Democratic Party Convention 2012
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Democrats unveil their national platform
Juan Gonzales from Holyoke, Mass., stands in front of stage display at the Democratic National Convention inside Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012. / AP Photo
(AP) WASHINGTON - Democrats unveiled a party platform at their national convention Monday that echoes President Barack Obama's call for higher taxes on wealthier Americans while backing same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
Delegates will vote Tuesday to adopt the platform that reflects the president's argument that his work is unfinished and he deserves another four years to complete the job.
"Today, our economy is growing again, al-Qaeda is weaker than at any point since 9/11, and our manufacturing sector is growing for the first time in more than a decade. But there is more we need to do, and so we come together again to continue what we started," the platform said.
The document is a sharp contrast from the policy statement that the Republican Party adopted at its convention last week. The Republican plan would ban abortion and gay marriage, repeal Obama's health care overhaul law and shift Medicare, the government health care program for the elderly, into a voucher-style program.
Democrats acknowledged that divergent views.
"This election is not simply a choice between two candidates or two political parties, but between two fundamentally different paths for our country and our families," the Democrats said.
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TAXES
The Democratic platform calls for extending the middle-class tax cuts for the 98 percent of American families who make less than $250,000 a year, and makes a promise not to raise taxes on them. The platform claims a typical family has saved $3,600 during Obama's first term. "Now he's fighting to stop middle-class families and those aspiring to join the middle class from seeing their taxes go up and to extend key tax relief for working families and those paying for college, while asking the wealthiest and corporations to pay their fair share," the platform says.
The Republican platform would extend the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, pending reform of the tax code. It also says the party would try to eliminate taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains altogether for lower- and middle-income taxpayers. It also would work to repeal the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax.
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ABORTION
The Democratic platform states that it "unequivocally" supports Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, and "supports a woman's right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay."
The platform states: "Abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor and her clergy; there is no place for politicians or government to get in the way."
The Republican Party platform bans abortion in all cases, even rape, incest and when the life of the mother is endangered. Republicans say "the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed." It opposes using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or to fund organizations that perform or advocate abortions.
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GAY MARRIAGE
The Democratic platform supports the movement to get equal treatment under the law for same-sex couples.
The platform says: "We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference." The platform opposes "federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection under the law" to same-sex couples.
The Republican Party platform affirms the rights of states and the federal government not to recognize same-sex marriage. It backs a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
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IMMIGRATION
The platform states that "Democrats are strongly committed to enacting comprehensive immigration reform." Immigration overhaul would include bringing "undocumented immigrants out of the shadows," requiring illegal immigrants "to get right with the law, learn English and pay taxes" to get on a path toward citizenship. It also calls for a visa system that meets the country's "economic needs, keeps families together and enforces the law." It acknowledges that administrative fixes are not permanent. "Only Congress can provide a permanent, comprehensive solution."
The Republican platform opposes "any form of amnesty" for those who intentionally violate the immigration laws, demands a halt to Justice Department lawsuits against states that have enacted tough immigration measures, would deny federal funding to universities that provide lower in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and advocates making English the official national language.
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MEDICARE
Democrats say the new health care law makes Medicare stronger by adding new benefits, fighting fraud and improving care for patients. It notes that nearly 50 million older Americans and those with disabilities rely on Medicare. Over 10 years, the law will save the average Medicare beneficiary $4,200, the platform says. "Democrats adamantly oppose any efforts to privatize or voucherize Medicare," the platform says.
The Republican platform pledges to move Medicare away from "the current unsustainable defined-benefit entitlement model to a fiscally sound defined-contribution model." It supports a Medicare transition to a premium-support model with an income-adjusted contribution toward a health plan of the enrollee's choice.
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CAMPAIGN FINANCE
The Democratic platform criticizes the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which lifted restrictions on independent political expenditures by corporations and unions, and calls for "immediate action to curb the influence of lobbyists and special interests on our political institutions" - with a constitutional amendment, if necessary, in the cause of campaign finance reform.
"We support requiring groups trying to influence elections to reveal their donors so the public will know who's funding the political ads it sees," the platform says.
The Republican platform supports the Citizens United decision as a free speech issue.
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HEALTH CARE
The platform pledges to continue building on the new health care law. It says accessible, affordable, high-quality health care is part of the American promise, that Americans should have the security that comes with good health care, and that no one should go broke because they get sick. "No law is perfect and Democrats stand willing to work with anyone to improve the law where necessary, but we are committed to moving forward," the platform says.
The Republican platform says that a Republican president on his first day in office would use his waiver authority to halt progress in carrying out the health care reform act. It calls for a Republican plan based on improving health care quality and lowering costs and a system that promotes the free market and gives consumers more choice.
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DEFENSE
The platform says Democrats have responsibly ended the war in Iraq, put the al-Qaida terrorist organization on the path to defeat with the killing of Osama bin Laden and reversed the Taliban's momentum to set the stage for the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
"As a consequence of the president's decisions and the brave work of our military and intelligence professionals, bin Laden can no longer threaten the United States and al-Qaida's senior leadership has been devastated, rendering the group far less capable than it was four years ago," the platform said. "The al-Qaida core in Afghanistan and Pakistan has never been weaker."
