CDP 2010 Platform

The California Democratic Party will be voting on the 2010 platform at the convention in April. CDP has invited interested Democrats to participate in the process by submitting suggestions for the new platform. The Progressive Caucus solicited input from members and our Platform Committee presented the folowwing sugestions to the CDP.

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Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party
2010 CDP Platform Submissions

Business and Economy

California Democrats are dedicated to a robust economy and business climate that creates jobs and economic opportunity for all and the tax base for the programs and policies we champion.

To grow the jobs and assure a prosperous future for all Californians, California Democrats will:

• Support the research, development and implementation of green electrical generation and transportation technologies with some combination of tax credits, low interest loans/loan guarantees and grants;

• Promote and guarantee low-interest small business loans to provide the seed capital to launch and expand job creating small business and growth of already successful businesses;

• Support legislation and/or Executive Policy which gives preference to community banks and credit unions for the State’s Main General Fund Account, mandates that state agency accounts be held in community banks or credit unions, and requires the State Treasurer to develop a program for increasing investment in community banks and credit unions.

• Facilitate improved banking services for small businesses and consumers by supporting legislation which offers community banks and credit unions tax credits for the implementation of new technologies such as online banking, check imaging, automated reporting, and security systems.

Defend consumer banking free choice by supporting legislation eliminating out of network ATM fees charged by large financial institutions who have accepted tax payer funding through the Troubled Asset Relief Program

•Support a legislative initiative that will freeze foreclosures for up to six months where homeowners had the ability to pay their mortgage before the adjustable rate started climbing by deferring past due payments and any increases created by the ARM to the end of the loan and/ or wrapped up in a refinance at affordable fix rates. The State will assist in locating private and or institutional lenders willing to enter into such a program. In addition the State needs to investigate and fund prosecutions where appropriate into private lender and or mortgage agent abuses including but not limited to redlining, the unauthorized switch and bait tactic of replacing fixed rate financing with ARMs;

• Support the right of all employees to organize, select a bargaining representative of their choice, work in a safe work environment and to be free from intimidation and retaliation tactics intended to chill their rights; through the use of card check certification;

• Oppose privatization of essential government services and the outsourcing of public sector jobs; 

• Incentives/reward employers that chose to stay in California that can show a reasonable likelihood of significant sales and job growth, by giving the California Treasurer/Board of Equalization the right to negotiate a competitive package of discounted state-based fees and or taxes to offset some of the employer's anticipated cost savings from moving the business out of California;

• Support the adoption of a Universal Health Care plan for all Californians so that California employers will not have to bear the cost burden of being the principal provider of health care and medical care to injured workers through workers compensation policies they purchase;

• Continue to support and fund job retraining and or vocational rehabilitation programs to meet the manpower needs of California's changing economy; and

• Oppose new and unfair trade agreements and renegotiate new agreement

Clean Air

●·Submission for Clean Air platform plank based on the resolution, "Support U.S. and California Renewable Energy Plans and State Moratorium on New Nuclear Plants" adopted by the CDP Executive Board on July 19, 2009:

 

●·To promote clean air, California Democrats will support the California Energy Action Plan of 2003 (reaffirmed in 2005 and 2008) which provides for the transition from fossil and nuclear fuels to cleaner, safer, and cheaper renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, and geo-thermal.

 

Criminal Justice

Californians deserve to live in safe neighborhoods. We must be tough, smart and just when dealing with crime, starting with prevention and through punishment and rehabilitation efforts. Strong families and safe communities are the highest goal of our society. Crime prevention and rehabilitation are essential to our families, our communities, and our State’s budget. Prosecution represents a failure on behalf of the individual and on behalf of society.

We are determined to put an end to family violence and gang activity, drug and alcohol addition, unemployment, poverty and racism. We are dedicated to ensuring that our criminal justice system provides fair and equitable treatment for all. We believe in the human rights of all citizens. Smart on crime must include evidence-based criminal justice prevention programs as the best use of taxpayer funds.

