Democratic Party Platform

[Nym90]

This is the proposed Democratic party platform. If you are a Democrat, please vote either Yes or No on this. Let's give people until, say Tuesday at 12 Noon Eastern Daylight Time to vote, and if there are more Yes than No by then, it will be approved.

Social Issues:
 
 
Abortion –  We support the right of a woman to make her own choice corcerning abortion.
 
Affirmative Action – The Democratic Party opposes race-based affirmitive action as a form of discrimination.  We do support, however, class-based affirmitive action as a way for poor young people to rise out of poverty and make something of theirselves.
 
Same-Sex Marriage - We support the right of any two individuals to join together in marriage, regardless of circumstance.
 
War on Drugs - The Democratic Party opposes the current War on Drugs and would cut back funding on it.  We support the legalization of drugs for medical reasons, and we may look into some legalization.
 
Capital Punishment – The Democratic Party does not support the death penalty in any comprehendable case.
 
Welfare - The Democratic Party believes welfare should be a short-term safety net and not a lifestyle.  We do not, however, support a blanket time limit to be on welfare; it will have to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
 
Environment - The Democratic Party sees the huge importance of a clean Earth for all future generations to inhabit and enjoy.  We will enact environmental standards that apply to everyone, and will give some financial incentive for energy-saving measures.
 
Education - The Democratic Party rejects school vouchers and supports putting much more money into funding of public schools, and higher pay for teachers
 
 
Economy:
 
Spending - The Democratic Party will spend whatever is necessary, but will not spend frivolous money.
 
Trade -  The Democratic Party supports fair trade for the most part.
 
 
Foreign Policy:
 
North Korea - We do classify North Korea as a rouge nation, but we will offer them incentive to dismantle their nuclear program.
 
Terrorism – We will fight terrorism on all fronts, but we will wisely decide where and when to use troops.  We support the war in Afghanistan, but not the war in Iraq.
 
Immigration -  We will support legal immigration by anyone who wants to come to America and make something of themselves, but we do not support illegal immigration.
 
 
Health Care:
 
The Democratic Party supports health care and would like to maintain Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and we would not support privitization.
 
Forum Issues:
 
The Democratic Party supports the role of the Supreme Court in our governmental simulation and recognizes their role in solving disputes.  The Game Moderator can do his job, while the Supreme Court can do its.
 
We would rather fix the current region problem.

[Nym90]

I vote Yes.

[StevenNick]

What a godawful platform.  It reads like some kind of manifesto on how to best ruin the country.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

What a godawful platform.  It reads like some kind of manifesto on how to best ruin the country.

Just wait till you see the "United Left" platform!

[© tweed]

I vote no

[Nym90]

What are your objections, Boss?

[© tweed]

What are your objections, Boss?

TOO VAGUE

[© tweed]

And we sound like a bunch of protectionist bastards

[ilikeverin]

I need to form the "Just Say No" Caucus, but with all the platforms and opinions we have here, I would be the only member

[Fritz]

Great platform, Mr. President.

The section on the economy needs to be a bit more specific- it mentions spending "whatever is necessary" but not "frivolous"- this is open to widespread interpretation and opinion about what is necessary and what is frivilous.  Also taxation is not mentioned at all.

Aside from the economy section, the rest of the platform as written is clear in its meaning and intent, and represents positions I would agree with.

Noting my objection to the lack of specificity in the economy section, I vote yes.

[MAS117]

If I can vote No, but anyway Mr. President didnt you switch parties or another one formed by Ben or someone?

[© tweed]

If I can vote No, but anyway Mr. President didnt you switch parties or another one formed by Ben or someone?

He is in the DLC, which is a group inside the AFDNC.

[Beet]

The platform is too vague on Economy, Foreign Policy, and even Health care. Also I would like to see a proposal similiar to that enacted by Canada on marijuana reform in order to save money and free up the prisons for real criminals.

