Historical Platforms

• 2010 Platform Here
• 2008 Platform Here
• 2006 Platform Here
• 2004 Platform Here

Snohomish County Democrats

2010 Adopted Platform

AGRICULTURE

Sound agricultural practices which include the protection of air, water and land are essential to the economic health and sustainability of our region. We recognize the role of farmers and ranchers as "stewards of the land." Production of food is critical to national security.

CIVIL RIGHTS

The foundation and strength of our democracy rests on the stated rights and responsibilities set forth in the U. S. and Washington State's Constitution, the Bill of Rights, other amendments to the Constitution, the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence, and other protections of individual liberty enacted by Congress, the Constitution of the State of Washington, and applicable case law.

CORPORATE POWER

Some corporations exercise undue influence in the United States of America, violating the fundamental democratic principle of the "consent of the governed."

ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT

Economic justice is essential to a Democratic society and a strong economy. Favoritism toward the wealthiest has permitted them undue influence on public policy, to the detriment of everyone else. Taxation policies that are fair and equitable for all taxpayers, not just a favored few, are a keystone of economic justice.

EDUCATION

The paramount duty of our state government is to ensure excellence in the delivery and content of public education. An excellent, quality public education, preschool through post-secondary, with equal access for all, is fundamental to maintaining a healthy democracy. "It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children." Washington State Constitution, 1889

ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

We must establish and enforce policies and regulations to protect and preserve the earth and its resources while utilizing ecologically-friendly, sustainable energy production.

FOREIGN POLICY

The United States' foreign policy goals should focus on sustainability as its primary organizing principle. America can lead in a cooperative manner, rather than a directive manner, by upholding international standards on human rights worldwide, by supporting the rights of all people to self-governance and self-determination.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL REFORM

Teamwork between citizens and their government is the most effective and efficient means of achieving our common goals. Elections are the means by which we hire our representative government. Elections must be open, transparent, verifiable, and audited.

HEALTHCARE

Access to high quality healthcare and proper nutrition should be available to every person. Healthcare is a basic human right. Our government should ensure and guarantee by law, accessible and affordable healthcare for all.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Human rights are the inherent rights afforded to every human being at birth; a right to live a life that guarantees the necessities to maintain a healthy human condition.

IMMIGRATION

We are a country of mostly immigrants and their descendants. Immigration policies must not deny civil or human rights to immigrants or their children.

LABOR

A strong economy is based upon jobs that provide safe working conditions, a fair & living wage, and health & retirement benefits. The benefits are obtained and ensured by the worker's right to organize unions for collective bargaining.

LAW AND JUSTICE

The government has a basic responsibility to prevent crime and to alleviate the social and economic conditions that contribute to crime.

MEDIA REFORM

The free flow of information is fundamental to democracy. The public owns the broadcast frequencies and the Internet, which should be managed to serve the public interest. Internet neutrality is fundamental to preserve the value of the Internet for the public.

MILITARY

The core task of the U.S. Military is to provide for the common defense. Our military must be adequate to provide for our nation's defense and should never be open to abuses of power by any branch of government.

TRANSPORTATION

Multi-modal transportation systems should be economical, efficient, safe and accessible. A well planned mass transportation system is less damaging to the environment and promotes a good quality of life.

TRIBES

Treaties made between sovereign Indian nations and the United States Government must be upheld and preserved, as must compacts between Washington State and the tribes.

AGRICULTURE

Sound agricultural practices which include the protection of air, water and land are essential to the economic health and sustainability of our region. We recognize the role of farmers and ranchers as "stewards of the land." Production of food is critical to national security.

We believe that:

• The air, water, and land must be protected for current and future generations.
• Efforts to preserve viable family farms and ranches must be continued and intensified.
• The sale and consumption of locally grown products should be encouraged whenever possible by government at all levels.
• Organic farming and ranching methods are better for the environment than are traditional practices.

We support:

• Programs that ensure the availability of high-quality locally grown food, and that strengthen rural communities.
• Maintaining a vital balance among the three major land use categories of "urban, rural, and natural resources."

