1972 Democratic Party Platform
(25,653 words, 92 pages)
New Directions: '72-'76
Skepticism and cynicism are widespread in America. The people are skepticalof platforms filled with political platitudes ‹ of promises made byopportunistic politicians.
The people are cynical about the idea that a rosy future is just aroundthe corner.
And is it any wonder that the people are skeptical and cynical of thewhole political process?
Our traditions. our history, our Constitution, our laws, all say thatAmerica belongs to its people.
But the people no longer believe it.
They feel that the government is run for the privileged few rather thanfor the many ‹ and they are right.
No political party, no President, no government can by itself restorea lost sense of faith. No Administration can provide solutions to all ourproblems. What we can do is to recognize the doubts of Americans, to speakto those doubts, and to act to begin turning those doubts into hopes.
As Democrats, we know that we share responsibility for that loss of confidence.But we also know, as Democrats, that at decisive moments of choice in ourpast, our party has offered leadership that has tapped the best within ourcountry.
Our party ‹ standing by its ideals of domestic progress and enlightenedinternationalism ‹ has served America well. We have nominated or electedmen of the high calibre of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, HarryS. Truman. Adlai E. Stevenson, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson‹ and in the last election Hubert Humphrey and Edmund S. Muskie. Inthat proud tradition we are now prepared to move forward.
We know that our nation cannot tolerate any longer a government thatshows no regard for the people's basic needs and no respect for our rightto the truth from those who lead us.
What do the people want?
They want three things:
They want an opportunity to achieve their aspirations and their dreamsfor themselves and their children.
We believe in the rights of citizens to achieve to the limit of theirtalents and energies. We are determined to remove barriers that limit citizensbecause they are black, brown, young or women, because they never had thechance to gain an education; because there was no possibility of being anythingbut what they were.
We believe in hard work as a fair measure of our own willingness to achieve.We are determined that millions should not stand idle while work demandsto be done. We are determined that the dole should not become a permanentway of life for any. And we are determined that government no longer taxthe product of hard work more rigorously than it taxes inherited wealth,or money that is gained simply by having money in the first place.
We believe that the law must apply equally to all, and that it must bean instrument of justice. We are determined that the citizen must be protectedin his home and on his streets. We are determined also that the ordinarycitizen should not be imprisoned for a crime before we know whether he isguilty or not while those with the right friends and the right connectionscan break the law without ever facing the consequences of their actions.
We believe that war is a waste of human life. We are determined to endforthwith a war which has cost 50,000 American lives, $150 billion of ourresources, that has divided us from each other, drained our national willand inflicted incalculable damage to countless people. We will end thatwar by a simple plan that need not be kept secret: The immediate total withdrawalof all Americans from Southeast Asia.
We believe in the right of an individual to speak, think, read, write,worship, and live free of official intrusion. We are determined that ourgovernment must no longer tap the phones of law-abiding citizens nor spyon those who have broken no law. We are determined that never again shallgovernment seek to censor the newspapers and television. We are determinedthat the government shall no longer mock the supreme law of the land, whileit stands helpless in the face of crime which makes our neighborhoods andcommunities less and less safe.
Perhaps most fundamentally, we believe that government is the servant,not the master, of the people. We are determined that government shouldnot mean a force so huge, so impersonal that the complaint of an ordinarycitizen goes unheard.
That is not the kind of government America was created to build. Ourancestors did not fight a revolution and sacrifice their lives against tyrantsfrom abroad to leave us a government that does not know how to listen toits own people.
The Democratic Party is proud of its past; hut we are honest enough toadmit that we are part of the past and share in its mistakes. We want in1972 to begin the long and difficult task of reviewing existing programs,revising them to make them work and finding new techniques to serve thepublic need. We want to speak for, and with, the citizens of our country.Our pledge is to be truthful to the people and to ourselves, to tell youwhen we succeed, but also when we fail or when we are not sure. In 1976,when this nation celebrates its 200th anniversary, we want to tell you simplythat we have done our best to give the government to those who formed it‹ the people of America.
Every election is a choice: In 1972, Americans must whether they wanttheir country back again.