Democrats back further reductions in the nuclear weapons stockpile, building on the hard-fought U.S.-Russia treaty that Obama got through the Senate in December 2010. Democrats also say they have an "unshakable commitment to Israel's security," and Obama will do all in his power to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Democrats say they want to maintain a strong military, but argue that in the current fiscal environment, tough budgetary decisions must include defense spending. They noted that Democrats and Republicans agreed last summer in the deficit-cutting plan to reduce military spending.
Republicans, in their platform, criticize the Obama administration as holding weak positions toward such countries as North Korea, China and Iran and for reductions in military spending.
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Benjamin Franklin, statesman and signer of our Declaration of Independence, said: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." John Adams, another signer, echoed a similar statement: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Are today's Americans virtuous and moral, or have we become corrupt and vicious? Let's think it through with a few questions.
Suppose I saw an elderly woman painfully huddled on a heating grate in the dead of winter. She's hungry and in need of shelter and medical attention. To help the woman, I walk up to you using intimidation and threats and demand that you give me $200. Having taken your money, I then purchase food, shelter and medical assistance for the woman. Would I be guilty of a crime? A moral person would answer in the affirmative. I've committed theft by taking the property of one person to give to another.
Most Americans would agree that it would be theft regardless of what I did with the money. Now comes the hard part. Would it still be theft if I were able to get three people to agree that I should take your money? What if I got 100 people to agree -- 100,000 or 200 million people? What if instead of personally taking your money to assist the woman, I got together with other Americans and asked Congress to use Internal Revenue Service agents to take your money? In other words, does an act that's clearly immoral and illegal when done privately become moral when it is done legally and collectively? Put another way, does legality establish morality? Before you answer, keep in mind that slavery was legal; apartheid was legal; the Nazi's Nuremberg Laws were legal; and the Stalinist and Maoist purges were legal. Legality alone cannot be the guide for moral people. The moral question is whether it's right to take what belongs to one person to give to another to whom it does not belong.
Don't get me wrong. I personally believe that assisting one's fellow man in need by reaching into one's own pockets is praiseworthy and laudable. Doing the same by reaching into another's pockets is despicable, dishonest and worthy of condemnation. Some people call governmental handouts charity, but charity and legalized theft are entirely two different things. But as far as charity is concerned, James Madison, the acknowledged father of our Constitution, said, "Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government." To my knowledge, the Constitution has not been amended to include charity as a legislative duty of Congress.
Our current economic crisis, as well as that of Europe, is a direct result of immoral conduct. Roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of our federal budget can be described as Congress' taking the property of one American and giving it to another. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid account for nearly half of federal spending. Then there are corporate welfare and farm subsidies and thousands of other spending programs, such as food stamps, welfare and education. According to a 2009 Census Bureau report, nearly 139 million Americans -- 46 percent -- receive handouts from one or more federal programs, and nearly 50 percent have no federal income tax obligations.
In the face of our looming financial calamity, what are we debating about? It's not about the reduction or elimination of the immoral conduct that's delivered us to where we are. It's about how we pay for it -- namely, taxing the rich, not realizing that even if Congress imposed a 100 percent tax on earnings higher than $250,000 per year, it would keep the government running for only 141 days.
Very nice.
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Why do you lie? I have never said that, nor mean that!! So please try to get ONE thing right today. Just one!
I am against FORCING one person to help another. That is immoral and evil. I am NOT against a person willingly helping another person.
Again, please try to get ONE thing right today.
To FORCE someone to help another is a form of theft, it is a form of enslavement. That is evil.
I would hope you would say they have no right to do that...that it would be theft.
Now, if that is true...then paying someone else to go into a person's home and take their property by force to give to that first person is the EXACT SAME THING!
Your positions on the issues nearly collapsed the republic.
Do you think we're all stupid?
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No, not ALL. Just the sciolist who misinforms the naive. Your lack of historical economics is glaring.
I am not against abortion, I am against having to pay for other people's recreational sex.
Trouble with that is, the poor will always be poor if there is NO INCENTIVE to work and improve themselves.
Reagan proved that providing opportunity, but requiring self effort, was what succeeded.
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/06/dick-fulds-grilling-highlights-of-the-house-committee-hearing/
The SEC handled The Goldman Sachs affair and they were too thoroughly incompetent and lacking in motivation to do more than require a $22 million fine, no prison sentence. Ex Goldman Sachs brass have thoroughly infiltrated US government positions of power and influence, placing the government in the position of being too corrupt to deal with a company, like Lehman Bros also, too big to fail and too big to jail. This sort of entrenched power places these wads of human garbage out of reach of the president. This situation existed before Obama entered the Oval Office and will continue to exist as long as America lasts as a plutocracy. The extremely wealthy constitute a virtual fourth branch of government. The Republican party politicians are their lackeys. Romney and Ryan hope to become their lackeys. All Obama can do is to see that this doesn't happen again, but to do so, he will have to have a majority in both houses. The Republicans on Capitol Hill will never go along with imprisoning their brothers, the corporate crooks. If Obama gets in again, he will be a lame duck prez and will be free to not be so politically correct and therefore required to lighten up on the scumbags of crooked American corporations. So I have done your googling for you and wrapped the argument up into a neat little package for you because as a Foxbot, you are incapable of connecting the dots for yourself, and since Murdoch has miseducated his viewers to believe that the truth is BS, you will regard my comment here as BS.