What should the Democratic Party Platform be?

[LiberalPartisan]

If the Democratic Party really is the only legitimate alternative to the Republicans, at least for now, then how do you think the Democratic Party Platform should read?

[eallen]

1. Civil liberty, civil liberty, civil liberty, and reality-based.

The Democratic Party needs to take a page from the Rove handbook and hit the GOP at its strength. It needs to attach the religious right. Not by attacking religion, but by attacking extremist ideology, by favoring science in a way that makes clear the GOP attack on it, and by setting itself up as the reality-based community, vis-a-vis the GOP's ideologically based community.

[area51]

2. demo party platform

Here are a few items:

• Universal healthcare.


• Raise in min. wage.


• Make offshoring/inshoring extremely expensive for cos. via added taxes/fees.


• Repeal nazi laws such as so-called "patriot" act.


• Pro-choice.

[OneBlueSky]

3. The Truth . . . the Rule of Law . . . and

Government Of, By, and For the People . . .

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Honesty and openness in government

competancy in government

fairness for all-not just the rich, not just lobbyists

Let's remember that the honesty platform worked for the Dems once before, when they had been out of power for decades. Their candidate had been involved in a sexual scandal; the GOP opponant had taken bribes from Big Business, but then so had the rest of the party, so they thought it was no big deal. But the Dems won the White House using this slogan: He is an honest man. (The man, btw, was Grover Cleveland)

[left of center]

5. plateform for winning

Below are some ideas off the top of my head. Some may seem conservative to many here in DU, but I personally think it would help the Democratic party win back many rural and suburban voters.

(1) fiscal responsibility

- set spending priorities
- stop cutting taxes
- pay down the national debt

(2) national security

- secure our borders
- continue pursuit of terrorists
- stop the indefinite detention and torturing of suspected terrorists

(3) abortion (legal but regulated)
- protect early term abortion
- ban late term abortion
- support parental notification laws

(3) religion
- protect more public religious speech
- eliminate faith based federal funding

(4) economy
- stop "no strings attached" corporate welfare

(5) education
- make science and foreign language core subjects along with math and english
- focus even more on math
- encourage learning rather than learning how to take tests
- increase student loans and grants

(6) environment
- encourage farming for ethanol and biodiesal
- provide more incentives for private land preservation
- sustainably use our public land