II. Jobs, Prices and Taxes
"I went to school here and I had some training for truck driverschool and I go to different places and put in applications for truck drivingbut they say, 'We can't hire you without the experience.' Now, I don't havethe experience. I can't get the experience without the job first. I havefour kids, you know, and I'm on unemployment. And when my employment runsout, I'll probably be on relief, like a lot of other people. But, beingthat I have so many kids, relief is just not going to be enough money. I'mlooking for maybe the next year or too, if I don't get a job they'll probablyfind me down at the county jail, because I have to do something." ‹Robert Coleman, Pittsburgh Hearing, June 2, 1972
The Nixon Administration has deliberately driven people out of work ina heartless and ineffective effort to deal with inflation. Ending the Nixonpolicy of creating unemployment is the first task of the Democratic Party.
The current Nixon game plan includes a control structure which keepsworkers wages down while executive salaries soar, discourages productivityand distributes income away from those who need it and has produced no significantdent in inflation, as prices for food, clothes, rent and basic necessitiessoar.
These losses were unnecessary. They are the price of a Republican Administrationwhich has no consistent economic philosophy, no adequate regard for thehuman costs of its economic decisions and no vision of what a full employmenteconomy could mean for all Americans.
Jobs, Income and Dignity. Full employment ‹ a guaranteed job forall ‹ is the primary economic objective of the Democratic Party. TheDemocratic Party is committed to a job for every American who seeks work.Only through full employment can we reduce the burden on working people.We are determined to make economic security a matter of right. This meansa job with decent pay and good working conditions for everyone willing andable to work and an adequate income for those unable to stork. It meansabolition of the present welfare system.
To assure jobs and economic security far all, the next Democratic Administrationshould support:
The last is not least, but it is last for good reason. The present welfaresystem has failed because it has been required to make up for too many otherfailures. Millions of Americans are forced into public assistance becausepublic policy too often creates no other choice.
The heart of a program of economic security based on earned income mustbe creating jobs and training people to fill them. Millions of jobs ‹real jobs, not make-work ‹ need to be provided. Public service employmentmust be greatly expanded in order to make the government the employer oflast resort and guarantee a job for all. Large sections of our cities resemblebombed-out Europe alter World War II. Children in Appalachia cannot go toschool when the dirt road is a sea of mud. Homes, schools and clinics, roadsand mass transit systems need to be built.
Cleaning up our air and water will take skills and people in large numbers.In the school, the police department, the welfare agency or the recreationprogram, there are new careers to be developed to help ensure that socialservices reach the people for whom they are intended.
It may cost more, at least initially, to create decent jobs than to perpetuatethe hand-out system of present welfare. But the return ‹ in new publicfacilities and services, in the dignity of bringing a paycheck home andin the taxes that will come back in ‹ far outweigh the cost of theinvestment.
The next Democratic Administration must end the present welfare systemand replace it with an income security program which places cash assistancein an appropriate context with all of the measures outlined above, addingup to an earned income approach to ensure each family an income substantiallymore than the poverty level ensuring standards of decency and health, asofficially defined in the area. Federal income assistance will supplementthe income of working poor people and assure an adequate income for thoseunable to work. With full employment and simpler, fair administration, totalcosts will go down, and with federal financing the burden on local and statebudgets will be eased. The program will protect current benefit goals duringthe transitional period.
The system of income protection which replaces welfare must be a partof the full employment policy which assures every American a job at a fairwage under conditions which make use of his ability and provide an opportunityfor advancement.
HR 1, and its various amendments, is not humane and does not meet thesocial and economic objectives that we believe in, and it should be defeated.It perpetuates the coercion of forced work requirements.
Economic Management. Every American family knows how its grocery billhas gone up under Nixon. Every American family has felt the bite of higherand higher prices for food and housing and clothing. The Administrationattempts to stop price rises have been dismal failures ‹ for whichthe working people have paid in lost jobs, missed raises and higher prices.
This nation achieved its economic greatness under a system of free enterprise,coupled with human effort and ingenuity, and thus it must remain. This willbe the attitude and objective of the Party.
