Democratic Party (United States)

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US Democratic Party Logo

The U.S. Democratic Party is one of the two biggest 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.

Philosophy and role in government[change | edit source]

A Democratic Party Donkey

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. A mostly Democratic state is sometimes called a "blue state".

Examples[change | edit source]

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 | edit source]

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 | edit source]

Presidents during the 1800s
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Bill Clinton
Presidents during the 1900s
Presidents during the 2000s

Other Democratic Politicians[change | edit source]

former Senator Hillary Clinton
Senator Dick Durbin
former Senator Frank Lautenberg

Related pages[change | edit source]

Other websites[change | edit source]

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