The New Deal was based on the papal encyclical "Rerum Novarum" which was the comprehensive treatise on the rights of workers and the rights of capital. In it Pope Leo XIII talked about how a moral society should work. That people have a right to own property, and that workers are entitled to decent treatment, a living wage, a secure old age, access to health care, etc. Saint Pius X affirmed this as correct. Franklin Roosevelt read it, and liked it so much, it became his political platform, and the basis for the platform of the Democratic party ever since. The writings of a pope, affirmed by a saint, are what the Republican Party has consistantly opposed for all this time. FYI