Now, I said both Democratic and Republican candidates who turn to the
populist view can win. But there's an inherent difference, in my
opinion, between Democrats and Republicans. In my opinion, the basic
nature of the difference between the two parties is that the Democratic
Party is always predicating its support on the people themselves. There
have been times that an oligarchy could arise in a state, with major
corporations, power companies, other utility companies, railroads, and
so forth, banks, you know, speaking for the people in the absence of
their inclination to speak for themselves. But, in general, Democratic
candidates—there are obviously notable examples—tend to go directly to
the people and understand what the people want. The Republican Party, at
the national level and otherwise, basically predicate their financial
support and their organizational structure on the fact that a few very
prominent people and very highly qualified people and very influential
people, can be spokesmen for a vast number of citizens. And they get a
lot of money from individual contributors with a small number of
contributions on the average. Democrats, on the average, get a lot of
small contributions. There's a basic difference in the two parties'
philosophy, and I think this
Page 9 is mirrored accurately
in the polls and in the attitudes in Congress and historically. Well,
this gives the Democrats a chance, in my opinion, to capitalize on what
I like to call a new freedom. That is, that voter's new inclination to
be vocal, that's been latent, really, you might say, for two hundred
years. And now that inclination of people to speak for themselves has
come forward. I think the first inclination that it was coming forward
was in the civil rights movement, when Martin Luther King and others,
who had formerly been dormant and quiet, said, "We have a right to vote,
we have a right to go and get a job where we want to, we have a right to
be treated as equals in public facilities." It was a shock to us, but we
all sat back and saw that they were successful. Later, student groups
demonstrated about environmental issues and civil rights, and we saw to
a major degree they were successful. And then the average citizen said,
you know, "Why should I let my sheriff speak for me anymore? I'll speak
for myself." So there is a new inclination for voters to speak up, and I
think—