There must be an end to inflation and the ever-increasing cost of living.This is of vital concern to the laborer, the housewife, the farmer and thesmall businessman, as well as the millions of Americans dependent upon theirweekly or monthly income for sustenance. It wrecks the retirement plansand lives of our elderly who must survive on pensions or savings gaugedby the standards of another day.
Through greater efficiency in the operation of the machinery of government,so badly plagued with duplication, overlapping and excesses in programs,we will ensure that bureaucracy will cease to exist solely for bureaucracy'sown sake. The institutions and functions of government will be judged bytheir efficiency of operation and their contribution to the lives and welfareof our citizens.
A first priority of a Democratic Administration must he eliminating theunfair, bureaucratic Nixon wage and price controls.
When price rises threaten to or do get out of control ‹ as theyare now ‹ strong, fair action must he taken to protect family incomeand savings. The theme of that action should he swift, tough measures tobreak the wage-price spiral and restore the economy. In that kind of economicemergency America's working people will support a truly fair stabilizationprogram which affects profits, investment earnings, executive salaries andprices, as well as wages. The Nixon controls do not meet that standard.They have forced the American worker, who suffers most from inflation, topay the price of trying to end it.
In addition to stabilizing the economy we propose:
Toward Economic Justice. The Democratic Party deplores the increasingconcentration of economic power in fewer and fewer hands. Five percent ofthe American people control 90 percent of our productive national wealth.Less than one percent of all manufacturers have 88 percent of the profits.Less than two percent of the population now owns approximately 80 percentof the nation's personally-held corporate stock. 90 percent of the personally-heldcorporate bonds and nearly 100 percent of the personally-held municipalbonds. The rest of the population ‹ including all working men and women‹ pay too much for essential products and services because of nationalpolicy and market distortions.
The Democratic Administration should pledge itself to combat factorswhich tend to concentrate wealth and stimulate higher prices.
To this end, the federal government should:
Tax Reform. The last ten years hare seen a massive shift in the tax burdenfrom the rich to the working people of America. This is due to cuts in federalincome taxes simultaneous with big increases in taxes which bear heavilyon lower incomes ‹ state and local sales and property taxes and thepayroll tax. These federal tax system is also still grossly unfair and over-complicated.The wealthy and corporations get special tax favors; some require majorreform of the nation's tax structure ‹ to achieve a more equitabledistribution of income and to raise the funds needs by government. The Americanpeople neither should nor will accept anything less from the next Administration.
The Nixon Administration, which fought serious reform in 1969, has noprogram, only promises, for tax reform. Its clumsy administrative favoringof the well-off has meant quick action on corporate tax giveaways like accelerateddepreciation, while over-withholding from workers' paychecks goes on andon while the Administration tries to decide what to do.
In recent years, the federal tax system has moved precipitously in thewrong direction. Corporate taxes have dropped from 30 percent of federalrevenues in 1954 to 16 percent in 1973, but payroll taxes for Social Security‹ regressive because the burden falls more heavily on the worker thanon the wealthy have gone from 10 percent to 29 percent over the same period.If legislation now pending in Congress passes, payroll taxes will have increasedover 500 percent between 1960 and 1977 ‹ from $144 to $755 ‹ forthe average wage earner. Most people earning under $10,000 now pay morein regressive payroll tax than in income tax.
Now the Nixon Administration ‹ which gave corporation the largesttax cut in American history ‹ is considering a hidden national salestax (Value Added tax) which would further shift the burden to the averagewage earner and raise prices of virtually everything ordinary people buy.It is cruel and unnecessary to pretend to relieve one bad tax, the propertytax, by a new tax which is just as bad. We oppose this price-raising unfairtax in any form.
Federal Income Tax. The Democratic Party believes that all unfair corporateand individual tax preferences should be removed The tax law is cloggedwith complicated provisions and special interests, such as percentage oildepletion and other favors for the oil industry, special rates and rulesfor capital gains, fast depreciation unrelated to useful life, easy-to-abuse"expense-account" deductions and the ineffective minimum tax.These hidden expenditures in the federal budget are nothing more than billionsof "tax welfare" aid for the wealthy, the privileged and the corporations.