We oppose:

• Genetically modified foods.
• Constructing developments known as "fully contained communities" that fail to live up to what the name implies.

CIVIL RIGHTS

The foundation and strength of our democracy rests on the stated rights and responsibilities set forth in the U. S. and Washington State's Constitution, the Bill of Rights, other amendments to the Constitution, the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence, and other protections of individual liberty enacted by Congress, the Constitution of the State of Washington, and applicable case law.

We believe:

• The equal separation of powers among the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government must be maintained.
• The protection of individual citizens' rights and liberties must be a paramount duty of government.
• There must be a strict separation between church and state in a secular government, free of the religious beliefs of lawmakers.
• It is unconstitutional for government at any level to prevent or force any religious organization to perform the rite of marriage.
• Government at any level must not prevent adult couples who choose to declare commitment to a civil union and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities and benefits presently accrued because of marriage, regardless of sexual orientation.

We support and defend:

• The right to sovereignty of each person over their own bodies.
• A woman's right to choose, as protected by Roe v. Wade and the Washington State Reproductive Freedom Act.
• The rights of adults, under the law, to choose to die with dignity.
• The rights of senior citizens to discuss all aspects of death and dying without being subjected to unwanted psychiatric intervention.
• The right to obtain medically safe prescriptions and over-the-counter medications.

We demand:

• That all medical records and genetic information be maintained in strict confidentiality by law.

We oppose:

• Discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodation, foster care and adoption proceedings, healthcare, military service, insurance, credit, licensing, or education by any entity based upon race, religion, age, sex, size, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, political affiliation, disability, or national origin.

CORPORATE POWER

Some corporations exercise undue influence in the United States of America, violating the fundamental democratic principle of the "consent of the governed."

We believe:

• Corporations should not be entitled to all the rights of personhood.
• Corporations should be subject to enough regulation to prevent pillaging of financial, human and natural resources.
• Corporations should not be allowed to become too big to fail.
• Businesses should be a resource to help communities thrive.

We support:

• The revocation of charters of corporations that violate our laws.
• A government that places the needs of the people of the United States of America above those of corporations.
• The protection of "the commons" so that future generations will thrive.
• Transparency in corporate accounting.
• Tax credits and investment support for small business.
• The reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1932.

We oppose:

• Undue influence by corporations over the government.
• Excessive executive compensation.
• Corporations paying bonuses after failure of the business.

ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT

Economic justice is essential to a Democratic society and a strong economy. Favoritism toward the wealthiest has permitted them undue influence on public policy, to the detriment of everyone else. Taxation policies that are fair and equitable for all taxpayers, not just a favored few, are a keystone of economic justice.

We support:

• Development of sustainable jobs in Snohomish County and throughout the United States.
• Safe and adequate housing, medical care and sanitary facilities for all workers.
• Strict health, safety and environmental standards worldwide, as well as worker rights and welfare internationally.
• A progressive tax system at both the federal and state level.
• A major increase in funding for assistance and construction of affordable and low income housing in Washington State.
• A fair system of paying for growth with impact fees charged to developers.
• Support for small businesses, including tax credits, low interest loans, and non-profit micro-lending.
• Targeted economic development incentives to businesses that provide verifiable, immediate, and lasting benefits to our communities.
• Only those multilateral trade agreements that are conditioned on environmental, health and safety standards, human rights and workers rights, and which support transparent democratic processes.

We oppose:

• Excessive corporate profits and excessive executive compensation at the expense of employees or the individual consumer.
• The "off shoring" of corporate headquarters for tax breaks or benefits.
• U.S. corporations going offshore in order to evade U.S. laws and taxes.
• Privatization of Social Security or reduction of benefits.
• Excessive fees (greater than 36% APR) charged to Washington State consumers by lending corporations.
• Exploitation of migrant, temporary and contract workers.
• Taxing workers at a higher rate than the rate of the capital gains tax.
• Corporate welfare at the expense of the American taxpayer.
• Corporations using mergers and bankruptcy courts to appropriate workers' pensions.
• Allowing tax advantages to companies that outsource American jobs.
• The outsourcing of government jobs and the privatization of public government services.
• Foreign trade agreements that put the interests of corporations above the rights of workers.
• Foreign trade agreements that overrule the rights of local governments.

