Among other things, here is some of What it means to be a Democrat, lest we forget, in the day to day squabbles, that are bound to occur with a diverse group of passionate people:
We will never put ideology above women’s health.
pg 8
Families and individuals should have the option of keeping the coverage they have or choosing from a wide array of health insurance plans, including many private health insurance options and a public plan.
pg 6
We will shine a light on government spending and Washington lobbying -- so that every American is empowered to be a watchdog and a whistle blower.
pg 3
It [energy security] requires standing up to the oil companies that spend hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying and political contributions;
pg 37
Americans want real reform that will help them pay their medical bills and put the country on the path to energy independence. They are tired of lobbyists standing in their way.
pg 48
We support campaign finance reform to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests, including public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time.
pg 48
We will shut down the corporate loopholes and tax havens
pg 19
We will end special preferences for insurance companies and private plans like Medicare Advantage to force them to compete on a level playing field.
pg 45
We oppose the Defense of Marriage Act and all attempts to use this issue to divide us.
pg 47
We will strengthen the ability of workers to organize unions and fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
pg 9
We will restore pro-worker voices to the National Labor Relations Board
pg 9
Throughout this saga, Americans have pursued their dreams within a free market that has been the engine of America's progress. ...
But the American experiment has worked in large part because we have guided the market's invisible hand with a higher principle. Our free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it.
pg 19
We will reform and modernize our regulatory structures and will work to promote a shift in the cultures of our financial institutions and our regulatory agencies.
pg 20
Trade policy must be an integral part of an overall national economic strategy that delivers on the promise of good jobs at home and shared prosperity abroad. We will enforce trade laws and safeguard our workers, businesses and farmers from unfair trade practices
pg 21
Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development but we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few rather than the many.
pg 21
We need tougher negotiators on our side of the table -- to strike bargains that are good not just for Wall Street, but also for Main Street.
pg 21
We Democrats have a special commitment to this promise of America. We believe that each American, whatever their background or station in life, should have the chance to get a good education, to work at a good job with good wages, to raise and provide for a family, to live in safe surroundings, and to retire with dignity and security. We believe that quality and affordable health care is a basic right.
pg 1
They said they would be compassionate conservatives, but they failed to rescue our citizens from the roof-tops of New Orleans, neglected our veterans, and denied health insurance to children. They promised fiscal responsibility but instead gave tax cuts to the wealthy few and squandered almost a trillion dollars in Iraq. They promised reform but allowed the oil companies to write our energy agenda and the credit card companies to write the bankruptcy rules.
These are not just policy failures. They are failures of a broken politics -- a politics that rewards self-interest over the common interest and the short-term over the long-term, that puts our government at the service of the powerful. A politics that creates a state-of-the art system for doling out favors and shuts out the voice of the American people.
pg 2
We will start by renewing the American Dream for a new era -- with the same new hope and new ideas that propelled Franklin Delano Roosevelt towards the New Deal and John F. Kennedy to the New Frontier.
We will provide immediate relief to working people who have lost their jobs, families who have lost their homes, and people who have lost their way.
We will invest in America again -- in world-class public education, in our infrastructure, and in green technology -- so that our economy can generate the good, high-paying jobs of the future.
We will end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable health care, protect Social Security and help Americans save for retirement. We will return the American economy to the values that made it great -- fairness and opportunity for all -- and we will harness American ingenuity to free this nation from the tyranny of oil.
pg 2
Source: The Democratic National Platform (pdf)
read it.
reference it.
demand that it is kept.
Those are but a few of the Principles that Democrats Stand on.
Those are the Principles that we Fight for, most everyday.
Those are among the Promises that must be kept.
For we the Democratic Party, we speak for the People -- Not for the Powerful.
We put People over Profits.
Progress over Compromise.
Humanity over Greed.
Or at least, in our better moments,
we attempt to do, those things we claim, we believe.
May our "better moments", become more frequent,
and our Progress more real,
in the lives of the everyday People,
for whom we who claim the banner of the Democratic Party, will continue to speak up for.
Because, the People of the "Big Tent" Party,
will continue to Hope, continue to Fight, for the Change,
we so desperately need, in these dismal and desperate times.
And continue to Stand on the Planks of the Party Platform,
No matter what the winds of Political Expediency, may bring our way.
PS. "Progressives" we should start tweaking those Planks,
of "special interest", to our idealistic, People-oriented, "selfish concerns" ...
What are Progressive Values?
Change, we must still believe, It IS Possible.
for without Hope ... (well, you can fill-in-the-blank) ______________ .