We, therefore, endorse as a minimum step the Mills-Mansfield Tax PolicyReview Act of 1972, which would repeal virtual all tax preferences in theexisting law over the period 1974 - 1976, as a means of compelling a systematicreview of their value to the nation. We acknowledge that the original reasonsfor some of these tax preferences may remain valid, but believe that noneshould escape close scrutiny and full public exposure. The most unjustifiedone of the tax loopholes should, however, be closed immediately, withoutwaiting for a review of the whole system.
After the implementation of the minimum provisions of the Mills-MansfieldAct, the Democratic Party, to combat the economically-depressing effectof a regressive income tax scheme, proposes further revision of the taxlaw to ensure economy equality of opportunity to ordinary Americans.
We hold that the federal tax structure should reflect following principles:
Social Security Tax. The Democratic Party commits itself to make theSocial Security tax progressive by raising substantially the ceiling onearned income. To permit needed increases in Social Security benefits, wewill use general revenues as necessary to supplement payroll tax receipts.In this way, we will support continued movement toward general revenue financingfor social security.
Property Tax. Greater fairness in taxation at the federal level willhave little meaning for the vast majority of American households if theburden of inequitable local taxation is not reduced. To reduce the localproperty tax for all American families, we support equalization of schoolspending and substantial increases in the federal share of education costsand general revenue sharing.
New terms of federal financial assistance to states and localities shouldbe made contingent upon property tax reforms, including equal treatmentand full publication of assessment ratios.
Tax policy should not provide incentives that encourage over-investmentin developed countries by American business, and mechanisms should be institutedto limit undesirable capital exports that exploit labor abroad and damagethe American worker at home.
Labor-Management Relations. Free private collective bargaining betweenmanagement and independent labor unions has been, and must remain, the cornerstoneof our free enterprise system. America achieved its greatness through thecombined energy and efforts of the working men and women of this country.Retention of its greatness rests in their hands. Through their great tradeunion organizations, these men and women have exerted tremendous influenceon the economic and social life of the nation and have attained a standardof living known to no other nation. The concern of the Party is that thegains which labor struggled so long to obtain not be lost to them, whetherthrough inaction or subservience to illogical Republican domestic policies.
We pledge continued support for our system of free collective bargainingand denounce any attempt to substitute compulsory arbitration for it. We,therefore, oppose the Nixon Administration's effort to impose arbitrationin transportation disputes through its last-offer-selection bill.
The National Labor Relations Act should be updated to ensure:
The Railway Labor Act should be updated to ensure:
New legislation is needed to ensure:
Labor Standards. American workers are entitled to job safety at a livingwage. Most of the basic protections needed have been recognized in legislationalready enacted by Congress.
The Fair Labor Standards Act should be updated, however, to:
The Longshoremen and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act should be updatedto provide adequate protection for injured workers and federal standardsfor workmen's compensation should be set by Congress.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 should be extended to be fully effective, andto cover professional, executive and administrative workers.
Maternity benefits should be made available to all working women. Temporarydisability benefits should cover pregnancy, childbirth, miscarriage andrecovery.
Occupational Health and Safety. Each year over 14,000 American workersare killed on their jobs, and nine million injured. Unknown millions moreare exposed to long-term danger and disease from exposure to dangerous substances.Federal and state laws are supposed to protect workers; but these laws arenot being enforced. This Administration has hired only a handful of inspectorsand proposes to turn enforcement over to the same state bureaucracies thathave proven inadequate in the past. Where violations are detected, onlytoken penalties have been assessed.
We pledge to fully and rigorously enforce the laws which protect thesafety and health of workers on their jobs and to extend those laws to alljobs, regardless of number of employees. This must include standards thattruly protect against all health hazards, adequate federal enforcement machinerybacked up by rigorous penalties and an opportunity for workers themselvesto participate in the laws' enforcement by sharing responsibility for plantinspection.
We endorse federal research and development of effective approaches tocombat the dehumanizing and debilitating effects of monotonous work.