EDUCATION

The paramount duty of our state government is to ensure excellence in the delivery and content of public education. An excellent, quality public education, preschool through post-secondary, with equal access for all, is fundamental to maintaining a healthy democracy. "It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children." Washington State Constitution, 1889

We believe that:

• A strong economy requires a well-trained workforce. People of all ages should have access to high quality, continued education and career training, including school-to-work partnerships and apprenticeship programs, in addition to traditional higher education.
• We must compensate all school personnel, certificated and classified with a negotiated wage scale that demonstrates our appreciation for the critically important work that they do.
• The ratio of students to certificated classroom personnel must promote effective learning.
• Children need appropriate and adequate physical activity and unstructured supervised time for active play during the school day.
• Our public education system shall encourage parental participation in their children's school experience beginning with preschool.
• Universal pre-school access must be adequately funded to prepare every child for the task of learning
• Our schools should foster good citizenship, healthy decision-making, wellness, respect, empathy, and an understanding of how to practice non-violent conflict resolution.
• All schools should be safe, secure, nurturing and free of harassment and bullying.
• Schools must recognize and value diverse cultures.
• Children need age appropriate instruction using medically accurate information regarding human growth and development, sexuality and communicable diseases.
• Children need accurate instruction in relation to maintaining their safety as it relates to child abuse.
• Children need medically accurate instruction concerning the dangers of drug use and exposure to drugs in their environment.
• Public education should be kept under full public control.
• Teachers have the right to strike.
• A dedicated, stable funding source for education for preschool through higher education is mandated by the constitution of the state of Washington.
• Civil rights should be mandatory instruction in schools as part of civics education.
• A well-rounded education includes the arts, civics, and music.
• Supervision, evaluation and direction of the licensed practice of a school nurse must be by personnel licensed as a registered nurse. WAC 246-840-010, RCW 18.79.040 (1)(a)(b)(c)(e)
• The Washington State Department of Health should set the standards for licensed nursing practices in schools in order to assure compliance with federal and state legislation, as well as the Washington State Nurse Practice Act.
• Public schools shall ensure that school breakfasts and lunches meet or exceed state and federal nutritional standards.

We oppose:

• The use of history textbooks in public education that rewrite history, omitting topics such as the civil rights movement, Native Americans, African Americans, separation of church and state, contributions of the labor and women's movements, and immigrants' contribution to the country.
• The use of textbooks in public education that omit/deny scientifically verifiable facts or widely accepted scientific theories.

ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

We must establish and enforce policies and regulations to protect and preserve the earth and its resources while utilizing ecologically-friendly, sustainable energy production.

We believe:

• That investment in research and development of renewable energy will lead to increased jobs.
• In a commitment to construction of local manufacturing facilities in green technologies.

We support:

• Substantial funding of research and development of renewable energy sources.
• Growth on a regional scale by strengthening existing urban hubs, providing appropriate infrastructure, and preserving and supporting existing rural areas and natural resources.
• Policies and energy sources that protect and enhance the biosphere.
• Preserving the aesthetic qualities and the healthy ecological habitats of the shorelines of Puget Sound, as well as of our rivers, streams, and lakes, making them accessible to the public.
• Continuing the stationing of an ocean-going tug at Port Angeles.
• The Endangered Species Act.
• Strong EPA policies and regulations.

We oppose:

• Developments known as "fully contained communities".
• The continued subsidy of fossil fuels.

FOREIGN POLICY

The United States' foreign policy goals should focus on sustainability as its primary organizing principle. America can lead in a cooperative manner, rather than a directive manner, by upholding international standards on human rights worldwide, by supporting the rights of all people to self-governance and self-determination.

