A Statement of Democratic Principles
By the Jerry Voorhis Claremont Democratic Club
Editor's Note: The first two sections below, the Preamble and the History, have been written by members of the JVCDC issues committee and have not yet been approved by the club as a whole. However, the third section, the Principles themselves, have officially been adopted by the club.
Preamble
In light of the 2004 elections, Democrats such as ourselves must re-examine our positions.
On the one hand, the Bush victory will have severe, long-lasting consequences.
But on the other hand, not all is lost, and what is and will be lost will not be so forever. California remains securely Democratic and open-minded. The election outcome, while giving Bush the freedom to carry out the reactionary policies which his core supporters advocate, was not a landslide in the way 1964 and 1972 were. The wonderful energy displayed by Democrats, young and old, in the weeks before the election will remain a reservoir for future action. And history tells us that in the past the country has recovered eventually from periods of national disgrace such as the McCarthy years and Vietnam. So there remains hope.
Right now, however, the Democrats and the Democratic Party must weigh whether it must re-invent itself. That is, we and it must choose between two alternatives.
We can continue on the path pursued in recent years, advocating a minimalist policy in an attempt to track an existing or presumed national consensus in order to win over the so-called swing voters thought to be in the center of political opinion. This has been the policy line of the New Democrats and the previous Democratic National Committee. The policy worked well under Bill Clinton and has prevented catastrophe.
Alternatively, the Democratic Party, under the guidance of its democratic wing, can adopt a significantly more inspiring program for 2008. At home, the preservation of Social Security as a birthright of all Americans - the development of universal health care as a matter of social obligation - the curtailment of money as the major factor in national elections - the acceptance of different life-styles. Abroad, the determination to assist in a major way with the development of the third World - the keeping of peace through a strengthened United Nations - a repudiation of unilateral action and of preventive war.
If we Democrats were to adopt some such principles as embodied in the latter alternative, we might continue to lose a few more elections, but we would be putting before the American people a beacon and a goal toward which to move in this new century in an attempt to create a better world.
The Jerry Voorhis Claremont Democratic Club, announcing itself to be in the democratic wing of the party, will be investing its energies in furthering such a progressive policy in opposition to the destruction to be wreaked by Bush's right-wing radicals.
History
The Democratic party is the country's oldest political party. It is, and has been, committed to the quintessential American values of freedom and democracy. We are thought of as liberals and that word derives from 'liberty'.
In the words of the country's and the party's great President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic Party stands for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
The Republican party, especially that of the current administration, while they talk of freedom constantly, cannot seriously espouse any of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms.
The Democratic Party favors markets and private property. For many decades now, the American economy has tended to grow faster with Democratic presidents than Republican presidents.
However, we have learned that a modern country cannot allow an unregulated economy if it is to promote the well-being of all citizens, rather than the lavish enrichment of a few.
It was under a Democratic president that women got the vote, and it was under a Democratic president that people of all races and national origins were guaranteed the right to enjoy public accommodations and compete fairly for employment. It was under a Democratic president that America got Social Security and national unemployment insurance. It was under a Democratic president that America got Medicare and Medicaid, and more than one Democratic president has fought for a system of national health insurance. The Democratic party favors a generous minimum wage and a tax system that does not bear heavily on the poor and middle class, because it understands that people cannot act as free citizens if they are in desperate need.
Roosevelt, after stating each of the Four Freedoms, added the words "everywhere in the world". We want those freedoms spread to all human beings.
It was a Democratic president who first argued that only through International organization and the spread of democracy could there be a genuine peace in the world. It was Democratic presidents who led the country to victory in World War II and led the world to the creation of the United Nations. It was a Democratic president who launched the long struggle against totalitarianism in the Soviet Union and in China. It was a Democratic president who introduced the theme of human rights into our foreign policy, contributing to a wave of democratic expansion that ultimately transformed the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Principles
At the center of the world view of Democrats is a commitment to the principle of human solidarity, the fellowship arising from our common responsibilities and interests.
Americans are one people, rich and poor, a people of many colors, beliefs and races, bound together by the bonds of a common society. This common bond requires us to have a paramount commitment to devote our society's resources to improving the lives of our people.
Specifically we believe in the retention and improvement of the existing social safety net and of health and education measures designed to help everybody lead a productive and creative life.
Social Security is an inter-generational contract designed to guarantee a reasonably secure old age to us all. "Privatization" should be resisted. vigorously unless speculative gains are in addition to currently guaranteed benefits. Medicare and Medicaid should be expanded to include drug benefits, home care and long-term care. Changing demographics and rising costs should not be used as the opening wedge for the destruction of these programs; the changes can be accommodated through modest adjustments.
We advocate the establishment of Universal Health Insurance. Models of such systems abound throughout the industrialized world. The shame of our nation, the richest in the world, is that it abandons one third of its people to medical indigence.
Poverty must also be addressed through the payment of a living wage to all of our working people, the construction of affordable housing, and the improvement of public education, law enforcement, and the environment in poor neighborhoods.
Under Democratic leadership we have instituted Social Security, unemployment insurance, a social safety net, interventions to stabilize the economy, regulation of the stock market, a progressive tax structure, laws supporting employees' rights, Medicare, environmental protection, the Peace Corps, Head Start, a Civil Rights Act, a Voting Rights Act, fair housing legislation, rights for women, a Freedom of Information Act, a Fairness Doctrine for the media, public support for the arts and educational television and for public transit and alternative energy, and an effective multilateralism in foreign affairs. Our opponents have generally fought these measures, and have now under the reactionary Bush regime begun to dismantle some of them.
Our hope is to build them back and even more importantly to make them better.
We must fight against formidable forces. Wealthy individuals and big businesses pay for the political campaigns and the lobbyists. They will continue to wage class warfare against working people and to plunder our environment until campaign finance reform becomes a reality.
To provide economic opportunity and security for all, we Democrats propose to improve the health of our nation's economy. This requires a less-skewed income distribution, thus increasing consumer demand to balance the growing capacity of businesses. It also requires that the Federal government's ability to operate at a deficit during an economic slump be used to counteract the spending reductions by individuals, businesses, state and local governments, and charities. During periods of unemployment, Americans should be assured of a basic stipend on which to live and of the opportunity to upgrade their skills. Skill shortages should be addressed by training, and labor shortages should be addressed by offering better compensation and working conditions. To reduce the frequency and depth of recessions, the Federal Reserve should direct credit where it is needed rather than restrict credit to all. Trade policy should recognize that the loss of our manufacturing base and its well-paying jobs can destroy our economy just as surely as protectionism, and that it threatens our military security.
Our economy must also be environmentally sustainable. If we owe anything to future generations, it is to bequeath them a planet on which to live.
In international affairs, the United States should rededicate itself to multilateral diplomacy and peaceful conflict resolution, through the United Nations and regional multinational organizations. Our security as a nation is not ensured by the creation of a gigantic military stationed around the globe. Rather, our security depends on the good will, prosperity, health and stability of other peoples. While it is necessary to disrupt terrorist networks and to protect our infrastructure and government, it is equally important to reduce the hostile reactions to our current policy of controlling the world through military and economic power. A resolution of the Palestinian situation will certainly help. Our security will also improve if more of our enormous wealth is used to help poor countries improve their economy, infrastructure, education, health, and political institutions.
War has so dominated the agenda of the Bush administration that it has moved the United States toward a police state. Our private lives, including our reading, are to be collected in a massive computerized dossier. A citizen can be incarcerated indefinitely without due process. We need not and must not surrender the protections of our Constitution in order to achieve security.
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