To promote safe communities, California Democrats will:

• Provide state-of-the-art equipment and training in the latest crime fighting
techniques;

• Enhance victim-witness advocacy that respects the rights of crime victims and provides therapeutic assistance and financial compensation;

• Strictly enforcing the existing fair penalties for all violent crimes, especially those against women, children, the elderly and disabled, and support comprehensive services for victims of crime;

• Support the establishment of a bipartisan non-partisan sentencing commission to review inequitable sentencing laws;

• Reduce prison overcrowding and the drain on our economy by decreasing penalties for minor drug offenses and other victimless crimes, making the punishment fit the crime;

• Implement community-based policing to break down barriers between law enforcement officers and the people they serve, and to curtail police misconduct;

• Promote responsible gun ownership and reasonable gun safety and work with gun owners and sporting associations to promote gun safety education;

• Continue the efforts to keep guns out of the hands of children and criminals; 

• Continue to support the common sense ban on deadly assault weapons;

• Prosecute white-collar criminals and improve methods for recovering financial losses;

• Protect consumers against identity theft and violations of privacy to ensure they know what personal information is collected by businesses and government (such as social security numbers, financial data, phone numbers, street and email addresses) and how that information is used;

• Implement legal protection from unsolicited and unwarranted commercial phone calls, faxes and email spam;

• Employ DNA testing when appropriate to ensure that innocent people are not
convicted and guilty people are not set free;

• Prohibit the use of so-called "secret evidence" in courts and tribunals; 

• Challenge the practice of racial profiling;

• Strive for a state prison system that promotes inmate rehabilitation, education, and job readiness; and

• Promote dialog that examines the inequity between public school funding and prison expansion in California, and support efforts to address high school dropout rates.  

• Reform the “Three Strikes”/Proposition 13 law so that it provides judges with more sentencing discretion, eliminates non-violent non-serious crimes from the application of this law, and makes these changes retroactive;

• Promote strong families and communities by making rehabilitation, education and job readiness the top priority;

• Oppose capital punishment;

• Pursue prison policy reform and oppose privatization of prisons; and

Education

California's children students must have access to a free, individually appropriate, high-quality public education from preschool through grade 12. Post-secondary education must be accessible and affordable to all interested students. Education must provide a well-rounded curriculum including life skills, the arts, music and physical education. Teachers and support staff, as the stewards of our future, should be well paid and work in safe learning environments with up-to-date equipment and necessary learning tools.

To help educate California's leaders of tomorrow, Democrats will fight to:

• Provide linguistically and culturally sensitive educational opportunities;

• Ensure equal and affordable access to vocational, technical, community college, or university-level educational opportunities of the highest caliber at minimal personal expense, including opportunities for lifetime learning and career retraining that enables Californians to participate successfully in the global economy;

• Fund California's public education institutions to meet these requirements so that no person is denied opportunity due to an inability to pay;

• Vest curricular decision-making responsibility in education professionals in conjunction with content experts, including the means and methods of assessment and the decisions regarding the appropriateness of educational placement;

• Ensure that California schools get full funding for any federally mandated programs;

• Assure the provision of sex education, confidential medical services and access to nurses and counseling services; for youth at ages that make sense for communities

• Set per-student public education funding at a minimum of $1,000 per student above the national average to keep California competitive in the global economy.

• Close all American-based schools or facilities that engage in mental, physical, or sexual abuse of our children, and hold accountable all responsible parties.

• Education will be capped at research-supported optimal levels, providing students from preschool through graduate school with access to sufficient educator attention, materials and space;

• Educational placements must follow IDEA or program guidelines, and not be
relegated to boards or administrative discretion;
Test scores will not be used exclusively to rate students, staff, schools or districts;

• Educational support staff will receive appropriate training for the position in which they are employed and receive appropriate monetary compensation;

• Schools shall provide trade and vocational training to interested students;

• All publicly funded schools will be held to the same standards of accountability;

• There will be communication between secondary institutions and post-secondary institutions to improve awareness and access to all students, providing options.

Energy & Environment #1

The environment is the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. Our world's beauty and complexity - the elegance of its inter-connectedness - is a foundation of our inspiration, creativity and spirituality. California Democrats have led the way towards bipartisan solutions to problems arising from our industrial society - resource extraction, waste disposal, and pollution - and their disparate impact on the poor, on ethnic minorities and on indigenous people. 

We will work to reverse the real and imminent threat of Global Warming Climate Change and to protect our planet.