We support:

• International agreements such as the Geneva Convention, the ABM Treaty, Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions, Small Arms Treaty, International Criminal Court, Land Mines Treaty, The Kyoto/Copenhagen Climate Treaties, Convention to End Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
• The safe and timely withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, recognizing the right of people to self-determination and freedom from military occupation.

We further support:

• Activity seeking cooperative justice, human rights, and reconciliation among nations.
• Encouraging cooperation among all nations to prevent acts of terrorism and to resolve international conflicts.
• Renegotiating "Free Trade" agreements such as NAFTA, CAFTA, and WTO with all willing countries. Trade agreements must include provisions to encourage sustainable agricultural and manufacturing practices, protect the environment, and promote worker's health, safety, and rights.
• Working with the world community through the United Nations and its agencies, including the World Court.
• Bearing our fair share of the United Nations' developments, peacekeeping and defense initiatives.
• Dealing with all nations and peoples impartially, and that these nations and peoples be treated with equal respect, dignity and honor.

We oppose:

• Any foreign policy that includes pre-emptive or unilateral war.
• Companies engaging in business practices abroad that are prohibited in the United States. These include, but are not limited to environmental damage, resources exhaustion, and exploitative labor practices.
• Outsourcing or off-shoring of any American job.
• Importing goods made with slave, conscripted, or prison labor.
• "Free Trade" agreements.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL REFORM

Teamwork between citizens and their government is the most effective and efficient means of achieving our common goals. Elections are the means by which we hire our representative government. Elections must be open, transparent, verifiable, and audited.

We believe that:

• Participation in government is a powerful tool for change.
• Political activism must be non-violent.
• Publicly financed campaigns attract the best candidates for public office.
• Money should not be a deciding factor in elections.
• Voter education is the foundation of democracy.
• Basic civics education is a cornerstone of American citizenship.
• Initiatives should not displace legislators.
• The voting rights of felons should be automatically restored upon release from incarceration.
• Government must be accountable, transparent, and equally accessible to all.
• The Democratic Party affirms equality, justice, and liberty.
• Our platform reflects the values we seek in those who hold public office.

We oppose:

• Extraordinary Rendition.

HEALTHCARE

Access to high quality healthcare and proper nutrition should be available to every person. Healthcare is a basic human right. Our government should ensure and guarantee by law, accessible and affordable healthcare for all.

We believe that:

• No American should suffer disease or pain due to lack of health care.
• Complete healthcare includes mental, medical, dental, hearing and vision.
• Drug and alcohol dependence, along with other addictions, are illnesses, not crimes, and should be part of health coverage.
• Preventative healthcare affords the greatest personal benefits and economic impacts.
• Government-funded research should be dedicated to the reduction of prescription prices, disease prevention and remedy costs.
• Every citizen should take personal responsibility for living a healthy life style as represented by good nutrition, adequate physical exercise, and free from additive non-prescription drugs.

We support:

• A strong "Patient's Bill of Rights."
• A person's right to choose or refuse medical procedures.
• The confidentiality of medical records, including DNA information.
• All types of stem-cell research.
• Roe vs. Wade.
• The Washington State Reproductive Freedom Act.
• Universal health care for all US citizens.
• Government negotiation of pharmaceutical prices.

We oppose:

• Discrimination against healthcare coverage based upon pre-existing conditions, disabilities or socio-economic conditions.
• Excessive profits in the healthcare system.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Human rights are the inherent rights afforded to every human being at birth; a right to live a life that guarantees the necessities to maintain a healthy human condition.

We believe:

• Every person is entitled to dignity and respect.
• Health care is a fundamental human right.
• The Four Freedoms of Human Rights: Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Religious Belief, Freedom from Want, and Freedom to Choose where to live or travel. Included in the concept of "Want" are these: shelter appropriate to climate, clothing, clean water and healthful food, basic medical care, basic education, and the right to be paid equitably for one's labor.
• The right of all people in various facilities, including those confined in jails or prisons, to enjoy basic human rights.
• Women's rights are human rights.
• Children's rights are human rights.
• All individuals must have control over their own bodies.
• In protection from rape and torture.
• In providing aid in time of famine and disaster.
• In providing protection from genocide.

