Kevin/ Democratic Party

[Bennett]

I'd actually like to try to get this back on topic, which was:

Originally Posted by The_Rorschach

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*.

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?

I would say that a person like Henry Ford had anything but limited influence. He was in control of one of the largest and most groundbreaking companies in the world. I would say that he was a very influential man, but perhaps this is not what you mean by the word.

Regardless, he had the power to implement changes within in his own company immediately. Did he give people better pay and hours because he was a great guy? Did he make vehicles that were built well and with safety in mind because he was a great guy? Who knows, it seems like a lot of the things you mention just make good business sense, if they didn't, would they have inspired the trend as you mention? Any person that takes pride in what they do will do a better job.

About the Democratic party... it would seem like the ability to make the changes mentioned would become exponentially harder for a political party. First of all, there isn't one person who could make immediate change. There would most likely be conflicting views within the party, and even if they were all in agreement, we are still a mostly bipartisan government, they would then have to deal with the Republicans. Not to mention special interest groups, wealthy business owners who don't want the government telling them what to do, people who generally don't think that this is something that the government should be concerned with, etc.