To safeguard our cherished environment, California Democrats will:

●·Create green collar jobs by incentivizing the development, production and purchase of environmentally friendly products, renewable energy, and recycled materials through public/private partnerships such as the state and national Apollo Alliance;

●·By 2020: Return to the state’s 1990 greenhouse gas emissions levels; produce 40 percent of California's electricity from renewable and sustainable energy sources and reduce electricity and natural gas use by 20 percent; by 2030 produce 40 percent of the state's transportation fuels from non-petroleum sources; and support Low Carbon Fuel Standards; 

●·Reject any attempt for new offshore oil or gas development, preserve coastal access, protect the mandates of the California Coastal Act, and support the recovery and preservation of our ocean ecosystems;

●·Oppose any attempt to weaken the federal Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, or the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA);

●·Preserve the health of the Delta, by bringing the Delta levee system to 200-year flood protection;

●·Curtail and phase out pesticides which pose threats to our farm workers and consumers;
Encourage the use of non-toxic, fire resistant, termite proof, energy efficient building materials, in all new residential and light commercial construction;

●·Conserve natural resources and public lands to combat suburban urban sprawl; by rejecting any sale of public open space land or any land purchased with any portion of State funding including public forestry and park lands and develop policies that require infill development; and safeguard California's forests through sustained yield best practices forestry and preservation of heritage trees;

●·Safeguard California’s forests through sustained yield best practices forestry, preservation of heritage trees, and elimination of subsidies for roads;

●·Support minimum price guarantees as a method of promoting domestic and entrepreneur renewable energy production so as to increase the percentage of renewables in California's power mix;

●·Support the Attorney General’s suit against the Environmental Protection Agency to grant California’s waiver request under the Clean Air Act, and support Clean Vehicle Incentive Programs;

●·Encourage Require the goal of “net zero emissions” new homes by 2020, and zero net energy new commercial construction by 2030; and

●·Urge Congress to pass a rigorous greenhouse gas emissions cap for the nation that meets or exceeds sound scientific standards.;

Require public schools to offer climate-change science classes every year in order to foster more solutions to the problem of climate change;

Pursue an energy resources severance tax that would provide compensation to California citizens for the extraction of their non-renewable resources, and to use these funds to guarantee the stability of funding for higher education;

Implement policies that will disincentivize environmentally destructive practices and products;

Support phasing out government subsidization of commercial interests for practices that are destructive to our environment such as lumber harvesting and fertilizer subsidies;

Require identification of new water supplies for all new subdivision construction; and

Energy & Environment #2

The environment is the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. Our world's beauty and complexity - the elegance of its inter-connectedness - is a foundation of our inspiration, creativity and spirituality. California Democrats have led the way towards bi-partisan solutions to problems arising from our industrial society - resource extraction, waste disposal, and pollution - and their disparate impact on the poor, on ethnic minorities and on indigenous people. We will work to reverse the real and imminent threat of Global Warming and to protect our planet.

To safeguard our cherished environment, California Democrats will:

• Create green collar jobs by incentivizing the development, production and purchase of environmentally friendly products, renewable energy, and recycled materials through public/private partnerships such as the state and national Apollo Alliance;

• By 2020: Return to the state’s 1990 greenhouse gas emissions levels; produce 40 percent of California's electricity from renewable and sustainable energy sources and reduce electricity and natural gas use by 20 percent; by 2030 produce 40 percent of the state's transportation fuels from non-petroleum sources; and support Low Carbon Fuel Standards;

• Reject any attempt for new offshore oil or gas development, preserve coastal access, protect the mandates of the California Coastal Act, and support the recovery and preservation of our ocean ecosystems;

• Oppose any attempt to weaken the federal Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, or the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA);

• Preserve the health of the Delta as the water source for 23 million Californians; oppose efforts to increase water exports until science-based methods verify minimum instream flows for North America’s largest freshwater estuary; bring the Delta levee system to 200-year flood protection; ensure Delta legacy communities are protected from unnecessary development.

• Curtail and phase out pesticides which pose threats to our farm workers and consumers;

• Encourage the use of fire resistant, termite proof, energy efficient building materials, in all new residential and light commercial construction;

• Conserve natural resources and public lands to combat suburban sprawl; reject any sale of public forestry and park lands; and safeguard California's forests through sustained yield best practices forestry and preservation of heritage trees;

• Support minimum price guarantees as a method of promoting domestic and entrepreneur renewable energy production so as to increase the percentage of renewables in California's power mix;

• Support the Attorney General’s suit against the Environmental Protection Agency to grant California’s waiver request under the Clean Air Act, and support Clean Vehicle Incentive Programs;

• Encourage the goal of “net zero emissions” new homes by 2020, and zero net energy new commercial construction by 2030;

• Urge Congress to pass a rigorous greenhouse gas emissions cap for the nation that meets or exceeds sound scientific standards.

