WHY I'M A DEMOCRAT-THEODORE SORENSON

(1) Government's job is more than just to get out of the way of private interests.

(2) Some problems, created or made worse by an unregulated market, are best solved by government.

(3) The federal government must work to reverse the decline of real wages and other workers' benefits, seeing to it that workers receive their fair share, reducing the gap between rich and poor.

(4) Equal opportunity for all citizens is impossible without federal affirmative action in education and employment.

(5) Devolution of power to states and localities is good in principle but cannot entirely replace national policy-making and national standards.

(6) Presidents Reagan and Bush created our huge national deficit. Democrats must, therefore, assure that the poor, the elderly, the unskilled and the ill do not now pay for Republican budget-busting.

(7) Law and order are strongest when the nation attacks the causes of crime by strengthening gun control and assuring equal access to courts.

(8) Families are strengthened through economic opportunity, not by breaching the wall between church and state or by diminishing personal choices and privacy.

(9) The U.S.A. is but one part of a larger world. The U.S. Government must lead in international organizations such as NATO and the UN. Democrats reject "protectionism, unilateralism, and fiscal isolationism."

(10) Government's first duty is to the "little people." The government ought to be there for people too poor to afford their own lobbyists, for ordinary citizens and for underdogs.

Theodore Sorenson was special counsel to President Kennedy. This is taken from his book, "Why I'm A Democrat"