Kevin/ Democratic Party

[The_Rorschach]

Now I know you are not a Democrat, but I also realize you are fairly liberal, and I have a few honest questions for you. I'm in correspondance with a friend, and anything you could provide would be extremely valuable. . .Assuming of course you feel disposed to answer them.

As there is some confusion as to what Democrats stand for, I am going to use the loose definition provided by President Truman:

"The Democratic Party is the peoples party. It is dedicated to the service of all the people and not just the [service of] the special interests of a few. The record of the Democratic party is blazed across the face of the nation...in a story of better, healthier, happier life for the common people in this great country.... Special interests never let up in their effort to control this free government of ours. It is just as important now to prevent that from happening as it was in times of the great Presidents--[Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt]."

For the record, I consider Woodrow Wilson a traitor, and FDR the worst sort of socialist subversive, but that is neither here nor there.

Henry Ford, by creating a five day work week, the nine hour day, and raising the bar of acceptability for payment of wages, managed to inspire a trend which set the tone for worker's rights which we carry with us even today. By marketing his product, both planes and automobiles, with the average citizen in mind, he set new standards of safety and quality which enriched, and very possibly saved, countless lives*.

He was also a mostly conservative in his outlook, though he did seem to embrace national socialism, or Nazi Facism.

My question is simply this: If one man could do so much to improve the lives and conditions of so many in such a short amount of time with limited influence, why had the Democratic Party failed for so long to work similar feats?

*Mail was delivered mostly by private industry primarily by plane. When one crashed, built by Ford, Henry called together his staff and told them they would begin constructing the hulls of steel, use only one pair of wings, and designed for a single engine. He demaned that they be manufactured in such a way that a crash would not kill the occupants. This was fairly typical of his concern for quality.