Democratic Core Values according to Slingshizzle
For the past several years, and especially in the past several months, people, Republicans and neo-cons alike have been railing liberals and Democrats for not knowing what they believe in. I've seen this floating around as a list of core Democratic values: Accountability, Privacy, Growth and Opportunity, American Leadership.
If I were Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, these would be my party's core values:
AccountabilityEven though I'm not chairman of the DNC, when Republicans and neo-cons ask me what I believe in as a Democrat, I will tell them this.
Fighting corruption
Responsive government
Transparency
Electoral reform
Fiscal responsibility
Corporate accountability (tort laws, strong SEC, etc.)
Privacy
Sacrosanct doctor/patient relationship (choice, contraceptives, medical marijuana)
Family planning
No regulation of morality
Opposition to Patriot Act
A right-to-die
Consumer privacy
Religious freedom
Growth and Opportunity
Education (pre-K, primary, secondary, college, continued adult)
No "No Child Left Behind"
Worker rights
Social Security
Health Care
Gender equality (same pay for same work, etc.)
Non-regressive tax laws
Marriage equality
Workplace protection (OSHA, discrimination laws, etc.)
Fair trade laws
Small business support
Protecting our environment
Protecting our cultural heritage
Sound (renewable) energy policy
American Leadership (America is #1!)
Strong, effective, smartly deployed military
Leadership on global issues (e.g. terrorism, landmines, global warming, etc.)
Champion of human rights at home and abroad
Leadership in science and technology (e.g. stem cells, alternative energy, etc.)
Strong United Nations/internationalism/multilateralism
3 Comments:
You'd better be careful with your "No legislation of morality" issue. All law is in some way or the other a form of imposed morality by the state, like it or not. Even though you may not think it, setting the speed limit at 20 in the school zones are expressions of our morals; Children ought to be protected from dangerous drivers.
Just keeping you honest, and making sure you define your terms...
Sonik
1738 MDT
Sonik, you are right; the point should be "Rationalizing morality." But not because school zones are moral...you can shove that 1st-year law school crap in your legal attaché case.
As Democrats, we shouldn’t yield the “morality issue” to Republicans, neo-cons and fundamentalists.
They say homosexuality is immoral because it is unnatural….Democrats need to point out that there is nothing less natural or more immoral than suppressing a person's true desires (while recognizing that such unnaturalness is necessary at times -- in the case of a desire to murder, for example). Nature (and God for that matter) has given us an incredible variety of people, so it would violate human nature and our morals to force everyone into a single mold for how to be a good person.
They say that homosexuality is immoral because undermines the family…Democrats need to point out that legal and social stigmas against homosexuality undermine families. These stigmas estrange gays from family members who can’t accept homosexuality, and hinder gay couples from forming strong and functional households.
They say embryonic stem-cell research is immoral because it destroys a “life”…Democrats need to say that prohibiting life-saving research and not utilizing wasted embryos for good science is immoral.
Morality is an issue that can be resolved only by making a moral decision…when did we decide that neo-cons are the ones allowed to make moral decisions for all of us?
Atta kid. Now we're on the same wavelength.
Sonik
1633 MDT
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