The current democratic party is one of the strongest political parties the American government has ever seen. The democratic party has more registered voters than any other party world wide with more than 70 million voters and has also had the majority of both the House of Representatives and the Senate since 2006. President Barack Obama is the 15th democratic president. These over whelming facts have caused a lot of fear within the republican party. Some suggest that this majority is part of the reason why the new Tea Party has become popular with many conservatives. Many Americans believe that the reason for the democratic party’s success is due to the evolving liberalism of our current world.
- From 1994 to 2006, the republican party held the majority of both houses of congress. This contributed to more deregulation of our financial system, more and larger tax cuts and and the blockage of many liberal policies. For the first six years of George W. Bush’s presidency, he vetoed many attempts to regulate the markets, create government programs and proposed changes to our foreign policy. The democratic parties of the past have generally always been for larger government, civil rights and financial regulation. The lack of these things might have contributed to our current problems. In 2006, that all started to change. The democratic party took the majority of the House of Representatives and the Senate. This was a huge success for the party, but there was still a republican president to veto a lot of their proposed legislation. In 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated and democratic party controlled the white house once again.
- When the democratic party won the white house, many republicans began asking themselves what was wrong with their party. While some believed it was due to the country becoming more liberal, many thought that the republican party was not conservative enough. These people formed what is now know as the Tea Party. Members of the tea party are extremely conservative and are against almost all of Barack Obama’s policies. Some members have been pictured with signs claiming “Obama is a socialist” and have signs with pictures of Obama with a Hitler-style mustache. They generally believe that Barack Obama is trying to ruin our country. The tea party’s hatred for the president is fueled by republican party talking points and theories developed by Fox News and other conservative forms of media. While members of the party might think they are doing the country a service, they are starting to divide the republican party which might split the republican vote and make it easier for the democratic parties of the future to achieve a majority of the vote.
- Democratic parties of the past were much weaker versions of the current democratic party. After the 2008 elections, the democrats held the largest majority in our nation’s history and even after the election of Republican Senator Scott Brown, they now hold the second biggest majority. The party is more united than ever with about 90% of democrats supporting universal health care, about 80% supporting same-sex marriage, over 80% opposing restricting abortion rights and about 60% opposed to the Patriot Act. These examples show how strong their voice has become and proves that their views are generally agreed upon.
The current party is the strongest of all the democratic parties and only time will tell what that means. The democrats have faced some tough criticism recently because their majority has not helped them pass some major legislation such as health care and economic reform. The 2010 midterm elections will be a big test to this powerful party. A majority doesn’t mean much if they can’t get things done. The world is watching this majority with a close eye and it is up to the politicians themselves to make use of their power.