We support:

• Humane treatment of all human beings.
• The right of all individuals to have a venue where violations of human rights may be heard, reviewed, and remedied.
• Enforcing the Geneva Conventions in handling and treatment of all enemy combatants.

We oppose:

• Any and all attempts to impose unfair and inequitable treatment of any individual.
• Any and all outside influence that threatens an individual's human rights.
• The usurping of anyone's human rights by individuals, law enforcement, courts, Congress, or the President.
• Torture.

IMMIGRATION

We are a country of mostly immigrants and their descendants. Immigration policies must not deny civil or human rights to immigrants or their children.

We believe that:

• Migrant workers deserve safe and adequate housing, medical care, education, sanitary facilities, and protection from toxic chemicals.

We support:

• An efficient immigration process and a path to citizenship.
• Programs offering immigrants instruction in English as a second language.
• Making the process of confirming immigration status readily available to employers.
• Enforcement of the laws which penalize employers who knowingly employ undocumented immigrants.

We oppose:

• Immigration policy that denies civil and/or human rights or educational opportunities for immigrants and their children, regardless of their immigration status.
• The abuse of the H1-B visas by employers at the expense of American workers.
• State or local police involvement in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
• Efforts to deputize, commission, finance, or otherwise encourage vigilante border militia groups in the United States.
• Deportation or detention of immigrants without regard for the needs and rights of their dependents.

LABOR

A strong economy is based upon jobs that provide safe working conditions, a fair & living wage, and health & retirement benefits. The benefits are obtained and ensured by the worker's right to organize unions for collective bargaining.

We believe that:

• Workers in America are dedicated, industrious, and competitive and therefore deserve respect and a livable wage.
• Workers in America should have a safe and harassment-free work environment.
• Workers in America must have the enforceable rights to organize and collectively bargain in order to have livable wages.
• American workers' access to training is a fundamental right, in order to be competitive in the world job market.
• Veterans, women, people of color, people with disabilities, and sexual minorities need to earn equal pay for equal work as well as equal pay for work of comparable value.

We support:

• Prevailing wage laws for work under government contracts to protect family income and to provide a good tax base.
• "Best Value Contractor" policies and "Fair Contracting" for public works jobs.
• Area standards for wages and benefits.
• Economic development laws to ensure benefits for local communities.
• Unemployment insurance and workers' compensation managed and monitored by the appropriate government entity.
• Protection of overtime pay.
• Jobs that include medical benefits for employees and their families.
• Strong regulations maintaining the health of workers pensions.
• Labor and management regulation of workers' pensions.
• Workers having healthcare and retirement benefits that are transportable between employers.
• Safe working conditions, including training on workplace safety.
• A progressive tax structure.

LAW AND JUSTICE

The government has a basic responsibility to prevent crime and to alleviate the social and economic conditions that contribute to crime.

We believe that:

• The paramount duty of law enforcement is to protect our community from our most violent criminals while protecting our most vulnerable citizens.
• Crime prevention programs are more cost effective than incarceration.
• The use and abuse of drugs are medical issues and not criminal offenses.
• There should be strong laws relating to the production, sale, and taxation of drugs.
• The growing of marijuana for personal use for medical treatment when prescribed by a licensed physician should continue to be legal.
• Sex between consenting adults is not a law enforcement issue.
• The death penalty should be replaced with the penalty of "life imprisonment without parole."
• The right of all people in various facilities, including those confined in jails or prisons, to receive recognition of basic human rights.
• The voting rights of ex-convicts should be automatically restored upon release of prisoners from incarceration.

We support:

• Rehabilitative treatments whenever appropriate.
• Determinate sentencing with the provision that judges must supply in writing reasons for exceeding limits.
• Children within the legal system be given compassionate treatment.
• Protecting the rights of crime victims, particularly children, the elderly, and the disabled.
• Observing and respecting individual cultures, dignities, civil and constitutional rights of all who come before the justice system.

