CLALLAM COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM
PREAMBLE
This 2016 Clallam County Democratic Platform is a statement of the shared values we hold in the determination of issues and policies that Democrats support. We expect Democratic candidates and Democratic elected officials to hold these values.
Agriculture
Domestic production of food is critical to national security and essential to our future. We are proud that agriculture – including upland aquaculture, fisheries, forestry and other food and fiber production – is a significant industry in Clallam County and Washington State. We recognize the role of farmers as stewards of the land, and we support programs and policies that ensure the availability of high-quality food, strengthen rural communities, preserve family farms, and maintain the productivity of the land. This requires legislation that sustains farming when calamities occur and that ensures farmers and farm workers earn a fair return on their efforts, are safe in doing that work, and produce food that is safe to eat.
Economy and Jobs
We hold that all workers deserve respect and deserve the dignity of a living wage, equal pay and benefits, and safe working conditions. We support and defend the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively. We recognize that the current federal minimum wage is starvation pay and must become a living wage. We support the movement to increase it to $15 an hour over the next several years.
We believe that we must reform Wall Street and break up too-big-to-fail financial institutions. Any institution that is too-big-to-fail has acquired too much economic and political power, endangering our economy and our political process.
We require fiscal responsibility at all levels of government, while protecting or enhancing service to all citizens in areas such as social services, education, student aid and Medicare/Medicaid. We support replacement of our state’s regressive tax structure with a fairer, more equitable system that is based on ability to pay. We understand and support the need for a vibrant business community, and encourage socially and environmentally responsible business, and further insist that large corporate tax giveaways and loopholes are abolished.
Education
We have a right as Americans to publicly-funded education provided in an egalitarian manner. Full funding of public schools and public education is an obligation of government at all levels; we support full public funding of education from Head Start through college. This is a necessity for understanding the role and responsibilities of a citizen in a democratic republic. It is necessary for development of workers to be able to compete at home and in the world marketplace. We understand that quality education provides the foundation to equal opportunity in our society. We strongly believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free.
We oppose the use of public funds for private education. We expect schools to adopt a 21st Century science curriculum, including a study of the scientific method as it applies to all scientifically formulated theories. We believe support for the arts and humanities is central to a quality education.
Energy
We demand that national, state and county governments institute and expeditiously have in place renewable, sustainable, and environmentally safe program for national energy independence.
We encourage adoption of a plan to address our state and national infrastructure deficit by investing in a more modern electric grid, seismically safe bridges, mass transit, and other critical infrastructure.
Environmental Stewardship
We accept responsibility as stewards for our natural world and recognize the need to develop, implement policies, and encourage lifestyles consistent with long-term sustainability and viability. We support applying the best available science to all decisions affecting our environment, so that our air, water and natural habitats are protected.
Restrictions on practices by individuals or corporations should be in accordance with protecting and conserving our environment or repairing degraded areas. We support environmental restoration and protection and oppose proposals that will exponentially increase the transshipment of coal and oil through the Salish Sea and Strait of Juan de Fuca. We urge the federal government, the state of Washington, and Clallam County to implement comprehensive, timely, climate action plans and to reduce climate disrupting activities and impacts.
We enjoin local, state, and federal governments to work with corporations to end exports of fossil fuels to other countries, and to end fracking. We request that local, state and federal governments actively promote state of the art oil spill prevention and response measures and equipment.
Ethics and Politics
We insist public officials follow the laws of the land--federal, state and local; that these officials act in the public interest; and that all public business be conducted openly and transparently.
We support public financing of election campaigns to promote trust and integrity in government.
We support the passage of a U.S. Constitutional amendment clarifying that corporations are not persons entitled to the human rights listed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; that the spending of money to influence elections is not speech under the First Amendment; and, that federal, state and local governments shall regulate, limit, or prohibit political contributions and expenditures and require their public disclosure.
Fair and Free Elections
We are committed to a democracy that encourages maximum participation, a voting process that is fair, transparent and open to all citizens, and elections that are conducted transparently and openly. Election fraud or voter suppression will not be tolerated.
We support all Americans be guaranteed an effective right to vote. We support restoring the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, expanding early voting, implementing automatic and same-day voter registration throughout Washington State; adding prepaid postage to return ballot envelopes; making Election Day a national holiday; and rigorous national standards for conducting elections that provide for sufficient polling places and drop boxes in all states, as well as a verifiable paper trail to facilitate audits and enable manual hand recounts of ballots.
Campaigns should be publicly financed so that qualified citizens have an opportunity to run for office regardless of their personal resources.
