name. A political cartoon depicting Jackson riding and directing a donkey (representing the Democratic Party) was published in 1837. A political cartoon by [[Thomas Nast]] in 1870 revived the donkey as a symbol for the Democratic Party. Cartoonists ever since have followed Nast and used the donkey to represent the Democrats, and the elephant to represent the Republicans.

In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Democratic Party in many states was the rooster, as opposed to the Republican eagle.

There is no official color, but since election night 2000 blue has become the identification color of the Democratic Party for maps, while the red has become the color of the Republicans. Increasingly blue is used by Democrats for promotions (e.g. BuyBlue, BlueFund) and by the party itself, which in 2006 unveiled the "Red to Blue Program" to support Democratic candidates running against Republican incumbents in the 2006 midterm election.

The song ''Happy Days Are Here Again'' is the unofficial song of the Democratic Party. It was used prominently when Roosevelt was nominated for president at the 1932 Democratic National Convention and remains a sentimental favorite for Democrats today. During the [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] era, the Fleetwood Mac song "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" became a popular song at Democratic events, reflecting the growing prominence of Baby Boomers in the party.

Some critics refer to the group disparagingly as the [[Democrat Party]].

==Democratic Presidents==
* [[Andrew Jackson]] (1829–1837)
* [[Martin Van Buren]] (1837–1841)
* [[James K. Polk]] (1845–1849)
* [[Franklin Pierce]] (1853–1857)
* [[James Buchanan]] (1857–1861)
* [[Grover Cleveland]] (1885–1889, 1893–1897)
* [[Woodrow Wilson]] (1913–1921)
* [[Franklin Roosevelt]] (1933–1945)
* [[Harry S Truman]] (1945–1953)
* [[John F. Kennedy]] (1961–1963)
* [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] (1963–1969)
* [[Jimmy Carter]] (1977–1981)
* [[Bill Clinton]] (1993–2001)
* [[Barack Obama]] (2009–2017)

==See also==
*[[Racism and the Democratic Party]]
*[[Left-wing war on women]]
*[[List of political parties in the United States]]
*[[Clinton Foundation conflicts of interest]]
*[[Obamacare]]
*[[Democratic party (disambiguation)]]
*[[Previous Breaking News/Democrats|Articles about '''Democrats''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
*[[Democrats (Brazil)]]
*[[Marc Elias]]

==Bibliography==
===Current===
*Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, ''The Almanac of American Politics 2008: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts'' (2007) covers all the live politicians with amazing detail. New edition every two years since 1975.
* Brownstein, Ronald. ''The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America''(2007)
* Crane, Michael. ''The Political Junkie Handbook: The Definitive Reference Books on Politics'' (2004) covers all the major issues explaining the parties' positions
*Sabato, Larry J. ''Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election'' (2005).
*Sabato, Larry J. ed. ''The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency'' (1907), in-depth essays by scholars on key states in 2006
* Sabato, Larry J., and Howard R. Ernst, eds. ''Political Parties and Elections'' (2007), 540pp; an encyclopedia with 450 entries by scholars; focus is 1945 to present
* Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. ''The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future'' (2001) textbook.
* Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. ''Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000'' (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period
* Shafer, Byron and Richard Johnston. ''The End of Southern Exceptionalism'' (2006), uses statistical election data & polls to argue GOP growth was primarily a response to economic change
===Historical===
* ''American National Biography'' (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online and paper copies at many academic libraries.
* Jensen, Richard. ''Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983'' (1983) [http://www.questia.com/library/book/grass-roots-politics-parties-issues-and-voters-1854-1983-by-christopher-c-gibbs-richard-j-jensen-steven-l-piott.jsp online edition]; survey by conservative scholar, with primary sources
* Kennedy, David M. ''Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945'' (2001), synthesis by leading scholar; Pulitzer prize [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=52284041 online edition]
* Kleppner, Paul et al. ''The Evolution of American Electoral Systems'' (1983), essays by scholars (some of them conservatives), 1790s to 1980s.
* Kleppner, Paul. ''The Third Electoral System 1853-1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures'' (1979), analysis of voting behavior, with emphasis on region, ethnicity, religion and class. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24451028 online edition]
* Ling, Peter J. ''The Democratic Party: A Photographic History'' (2003).
* Patterson, James T. ''Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974'' (1997) synthesis by leading scholar. [http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Expectations-United-1945-1974-History/dp/0195117972/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211911625&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* Patterson, James T. ''Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore'' (2005) synthesis by leading scholar. [http://www.amazon.com/Restless-Giant-United-Watergate-History/dp/0195305221/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211911625&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Ritchie, Donald A. ''Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Electing-FDR-Campaign-Presidential-Elections/dp/0700615504/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195784762&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Rutland, Robert Allen. ''The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton'' (1995).
* Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. ''Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000'' (2001), most recent collection of new essays by specialists on each time period:
**includes: "State Development in the Early Republic: 1775–1840" by Ronald P. Formisano; "The Nationalization and Racialization of American Politics: 1790–1840" by David Waldstreicher; "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson, Brown University; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
* Schlisinger, Galbraith. ''Of the People: The 200 Year History of the Democratic Party'' (1992)
* Sundquist, James L. ''Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States'', (1983) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=29223022 online edition]
* Wilentz, Sean. ''The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln'' (2005), detailed synthesis by a leading liberal scholar. [http://www.amazon.com/Rise-American-Democracy-Jefferson-Lincoln/dp/0393058204/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195784940&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Witcover, Jules. ''Party of the People: A History of the Democrats'' (2003)
* Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. ''History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000'' (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes a short history by a leading scholar and a selection of primary documents.

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.democrats.org/ Democratic Party Official Site]
*[http://www.demconvention.com/assets/downloads/2008-Democratic-Platform-final.pdf 2008 Democratic Platform (pdf download)]
*[http://bertschlossberg.blogspot.com/2012/11/lawrence-patton-mcdonald-b_15.html A Forgotten Man: Congressman Larry McDonald]

[[Category:United States Political Organizations]]
[[Category:United States Political Parties]]
[[Category:Democratic Party]]
[[Category:Progressive Era]]
[[Category:Gilded Age]]
[[Category:New Deal]]
[[Category:Reagan Era]]
[[Category:1960s]]
[[Category:Obama Presidency]]
[[Category:Liberals]]
[[Category:Jacksonian Democracy]]
[[Category:111th United States Congress]]
[[Category:Liberal Organizations]]
[[Category:Anti Second Amendment]]

Micronation

2019-02-11T20:03:47Z

Florida dave: I created this.

== Micronation ==

<nowiki>A micronation is a small nation that no major government recognizes. Notable micronations include: Republic of Mollosia, Aerican Empire, Palestine, and the Conch Republic, </nowiki>

Gay Conversion Therapy

2019-02-11T19:45:13Z

Florida dave: I created this.

== Gay Conversion Therapy ==

<nowiki>Gay conversion therapy is the scientific practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual (normal) using psychological or spiritual interventions. It is highly effective. Many liberals claim it is homophobic or bigoted, but many gay people use it to help themselves get cured of a mental illness none as homosexuality. </nowiki>

Nativism

2019-02-09T23:26:01Z

Florida dave: I created this. I will edit more later.

== Nativism ==
<nowiki>Nativism is the idea that land belongs to the people who were originally there or who conquered it. Examples of Nativists are Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot.</nowiki>

User:Florida dave

2019-02-09T20:45:35Z

Florida dave: I created this page.

Florida dave is the user name for Dave Schneier, a conservative YouTube talk show host and contributor to citizen action radio.