We seek to strengthen the families and individuals of the
Commonwealth in all their diversity. To this end, we support policies that
ensure equality of opportunity, enrich our children, foster economic security,
and promote vibrant communities.
• We celebrate the diversity of our Commonwealth and
country, and we oppose discrimination in any form it takesthe workplace,
in housing, in education, and in every aspect of public life.
• We are proud to stand as the Party of, and the Party for, As
members of the party that wrote and passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
Massachusetts Democrats support constitutional guarantees to all people,
without regardless toof race, gender, ethnicity, race,
religion, language, national origin, age, income, national origin,
disability, or sexual orientation, economic circumstance or other
characteristics. We have been, and will be, the Party that is the
defender of individual rights, while remaining the strong champion for the
common good.
• We restate our support for Aaffirmative Aaction
initiatives, to ensure equal opportunity for all citizensincluding
initiatives within the Democratic Party.
• While acknowledging the need for increased security
in the post-9/11 world, Massachusetts Democrats oppose the unconstitutional
excesses of the United States Patriot Act and any other act that infringes
on our constitutional rights.
• We urge passage of laws to protect Massachusetts
residents from unwarranted surveillance.
• We reaffirm our commitment to the Bill of Rights and
its guarantees of freedom of assembly, freedom of religious expression, freedom
of the press, and of the right to counsel.
• We reaffirm our commitment to the constitutional
guarantee of separation of church and state, and of the freedom to worship
without governmental interference.
• We oppose racial profiling in any form.
We believe that young people are our most precious
resource, and we see inherent worth and promise in every child. Ours is truly
the Party that seeks to “Leave No Child Behind.” We endorse, therefore, the
goals established under The Children’s Defense Fund initiative of that name, to
ensure every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start,
and a moral start. To realize these objectives, we propose new commitments to
reducing class sizes, making early childhood education universal, and expanding
after-school opportunities. We reaffirm our support for Healthy Start, Head
Start funded to enroll every eligible child, and WIC. We call for increased
professionalism and accountability in our foster care system, improved adoption
procedures, and vigorous enforcement of child support. We support a range of
options for preventing teen pregnancy, including comprehensive health and sex
education, school-based clinics, abstinence, peer counseling, and career
services.
We believe that mothers and fathers deserve the full
backing of our society, including in the workplace. We support the existing
federal Family & Medical Leave Act, but recognize it does not go far enough
in meeting the needs of all working families because many cannot afford to take
unpaid time off or work for employers not covered by its mandate. Paid family
and medical leave would ensure that workers are not forced to choose between
work and their own health needs or the care and well-being of their families and
children. We support full-day kindergarten and afterschool programs that aid
children and young people while helping parents better balance sometimes
conflicting responsibilities to family and work.[Ed.: See Health Care for mention of healthcare for families.]
We reaffirm our support for The Equal Rights Amendment to
the constitution of the Commonwealth on the 25th anniversary of its
ratification, and the principle enshrined within it. We support legislation to
end unjust gender discrimination in insurance terms and rates. We advocate
policies to end gender-based discrimination and disparities in the workplace,
and to improve pension security for women. We call for equal emphasis on
women’s health concerns in health research and safety testing, and for
insurance coverage of contraception.
We reaffirm our support for The Americans with
Disabilities Act and other laws to prevent discrimination on the basis of
disability, and for efforts to bring the Commonwealth into full ADA compliance.
We believe state assistance should be made more readily available for
community-based care, and should not be inappropriately biased toward
institutional settings. We seek to remedy the shortage of housing that is both
affordable and accessible to disabled Americans. We endorse efforts to improve
access to basic services like transportation, and to fundamental rights like
the ballot box, through more accessible voting equipment and other means. We
believe that personal assets spend-down provisions of CommonHealth with respect
to nursing home care for the disabled and elderly should be made less onerous.