Health
We believe healthcare is a right; government has a moral obligation to expand access to necessary health care for every citizen, regardless of the ability to pay, and regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. We believe that the long-term solution to America’s health care crisis is a single-payer national health care program. We support women’s access to reproductive health services, including all forms of contraception and safe, legal abortion. We support the Reproductive Health Parity Act in Washington State. We believe the government should enact legislation to provide safe and healthy environments in public buildings, schools and work places; and legislation should address issues of air quality, working conditions, access and emergency procedures.
Immigration
We recognize the role that immigrants from many countries have played in building our nation, and we support efforts to reform immigration law and policy to treat undocumented immigrants as economic victims rather than, without evidence, a criminal. We believe that building walls and using harsh policing tactics have proven to be ineffective in curbing immigration problems. We believe that legalization can happen before our border is secured. We believe that our border can be secure and protect local communities through modernization and proper oversight. We urge our legislators to direct their attention toward the causes of this problem rather than the symptom of poor persons seeking to come into this country to gain work and better their lives.
Law and Justice
We support vigilant protection of our constitutional civil rights for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, tribal affiliation, gender identification, sexual orientation, religion, age or economic means. We must enforce the laws of our nation.
We respect and support the treaties made with Tribal nations and insist that they be honored fully. We support tribal sovereignty and recognize that Tribal nations have the right to decide on important issues that affect their communities. We support tribes that were not recognized or were terminated and their efforts to become federally recognized tribes.
We must have an election system we can trust to accurately reflect our votes. Competence, responsibility and ethical behavior should drive campaigns. Unconstitutional intrusions into our right to privacy should not be made. We support early intervention, alcohol/drug treatment programs and job training to help return nonviolent offenders to their community as responsible citizens. We oppose the militarization of local police forces, and protest the killings of unarmed people – often racially charged killings.
National Security and International Relations
We support all efforts to resolve international disputes by diplomatic means, and consider it a binding obligation to abide by international treaties and laws we have agreed to. Military intervention should be resorted to only when all other means have failed, and should be done in concert with the United Nations.
We consider military service to be an honorable profession, and we must treat our active-duty forces with respect. This means adequate pay, health benefits and housing for themselves and their families and up-to-date safety and military equipment in the field. All veterans shall be guaranteed complete healthcare and benefits from a grateful nation.
We support restructuring our active duty armed forces, to ensure our reserves and National Guard need not be deployed except in the most extreme circumstances. This allows those forces to remain available for the defense of the United States at home. We oppose the preemptive use of the military in the absence of an imminent threat. We encourage action to redefine our national priorities so as to abandon the role of acting as the military enforcer of international law throughout the world. We applaud actions to reduce the danger of nuclear war and moves toward multilateralism.
Public Safety and Infrastructure
We recognize a primary responsibility of government is to provide for the safety of its citizens. Cooperation and communication among communities, government agencies and individuals is necessary to implement effective security strategies. We urge all levels of government to finance, restore and maintain our infrastructure for the safety and benefit of all citizens in a fiscally responsible manner. We join the majority of citizens who endorse universal background checks for gun sales as a means to control the access to firearms by those persons deemed most dangerous and support limiting the capacities of ammunition clips.
Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement
We are concerned that the Trans Pacific Partnership would undermine human and Constitutional rights. We see possibilities that it would promote job offshoring, push down US wages, flood the United States with unregulated food, give large pharmaceutical corporations new monopoly rights to keep lower-cost generic drugs off the market, empower corporations to attack U.S. environmental and health safeguards, ban Buy American policies needed to create green jobs, roll back Wall Street reforms, and permit SOPA-like threats to Internet freedom, along with many unknown other consequences. We therefore oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership as currently written.
Clallam County
a. We encourage our local governments to seek proactive, humane programs to alleviate homelessness and drug addiction;
b. We affirm that our commitment to environmental health and the need to mitigate the effects of climate change extends to the entire North Olympic Peninsula and protection of its fishing and shellfish resources.
c. We support the concept that high-speed telecommunications should be public and widely available;
d. We support the installation of public charging stations for electric vehicles;
e. We express ongoing concern over the inadequacy of stormwater overflow protections;
f. We oppose the construction of any new facilities that burn timber waste unless there is clear scientific evidence that such projects will not come at the expense of air quality and health risks;
g. We reaffirm that agencies should continue to seek all effective means to manage designated wilderness for recreational use and to manage forest lands for responsible commercial logging;
h. We recognize the need to revitalize and promote the downtown core of the county seat, Port Angeles, and encourage efforts to create and execute viable plans.
Adopted in convention by Clallam County Democrats, May 1, 2016.
