Democrats have proven far better for the country than Republicans in almost every way in the last 200 years

Whether it’s due to consuming a steady media diet of misinformation from Fox News, getting pressured by family members, succumbing to family political habits or a sheer lack of knowledge of American history, a majority of Mesa County voters have long believed Democrats and their policies are far worse for the country than Republicans, but history shows the exact opposite: Democrats and left-leaning policies have consistently proven far better for the majority of Americans’ quality of life than Republican policies in almost every way.

Policies Democratic administrations have enacted have long proven far better at improving the country’s economic stability and prosperity, job creation, wages, racial equity, affordability and availability of healthcare and housing, public education, job protections for workers, improvements in public health, the safety of the U.S. food supply, foreign policy, the social safety net, safety from gun violence, stability for small businesses and Americans’ overall quality of life. Democratic presidential administrations have created well-loved, desperately needed, large-scale programs that have benefitted a huge number of Americans for generations, like Social Security, Medicare, the National School Lunch Act, child labor laws, Rural Electrification, the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote, the Voting Rights Act which broke the political hold of Jim Crow laws which reinforced racial segregation, the Federal Home Loan Program, which guaranteed loans that helped millions of Americans become homeowners, and the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 passed under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which established the 8 hour workday, minimum wage, paid overtime, and the right to collective bargaining, and did so much more to help average Americans.

For generations, the U.S. economy has also grown faster under Democratic presidents:

Job growth, employment rates, manufacturing jobs, investments in manufacturing and the economy have all done better under Democratic administrations than Republicans, while Republicans have added significantly more to the national debt than Democrats since 1913:

In keeping with the track record of modern Republican administrations, Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” will add an estimated $2.4 trillion (with a “T”) to the national debt over the next 10 years, due to Republicans continuing policies of giving tax cuts to the nation’s wealthiest citizens and corporations, while cutting programs that benefit less well-off Americans. Republicans embrace a policy formula called “Trickle-Down Economics” that has reliably sent the U.S. deeper and deeper into debt. Cutting spending alone won’t get a country out of debt. You have to raise revenue to reduce a debt, an economic fact that Republicans have long ignored.

The Senate Joint Economic Committee notes that 90% of economic recessions have occurred under Republican presidents:

“Of the 11 recessions that have occurred in the modern (post-World War II) era, 10 of them have occurred under Republican presidents. Republican presidents often inherit strong economies and leave their successors with significantly weaker economies. For example, President George W. Bush inherited a strong economy from President Bill Clinton, and his presidency ended with the Great Recession. President Donald Trump inherited the longest continuous run of job creation in modern U.S. history from President Barack Obama but became the first president in the modern era to oversee net job losses during his term. There were 2.7 million fewer Americans employed when President Trump left office than at the beginning of his term.” [Bold emphasis added.]

For fun, I asked ChatGPT to “show me a list of policy achievements by Democrats that have benefited life for Americans going back 200 years.”

“Here’s a 200‑year sweep of major laws spearheaded or championed by Democrats that measurably changed Americans’ day‑to‑day lives. The list is not exhaustive, but each item is backed by historians or government data showing durable benefits:

Year — Policy Achievement — Lasting Benefits

1820s–1830s — Jacksonian democracy ends property tests (property ownership was formerly a requirement for voting in the U.S.), opening the vote to most white men and doubling turnout, the first mass‑participation electorate in world history.

U.S. Presidents:

1887 – Grover Cleveland (D) enacted the Interstate  Commerce Act, which created the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first federal watchdog reining in railroad rate abuses that were crushing farmers and small towns.

1913 – Under Woodrow Wilson (D), the U.S. enacted the 16th Amendment & Revenue Act, which together launched a progressive income tax. The Federal Reserve Act created a central bank to curb panics and manage credit. (National Archives and Investopedia)

1916 – Woodrow Wilson created the National Park Service Act, which unified National Park stewardship. Today 84 million acres drive $50 billion + in recreation spending annually.

