CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN
Scope and Content Note: Probably would not be possible “today to develop the kind of party that we put together in the 1950s.” Value of political parties have been minimized during his lifetime. Party machine charity and the patronage of the post office, while replaced by good reforms, have weakened political parties. Advent of television gave candidates the ability to reach into the homes of voters and “eliminate the middleman.” Campaign finance changes, with the creation of political action committees, provide for contributions which side-step the party. Democratic Party in Wisconsin today has been watered down, “but the very fact that it exists at all, I think, is a tribute to the very selfless people who worked all those years to develop a citizens' party in this state.” Fourteen or fifteen hundred delegates still meet at Democratic Party of Wisconsin conventions, even knowing that they cannot endorse candidates and the candidates can ignore the platform if they so choose. “The very fact that that process continues, I think, is evidence that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has survived its most serious challenge, and that is the challenge that comes when success occurs. And for what it's worth, I think that the work that went into that period still is bearing some fruit. And certainly at the time that all of this was going on, I think it had a very salutary impact on public life in Wisconsin and brought about the two party system that we have now.”