Quite honestly, the section amazed me by its inclusiveness: farmers, LGBT, indigenous Hawaiian, the poor, former and current criminals, urban decay, American Indians, Eskimos, the American Territories, marijuana, immigrants, disabilities, racial bias, religious diversity. [tweetthis]There is a lot on the Democrats’ plate.[/tweetthis]
In what should now be a familiar format, I offer the platform in a goals/objective or IEP format. (We will ___ by (doing)____, so that____(is accomplished.)
Happy reading.
| We will | By | So that |
| Fight to end institutional and systemic racism in our society | Removing the confederate flag from public properties | The symbol of our racist past has no place in our future. |
| Promote racial justice. | Pushing for social transformation | It’s clear that black lives matter. |
| Eliminate systemic barriers to wealth accumulation. | Creating federal policies that remove barriers to sustainable home ownership, provide for greater diversity in state contracting policies, incentivize access to retirement benefits, increase job and education opportunities. | The racial wealth gap is closed. |
| Reform our criminal justice system | Using evidence based data to guide policy | Our mandatory minimum senteces are reformed and our for-profit prisons are closed. |
| Encourage better police-community relationships. | Requiring the Department of Justice to investigate questionable or suspicious police-involved shootings | We rebuild the bonds of trust and respect. |
| Encourage better police-community relationships | Assisting state to provide an adequately funded public defense system. | We rebuild the bonds of trust and respect. |
| Encourage better police-community relationships. | Reforming the civil asset forfeiture system. | We incentives for “police-for-profit” are removed. |
| Invest more in jobs and education | Taking executive order to “ban the box” for ex-incarcerated | We end the school-to-prison pipeline. |
| Build on effective models of drug courts, veterans’ courts, and other diversionary programs. | Prioritizing treatment over incarceration when tackling drug addiction and abuse | We end incarceration of millions of Americans |
| Remove Marijuana as a “Schedule 1” federal controlled substances. | Allow states to be the laboratories of democracy on the issue of marijuana. | We remove disparate impact in terms of arrests rates for African Americans, despite similar usage rates. |
| Save the tax payers money | Abolishing the death penalty | A cruel and unusual form of punishment ends |
| Fix the immigration system | Repealing the 3-year-10-year and permanent bars for mixed status families | We end forced and prolonged expulsion while immigrants try to adjust their status. |
| Fix the immigration system | Ending raids and roundups of children and families | Immigrant communities don’t live in unnecessary fear. |
| Fix the immigration system | Stopping deportation of immigrants who serve in our armed forces. | We create a faster path for these veterans to citizenship. |
| Fight for comprehensive immigration reform. | Implementing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans | Parents of citizens and lawful permanent residents avoid depratation. |
| Ensure due process for those fleeing violence in Central America and work with regional partners to address the root causes of violence. | Guranteeing government-funded counsel for unaccompanied children in immigration courts. | People whose lives and safety are threatened are protected. |
| Expand community health services, allow all families to buy into the Affordable Health Care System | Enacting comprehensive immigration reform/ | All residents have access to quality health care |
| Fight to end discrimination | Speaking out against bigotry and other forms of intolerance and | We eliminate a fertile climate for violence. |
| Ensure full equality for women. | Passing and Equal Rights Amendment | We end gender discrimination in the areas of education, employment, health care, and any other sphere. |
| Fight for the continued development of sex discrimination law to cover LGBT people. | Supporting a progressive vision of religious freedom | We respects pluralism and rejects the misuse of religion to discriminate |
| End discrimination based on disability status. | Realizing the full promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Fighting for ratification of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
|
No one with disabilities faces discrimination. |
| End discrimination based on disability status. | Providing tax relief to help aging relatives or family members with chronic illnesses or disabilities. | No one with disabilities faces discrimination. |
| Lift up and value good works of people of faith and religious organizations | Supporting and strengthening AmeriCorps | Every American who wants to participate in full-time national service will have the opportunity to do so. |
| Build a stronger rural and agricultural economy. | Increasing funds to support the next generation of farmers and ranchers | Promote environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. |
| Build a stronger rural and agricultural economy. | Encouraging programs to protect and enhance family farms | A cherished way of life from millions of Americans is protected. |
| Build a stronger rural and agricultural economy. | Expanding local food markets and regional food systems | A cherished way of life is protected. |
| Build a stronger rural and agricultural economy. | Providing a focused safety net to assist family operations that need support during challenging times. | A cherished way of life is protected. |
| Build a stronger rural and agricultural economy. | Supporting regulations of work-hours, eliminating child labor, ensuring adequate housing for migrant workers, and sanitary facilities in the field. | We have stronger agricultural worker-protections |
| Spur investment to power the rural community | Strengthening rural water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure | Rural businesses are more competitive. |
| Eliminate poverty. | Protecting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance | Families can put food on the table. |
| Eliminate poverty. | Developing a national strategy | All levels of government work together to combat poverty. |
| Eliminate poverty. | Extending the Earned Income Credit to low-wage workers not raising children.