Energy & Environment #3

Preserve and restore the health of the California Delta, the largest and most significant estuary on the West Coast of the Americas; establish science-based minimum instream flows to double anadromous fish populations as mandated under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA); oppose all efforts to increase water exports and/or to build a peripheral canal; bring the Delta levee system to 200-year flood protection; ensure Delta legacy communities are protected from unnecessary development.

The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) provides a broad legislative mandate for coordination and new authority to comprehensively protect marine resources and habitat. We support implementation of the Act using resourcefulness and all possible means to fully protect California's marine ecosystems from urgent current and evolving environmental threats. Recognizing limits on public resources, it is imperative that the most cost efficient and effective strategies for ecosystem protection be pursued while minimizing economic harm. The MPLA must respect tribal sovereignty and allow

Health Care

California Democrats believe that health care is a right not a privilege. The CDP recognizes the health and well-being of Californians cannot continue to be based on arbitrary private and public financial decisions and therefore advocates legislation to create and implement a publicly funded (single-payer), privately delivered, fiscally tractable, affordable, comprehensive, secure, high-quality, efficient, and sustainable health care for all Californians.

To build a healthy future for all Californians, Democrats will:

• Support and implement universal comprehensive health care for all Californians, that includes medical and dental care, full reproductive health services including a woman’s right to choose, preventive services, prescription drugs and mental health counseling and treatment;

• Until all Californians are covered by publicly funded health care, we shall:

• Support legislation that requires all HMOs and health insurers obtain prior approval from the state before rates can be increased;

• Lead the nation in providing comprehensive quality health care to all our people by enacting SCHP coverage for all children in California;

• Oppose efforts to privatize Strengthen Medi-Cal and Medicare by opposing further funding cuts, reversing recent funding cuts and reducing privatization of the industry;

• Require health plans to maintain a medical loss ratio of 90%;

• Disallow denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions;

• Ensure that loss of employment does not cause a loss of health care.

• Until such time as all Californians are covered by publicly funded health care, we shall support a requirement that all HMOs and health insurers obtain prior approval from the state before rates can be increased.

• Expand and strengthen respite care and in-home support services including adequate background checks prior to licensure, and promote an in-home support services system;

• Ensure economic and physical access to multilingual health care services;

• Support the full funding of community clinics and health centers that serve low-income and homeless populations;

• Enforce the Patient's Bill of Rights;

• Affirm that medical decisions must be made with respect for patients' rights to privacy and freedom to have control over their lives with fully informed consent; and

• Lead the fight against diseases by supporting and expanding stem cell and other groundbreaking research.;

• Invest in education, incentives and other measures that prevent disease; and

• Identify and analyze public health variables and community deviations in health care costs from state norms.

Labor, Economic Justice and Poverty Elimination

California Democrats have always been close partners with Labor and strong supporters of workers’ rights. The ‘glass ceiling’ for people of color and women must be shattered and there must be equal pay for equal or comparable work. Our strong workforce, coupled with a work ethic second to none, us among our nation’s most valuable resources.

California’s prosperity depends on ensuring a minimum standard of living for all its residents. Food, shelter, clothing, health care and education are among the basic human rights of all individuals. We are determined in our commitment to safeguard these basic human rights and to support public services designed to eliminate poverty, hunger and homelessness among the poor, the elderly, the blind and disabled in order to strengthen all California communities.

To meet the basic human needs of all Californians, Democrats will:

• Make the minimum wage a living wage;

• Support a living wage, especially in areas where the increasingly high cost of living and rising inflation renders it impossible to afford the basic necessities of life even through working a full-time job, to lift the working poor out of poverty and achieve self-sufficiency;

• Fight for public assistance programs which allow individuals to support themselves and their families, including job retraining in order to upgrade job status in keeping with technical advancements;

• Guarantee Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for CalWorks and Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Program (SSI/SSP) recipients in state and federal budgets;

Support the full funding of food stamp programs to relieve hunger and full funding for healthy families programs;

• Promote expansion of emergency food networks, senior and school meal programs to end starvation;

