--- title: 2016 DNC: Democrats Try on Conservative Mantle Shed by GOP description: The Democratic party wrote one of the most liberal platforms in its history at its convention. They seized the conservative high ground too. canonical: https://time.com/4430443/hillary-clinton-democrat-platform-conservative/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-29T14:40:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:17.749Z article:section: Politics og:title: 2016 DNC: Democrats Try on Conservative Mantle Shed by GOP og:description: The Democratic party wrote one of the most liberal platforms in its history at its convention. They seized the conservative high ground too. og:url: https://time.com/4430443/hillary-clinton-democrat-platform-conservative/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte20f2e5723ed0159/6988a043cf40a807b5c44436/chelsea-matiash-hillary-clinton-democratic-national-convention-dnc-85.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3872 og:image:height: 2178 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL DNC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2016 DNC: Democrats Try on Conservative Mantle Shed by GOP twitter:description: The Democratic party wrote one of the most liberal platforms in its history at its convention. They seized the conservative high ground too. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte20f2e5723ed0159/6988a043cf40a807b5c44436/chelsea-matiash-hillary-clinton-democratic-national-convention-dnc-85.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrats Try on the Conservative Mantle Shed by the GOP > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Donald Trump Accepts The Republican Presidential Nomination [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump Accepts The Republican Presidential Nomination](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XaKW9HPR.m3u8) (3:51)  _Published 2016-07-22. Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday, promising to restore “law and order” to the United States and the world._ by [David Von Drehle](https://time.com/author/david-von-drehle/) ## David Von Drehle Jul 29, 2016 2:40 PM UTC  Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. Chelsea Matiash for TIME by [David Von Drehle](https://time.com/author/david-von-drehle/) ## David Von Drehle Jul 29, 2016 2:40 PM UTC The Democratic party began its convention by unveiling [one of the most liberal platforms in its history](http://time.com/4422862/democratic-platform-guns-abortion-immigration/). The document embraces big government approaches to issues from banking to wages, climate to college tuition. Yet somehow, before leaving Philadelphia, the Democrats seized the conservative high ground, too. This feat of political gymnastics could only have been possible with the cooperation of the Republicans, who surrendered the conservative position they have held for generations. Instead, the GOP in Cleveland took the most radical step by either party in generations by nominating Donald Trump for president. “Conservative” and “radical” are opposite political concepts. Republicans have been losing track of this fact in the 21st century, as they’ve fallen under the sway of absolutist thinkers from Ayn Rand to the NRA. Conservatives can be reformers, as the granddaddy of conservative thinking, 18th Century Irishman Edmund Burke made clear. But they cannot be radicals. At its core, the philosophy favors careful, measured steps, taken by ordered, established institutions—“prudence,” as the [seminal conservative writer Russell Kirk would put it](http://www.kirkcenter.org/index.php/detail/ten-conservative-principles/)—over sweeping, centralized upheavals. Love him or hate him, Trump is obviously not offering careful, measured steps. He says so himself. Though he avoids details in his campaign messages, he promises “huge” departures from business as usual. And he offers only scorn for the institutions of American civil society, which he often boils down to “[stupid people](http://www.msnbc.com/thomas-roberts/watch/trump--we-are-led-by-very--very-stupid-people-522303555596)” in positions of leadership. What he offers instead is a highly centralized alternative: himself. America is badly off-track, Trump tells voters, because American civil society is not up to the hard tasks that face it. Unlike China, Russia, and even Mexico, the United States is no match for the problems of contemporary life, ranging from ISIS to health care. But he, one great man, Donald J. Trump, can solve these problems. Economist F. A. Hayek, another of the essential thinkers of conservative philosophy, would have rejected this superman thinking out of hand. The reason why conservatives should embrace free markets, Hayek wrote, was that the ideas of multitudes, each thinking for himself or herself, will add up to a deeper wisdom than any one person or central planning office could ever achieve. Wisdom is the product of crowds, and of generations. On the other hand, central authority leads—inevitably, Hayek would say—to tyranny. The Trump candidacy is a radical approach to the future. This is true whether you believe that Trump has good ideas or not. Indeed, if he were not offering a radically different approach, he wouldn’t be sparking such an intense connection with the disaffected voters who form his core support. Legions of Republican conservatives recognize this, and they’ve scorned the Trump campaign. Conservative columnist George Will announced he is [leaving the GOP](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/george-will-leaves-gop-224801). Red State founder Erick Erickson [recently noted](http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/05/23/erickson-gop-supports-trump-im-not-republican-anymore/) that, “Donald Trump is neither a Republican nor a conservative.” Essayist Peter Wehner, explaining why Trump is no conservative, [categorized him](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/opinion/campaign-stops/why-i-will-never-vote-for-donald-trump.html) as “a demagogic figure who does not view himself as part of our constitutional system but rather as an alternative to it.” Nominating Trump opened a wide lane for the Democrats, and while their own surging left wing would never allow them to fill it all, they occupied parts of it. President Obama’s Wednesday night speech rang notes of human fallibility and incremental change that would strike chords with any philosophical conservative. Hillary Clinton, in her acceptance speech, hinted at the essence of conservative order—the careful layering of generations of prudent action—when she spoke, [quoting the musical _Hamilton_](http://www.amny.com/news/elections/hillary-clinton-quotes-hamilton-in-dnc-speech-1.12108495), of “planting seeds in a garden that you will never get to see.” Or, less poetically, when she described the sort of leadership conservatives admire: “smarts, judgment, cool resolve and the precise and strategic application of power.” Conservatism is about balance. Burke’s description of human rights is a model of the form. “Whatever each man can separately do, without trespassing upon others, he has a right to do for himself,” the great conservative [wrote](https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/563/)—words that will touch the hearts of American libertarians and free marketeers. But he adds, “and he has right to a fair portion of all which society, with its combinations of skill and force, can do in his favour.” Which covers at least part of the Democratic platform. Whether the Republicans can find their way back to conservative principles may depend on whether Trump completes his takeover of the party. If he loses, they can pick up the pieces. If he wins, the embers of conservatism glowing in Philadelphia will all that they have to warm themselves for a while. ## Transcript I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States. [ APPLAUSE ] We will be a country of generosity and warmth, but we will also Be a country of law and order. [ APPLAUSE ] The problems we face now. Poverty and violence at home. War and destruction abroad will last only as long as we continue relying on the same politicians who created them in the first place. Nobody knows the system better than me. [ APPLAUSE ] Which is why I, alone, can fix it. [ APPLAUSE ] In this cause, I am proud to have At my side, the next vice president of the United States, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana. An attack on law enforcement is an attack on all Americans. In this race For the White House, I am the Law and Order Candidate. [ APPLAUSE ] We are going to defeat the barbarians of Isis- [ APPLAUSE ] And we're going to defeat them fast. As your president, I will do everything in my power To protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology believe me. [ APPLAUSE ] And I have to say as a Republican It is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said, thank you. We must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism. Until such time as proven vetting mechanism Have been put in place, we don't want them in our country. We are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration. To stop the gangs and the violence. We are going to appoint justices of the United States Supreme Court who will uphold our laws and our constitution. An amendment pushed by Lyndon Johnson many years ago threatens religious institutions. With the loss of their tax exempt status. If they openly advocate their political views. Their voice has been taken away. I am going to work very hard to repeal that language, and to protect free speech for all Americans. [ APPLAUSE ] I make this promise. We will make America strong again. [ APPLAUSE ] We will make America proud again. [ APPLAUSE ] We will make America safe again. [ APPLAUSE ] And we will America great again. God bless you, and good night, I love you. 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