Working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world

An impartial and critical assessment of the home and foreign policies of Republican

presidents of the 20th and 21st centuries reveals the wide gap between the proclaimed principles and the harsh reality. Watergate, Reagangate or the Iran-contras scandal, as

well as numerous others, the incredible low ratings of the incumbent (2006) president speak for themselves.

The results of the November 2006 mid-term elections to the US Congress (when the Republicans lost control of both Houses) also indicated lack of unpopularity of the Republicans on the whole and George W. Bush in particular.

Party Platform

The Democratic Party has a long history of claiming to represent and protect the interests of working Americans and guaranteeing personal liberties for all. One of the places they articulate the beliefs is in the Party's National Platform, adopted every four years by the Delegates at the National Convention.

The National Platform is an official statement of the Party's position on a wide variety of issues. Each issue category included in the Platform is a "plank." A new Platform is adopted every four years by the Democratic National Convention. In 1840, the

Democratic Party adopted the first-ever platform by a political party. That document was less than 1,000 words. Their Platform for 2000 is about 25,000 words, but some platforms have been as large as 40,000 words.

For example, the 2000 National Platform emphasized three key Democratic Party ideals:

(1) Prosperity — sustaining and strengthening the economic growth that brought opportunities to many Americans in the 1990s;

(2) Progress — paying attention to the aspects of the lives that cannot be measured in economic terms but which have a deep impact on the everyday existence;

(3) Peace — more than just the absence of war it means protecting America's security wherever it is allegedly endangered and promoting so-called democratic values around the world.

The Committee is responsible for drafting and recommending a proposed National Platform for approval at the Democratic National Convention. Its recommendation is presented as a Committee Report voted on by the delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Describe the national Symbols of the USA: the flag, the Great Seal, the National Anthem and the 10 federal holidays.