The Democratic Party is the party of most of the great social, political, and economic reforms of the 20th century, and going into the 21st century. A small number of Republican political leaders, whether governors, senators, or congressmen, joined the cause, and at times Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon joined in, but the Democrats were still the vast majority of those who promoted reforms we think we can now take for granted, but which conservative and Tea Party Republicans today wish to reverse!
The Democratic Party outside the South had to struggle against the right wing conservatism of most of its Southern members, including governors, senators, and congressmen, but in 1948, led by Mayor Hubert Humphrey of Minneapolis, they came out for civil rights in the national convention platform.
The Democrats came out for women’s rights, including the right to control their own bodies, in the 1970s after Roe V. Wade.
And now the Platform Committee of the Democratic National Convention of 2012 is moving toward adoption of a plank in the platform, backing gay rights and gay marriage explicitly!
This is a great victory, and follows in the tradition of the Democratic Party, being the party of openness, tolerance, and human compassion!