Why Leftists Should Also Be Democrats

1. History: Since the Civil War, movements on the left have won major political victories only when they were able to convince, pressure, and/or force leaders of one of the major parties to take their side on a particular issue. That most abolitionists joined the Republican Party was essential to eliminating slavery and to winning citizenship for black people. Labor unionists signed up nearly 9 million new members between 1933 and 1945 with the aid, tacit and active, of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democrats who controlled the White House, Congress, and several key state governments. Responding to the protests of the black freedom movement, the (mostly) liberal party led by John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson backed the Civil Rights, Voting Rights, and Open Housing laws of the 1960s.