PDF Version
This 2016 Clallam County Democratic Platform is a statement of the shared values we hold in the determination of issues and policies that Democrats support. We expect Democratic candidates and Democratic elected officials to hold these values.
Agriculture
Domestic production of food is critical to national security and essential to our future. We are proud that agriculture – including upland aquaculture, fisheries, forestry and other food and fiber production – is a significant industry in Clallam County and Washington State. We recognize the role of farmers as stewards of the land, and we support programs and policies that ensure the availability of high-quality food, strengthen rural communities, preserve family farms, and maintain the productivity of the land. This requires legislation that sustains farming when calamities occur and that ensures farmers and farm workers earn a fair return on their efforts, are safe in doing that work, and produce food that is safe to eat.
Economy and Jobs
We hold that all workers deserve respect and deserve the dignity of a living wage, equal pay and benefits, and safe working conditions. We support and defend the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively. We recognize that the current federal minimum wage is starvation pay and must become a living wage. We support the movement to increase it to $15 an hour over the next several years.
We believe that we must reform Wall Street and break up too-big-to-fail financial institutions. Any institution that is too-big-to-fail has acquired too much economic and political power, endangering our economy and our political process.
We require fiscal responsibility at all levels of government, while protecting or enhancing service to all citizens in areas such as social services, education, student aid and Medicare/Medicaid. We support replacement of our state’s regressive tax structure with a fairer, more equitable system that is based on ability to pay. We understand and support the need for a vibrant business community, and encourage socially and environmentally responsible business, and further insist that large corporate tax giveaways and loopholes are abolished.
Education
We have a right as Americans to publicly-funded education provided in an egalitarian manner. Full funding of public schools and public education is an obligation of government at all levels; we support full public funding of education from Head Start through college. This is a necessity for understanding the role and responsibilities of a citizen in a democratic republic. It is necessary for development of workers to be able to compete at home and in the world marketplace. We understand that quality education provides the foundation to equal opportunity in our society. We strongly believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free.
We oppose the use of public funds for private education. We expect schools to adopt a 21st Century science curriculum, including a study of the scientific method as it applies to all scientifically formulated theories. We believe support for the arts and humanities is central to a quality education.
Energy
We demand that national, state and county governments institute and expeditiously have in place renewable, sustainable, and environmentally safe program for national energy independence.
We encourage adoption of a plan to address our state and national infrastructure deficit by investing in a more modern electric grid, seismically safe bridges, mass transit, and other critical infrastructure.
Environmental Stewardship
We accept responsibility as stewards for our natural world and recognize the need to develop, implement policies, and encourage lifestyles consistent with long-term sustainability and viability. We support applying the best available science to all decisions affecting our environment, so that our air, water and natural habitats are protected.
Restrictions on practices by individuals or corporations should be in accordance with protecting and conserving our environment or repairing degraded areas. We support environmental restoration and protection and oppose proposals that will exponentially increase the transshipment of coal and oil through the Salish Sea and Strait of Juan de Fuca. We urge the federal government, the state of Washington, and Clallam County to implement comprehensive, timely, climate action plans and to reduce climate disrupting activities and impacts.
We enjoin local, state, and federal governments to work with corporations to end exports of fossil fuels to other countries, and to end fracking. We request that local, state and federal governments actively promote state of the art oil spill prevention and response measures and equipment.
Ethics and Politics
We insist public officials follow the laws of the land--federal, state and local; that these officials act in the public interest; and that all public business be conducted openly and transparently.
We support public financing of election campaigns to promote trust and integrity in government.
We support the passage of a U.S. Constitutional amendment clarifying that corporations are not persons entitled to the human rights listed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; that the spending of money to influence elections is not speech under the First Amendment; and, that federal, state and local governments shall regulate, limit, or prohibit political contributions and expenditures and require their public disclosure.
Fair and Free Elections
We are committed to a democracy that encourages maximum participation, a voting process that is fair, transparent and open to all citizens, and elections that are conducted transparently and openly. Election fraud or voter suppression will not be tolerated.
We support all Americans be guaranteed an effective right to vote. We support restoring the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, expanding early voting, implementing automatic and same-day voter registration throughout Washington State; adding prepaid postage to return ballot envelopes; making Election Day a national holiday; and rigorous national standards for conducting elections that provide for sufficient polling places and drop boxes in all states, as well as a verifiable paper trail to facilitate audits and enable manual hand recounts of ballots.
Campaigns should be publicly financed so that qualified citizens have an opportunity to run for office regardless of their personal resources.
