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Thoughout one's life, one is faced with the oppressing reality that there are those with greater power and influence than oneself.

Those with power seek to increase their power. To maintain and appease this thirst, others are used as if they were nothing more than a means.

It is no coincidence that power gets driven into the hands of the few at the expense of the many. But eventually the great masses realize that they have a strength that cannot be diminished but only increased by their oppression.

Sympathy becomes empathy. Apathy turns into drive. The people desire to be heard. They wish to restore justice.

I have no doubt that people are generally good. To achieve oppression, the Unjust coach their language in terms of right and wrong; moral and immoral. They must, for if they did not, the conscience of the individual and the collective would not allow the injustice.

Achieving independence from the British crown started the United States down the long path towards a government which acts as the instrument of the governed.

The tables were turned. The people became the sovereigns. Checks were put into place to ensure that the corrupting power of one government institution was balanced by the power of others. Above all, through the democratic process, the people became the ultimate check against their tool.

The Bill of Rights acknowledged that certain behavior shall not morph the peoples' government into a weapon of their oppression. Even during the enactment of the Bill of Rights, concern was given to the possibility that listing certain rights would threaten those rights left unmentioned. The response was the 9th Amendment which states:

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The Constitution acts as a protector of the people against the "tyranny of the majority." But the people are generally good, I said! Yes, but even those who mean well can go astray.

Even as far back as ancient Athens it has been known that in a democracy, the people may be led to conclusions contrary to their own self-interests. Thucydides recognized this when he questioned whether Athens, under the rule of Pericles, was really a democracy at all. Such a good leader was Pericles that he was repeatedly elected, but the people through his leadership had effectively lost their popular sovereignty.

The Anti-administration party which would later become the Democratic-Republicans recognized this threat. A strong central government was a means by which control could be rested from the people.

The Democratic Party that emerged from the Democratic-Republicans is an expression of the peoples' will.

The anti-abolitionist and later pro-segregationist Democrats of the South were wrong, but this was not concluded until all of the peoples' voices were heard, including the blacks.

The Democratic Party has become the means by which power is restored to the people. We hold as our chief responsibility to ensure that the people, from whom government derives its power, remain free.

This has meant opposing a central bank to protect from the moneyed interests of 19th-century New England, to enacting civil rights legislation providing for equal opportunity regardless of race, religion, sex or age.

We oppose the reach of a tyrannical executive and the corrupting influences of a corporate-run media. We believe in the great power of an educated public to make the right choice.

We are a party of activists each trying in our own way, and with our own vote to make the world a better place; for us, for our brethren, and for our children.

We are all leaders, guiding this great nation to perform its duty for its citizens.

We believe in the power of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The people have as their device the government by which to achieve a greater society, and we, the Democratic Party, believe in our leaders: the people.