2020 Democratic Party Platform
The platform begins with a land acknowledgement, which I thought was so respectful that I will quote the entire thing here.
“The Democratic National Committee wishes to acknowledge that we gather together to state our values on lands that have been stewarded through many centuries by the ancestors and descendants of Tribal Nations who have been here since time immemorial. We honor the communities native to this continent, and recognize that our country was built on Indigenous homelands. We pay our respects to the millions of Indigenous people throughout history who have protected our lands, waters, and animals.” They then list out a number of tribes. I thought it was so interesting to include this.
Preamble
1. America is an idea
a. diversity is our greatest strength
b. protest is among the highest forms of patriotism
c. we will always keep trying to build a more perfect union
2. Character is on the ballot in this election
a. character of our president but also the character of our democracy, our society, and our leadership in the world
3. Challenges we are facing include the pandemic, economic downturn, climate change, and racial injustice
a. COVID has shown us we have problems with a fragile economy, our social safety net, growing inequality, the impacts of racial and economic disparities on health and well-being, consequences of deepening polarization
b. Trump has sidelined experts, rejected science, underinvested in research, and abused power. He has not done his duty with this pandemic
i. One recent example of him rejecting science… https://www.npr.org/2020/09/14/912799501/i-don-t-think-science-knows-visiting-fires-trump-denies-climate-change
c. “America First” policy has turned into America standing alone – friends and foes alike are dismissive and ridicule Trump’s leadership
d. Democrats will fight to repair the soul of this nation
e. We have to stop this recession from turning into a depression
i. GOP has rigged the economy in favor of the wealthiest few and biggest corporations
1. This is actually a very interesting point to me because I’ve been seeing some very conservative people on Facebook accusing the Democrats of doing this very thing. So it seems like we’re in agreement that we shouldn’t let all the money go to the top and stay there?
4. We must guarantee health care as a right for every American
5. Restore the full power of Voting Rights act
6. We will protect the integrity of our elections from all enemies
a. This is well worth the read https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/putin-american-democracy/610570/
7. We will never accept political gridlock as our fate
8. We will root our structural and systemic racism and reform our criminal justice system because we believe Black lives matter.
9. We will create a humane immigration system
10. We will protect and promote the equal rights of all citizens
11. We will lead the world in taking on the climate crisis
12. We will provide a world-class education in every ZIP code.
a. believe in universal early childhood education and affordable, high-quality child care
i. I’ll talk about this more later when it comes up in the platform, but universal preschool is not a thing I’m a fan of.
b. shut down the school-to-prison pipeline
c. make college affordable again
Protecting Americans and Recovering from the COVID-19 Pandemic
1. Trump Administration missed multiple opportunities to protect the American people
a. Trump lied about its severity, its transmissibility, and the threat it posed to lives and livelihoods
i. This is absolutely true, and it comes straight from the horse’s mouth. There are RECORDINGS of Trump saying that he knows how serious it is while at the same time telling Americans we have nothing to worry about. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/09/911109247/trump-admitted-to-playing-down-the-coronaviruss-severity-per-new-book
b. Trump’s failure to lead makes him responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans
c. Failed to pay attention to early intelligence reports and wasted critical weeks of preparation
d. failed to lay out clear, consistent guidelines and this created widespread confusion
e. disregarded advice of public health experts and made it harder to mayors and governors to protect American people
f. held life-saving resources hostage for political obeisance
g. Instead of bringing Americans together Trump tried to divide us, using racist and xenophobic rhetoric that has contributed to an increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans
h. working to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which would take away healthcare coverage from so many who desperately need it right now.
i. I agree with every single thing in this section. He did not do his job.
2. Also failed to drive an economic response
a. acted like the recession will correct itself
b. given too much to large corporations while small businesses fail
c. failed to adequately support school systems, colleges, and local governments
d. failed to enact workplace safety standards
3. Democrats will save lives by using every available tool to beat back this pandemic
a. will lead a global effort to prevent, detect, and respond to future pandemic threats
b. make COVID-19 testing widely available, convenient, and free to everyone
c. expand funding so local health departments can hire enough people to conduct contact tracing
d. make testing, treatment, and eventual vaccines free to everyone – we are only as safe from this disease as are the most vulnerable among us.