Expanding the Child Tax Credit. |
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| Invest in distressed communities. | Making permanent the New Markets Tax Credit. | People can earn a living wage. |
| Invest in distressed communities. | Repairing crumbling infratstructure; Investing in affordable housing near good jobs and good schools. | Safety improves. |
| Build strong cities and metro areas. | Bulding on the Neighborhood Stabilizaiotn Program and the Hardest Hit Fund | We address challenges of roads, bridges, public transit, drinking and wastewater systems, broadband, schools, and more. |
| Build strong cities and metro areas. | Expanding Community Development Block Grant funds. | We overcome blight. |
| Promote arts and culture | Continue funding of National Endowment for the Arts, for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and for programs providing art an music education in primary and secondary schools. | The entire nation prospers/ |
| Honor indigenous tribal nations | Providing sufficient and meaningful resources to Indian tribes | We bolster economic development and self-determination. |
| Honor indigenous tribal nations. | Streamlining the land-into-trust process | Restore tribal lands. |
| Honor indigenous tribal nations. | Reauthorize the Indian Housing Block Grant Program. | Indians will have affordable housing. |
| Honor indigenous tribal nations. | Fully funding the Bureau of Indian Education. | Culturally-tailored learning unique to each tribal nation is strengthened. |
| Honor indigenous tribal nations. | Building on the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 | Indian tribes have the right to prosecute perpetrators regardless of race, who commit domestic violence on tribal lands. |
| Honor indigenous tribal nations. | Expanding the Indian Health Services and fully funding the Indian Health Service, Tribal and Urban Indian health care system. | We ensure that all American Indians have adequate, safe, and affordable access to primary care providers. |
| Honor indigenous tribal nations. | Supporting the Indian Child Welfare Act. | The future of tribal nations is secured. |
| Honor indigenous tribal nations. | Hosting a White House Tribal Nations Conference annually. | We engage in meaningful and productive consultation with Tribal Leaders. |
| Honor indigenous tribal nations. | Appointing American Indian/Alaska Natives to key positions in the federal government. | The White House Council on Native American Affairs is stronger. |
| Horn indigenous tribal nations. | Supporting efforts of self-governance and self-determination of Native Hawaiians. | We enhance the Native Hawaiians’ culture, health, language, and education.
We recognize and honor the contributions and sacrifices made in servie to our country by Native Hawaiians. |
| Honor the people of the territories. | Giving access to Veterans of Foreign Affairs care to Guam veterans. | We recognize and honor the contributions and sacrifices of those living in the territories. |
| Honor the people of the territories. | Examining expansion of the Medicaid cap and extension of ACA to all those living in the territories. | We take seriously the unique health care challenges of the Pacific Islands. |
I did plan to give you more, but I started to fatigue, and I don’t want to cut any corners. Next up, Installment 5, the Democratic Platforms plan for Quality and Affordable Education and Health and Safety for all Americans. Don’t worry, I won’t short shrift the Republican Platform. Their section, “Great American Families, Education, Healthcare, and the Criminal Justice System” seem to best align with Installment 4 &5.
I know early voting already started where I live. I’m holding my vote until I get through more of each platform. It’s not my Presidential vote, I’m holding, it’s all those other offices, which make government work. What about you?
Here are the links to my other Installments on the 2016 Party Platforms:
Installment 1: It’s all about the jobs and the economy
Installment 2: Democrats and Principled Leadership
Installment 3: Republicans and the Constitution