• Encourage require business and preference for firms that employ California workers whenever public funds finance bridges, highways and other public works construction;

• Pay prevailing wages to protect the economic base of the communities on where government-funded projects are undertaken to protect the economic base of the communities, thereby ensuring that government is not lowering the standard of living;

• Support the 8-hour workday and daily overtime and fight any efforts to repeal the 40-hour workweek;

• Enhance guarantee the strong workers’ safety programs with adequate and appropriate penalties for injurious and unsafe working conditions, and ensure that Cal-OSHA is adequately funded and staffed;

• Boycott employers who have permanently replaced strikers and protect the collective bargaining rights of workers in both the public and private sectors; and

• Fight anti-worker initiatives that seek to undermine the ability of union leaders to carry out the will of their members and engage in political activities.;

• establish that an employer may dismiss or discipline an employee only for just cause and only with due process;

• guarantee decent affordable housing for every human being;

• guarantee the ability of workers to organize with a card check without employer interference; and

• promote an Economic Bill of Rights, first proposed in 1944 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his State of the Union Address, which includes:

• the right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

• the right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

• the right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

• the right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

• the right of every family to a decent home;

• the right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

• the right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness,

• accident, and unemployment; and

Political Reform #1

California Democrats believe that a healthy democracy is based on clean, fair elections whose integrity and accuracy merit the full confidence of the voters. We will work for public financing of political campaigns at all levels of government, campaign spending limits, restoration of the fairness doctrine, fair and impartial redistricting, and a strong role for political parties, and fair access to media. We will insist that officeholders respond honestly and effectively to constituent needs through transparent and open public service. We will fight the culture of corruption, cronyism, and incompetence in politics that has inflicted a great cost upon the American people. 

We demand open and fraud-free elections and incontrovertible government accountability to the electorate. We support public ownership of all election processes, software, and equipment. We will ensure that all eligible voters can vote, and that every voter can verify their vote, and that every vote is counted as cast, exactly as the voter intended. all votes are counted as cast and can be verified by the voter. We support public ownership of all election processes, software and equipment. We will insist that officeholders respond honestly and effectively to constituent needs through transparent and open public service.

To promote honest leadership and open government, California Democrats will:

●·enhance the democratic process by ensuring an educated citizenry, equal opportunity for influence, honest public debate, competitive elections and robust civic participation;

●·support and implement clean money legislation public financing of elections at the local, state and federal levels, to eliminate the corrupting influence of commercial motive and corporate cash from the electoral process.

●·uphold the Voting Rights Act and its implementation in letters, spirit, and practice, and spirit and improve voter outreach and education efforts, especially for youth and underserved communities;

●·increase voter participation by advocating for extended voting hours, and/or days, scheduling elections on weekends, or by declaring Election Day a holiday;

●·investigate and prosecute any and all forms of voter intimidation, including improper solicitation of documentation; 

●·demand promote public verification of all electoral results by insisting on voter-marked, voter-verified paper ballots as the ballot of record; promote voting system transparency in at every stage of the electoral process, by with advocating public ownership of all voting systems and software, and the exclusive use of open source software if software is used at all, with preference for more secure and publicly transparent counting methods whenever feasible, such as parallel counts of human-readable ballot image scans, or direct paper ballot hand-counting, conducted in the precincts on election day; voting system software (including open-source software); mandatory national federal standards certification for any computerized electronic voting machine systems, tested to national-security standards for accuracy, reliability, and security certification, with; external, non-partisan certifying groups that mandatory publicly disclose public disclosure of certification testing results; reliable voter-verifiable verified systems with a paper ballot as the ballot of record; robust, mandatory auditing procedures, inclusive of absentee ballots, applying methods  appropriately scaled to voting populations such that a 99.9% degree of fraud-detection confidence will be achieved at any jurisdictional level (precinct, county, state, nation) that include absentee ballots; updated and thorough recount procedures that transfer the burden of proof from the citizenry to the public servants administering elections; a ban on any and all forms of Internet voting; and prohibition of any connection between the Internet and any component of any election-vote-counting or tabulating system. public ownership of all voting systems and software;

●·Support and work for candidates who have read and formalized their commitment to uphold the Democratic Party platform, except wherein a candidate has declared specific areas of disagreement or qualification, and hold them to their commitment by making continued Party support dependent upon a record of good faith effort to uphold the platform both as a candidate, and after election to office, as an elected representative of their constituents.