4. Democrats will take immediate action to preserve and expand health insurance coverage
a. expand Medicaid
b. if people lose their jobs during the pandemic, the federal government should pay for COBRA
c. reopen Affordable Care Act marketplaces
i. add to the marketplace a public option administered through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services which includes a platinum-level choice, with low fees and no deductibles. Low-income Americans will be automatically enrolled in the public option at zero cost.
5. We had equipment shortages that could have been avoided and should never happen again.
a. Democrats will dramatically scale up our domestic manufacturing capacity for PPE and essential medicines
b. medical supplies should be distributed according to need, not political favoritism
6. aggressively enforce non-discrimination protections in the Americans with Disabilities Act and other civil rights laws
a. prohibit unjustified segregation of patients with disabilities
b. prohibit rationing of health care based on a patients’ disability
c. expand protections for residents and staff at nursing homes
d. expand support for telemedicine
7. we must follow the informed advice of scientists and public health experts, and take steps to protect federal scientists from political influence
8. recruit at least 100,000 contact tracers
a. This is key. In order to contain this, we need to seriously ramp up the method of testing, tracing, and isolating.
b. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30457-6/fulltext
c. https://www.vox.com/2020/7/29/21345590/covid-19-coronavirus-us-testing-contact-tracing-jobs
9. increase funding for the CDC and for state and local public health departments
a. give them sufficient resources to address pandemic diseases and other public health crises
b. support medical and public health research grants for those looking at minority groups and those who tend to be underrepresented.
10. Solving the public health crisis caused by COVID-19 is the best way to get our economy back on track
a. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/theres-only-one-way-out-of-this-mess/611431/
11. reform current unemployment insurance system and expand it to include more workers, including gig, part time, and tipped workers
a. raise wage replacement rates
b. expand nutrition assistance and food security programs
c. upgrade and modernize unemployment system technology
12. extend significant aid to state and local governments, school districts, colleges and universities, to address budget shortfalls and secure jobs
13. need to make child care affordable and widely available so parents don’t have to choose between keeping their jobs or keeping their kids safe.
14. support state and local measures to freeze rent increases, evictions, utility shutoffs and late fees for rent.
15. Make grants and loans available for small businesses to help them survive the pandemic
a. prioritize help for marginalized groups
b. expand funding for Community Development Financial Institutions
16. Ensure that federal dollars are keeping workers on payroll, not enriching CEO’s or shareholders.
a. Taxpayer money should not be used to pay out dividends, fund stock buybacks, or give raises to executives
17. Paid sick leave is a necessity – immediately enact it
a. issue and enforce effective infectious disease workplace safety standards through OSHA
18. Everyone needs access to the internet
a. prevent states from blocking municipalities and rural co-ops from building publicly owned broadband networks
b. restore net neutrality
c. offer low income Americans subsidies for internet service
Out of curiosity, I looked up the White House plan for COVID. Surprisingly, it’s quite similar to what is listed above in a lot of ways, but the thing is…I don’t see this actually HAPPENING. Instead, there’s confusion, a president who doesn’t follow the guidelines as far as mask wearing and social distancing, who appointed Scott Atlas, a RADIOLOGIST, to be his new coronavirus advisor, a man who thinks we should go for the herd immunity approach, which is NOT AT ALL what the advice of public health experts say (and the white house page says their plan is based on the advice of public health experts, so now I’m confused) and there’s still no really clear approach or leadership. As I said, you can click the link and look at what it says, it’s actually pretty decent, but I don’t actually see evidence of this happening OR the president making it particularly clear that this is what the plan is or even being willing to follow the guidelines himself! https://www.whitehouse.gov/openingamerica/
I posted this article above, but here it is again, for a nice look at the disconnect between what the “plan” is and what is actually happening. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/theres-only-one-way-out-of-this-mess/611431/
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