One of the most stunning things of the past fifteen years is the change in democratic politics on a national scope. For over a century, the Democrats were the party of the racist south, one that was against civil rights, integration, intermarriage, and a whole host of inalienable rights.
Balanced with this racist core was a surprisingly populist stance on finances and labor. While southern democratic politics meant preventing blacks from getting health care or education, northern democrats like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Fitzgerald Kennedy were two of the staunchest proponents of the working man and biggest foes of big business corporatization of public works.
Many historians concerned with democratic politics see Kennedy's brief term as president as the tipping point when it comes to democratic politics. It was the end of the "party within a party" aspect of the democratic party, where the southern "dixiecrats" would work for social ends that were directly contradictory to what northern democrats were working for.
In the forty seven years since Kennedy was assassinated, most democratic politics have been able to align on certain topics. The democratic party is nearly unanimous in supporting a woman's right to choose. The democratic party is also against, generally speaking, engaging in preemptive overseas combat of the kind the republican party is so wont to get into.
Another key aspect of democratic politics is a concern for civil liberties. This means that the rights guaranteed in, say, the fourth amendment - the amendment that protects citizens from illegal search and seizure - are paramount in the scope of democratic politics. There is also a growing movement among democratic constituents and politicians to legalize same sex marriage. This is clearly an issue of civil liberties, as same sex consenting adults should be afforded the same rights, privileges and protections as traditional couples.
Over the past two decades, however, there has been some divergence within the democratic party about economic policy. Many democrats favor a keynesian approach, as Roosevelt did. However many are also influenced by modern economists like Larry Summers, who ascribes to what is a thinly veiled "snatch-and-grab" policy in which big business is favored at the expense of the working and middle class.
Of course, those politicians are too clever to admit to that. But the fact is, democratic economic politics, while not as overtly damaging as republican economic politics, have been largely lacking in protection, regulation and common sense.