The Democratic Party should support putting the same fuel efficiency standards on all mass-marketed private consumer automobiles, including SUVs. The price of oil is unacceptable and has been trending upward ever since the late 1990s after a prolonged period of stability. It is driving up inflation and hurting the economy. The economy has always hurt every time oil prices have risen. Poverty has risen markedly since the surge of oil prices in 2000. Also, we should ratify the Kyoto initiative or at least re-start the talks with specific objections, if valid.

On Economy, the Democratic Party should support government action whereever this can achieve goals better than the market can. This means that we should support expanded medicaid benefits to make sure that all of America's poor children are covered. The poverty rate among children in the U.S. today is unacceptable. Children are the most helpless and innocent members of society, and they have done nothing to deserve the disadvantages this poverty entails, which includes poor neighborhoods, poor families, poor education, and poor opportunities. But there is one travesty that is worse than all of this, and that is no health care coverage. This is because good health is the most fundamental requirement of life. Without health you cannot do anything. All of the other advantages and joys any person can have are based on this. Our society has an obligation to look out for its most vulnerable members. The current medicaid system just does not work well enough for this.

I might write more later.

[Fritz]

If I can vote No, but anyway Mr. President didnt you switch parties or another one formed by Ben or someone?

I believe you are a member of the UAC and therefore you cannot vote on this.

[The Duke]

This is the proposed Democratic party platform. If you are a Democrat, please vote either Yes or No on this. Let's give people until, say Tuesday at 12 Noon Eastern Daylight Time to vote, and if there are more Yes than No by then, it will be approved.

Social Issues:
 
 
Abortion –  We support the right of a woman to make her own choice corcerning abortion.
 
Affirmative Action – The Democratic Party opposes race-based affirmitive action as a form of discrimination.  We do support, however, class-based affirmitive action as a way for poor young people to rise out of poverty and make something of theirselves.
 
Same-Sex Marriage - We support the right of any two individuals to join together in marriage, regardless of circumstance.
 
War on Drugs - The Democratic Party opposes the current War on Drugs and would cut back funding on it.  We support the legalization of drugs for medical reasons, and we may look into some legalization.
 
Capital Punishment – The Democratic Party does not support the death penalty in any comprehendable case.
 
Welfare - The Democratic Party believes welfare should be a short-term safety net and not a lifestyle.  We do not, however, support a blanket time limit to be on welfare; it will have to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
 
Environment - The Democratic Party sees the huge importance of a clean Earth for all future generations to inhabit and enjoy.  We will enact environmental standards that apply to everyone, and will give some financial incentive for energy-saving measures.
 
Education - The Democratic Party rejects school vouchers and supports putting much more money into funding of public schools, and higher pay for teachers
 
 
Economy:
 
Spending - The Democratic Party will spend whatever is necessary, but will not spend frivolous money.
 
Trade -  The Democratic Party supports fair trade for the most part.
 
 
Foreign Policy:
 
North Korea - We do classify North Korea as a rouge nation, but we will offer them incentive to dismantle their nuclear program.
 
Terrorism – We will fight terrorism on all fronts, but we will wisely decide where and when to use troops.  We support the war in Afghanistan, but not the war in Iraq.
 
Immigration -  We will support legal immigration by anyone who wants to come to America and make something of themselves, but we do not support illegal immigration.
 
 
Health Care:
 
The Democratic Party supports health care and would like to maintain Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and we would not support privitization.
 
Forum Issues:
 
The Democratic Party supports the role of the Supreme Court in our governmental simulation and recognizes their role in solving disputes.  The Game Moderator can do his job, while the Supreme Court can do its.
 
We would rather fix the current region problem.

Just the two cents of a UAC member, but...

On Abortion, you should take an actual stand.  people like leadership, and you guys seem to be trying to avoid giving your actual opinion on the issue.  The majority of the forum undeniably is pro-choice, and I would say proudly that I support legalized abortion if I were a liberal Democrat on this forum.

On Affirmative Action, I think you stole my idea .

