Think about the programs that make life better for the working people of America:

Social Security. Medicare. Medicaid.
Minimum wage. Student loans.
Food assistance.
The 40-hour work week. The 8-hour workday. No child labor.
Weekends!

Every one of these protections was championed by Liberals and Democrats – working with labor unions and driven by sustained social movements across the country.

 

During the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, created Social Security, so Americans wouldn’t grow old in poverty. His New Deal delivered the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, establishing the 5-day work week, the 8-hour workday, and banning child labor nationwide. Before that? Children as young as 8 worked 10-hour shifts in mines and factories. People worked 12 to 14-hour days, 6 or 7 days a week – or they didn’t eat. It was Democrats who fought for the minimum wage, unemployment insurance, and the right to join a union. 

 

In the 1960s, Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, created Medicare and Medicaid, making health care affordable for seniors and low-income Americans. In 2010, Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act, expanding coverage to tens of millions of Americans. And when the economy collapsed in 2008, it was Democrats alone who passed the recovery plan that saved jobs, homes, and retirement savings. Republicans not only did not lead these fights, they opposed most of them – voting against Social Security in 1935, against Medicare in 1965, and how many times did they try to repeal the Affordable Care Act? Republicans still propose cutting these programs – calling them “entitlements” instead of what they really are: earned lifelines. 

 

Here’s the simple truth: When Democrats lead, they build protections that help working people AND they grow the economy.

 

When Republicans lead, they give tax cuts to the rich, promise trickle-down economics and push privatization. Working families get little that actually makes their lives better. It’s not ancient history. It’s the world we live in.