Farm Labor. The Sixties and Seventies have seen the struggle for unionizationby the poorest of the poor in our country ‹ America's migrant farmworkers.
Under the leadership of Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers have accomplishedin the non-violent tradition what was thought impossible only a short timeago. Through hard work and much sacrifice, they are the one group that issuccessfully organizing farm workers.
Their movement has caught the imagination of millions of Americans whohave not eaten grapes so that agribusiness employers will recognize theirworkers as equals and sit down with them in meaningful collective bargaining.
We now call upon all friends and supporters of this movement to refrainfrom buying or eating non-union lettuce.
Furthermore, we support the farm workers' movement and the use of boycottsas a non-violent and potent weapon for gaining collective bargaining recognitionand contracts for agricultural workers. We oppose the Nixon Administration'seffort to enjoin the use of the boycott.
We also affirm the right of farm workers to organize free of repressiveanti-labor legislation, both state and federal.
III. Rights, Power and Social Justice
"We're just asking, and we don't ask for much. Just to give us theopportunity to live as human beings as other people have lived." ‹Dorothy Bolden, Atlanta Hearing, June 9, 1972
"All your platform has to say is that the rights, opportunitiesand political power of citizenship will be extended to the lowest level,to neighborhoods and individuals. If your party can live up to that simplepledge, my faith will be restored." ‹ Bobby Westbrooks, St. LouisHearing, June 17, 1972
"We therefore urge the Democratic Party to adopt the principle thatAmerica has a responsibility to offer every American family the best inhealth care, whenever they need it, regardless of income or any other factor.We must devise a system which will assure that ... every American receivescomprehensive health services from the day he is born until the day he dies,with an emphasis on preventive care to keep him healthy .... " ‹Senator Edward M. Kennedy, St. Louis Hearing, June 17, 1972
The Democratic Party commits itself to be responsive to the millionsof hard working, lower- and middle-income Americans who are traditionallycourted by politicians at election time, get bilked at tax-paying time,and are too often forgotten the balance of the time.
This is an era of great change. The world is fast moving into a futurefor which the past has not prepared us well; a future where to survive,to find answers to the problems which threaten us as a people. we must createqualitatively new solutions. We can no longer rely on old systems of thought,the results of which were partially successful programs that were heraldedas important social reforms in the past. It is time now to rethink and reorderthe institutions of this country so that everyone ‹ women, blacks,Spanish-speaking, Puerto Ricans, Indians, the young and the old ‹ canparticipate in the decision-making process inherent in the democratic heritageto which we aspire. We must restructure the social, political and economicrelationships throughout the entire society in order to ensure the equitabledistribution of wealth and power.
The Democratic Party in 1972 is committed to resuming the march towardequality; to enforcing the laws supporting court decisions and enactingnew legal rights as necessary, to assuring every American true opportunity,to bringing about a more equal distribution of power, income and wealthand equal and uniform enforcement in all states and territories of civilrights statutes and acts.
In the 1970's, this commitment requires the fulfillment ‹ throughlaws and policies, through appropriations and directives, through leadershipand exhortation ‹ of a wide variety of rights:
Free Expression and Privacy. The new Democratic Administration shouldbring an end to the pattern of political persecution and investigation,the use of high office as a pulpit for unfair attack and intimidation andthe blatant efforts to control the poor and to keep them from acquiringadditional economic security or political power.
The epidemic of wiretapping and electronic surveillance engaged in bythe Nixon Administration and the use of grand juries for purposes of politicalintimidation must be ended. The rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution,as these concepts have traditionally been understood, must be restored.
We strongly object to secret computer data banks on individuals. Citizensshould have access to their own files that are maintained by private commercialfirms and the right to insert corrective material. Except in limited cases,the same should apply to government files. Collection and maintenance byfederal agencies of dossiers on law-abiding citizens, because of their politicalviews and statements, must be stopped, and files which never should havebeen opened should be destroyed. We firmly reject the idea of a NationalComputer Data Bank.
The Nixon policy of intimidation of the media and Administration effortsto use government power to block access to media by dissenters must end,if free speech is to be preserved. A Democratic Administration must be anopen one, with the fullest possible disclosure of information, with an endto abuses of security classifications and executive privilege, and witha regular top-level press conferences.
