I have talked about the goals the Democratic Party must set for itself, and the need for the Party to express its values so it may achieve those goals. What I have not yet done, but intend to do here, is describe what those values should be.
In developing the values that should be the cornerstone of the Democrat campaign (I don't like the word 'campaign' here, but I don't know what else to use) I took a number of things into account. First, I wanted to incorporate what I think of as 'Liberal Values'. Next, I wanted to find values that set the Democratic Party apart from the Republicans. Finally, I wanted to highlight values that would resonate with Christian voters, values that would normally be thought of as traditional Christian values.
Before I list and describe the values I have found important, I would like to point out that my definition of values might seem stretched. Values are a somewhat funny concept that most any judgment can fit into. Also, these are the values that I think are important and should be highlighted. Others will have differing opinions and if we wish to see a resurrected party those other opinions must be expressed and we must work through our differences. I am coming at this problem with an open mind and I ask that other do as well.
These are the values that should be extolled by the Democratic Party and used to support its issues:
- Social Responsibility: The United States has a responsibility to the World and to its own citizens to make their lives better. We need to be willing to make sacrifices in order to help others.
- Openness: The government must be as open, transparent and inclusive as possible. In this Information Age there is no reason for anything the government does to be hidden from the public. (With the obvious exception for classified material, but even then we must only classify information that is important to national security.)
- Sustainable Spending: Government programs must have funding throughout the life of the program. This includes programs like Social Security. If the government makes a long term commitment to fund an entitlement program it must have a way to pay for that program despite changes in demographics.
- Investment in the Future: Government spending must invest in the future. That means government programs must return more in revenue or increased economic output than it cost for the program.
It is probably clear from this list that I think economic issues are some of the most important facing the government. That is undoubted caused by my own background and the current crisis facing the government's finances. There are other important values that I have missed, what are they and how will they all fit together to create a cohesive framework to construct a platform from?