• Support candidates who pledge full accountability to the electorate, and hold them to that pledge; including regular reports, in person, to the members of the DSCC and their constituents in their home districts

●·urge Congress to enact into law a National Whistleblower Protection Act which protects all Americans who lawfully disclose waste and fraud in government spending, violations of law or threats to the public health and safety, provides all whistleblowers with the right to federal court proceedings, a trial by jury and reasonable damages, and reward employees who risk their careers or personal well-being to serve the public interest.

●·safeguard the First Amendment by supporting media-ownership caps, network neutrality, public broadcasting, as well as promoting social parity in minority ownership of print, broadcast, and Internet media;

●·encourage promote, where feasible, instant run-off elections, or other forms of preferential voting, especially in primaries; and

●·encourage require as a pledge of candidacy, adherence to a Democratic Party policy that no election be conceded by any Party candidate unless and until concessions by candidates until all

ballots cast are counted.

Political Reform #2

●·Demand transparency in every stage with voting system software (including open-source software); national standards for electronic voting machine certification; external, non-partisan certifying groups that publicly disclose testing results; reliable voter-verifiable systems with a paper ballot as the ballot of record; robust auditing procedures that include absentee ballots; updated and thorough recount procedures; public ownership of all voting systems and software, and counting of votes, where feasible, in the local precinct at the close of polls;

●·Oppose the dangerous spread of voting over paperless networks;

●·Support media-ownership caps, network neutrality, public broadcasting, as well as increasing minority ownership of broadcasting and print outlets; and

●·Encourage, where feasible, instant run-off elections, or other forms of preferential voting, especially in primaries.

Sustainable Communities or Energy

• Oppose utility, monopoly-protection referendums that change community choice state laws that allow local governments to contract freely for electric power

Veterans

All veterans from all components of military service should receive equal treatment, including those veterans of operations-other-than-war undertaken by the United States, and should be provided all the entitlements given to veterans of earlier service, including education and training benefits, health benefits, home loans and other financial assistance. We support the G.I. Bill of Rights for the 21st Century and believe that earned benefits should be readily available to all service members, eligible veterans and their families on a timely basis within their own communities on a timely basis.

Through the shared sacrifice of all Californians to leave no veteran behind, Democrats will:

• Demand truth in recruiting and open enlistment for all;

• Provide support services for active duty military personnel and their families without cost to the service member;

• Provide our troops with the latest in protective equipment and weaponry and provide total training prior to deployment;

• Provide the same benefits to those given to the regular Armed Forces for all National Guard and Reserve Members activated for federal service;

• Support enforcement of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) ensuring that activated Reservists and National Guard can resume their jobs upon return, without exception, with the state being the employer of last resort when necessary;

• Provide payment from the state for veterans and military benefits earned if the federal government is unwilling to pay;

• Waive all tuition and fees in state colleges and universities for all veterans of the Mideast wars (2 August 1990 – future date not determined).

• Use reasonable presumption of service-connection on all claims for benefits and services;

• Grant citizenship for non-citizen veterans who have served in foreign war in the military of the United States, and will not face deportation of any kind.

• Provide all veterans of foreign war health and mental assistance regardless of discharge status.

• Provide health coverage for the spouse and children of any veteran of foreign war, also after discharge.

World Peace and International Relations

The new Administration must bring our troops home from Iraq starting now. and Afghanistan. To this end, we support the repeal of the 2002 Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq and Afghanistan; oppose further appropriations except those necessary for a safe and orderly withdrawal of our troops from Iraq to begin without delay both countries; and call for an international conferences to facilitate cease fires in what are essentially civil wars in both countries . This war of choice Both wars has have squandered America's standing in the world and our alliances against al Qaeda, especially considering the failure to find weapons of mass destruction and the basing of decisions on cherry-picked intelligence and the lack of proper planning and equipment for our troops.  policies which are not backed by credible military and foreign policy experts as well as facts on the ground. Contrary to official stated policy, our military presence in both countries will neither effectively fight Al Qaeda, cannot be won militarily, and will not provide our country with greater security.

America must be a light to the world restore its standing in the world, as a beacon of freedom and democracy, which respects and promotes international cooperation and sovereignty, and promotes human rights in our deeds as well as our words. We honor our troops best by returning them home to their loved ones to protect against the real threats to America. We honor the valor of those who have sacrificed their lives, by bringing home their colleagues safely to their families, and we honor the men and women of our military when we only place them in harm's way against the real and immediate threats against our beloved country they so serve. We must also properly provide for this new generation of veterans upon their return.