The Right To Be Different. The new Democratic Administration can helplead America to celebrate the magnificence of the diversity within its population,the racial, national, linguistic and religious groups which have contributedso much to the vitality and richness of our national life. As thinks are,official policy too often forces people into a mold of artificial homogeneity.
Recognition and support of the cultural identity and pride of black peopleare generations overdue. The American Indians, the Spanish-speaking, theAsian Americans ‹ the cultural and linguistic heritage of these groupsis too often ignored in schools and communities. So, too, are the backgrounds,traditions and contributions of white national, ethnic, religious and regionalcommunities ignored. All official discrimination on the basis of sex, age,race, language, political belief, religion, region or national origin mustend. No American should be subject to discrimination in employment or restrictionin business because of ethnic background or religious practice. Americansshould be free to make their own choice of lifestyles and private habitswithout being subject to discrimination or prosecution. We believe officialpolicy can encourage diversity while continuing to place full emphasis onequal opportunity and integration.
We urge full funding of the Ethnic Studies bill to provide funds fordevelopment of curriculum to preserve America's ethnic mosaic.
Rights of Children. One measure of a nation's greatness is the care itmanifests for all of its children. The Nixon Administration has demonstrateda callous attitude toward children repeatedly through veto and administrativedecisions. We, therefore, call for a reordering of priorities at all levelsof American society so that children, our most precious resource, and familiescome first.
To that end, we call for:
Rights of Women. Women historically have been denied a full voice inthe evolution of the political and social institutions of this country andare therefore allied with all underrepresented groups in a common desireto form a more humane and compassionate society. The Democratic Party pledgesthe following:
Rights of Youth. In order to ensure, maintain and secure the proper roleand functions of youth in American government, politics and society, theDemocratic Party will endeavor to:
Rights of Poor People. Poor people, like all Americans should be representedat all levels of the Democratic Party in reasonable proportion to theirnumbers in the general population. Affirmative action must be taken to ensuretheir representation at every level. The Democratic Party guidelines guaranteeingproportional representation to "previously discriminated against groups"(enumerated as 'women, young people and minorities') must be extended tospecifically include poor people.
Rights of American Indians. We support rights of American Indians tofull rights of citizenship. The federal government should commit all necessaryfunds to improve the lives of Indians, with no division between reservationand non-reservation Indians. We strongly oppose the policy of termination,and we urge the government to provide unequivocal advocacy for the protectionof the remaining Indian land and water resources. All land rights due AmericanIndians, and Americans of Spanish and Mexican descent, on the basis of treatieswith the federal government will be protected by the federal government.
American Indians should be given the right to receive bilingual medicalservices from hospitals and physicians of their choice.
Rights of the Physically Disabled. The physically disabled have the rightto pursue meaningful employment and education, outside a hospital environment,free from unnecessary discriminations living in adequate housing, with accessto public mass transportation and regular medical care. Equal opportunityemployment practices should he used by the government in considering theirapplication for federal jobs and equal access to education from pre-schoolto the college level guaranteed. The physically disabled, like all disadvantagedpeoples, should he represented in any group making decisions affecting theirlives.
Rights of the Mentally Retarded. The mentally retarded must he givenemployment and educational opportunities that promote their dignity as individualsand ensure their civil rights. Educational and treatment facilities mustguarantee that these rights always will he recognized and protected. Inaddition. to assure these citizens a more meaningful life, emphasis musthe placed on programs of treatment that respect their right to life in anon-institutional environment.
Rights of the Elderly. Growing old in America for too many means neglect,sickness, despair and, all too often, poverty. We have tailed to dischargethe basic obligation of a civilized people ‹ to respect and assurethe security of our senior citizens. The Democratic Party pledges, as afinal step to economic security for all, to end poverty ‹ as measuredby official standards ‹ among the retired, the blind and the disabled.Our general program of economic and social justice will benefit the elderlydirectly. In addition, a Democratic Administration should:
The Democratic Party pledges itself to adopt rules to give those over60 years old representation on all Party committees and agencies as nearlyas possible in proportion to their percentage in the total population.