On Capital Punishment, would you not give the death penalty to Osama bin Laden?  That to me is a "comprehendable case".  And it would warrant the highest punishment.

On welfare, it is highly unrealistic that you could reasonably determine, on a case by case basis, whether an extension on welfare payments was deserved.  Who makes the decision?  Can some soft hearted social worker hand out taxpayer dollars to anyone they take pity on?  Making welfare payments on this basis is a recipe for disaster.

On immigration, you seem to want to oppose illegal immigration by legalizing almost all immigration.  This is a transparent ploy to undermine current immigration policy, IMHO.

I don't have a vote, obviously, but if I were you, I'd listen to me and make some improvements in the platform.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Ford, I thought it was my idea!

I salute this platform's position on that issue, though I don't think it belongs in a platform associated with the Democrat Party.  The real Democrat Party loves race-baiting quota discrimination and won't be happy until white southerners are extinguished from the Earth.  You might consider a name change too match your truly progressive stance on that issue

[Beet]

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I think we welcome constructive comments from all forum members, no matter what party.

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I agree... though I personally believe the compelling moral interest of the state begins at first consciousness, for the sake of a well known standard, the Democratic party should support the Roe v Wade decision. It should also oppose the partial birth abortion ban and the unamended "unborn victims" act, as these are just attempts to build stepping stones attack more fundamental reproductive rights. It should also oppose mandatory 24 hour waiting periods and parental consent requirements imposed by Planned Parenthood v Casey (you never see these requirements imposed for any other fundamental right), but leave parental notification up to the states.

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Personally I support capital punishment, but a lot of people on this forum don't. The Democratic party should not make exceptions to principles. There are very good arguments against it, if I wasn't such a moralist I might be anti-capital punishment too. Being against capital punishment is supposed to be about not repeating evil, rather than not seeing it. Let's not pull a Michael Dukakis...

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Welfare payments have always been made on this basis prior to 1996. Each state has administrative procedures on eliminating welfare benefits. Usually a social worker makes the determination, and social workers may be soft hearted but they are not for giving money out to those who could live without it. They won't "take pity" on a person who truly doesn't need welfare. Also, social workers like police are subject to supervision and it will be noticed if their record is incomparable with other workers on this regard. Welfare recipients are also required as part of their rights under the due process clause of the constitution to have a pre-evidentiary hearing prior to termination of benefits (see Goldberg v Kelly, 1970). Personally I believe the amount of welfare to be administered should be left to the states.

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I don't think we should allow "anyone" who wants to come to come legally as stated in the plank now, so I think you have a good point. We should fully allow legal immigration for skilled workers and family members of existing immigrants; this is the same as current policy.

[Ben.]

Mr. President

I am ever a loyal and devoted servant of my party and my country, however in this instance I cannot in good concisions acquiesce to this platform. Not only do I find it vague on the whole but where it possesses clarity I find it fundamentally at odds with some of my deeply held beliefs.  Therefore I must officially state that I am rejecting this platform and voted at convention in a likes manner. I must further inform you that where this platform to be adopted I would be unable to campaign for or ultimately vote for the candidate who championed it.

Trusting that you as well as others within this great party might understand the reasons for my adopting this course of action I must now close. I trust that this platform might be revised and that a new platform that I can in good faith enthusiastically support might be drafted and accepted, however if this does not come to pass I have already explained the course of action I will be compelled to take.    

Regards

Ben: DLC Chairman.


PS: If this decision of mine meets with the disapproval of my colleagues within the DLC then i am more than happy to tender my resignation as chairman of that organisation.

[migrendel]

I oppose the affirmative action plank, which uses a semantical argument about discrimination to deter us from achieving the ultimate goals of civil rights. In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently. We cannot-we dare not-let the Fourteenth Amendment perpetuate racial supremacy.

I believe our welfare plank demonizes the poor by degrading their chosen way of life. We condone the potential starvation of a desparate family at a social worker's whim or caprice. I support a plank which explicitly opposes welfare reform, and supports restoring it to an entitlement as it was before the 1996 law.