The United States and the State of California suffers from an ongoing economic crisis, and while both wars continue to cost billions each month, we must face the truth: current and foreseeable domestic needs cannot be met with the demands of wars which are paid for with borrowed money and not supported by a majority of California Democrats.  Further cutting social programs while an open-ended, open-funded and highly questionable military policy is being implemented is not consistent with the true needs of our country.

We must turn Iraq over to the Iraqis completely: starting immediately, end the occupation of Iraq and re-establish a commitment to the rule of international law and human rights; provide for the financial security of the Iraqi people during Iraq's transition toward self-governance; return the national territory of Iraq to the sovereign control of the people of Iraq with no permanent U.S. bases in that country; support international diplomatic efforts to assist in peaceful reconciliation amongst the Iraqi people; and, contribute financial resources to rebuild Iraq's physical and economic infrastructure.

We must reiterate our support for a timetable for withdrawal of all combat forces from Afghanistan, including a near term end date. Far from eradicating the Taliban, warlords, druglords and insurgencies, the presence of foreign troops has instead strengthened them, creating greater insecurity, death and impoverishment of the Afghan people, especially women, as they continue to bear an especially heavy price. Rather than continue to prop up a corrupt government comprised of misogynist warlords, druglords and criminals, we must instead support the efforts of ordinary Afghans and their organizations who want to exercise their democratic rights, but are prevented from exercising it due to the consequences of continuous foreign interventions and occupations.

• America's security requires an effective, rebuilt military and a commitment to enduring alliances. We must have a strong national defense based on protecting and defending our country and our Constitution and on telling the truth to our civilians and our soldiers before we send troops abroad to defend America. American foreign policy was built on a bi-partisan foundation of engagement in the world: fostering multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and NATO, and using our economic might to support the foreign aid institutions, such as the Marshall Plan. We must change our domestic policy to ensure that our need for energy supply and our current extraordinary debt dependence do not drive our foreign policy.

Finally, we must have the courage of convictions and trust in the belief that the American people will support  truth over the fear-mongering of our political adversaries.  It is the only moral path to take as we strive for World Peace.

California Democrats support an international policy that will:

• In addition to reiterating its support for a timetable for withdrawal of our military personnel, call for an end to the use of mercenary contractors;

• End air strikes that cause heavy civilian casualties

• Urge our President to oversee a redirection of our funding and resources to include an increase in humanitarian and developmental aid;

• Support multi-party talks aimed at ensuring a democratic and legitimate representation of the people of Afghanistan and Iraq;

• Support multi-party regional diplomacy for the safety and stability of neighboring countries

Collaborate with other nations to promote peace, fight terrorists, increase literacy and child survival rates, combat poverty, disease and malnutrition, bolster existing and new democracies and developing nations, and reduce the support and demand for narcotics;

• Condition aid to governments upon respect for human rights;

• Ensure that the world's most dangerous weapons stay out of the hands of terrorists by expanding the pace and scope of programs to eliminate and safeguard nuclear materials and enhancing efforts to keep these and other deadly materials out of the hands of terrorists;

• Perform a national threat assessment and reallocate our nuclear arsenal and missile defense expenditures in a manner commensurate with actual threats;

• Comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Hand Weapons Convention, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and all other international agreements ratified by the U.S. Senate, Sign and Ratify the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

Reduce our nation's huge trade deficit and restore America's global economic leadership by designing policies that maximize the benefits and minimize the negative consequences of globalization;

• Structure fair trade agreements requiring countries to adopt and enforce core, internationally-recognized labor standards, including rights to associate and bargain collectively, as well as prohibitions on child labor, discrimination in employment and forced labor;

• Promote population planning world-wide through education and support for family planning organizations;

• Tailor United States foreign policy to eliminate the worst pockets of poverty by targeting an additional one percent of our federal budget to aid and development;

• Strengthen the United Nations and regional organizations to achieve global security;

• Affirm the mission of the State Department as the promotion of world peace;

• Support the U.S. joining the International Criminal Court;

• Follow the Geneva and Hague Conventions. No torture. No extraordinary renditions. No exceptions.