Rights of Veterans. It is time that the nation did far more to recognizethe service of our 18 million living veterans and to serve them in return.The veterans of Vietnam must get special attention, for no end of the waris truly honorable which does not provide these men the opportunities tomeet their needs.
The Democratic Party is committed to extending and improving the benefitsavailable to American veterans and society, to ending the neglect shownby the Nixon Administration to these problems and to the human needs ofour ex-servicemen.
Medical Care. The federal government must guarantee quality medical careto ex-servicemen, and to all disabled veterans, expanding and improvingVeterans Administration facilities and manpower and preserve the independenceand integrity of the VA hospital program. Staff-patient ratios in thesehospitals should he made comparable to ratios in community hospitals. Meanwhile,there should be an increase in the VA's ability to deliver out-patient careand home health services, wherever possible treating veterans as part ofa family unit.
We support future integration of health care for veterans into the nationalhealth care insurance program, with no reduction in scale or quality ofexisting veterans care and with recognition of the special health needsof veterans.
The VA separate personnel system should be expanded to take in all typesof health personnel, and especially physician's assistants; and VA hospitalsshould be used to develop state medical schools and area health educationcenters.
The VA should also assume responsibility for the care of wives and childrenof veterans who are either permanently disabled or who have died from service-connectedcauses. Distinction should no longer be made between veterans who have seen"wartime," as opposed to "peacetime," service.
Education. Educational benefits should be provided for Vietnam-era veteransunder the GI Bill at levels comparable to those of the original Bill afterWorld War II, supplemented by special veteran's education loans. The VAshould greatly expand improve programs for poor or educationally disadvantagedveterans. In addition, there should be a program under which servicemenand women can receive high school, college or job training while on activeduty. GI Bill trainees should be used more extensively to reach out to otherveterans who would otherwise miss these educational opportunities.
Drug Addiction. The Veterans Administration should provide either directlyor through community facilities a comprehensive, individually tailored treatmentand rehabilitation program for all drug- and alcohol-addicted veterans,on a voluntary and confidential basis, and regardless of the nature of theirdischarge or the way in which they acquired their condition.
Unemployment. There should be an increase in unemployment compensationprovided to veterans, and much greater emphasis on the Veterans EmploymentService of the Department of Labor, expanding its activities in every state.There should be a greatly enlarged effort by the federal government to employVietnam-era veterans and other veterans with service-connected disabilities.In addition, veterans' preferences in hiring should be written into everyfederal contract or subcontract and for public service employment.
Rights of Servicemen and Servicewomen. Military discipline must be maintained,but unjustifiable restriction on the Constitutional rights of members ofthe armed service must cease.
Rights of Consumers. Consumers need to be assured of a renewed commitmentto basic rights and freedoms. They must have the mechanisms available toallow self-protection against the abuses that the Kennedy and Johnson programswe designed to eliminate. We propose a new consumer program:
In the Executive Branch. The executive branch must use its power to expandconsumer information and protection:
In the Legislative Branch. We support legislation which will expand theability of consumers to defend themselves:
In the Judicial Branch. The courts should become an effective forum tohear well-founded consumer grievances.
The Quality and Quantity of Social Service. The new Democratic Administrationcan begin a fundamental re-examination of all federal domestic social programsand the patterns of service delivery they support. Simply advocating theexpenditure of more funds is not enough, although funds are needed, forbillions already have been poured into federal government programs likeurban renewal, current welfare and aid to education, with meager results.The control, structure and effectiveness of every institution and governmentgrant system must be fully examined and these institutions must be madeaccountable to those they are supposed to serve.
We will, therefore pursue the development of new rights at two kinds:Rights to the service itself and rights to participate in the delivery process.
Health Care, Good health is the least this society should promise itscitizens. The state of health services in this country indicates the failureof government to respond to this fundamental need. Costs skyrocket whilethe availability of services for all but the rich steadily decline.
We endorse the principle that good health is a right of all Americans.
America has a responsibility to offer to every American family the bestin health care wherever they need it, regardless of income or where theylive or any other factor.