MEDIA REFORM

The free flow of information is fundamental to democracy. The public owns the broadcast frequencies and the Internet, which should be managed to serve the public interest. Internet neutrality is fundamental to preserve the value of the Internet for the public.

We believe in:

• Diversity of ownership and programming as the primary principle of broadcast licensing.
• Strengthening media ownership regulations to avoid corporate domination of our airwaves and the press.
• Encouraging minority and community ownership of media companies.
• Adequate, stable funding free of political pressure for public radio and public television.
• Strengthening community-level, non-profit and non-commercial radio and TV.
• Ensuring that rural Americans have access to modern communications infrastructure.

We support:

• A robust Emergency Broadcast System.

MILITARY

The core task of the U.S. Military is to provide for the common defense. Our military must be adequate to provide for our nation's defense and should never be open to abuses of power by any branch of government.

We believe:

• In a strong defense.
• That the peace dividend is long overdue.
• In selectively decommissioning weapons systems of the Cold War.
• We should stop construction and deployment of intercontinental weapons systems.

We support:

• A powerful, well-trained, and well-equipped military, sufficient to the task of our common defense.
• Allowing all qualified volunteers to serve our nation, regardless of their sex, color, creed, religion or sexual orientation.
• Providing our troops with superior training, knowledgeable and experienced leadership and sufficient materiel to complete their mission.
• Providing troops with appropriate medical, dental, and psychological treatment and rehabilitation.
• Keeping the promises made to military personnel regarding their pensions and health care.
• Full respect for the Geneva Conventions.

We oppose:

• The use the military for pre-emptive strikes.
• Congress transferring war powers to the President, except as a declaration of war.
• The use of disinformation campaigns to misinform citizens of military operations.
• The use of "depleted" uranium (dU), chemical, thermonuclear, or biological weapons.
• The use of active sonar in any non-combatant environment.
• The use of civilian contractors in place of military personnel.
• War profiteering.
• Congress 'rubber-stamping' the defense budget or approving "open-ended" or hidden budget items.
• The use of the National Guard for any purposes other than domestic support and defense. Unless war is declared by Congress, the National Guard must remain under the direction and authority of their states own governors.
• Any cut in veterans' benefits that breaks the nation's promise to provide for their pensions and health care.
• Military recruitment on public school campuses.
• Military access to school records without parental consent.
• Any reduction of federal funding for any publicly funded school that bans military recruiters.

TRANSPORTATION

Multi-modal transportation systems should be economical, efficient, safe and accessible. A well planned mass transportation system is less damaging to the environment and promotes a good quality of life.

We support:

• Continued investment in fully vested mass public transportation alternatives, in order to reduce negative environmental impacts.
• Public participation at all stages in the development of the transportation system.
• Transportation funding that is adequate, equitable, and rational.
• The use of fuel that is environmentally friendly.
• Improvements in facilities for non-motorized modes of transportation, including sidewalks, bicycle paths, curb cuts, and wheelchair ramps.
• Maintaining our local airports to FAA standards.

We oppose:

• Major airport expansion without public input, review, and vote.

TRIBES

Treaties made between sovereign Indian nations and the United States Government must be upheld and preserved, as must compacts between Washington State and the tribes.

Footnotes

"The commons" -- those features of the earth and its atmosphere that are held in common by the inhabitants of the earth: air, water, the seas, the airwaves, and similar forms of existence.

"The Glass-Steagall Act" -- In 1933, Senator Carter Glass (D-Va.) and Congressman Henry Steagall (D-Ala.) introduce the historic legislation that bears their name, seeking to limit the conflicts of interest created when commercial banks are permitted to underwrite stocks or bonds. In the early part of the century, individual investors were seriously hurt by banks whose overriding interest was promoting stocks of interest and benefit to the banks, rather than to individual investors. The new law bans commercial banks from underwriting securities, forcing banks to choose between being a simple lender or an underwriter (brokerage). The act also establishes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), insuring bank deposits, and strengthens the Federal Reserve's control over credit. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wallstreet/weill/demise.html