Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828, making it the world's oldest active party.

Once its dominant worldview was classical liberalism, but modern social liberalism became a force within the party with the candidatures of William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson, who won the presidential nominations in 1896, 1900, 1908, 1912 and 1916. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s the Democratic Party has promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice and a mixed economy. The Democrats' philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It pursues a mixed economy by providing government intervention and regulation in the economy. These interventions, such as the introduction of social programs, support for labor unions, moves toward universal health care and equal opportunity, consumer protection, and environmental protection form the core of the party's economic policy.

Democratic Party of Illinois

The Democratic Party of Illinois is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Illinois. It is the oldest extant state party in Illinois and, along with the Green and Republican Parties, one of just three recognized parties in the state.

History

The Democratic Party of Illinois took shape during the late 1830s. Prior to that time, Illinois did not have organized political parties; instead, political competition in the state was more personalist, with prominent factions centered on Governors Ninian Edwards and Shadrach Bond. As the Democratic and Whig Parties began to form at the national level during the late 1820s and 1830s, Illinois politicians began sorting themselves accordingly and, in the summer of 1837, leading Democrats met to lay the groundwork for a Democratic Party organization in the state.

Before 2010, the party had been extremely successful in statewide elections for the past decade. In 1992, Carol Moseley Braun became the first African American woman to be elected to the United States Senate. Her election marked the first time Illinois had elected a woman, and the first time a black person was elected as a Democratic Party candidate to the United States Senate. A second African American Barack Obama Democratic Senator was elected in 2004, and later elected President of the United States in 2008. The party currently holds a majority in both the Illinois Senate and Illinois House of Representatives.

Democratic Party (Cambodia)

The Democratic Party (Khmer: ក្រុមប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ, "Democratic Group") was a left-leaning, pro-independence political party formed in 1946 by Prince Sisowath Youtevong, who had previously been a member of the French Section of the Workers' International.

Its slogan was "Peace, Independence, Discipline and Courage" and its electoral symbol an elephant's head and three lotus flowers.

In the colonial-era government

In the first elections to colonial Cambodia's Constituent Assembly, held in September 1946, the Democrats won 50 out of 67 seats, and for several years they remained the most popular party in Cambodia, despite Yuthevong's early death in 1947. The Democrats - in contrast to their rivals, the Liberal Party (Kanak Sereipheap) of Prince Norodom Norindeth and the Progressive Democrats led by Prince Norodom Montana - were in favour of immediate independence based on the model of French democracy; they also maintained that the Thai-sponsored Khmer Issarak resistance were patriots, thereby irritating the French.