We need to clarify our abortion plank by adding language which would oppose the recently enacted Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

I also believe we need language supporting a national system of healthcare.


P.S. StevenNick, I've read your platform. You would redefine federalism to the point of robbing the federal government of all efficaciousness. I scarcely think your combination of Calvinist morals and government parsimony would better serve our nation.

[Fritz]

Ben,

If you object to the platform that strongly, might I suggest that you yourself draft a competing platform.

I think the duty of platform writing should have been yours anyway, if you are the Chairman of the party.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

*cough*  UAC  *cough*

Mr. President

I am ever a loyal and devoted servant of my party and my country, however in this instance I cannot in good concisions acquiesce to this platform. Not only do I find it vague on the whole but where it possesses clarity I find it fundamentally at odds with some of my deeply held beliefs.  Therefore I must officially state that I am rejecting this platform and voted at convention in a likes manner. I must further inform you that where this platform to be adopted I would be unable to campaign for or ultimately vote for the candidate who championed it.

Trusting that you as well as others within this great party might understand the reasons for my adopting this course of action I must now close. I trust that this platform might be revised and that a new platform that I can in good faith enthusiastically support might be drafted and accepted, however if this does not come to pass I have already explained the course of action I will be compelled to take.    

Regards

Ben: DLC Chairman.


PS: If this decision of mine meets with the disapproval of my colleagues within the DLC then i am more than happy to tender my resignation as chairman of that organisation.

[Ben.]

Ben,

If you object to the platform that strongly, might I suggest that you yourself draft a competing platform.

I think the duty of platform writing should have been yours anyway, if you are the Chairman of the party.

I am chairman of the DLC... but hey I'll present my recommendations


Social Issues:
 The Democratic Party is a “broad church” embracing cultural Liberals on the left and social conservatives on the right. I myself am a moderately socially conservative Democrat. But we must have positions that will be supported by both wings of the Party.
       
Abortion- While I am pro-life, I recommend that the party should have a platform which is committed to upholding Roe v Wade. The party should not seek to overturn the legislation such as the “partial birth” abortion ban or the legislation which lists crimes against the unborn child. However the Party platform should allow for state governments to legislate in a manner which they believe to reflect the attitudes of their constituents towards this issue.

Gay Marriage- It must not be the Federal Government’s role to legislate about whom may marry whom and any attempt to amended the constitution, in such a way should be opposed by this party. At the same time, once more, this issue should be left up to state governments to decide.

Racial Affirmative Action- Affirmative action is a source of some concern as it presently stands. I believe that this party must accept that there are other more effective and just ways to overcome inequality and widen opportunity and at the same time a new way must be found to tackle prejudice and injustice based on a person’s socio-economic origins.

Death Penalty- This party supports the death penalty only in the most heinous cases, however once again this party should permit some leeway for states to extend or completely ban the implementation of the death penalty..

Economy:
The budget deficit is a massive problem in this nation which threatens this nations long-term future, it cannot be allowed to blight the prospects of our children.

Tax Cuts- I do Not believe that this party should be committed to rolling back the taxes for the middle class. What we must instead do is to cut taxes further for both the middle and lower income groups as well as small to medium sized business and provide further tax breaks for those business offering to establish themselves in areas of high unemployment. The present Tax cuts must be decried by the party as highly regressive, we must stress that we wish to extend the tax cuts for the middle and lower classes however we must also move to raises taxes upon the better off  who presently enjoy very low taxes and yet do not give a great deal back to this nation through saving, investment or spending within the United States.    