We support equal treatment of domestic partners in health
insurance, pension access, and inheritance, and we support the provision of
domestic partnership benefits in the private and public sectors, including for
both state and federal employees.• We oppose
actions that would defineaffirm our commitment to
the Massachusetts constitutional guarantee to same-sex marriage solely
as a relationship between a man and a woman, and that would ban the recognition
of any other relationship as marriage or its legal equivalent; and all of its rights, privileges and obligations; and
reject any attempt to weaken or revoke those rights. We oppose
efforts that would ban the provision of any benefits to gay and lesbian
families that are now granted exclusively to married couples under
Massachusetts law.
• We reaffirm our support
for the social and economic integration of constitutional
guarantees for refugees and immigrants.,
and we support a legalization process that is pro-family, pro-work,
pro-responsibility, and pro-citizenship as an essential element of America’s
continued vitality. We reaffirm our support for legal immigrants and their
right to public benefits, and we adamantly reject political modes of expression
that make scapegoats of immigrants. We support programs expediting the
acquisition of English language skills. We oppose attempts to impose
English-only standards in public communication.
We thank the men and women of the Commonwealth who have
served our nation in peace and in war, and remember those who have given their
lives as members of the United States Armed Forces. We reaffirm our commitment
to ensuring veterans’ access to quality medical care through the facilities and
programs of the Veteran’s Administration. We support additional coverage for
the treatment of veterans’ illnesses such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
Gulf War Syndrome and other diseases resulting from agents of war, including
specifically through exposure to Agent Orange.[Ed.: See Preamble for mention of veterans benefits]
We believe in the energy and idealism of young people as
a force for social change and justice in the world around us. We strongly
support initiatives to connect young people to the community at large and
curricula that seek to instill in students the civic values that underpin our
diverse democracy. We encourage volunteerism among high school and college
students. We restate our backing for programs like AmeriCorps that offer young
people a way to come together to serve the needs of their communities.
We recognize the ongoing value and importance of
volunteerism and service to our communities, our Commonwealth, and our nation.
We assert the responsibility of each of us to support and participate in
volunteer organizations, community service programs, and initiatives designed
to promote community improvement. We acknowledge and commend the work of
grassroots citizen groups who have been responsible for so many advances in so
many just and important causes of concern to our Party.
• We support and respect American Indian tribal
sovereignty, including the rights of self-governance self-determination,
cultural preservation, religious freedom and commitment to meeting trust
obligations contained within treaties and executive orders.
• We oppose any federal or state efforts to diminish tribal sovereignty and we
support those Indian Nations in Massachusetts who are currently seeking federal
recognition.
• As members of the party
responsible for Social Security and the “safety net” for those unable to
provide for themselves, Massachusetts Democrats believe retired workers, their
dependents, as well as survivors of deceased workers, and millions of disabled
persons, deserve social security benefits.
• We believe that commitments to the financial security and physical
well-being of older Americans areProtecting the
elderly and disabled is one of the core values of ourthe Massachusetts Democratic Party.
• , and wWe oppose all
proposals that wouldany effort to undermine
or dismantle Medicare and “privatize”
Social Security.
• We strongly support the range ofrestoration
of crucial federal funding for “safety net” programs. funded through The Older Americans Act, as well
as other federal and state efforts, to help elders maintain lives of dignity
and independence, and to remain in their own homes and communities if they
wish. We recognize and seek to alleviate the crisis in home health care
services that jeopardizes the safety and well-being of tens of thousands of
seniors, persons with disabilities, and others in the Commonwealth. We
recognize that seniors are too often the targets of telemarketing fraud, and we
urge the passage of legislation establishing tough standards for telemarketers
and stiff penalties for violations.
• We oppose the creation of “private accounts”, [sic] some of which will substantially cut benefits.
• We oppose the Republican plan to borrow trillions of dollars to cover the
creation of private accounts, which would weaken Social Security by impairing
the government’s ability to redeem the US Treasury bonds in the Social Security
Trust Fund.
Developed by Brad Johnson (Boston Ward 4). Presented as a service for the 2005 Massachusetts Democratic Convention by Democracy for America: Boston.