The Democratic Party’s Spoils System

Why Was The Democratic Party Able
To Dominate The US Congress For Over 40 Years?

The following Wall Street Journal article, I highly recommend to read may shed some light on this question. It appeared on the Opinion Page of the US Edition on 6/23/12.

Headline: “The Soul of the Democratic Party Machine” (Subscription required)

Author: Jay Cost

Blame It On Franklin D. Roosevelt And His New Deal

Excerpts from the article:

·         “The federal government long had a relatively modest “spoils system”, but the New Deal took matters to an entirely new level.”

·         “… FDR imported [Tammany Hall] political methodology to Washington, D.C. His New Deal used federal regulatory power and money … to build a permanent Democratic majority”

·         “The president made sure that … urban machines got enormous sums for patronage jobs and programs, …”

·         “[FDR] created a variety of special privileges including monopolistic bargaining rights for organized labor.”

I only wish the article went into more details, but Mr. Cost also published a book regarding the spoils system.