Tariffs- I believe that this party must recognise that the imposition of tariffs on foreign goods in an attempt to boost our native manufacturers is almost always a temporary solution, that said this does not mean that they should never be employed however it must be recognised that they are a short term delay rather than a solution in of themselves. There have been calls for tariffs to be imposed in an effort to boost manufacturing, however at this time I do not believe that this party should endorse such a policy (at least for the moment), it should be stressed that we view the introductions of tariffs as a viable tool to assisting industry but not an end in their self and a tool that at this time it would seem unwise to use as with hiring in manufacturing at a 16 year high, the Steel Industry doing well thanks to massive demand from China and with America gaining more and more “white collar” jobs, in short this would not seem to be the time to resort to tariffs.

Spending- We must put aside any plans to spend large amounts in the near future on such critical areas as health or education instead the primary concern of any democratic administration should be to eliminate the budget deficit and restructure the present spending of the government in both Health and Education. This party must call for a repeal of the Prescription-Drug Bill, it must be denounced for its exorbitant cost and the fact that in reality helps few people, a new bill must be proposed to replace this one which allows for a sustainable expansion of medical coverage to include more Americans. In education the “No Child Left Behind” program must be seen to have failed, states must be seen to shoulder the burden for the cost of education however we must advocate that the federal government support the states financially in a significant way, it must not cut and run as has been the case. So to summarise this party must take as its first order of business in economic policy to either massively reduce the budget deficit or eliminate it entirely and as part of this process to radically restructure the wasteful and unsustainable spending plans that are presently the norm.


Foreign Policy: We as a party must recognise that the world is changing American interest have to be protected, the world will not always be as peaceful and stable as it currently is present predictions from the CIA and many others groups point to massive overpopulation in Africa, the middle east and Asia resulting in political instability and conflict. We must prepare our selves for this likely future However we must also work to maintain strong alliances with our faithful allies such as Britain, Australia, Japan and many others.

Iraq- This party must stress that its is very glad that Sadam Hussein’s regime has be deposed. We must however stress that the reasons given for going to war where at the least confused and at the most open lies we must stress that we want a full explanation for why we ever went to war. This investigation into the reasons for going to war must be viewed as separate from our policy towards Iraq now where we are there  we must work with the local groups to find a solution that assure a permanent stable and peaceful Iraq if this means more troops then so be it. But we must also work to build stronger likes with our allies and convince them to assist us to a greater degree in Iraq as the UK has been doing.

Afghanistan- As in Iraq we must work with local leaders while providing a secure environment to bring about a stable and preferably democratic state.

Homeland Security- The efforts to increase co-operation between the various intelligence agencies such as the FBI, CIA etc… are good and must be encouraged. The Patriot Act has caused much concern and some form of senatorial enquiry should be supported by this party to determine weather the price paid for the patriot act reflects the benefits it bestows, without such a process it would be impossible to reach any concrete conclusions concerning the usefulness of the act. However the party should recognise the importance approve all of the different elements of the security service working together and enjoying extended powers to deal with and act against suspected terrorist both within and outside of the United States.  

           

That concludes my recommendations for the Party platform, I don’t agree with it all, but it pretty broad and its expectable to me and probably a large number of other moderates.

Thanks

Ben

[The Duke]

Ford, I thought it was my idea!

I salute this platform's position on that issue, though I don't think it belongs in a platform associated with the Democrat Party.  The real Democrat Party loves race-baiting quota discrimination and won't be happy until white southerners are extinguished from the Earth.  You might consider a name change too match your truly progressive stance on that issue

Great minds think alike!  I suppose we just have a similar mode of thinking and it resulted in similar conclusions about anissue.

[Fritz]

Ben, I apologise if I had your position confused as current Party Chairman.  Who is our chair, anyway?  Its not Boss Tweed anymore, right?

My analysis of your platforms can be found here.

[TeePee4Prez]

This platform sounds almost perfect.  I'm glad there are some Democrats out there that are not violin playing ultra-liberals that over-pander to African Americans and welfare recipients.  I also wish the Dems we have now remeber their working roots.  I live in normally white and Democratic Northeast Philadlephia and I'm beginning to see working Dems look at the Republicans becuse of the ineptness of John Street.  Hey can I run for Senate?  I am a Catholic, but I promise I will be better than Santorum.