OUR VALUES
1. Protecting and Providing for the General Welfare
Education: We support affordable access to education, including vocational and professional training, from preschool through the post-graduate level, as well as relief from unfair student-loan debt. Because an educated citizenry is necessary to discern truth from disinformation and is vital to the economic and social health of our communities, we encourage all reasonable measures to ensure high-quality education.
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Improving our Infrastructure: We support the preservation and upgrading of our communications, utility, and transportation infrastructures, all vital to our prosperity, small and large businesses, and overall economy.
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Quality Health Care for All: We support the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid, and seek to expand access to medical care for all.
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Social Safety Network: We support Social Security and its aims, which protect the disabled, provide minimal retirement for those past their working years, and help citizens live with dignity and peace of mind. Other aspects of the safety network, including public and private pension systems, require active protection to ensure fairness to the many who depend on them.
2. Preserving and Promoting Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Voting Rights, Voter Responsibility: Exercising suffrage is a fundamental duty of citizens. We support the Voting Rights Act and oppose all efforts to restrict voting rights and exclude certain categories of citizens based on race, religion, or economic status. We support measures to prevent suppression of the vote of the people. We advocate the overturning of the Citizens United decision and support legislation and a constitutional amendment to distinguish between the rights of corporations and those of human beings.
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Equality: We support religious, racial, and gender equality, including marriage equality and equal pay for equal work. We seek to eliminate all forms of discrimination in the workplace and in society. We respect and honor the rights and sovereignty of Tribal nations.
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Justice in our Justice System: We oppose all forms of bias and unequal treatment of defendants and prisoners; we support police reform and sentencing reform; we favor “Community-Oriented Policing” in revising and updating our legal codes.
3. Achieving Economic Justice
Living Wage: We advocate an increase in the minimum wage: honorable labor should not mean a life in poverty. We believe the economy should provide both good jobs and good wages.
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Fighting Inequality: Current levels of economic and social inequality threaten our entire society as well as our democratic government. We therefore support efforts to rebuild the middle and working classes. We acknowledge and defend the rights of labor to organize. We advocate the reform of our current inequitable tax system and demand corporate accountability.
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Investment in America: We support the creation of more affordable housing and universal childcare, rebuilding our schools and infrastructure, additional public transportation, and the restoration of our environment, all actions that will create more jobs and thus more security for American families.
4. Improving the Health of the Environment
Environmental Quality: We support measures to ensure the safety of water, air, and soil for our communities and our children and grandchildren. We insist that our farms and workplaces be safe for producers, workers, and consumers alike.
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Sustainable Growth: We support sustainable policies in urban planning, construction and manufacturing, agriculture, and the management of our forest lands, as well as higher efficiency standards in transportation. Conservation and avoidance of waste are concomitant goals.
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Clean, Renewable Energy: We support increased use of solar- and wind-generated power and other measures to protect the environment and limit impacts on global climate.
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