1935–38 – Under Franklin D. Roosevelt (D), the U.S. enacted the Social Security Act, Rural Electrification Act and Fair Labor Standards Act (the anchor for the New Deal). These programs helped slash elderly poverty, bring power to 90 % of American farms, created the 40‑hour week & established a minimum wage. (National Archives and Investopedia) Roosevelt’s New Deal helped pull the U.S. out of The Depression and prevent many of its root causes.

1944 – Congress enacted the G.I. Bill, which funded college & mortgages for 8 million veterans, fueling the middle class and 15  million new homes. (Wikipedia)

1964–65 – Under President Lyndon Johnson (D), Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Medicare & Medicaid, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (to ensure that all students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, have access to a quality education), Head Start (a free, federally-funded program that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, and family support services to children from low-income families and pregnant women); the end of legal segregation, an increase in Black voter registration from 6 % to 60 % in Mississippi, gave health coverage to 65  million people, and channeled billions into high‑poverty schools and helped 32  million preschoolers. (National Archives)

1970 – the Clean Air Act (Democratic Congress) empowered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to bring down common pollutant emissions by 78 %, averting hundreds of thousands of premature deaths.

1993 – the Family and Medical Leave Act was enacted, which guarantees up to 12 weeks of job‑protected leave — used by about 20 million workers a year.

2010 – The Affordable Care Act or ACA (“Obamacare”) cut the number of medically uninsured Americans from 45 million in 2013 to 26 million in 2022, and bans denying treatment for pre‑existing‑conditions for 129  million people.

2011 – The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was passed in 2011 by President Obama (D) and is the most sweeping reform of American food safety laws in more than 70 years, since the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938.

2021 – The American Rescue Plan – Child Tax Credit drives a record 46 % drop in child poverty to 5.2 %, the lowest ever recorded. The Plan was enacted under the Biden Administration (D). (Census.gov)

2021 – Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (Biden administration) – $1.2  Trillion for roads, bridges, clean water, transit & broadband — the largest such investment since the Interstate era. (The White House)

2022 – Inflation Reduction Act – $369  billion for climate and clean energy incentives; over $110 billion in private‑sector manufacturing was announced in the first year of the Act, and 1.5  million new jobs were projected. (The White House)

Through‑line: From widening the vote and taming monopolies to building the safety net, protecting civil rights, cleaning the air, and jump‑starting 21st‑century green industries, Democratic‑led initiatives repeatedly expanded opportunity, security, health and economic dynamism for millions of Americans.

By contrast, Republicans enact policies that improve finances for the country’s richest people. Republican policies inject insecurity, fear and added expense into Americans’ lives and the economy. As examples of this, convicted felon and President Trump has been constantly issuing on-again, off-again tariff proclamations that have increased economic instability, eroded trust in the U.S. and that are dissuading companies from investing in the U.S. He’s threatened allies and trading partners, like Canada, Greenland and Panama, with takeovers of their lands, alienating allies and increasing distrust of the U.S. Many foreign countries now consider the U.S. to be an unreliable and untrustworthy partner under Trump. Republicans have gone along with Trump’s illegal efforts to slash tens of thousands of federal jobs and eliminate life-saving aid to countries around the world. He’s been working to destroy federal agencies Congress created to help Americans stay safe, healthy and prosperous, like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Education, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control. Trump has

been working to kill federal agencies that help Americans with retirement and education, that help Americans get enough food to eat, that preserve and protect National Parks, save lives around the world, improve the environment and more. Trump’s aggressive and unconstitutional actions against people from other countries have cut global tourism to the U.S.; his attacks on scientists and educational institutions have caused a brain drain that is sending our country’s most skilled and knowledgeable researchers and scientists to other countries where they are more welcome and can safely perform research and publish their works. Trump is threatening Americans by illegally sending armed federal military troops into U.S. cities. All of this is bad for Americans, bad for business, bad for America’s image in the world and is making Americans’ lives far more stressful.

Democrats aren’t perfect.