Health
We believe healthcare is a right; government has a moral obligation to expand access to necessary health care for every citizen, regardless of the ability to pay, and regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. We believe that the long-term solution to America’s health care crisis is a single-payer national health care program. We support women’s access to reproductive health services, including all forms of contraception and safe, legal abortion. We support the Reproductive Health Parity Act in Washington State. We believe the government should enact legislation to provide safe and healthy environments in public buildings, schools and work places; and legislation should address issues of air quality, working conditions, access and emergency procedures.
Immigration
We recognize the role that immigrants from many countries have played in building our nation, and we support efforts to reform immigration law and policy to treat undocumented immigrants as economic victims rather than, without evidence, a criminal. We believe that building walls and using harsh policing tactics have proven to be ineffective in curbing immigration problems. We believe that legalization can happen before our border is secured. We believe that our border can be secure and protect local communities through modernization and proper oversight. We urge our legislators to direct their attention toward the causes of this problem rather than the symptom of poor persons seeking to come into this country to gain work and better their lives.
Law and Justice
We support vigilant protection of our constitutional civil rights for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, tribal affiliation, gender identification, sexual orientation, religion, age or economic means. We must enforce the laws of our nation.
We respect and support the treaties made with Tribal nations and insist that they be honored fully. We support tribal sovereignty and recognize that Tribal nations have the right to decide on important issues that affect their communities. We support tribes that were not recognized or were terminated and their efforts to become federally recognized tribes.
We must have an election system we can trust to accurately reflect our votes. Competence, responsibility and ethical behavior should drive campaigns. Unconstitutional intrusions into our right to privacy should not be made. We support early intervention, alcohol/drug treatment programs and job training to help return nonviolent offenders to their community as responsible citizens. We oppose the militarization of local police forces, and protest the killings of unarmed people – often racially charged killings.
National Security and International Relations
We support all efforts to resolve international disputes by diplomatic means, and consider it a binding obligation to abide by international treaties and laws we have agreed to. Military intervention should be resorted to only when all other means have failed, and should be done in concert with the United Nations.
We consider military service to be an honorable profession, and we must treat our active-duty forces with respect. This means adequate pay, health benefits and housing for themselves and their families and up-to-date safety and military equipment in the field. All veterans shall be guaranteed complete healthcare and benefits from a grateful nation.
We support restructuring our active duty armed forces, to ensure our reserves and National Guard need not be deployed except in the most extreme circumstances. This allows those forces to remain available for the defense of the United States at home. We oppose the preemptive use of the military in the absence of an imminent threat. We encourage action to redefine our national priorities so as to abandon the role of acting as the military enforcer of international law throughout the world. We applaud actions to reduce the danger of nuclear war and moves toward multilateralism.
Public Safety and Infrastructure
We recognize a primary responsibility of government is to provide for the safety of its citizens. Cooperation and communication among communities, government agencies and individuals is necessary to implement effective security strategies. We urge all levels of government to finance, restore and maintain our infrastructure for the safety and benefit of all citizens in a fiscally responsible manner. We join the majority of citizens who endorse universal background checks for gun sales as a means to control the access to firearms by those persons deemed most dangerous and support limiting the capacities of ammunition clips.
Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement
We are concerned that the Trans Pacific Partnership would undermine human and Constitutional rights. We see possibilities that it would promote job offshoring, push down US wages, flood the United States with unregulated food, give large pharmaceutical corporations new monopoly rights to keep lower-cost generic drugs off the market, empower corporations to attack U.S. environmental and health safeguards, ban Buy American policies needed to create green jobs, roll back Wall Street reforms, and permit SOPA-like threats to Internet freedom, along with many unknown other consequences. We therefore oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership as currently written.
Clallam County
a. We encourage our local governments to seek proactive, humane programs to alleviate homelessness and drug addiction;
b. We affirm that our commitment to environmental health and the need to mitigate the effects of climate change extends to the entire North Olympic Peninsula and protection of its fishing and shellfish resources.
c. We support the concept that high-speed telecommunications should be public and widely available;
d. We support the installation of public charging stations for electric vehicles;
e. We express ongoing concern over the inadequacy of stormwater overflow protections;
f. We oppose the construction of any new facilities that burn timber waste unless there is clear scientific evidence that such projects will not come at the expense of air quality and health risks;
g. We reaffirm that agencies should continue to seek all effective means to manage designated wilderness for recreational use and to manage forest lands for responsible commercial logging;
h. We recognize the need to revitalize and promote the downtown core of the county seat, Port Angeles, and encourage efforts to create and execute viable plans.
Adopted in convention by Clallam County Democrats, May 1, 2016.
PDF Version