Democratic Party and Liberalism Liberalism and democracy have existed together for quite some time, especially in the United States. To understand liberalism in America, it is important first to under the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party involves politicians and objectives that share liberal views on society and regulation. The Democratic Party exists as one of two primary modern political parties within the United States, alongside its conservative right wing counterpart, the Republican Party. Tracing its roots back to James Madison and Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans, the present-day Democratic Party was established around 1828, making the Democratic Party the world's oldest and active party. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Since the 1930's the party has been considered the foundation of classical liberalism (to some degree libertarianism within the United States). Within their liberal ideals, the party has promoted a social-liberal, center-left, platform. This platform continually supports a mixed economy and social justice. The Democrats' philosophy concerning modern American liberalism promotes the advocacy of economic and social equality alongside the welfare state. Furthermore, American Liberalism in the United States is a wide-ranging political view point positioned on the unalienable rights of the person (Starr). The essential liberal ethics of freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, for every type of belief systems. Other things that fall up under that same umbrella is the separation of church and state, right to due process, and equivalence under the law are extensively acknowledged as a common foundation throughout the range of liberal thought.

American Liberalism is deeply rooted in American soil. It is so deeply rooted that in the years after World War II, numerous historians and social scientists looked upon the liberal project and the American civic dogma as comparatively the same. The proposition that ever has a right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" remains as good a description as anyone has ever come up with of liberalism's first standard and America's historic capacity (Starr).

For some time, on the other hand, present-day liberalism has been under political blockade throughout the United States, and even liberals are have a hard time standing up for what they believe. There are times when even they appear uncertain about what they believe. In recent years, national political leaders who are undeniably liberal, have often been reluctant to saying anything and powerless to express a convincing public viewpoint, even though public-opinion surveys display that many Americans who support liberal stances are not identifying themselves as liberals at all (Starr). Recently, though, the right has been experiencing its own loss of self-assurance. No anyone, not even conservatives, disbelieves that conservatism is now in deep distress: alienated, undefined of itself, and with numerous clarifying to do for the disaster in Iraq. Nevertheless the tiredness of conservatism is not tantamount to a liberal renewal.

Research shows that the Bush government's obvious failures and the Democrats' victory in the 2006 elections have shaped a new opening for liberal dispute. The question many are pondering is whether liberals are able to make their case not just for particular policies and contenders but for other public values. The stance of Democrats in the course of a mixed financial system is done through suggesting government intervention also to government teaching in the American economy (Starr).

Looking at the party's background, the types of interventions vary but include the introduction and implementation of social programs moves toward equal opportunity and universal health care, support for formation of labor unions, and consumer and environmental protection. Such form the fundamentals of the party's fiscal policy. Towards the end of 1900's the party shared a conservative pro-business wing that attracted robust support from European ethnics, the majority of which were Catholics. These Catholics were based in the main cities and had a populist-conservative (right-wing) as well as evangelical wing.

After 1932, in addition to Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" the commercial wing declined. Throughout three decades (from the 1960s-1990s) Southern whites along with numerous European ethnics, moved away from the Democratic...

When they moved away, they embraced the Republican Party (Kingsbury). Currently, the congressional Democratic committee is composed regularly of centrists. Centrists are people who hold moderate political views and progressives, with a lesser minority of conservatives (What is Centrist/Centrism). What was once a mixed assembly of supporters which included liberal and conservative ideologies, has now transformed to mainly liberal. Although the Democratic Party has existed for over a century and a half, there have only been fifteen Democratic presidents. The first of which was Andrew Jackson, having served from 1829-1837 (U.S. Political Parties). The most recent Democratic president was Barack Obama, having served since 2009.
In terms of current Democratic Party makeup, social liberals or modern liberals, and progressives create the majority of Democratic voter base and Democratic politicians. Liberals and liberalism therefore formed the leading united demographic in the Democratic base. Conferring to the results from the 2012 exit polls, liberals made up 25% or a quarter of the electorate. (Firstprinciplesjournal.com) In addition, 86% of American liberals preferred the Democratic Party candidate. White-collar and college-educated professionals leaned more towards the Republican side until the 1950s. From the 1950's and onwards, they compose an important part of the Democratic Party.

Things a big majority of liberals favors are universal health care and diplomacy. In fact, many support a single-payer system. The majority of liberals also favor diplomacy instead of military action. Other issues they wish to bring to the forefront are the legalization of same-sex marriage, stem cell research, stricter gun control, as well as environmental protection laws and the protection of abortion rights. Majority liberals also deem positive cultural diversity and immigration. This is because liberals favor cultural pluralism. Meaning a system in which immigrants preserve their native culture alongside adopting a new culture. Some divisions exist however on free trade agreements including organizations like NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). Most liberals are against increased military spending as well as the mixing of church and state. (Firstprinciplesjournal.com)

Department of Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security or DHS, has recent roots in America. Now that the United States faced and continues to face a string of international and national terrorist threats, the DHS should change some policies in order to adapt to the current need of the public. DHS remains the third-largest department within the federal government, even though it does not integrate the entirety of homeland security functions within the federal level (Department of Homeland Security). That and the fact the definition of homeland security remaining unsettled, along with questions about efficiency and effectiveness of the department changes have been proposed.

Specific issues with the Department of Homeland Security can be split into five general categories. These categories are:

1. Border Security and Trade

1. Counterterrorism and Security Management,

1. Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery,

1. Immigration, and

1. Departmental Management.

Each of these areas contains a potential assessment of subjects that can be briefly examined through Congressional Research Service specialists. However, just like with any topic, a brief introduction and background of DHS is needed in order to understand what changes can be made in present day (Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports).

Through the Homeland Security Act of 2002, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was established. The act was signed into law November 25, 2002. Assembly of the new department came from pulling components of over 22 various government agencies. The department began its official operations from March 1, 2003 and onward (Department of Homeland Security). Since then, DHS faced a series of reorganizations and restructurings in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness.

While DHS has many of the homeland security utilities of the federal government, some of these functions remain at their original place, the executive branch departments and agencies, including the Departments of State, Justice, State, Transportation, and Defense. Because the department has had such a short time as a department, some of the issues related to policy reform are important to address within the context of infancy and lack of established processes.

As earlier mentioned, the issue of Counterterrorism and Security Management for example, can be handled within the context of cooperation amongst the DHS and other departments like the Departments of Justice and Defense. Missions these departments may have can be transferred to the DHS to provide specialized assistance. Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery can be handled through cooperation with the Department of Transportation since in disasters people need to evacuate as soon as possible (Department of Homeland Security).

Border Security, Trade, and Immigration is often a big problem, requires the DHS to deal with all the above departments in order to maintain a certain level of control and authority while handling missions and cases (Department of Homeland Security). The DHS instead of being viewed as its own department can perhaps be viewed as a supplementary department that has specialists that are equipped to handle hard cases or missions. That way they provide much needed assistance in terrorism cases nationally and aide in crises like disasters and so forth.

Policy reform must then focus on providing the means with which the DHS can train specialists and communicate with…