Democratic Party (United States)
The U.S. Democratic Party is one of two main political parties in the United States. The other is the Republican Party. The U.S. also has several smaller political parties known as "third parties." Supporters of this party are known as Democrats.
Every four years the party holds a National Convention where they agree on their candidate for President. The Democratic National Committee coordinates most of the activities of the Democratic party in all 50 United States. The last National Convention was in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2012 where Barack Obama was nominated for President and Joe Biden was nominated for Vice President.
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Philosophy and role in Government [change]
Sometimes Democrats are called "the left", "liberals" or "progressives", even though not all Democrats are left-wing or liberal. Many Democrats, particularly in the South and Rocky Mountains of the United States, are conservative or moderate). In the United States, each of the political parties are large coalitions that cover many different kinds of ideology.
Generally Democrats support:
- progressive income tax, increasing overall tax income
- higher corporate taxes and recapturing income from overseas profits
- expanding spending on government programs
- spending on business, education, infrastructure, clean-energy
- abortion (spending on reproductive issues)
- stem-cell research
- reducing the use of US troops in international affairs, downsizing the military
- equal rights (without regard for race, creed, gender or sexual orientation) through Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity laws.
- restrictions of weapons use through government oversight
- Keynesian, and a mixed economy
- universal healthcare
- regulating business and the economy
- support same-sex marriage
Most support for Democrats comes from states in the Northeast, and Pacific Coast areas of the USA, but there are Democrats elected to office in all other states too.
Symbols [change]
The symbol of the Democratic Party is the Donkey. Since the election of 2000, the color blue has become a symbol for Democrats.[source?]
U.S. Presidents who were Democrats [change]
- Presidents during the 1800s
- Andrew Jackson
- Martin Van Buren
- James K. Polk
- Franklin Pierce
- James Buchanan
- Andrew Johnson
- Grover Cleveland
- Presidents during the 1900s
- Woodrow Wilson
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Harry S. Truman
- John F. Kennedy
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Jimmy Carter
- Bill Clinton
- Presidents during the 2000s
Other Democratic Politicians [change]
- Joe Biden (Delaware), Vice President
- Hillary Clinton (New York), Secretary of State, former Senator and former First Lady
- Jim Clyburn (South Carolina), Representative and Assistant Democratic Leader
- Howard Dean (Vermont), former Governor and former head of the Democratic National Committee
- Christopher Dodd (Connecticut), former Senator
- Dick Durbin (Illinois), Senate Whip
- John Edwards (North Carolina), former Senator and Vice-Presidential candidate
- Al Gore (Tennessee), former Presidential candidate and Vice-President
- Steny Hoyer (Maryland), House Minority Whip
- Tim Kaine (Virginia), Governor and former head of the Democratic National Committee
- John Kerry (Massachusetts), Senator and former Presidential candidate
- Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), Representative
- Janet Napolitano (Arizona), Secretary of Homeland Security
- Nancy Pelosi (California), former Speaker of the House
- Brian Schweitzer (Montana), Governor
- Harry Reid (Nevada), Senate Majority Leader
- Bill Richardson (New Mexico), Governor
- Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Florida), Representative and head of the Democratic National Committee
- Eliot Spitzer (New York), former Governor
- Mark Warner (Virginia), Senator and former Governor
Other websites [change]