To achieve this goal the next Democratic Administration should:
Family Planning. Family planning services, including the education, comprehensivemedical and social services necessary to permit individuals freely to determineand achieve the number and spacing of their children, should be availableto all, regardless of sex, age, marital status, economic croup or ethnicorigin, and should be administered in a non-coercive and nondiscriminatorymanner.
Puerto Rico. The Democratic Party respects and supports the frequently-expresseddesire of the people of Puerto Rico to freely associate in permanent unionwith the United States, as an autonomous commonwealth. We are committedto Puerto Rico's right to enjoy full self-determination and a relationshipthat can evolve in ways that will most benefit both parties.
To this end, we support equal treatment for Puerto Rico in the distributionof all federal grants-in-aid, amendment of federal laws that restrict aidto Puerto Rico; and we pledge no further restrictions in future laws. Onlyin this way can the people of Puerto Rico come to participate more fullyin the many areas of social progress made possible by Democratic efforts,on behalf of all the people.
Finally, the Democratic Party pledges to end all Naval shelling and bombardmentof the tiny, inhabited island of Culebra and its neighboring keys, no laterthan June 1, 1975. With this action, and others, we will demonstrate theconcern of the Democratic Party to develop and maintain a productive relationshipbetween the Commonwealth and the United States.
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Trust Territories of thePacific. We pledge to include all of these areas in federal grant-in-aidprograms on a full and equitable basis.
We praise the Democratic Congress for providing a non-voting delegateto the House of Representatives from Guam and the Virgin Islands and urgethat these elected delegates be accorded the full vote in the committeesto which they are assigned.
We support the right of American Samoans to elect their Governor, andwill consider methods by which American citizens residing in American territoriescan participate in Presidential elections.
IV. Cities, Communities, Counties and the Environment
"When the Democratic Platform is written and acted on in Miami,let it be a blueprint for the life and survival of our cities and our people."‹ Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson, Mayors' Conference, New Orleans, June19, 1972
Introduction. Always the vital center of our civilization, the Americancity since World War II has been suffering growing pains, caused partlyby the change of the core city into a metropolitan city and partly by themovement of people from towns and rural areas into the cities.
The burgeoning of the suburbs ‹ thrust outward with too little concernfor social. economic and environmental consequences ‹ has both broadenedthe city's limits and deepened human and neighborhood needs.
The Nixon Administration has failed to meet most of these needs. It hasmet the problem of urban decay with tired, decaying "solutions"that are unworthy of the name. It could act to revitalize our urban areas;instead, we see only rising crime, fear and flight, racial and economicpolarization, loss of confidence and depletion of community resources.
This Administration has ignored the cities and suburbs, permitting taxesto rise and services to decline; housing to deteriorate faster than it canbe replaced, and morale to suffer. It actually has impounded funds appropriatedby a Democratic Congress to help cities in crisis.
The Administration has ignored the needs of city and suburban residentsfor public services, for property tax relief and for the planning and coordinationthat alone can assure that housing, jobs, schools and transportation arebuilt and maintained in suitable locations and in needed numbers and quality.
Meanwhile, the Nixon Administration has forgotten smalltown America too,refusing to provide facilities that would make it an attractive alternativeto city living.
This has become the American crisis of the 1970's. Today, our highestnational priority is clear and precise: To deal effectively ‹ and now‹ with the massive, complex and urgent needs of our cities, suburbsand towns.
The federal government cannot solve all the problems of these communities.Too often, federal bureaucracy has failed to deliver the services and keepthe promises that are made. But only the federal government can be the catalystto focus attention and resources on the needs of every neighborhood in America.
Under the Nixon Administration, piecemeal measures, poorly funded andhaphazardly applied, have proved almost totally inadequate. Words have nothalted the decline of neighborhoods. Words have not relieved the plightof tenants in poorly managed, shoddy housing. Our scarce urban dollars havebeen wasted, and even the Republican Secretary of Housing and Urban Developmenthas admitted it.
The Democratic Party pledges to stop the rot in our cities, suburbs andtowns. and stop it now. We pledge commitment, coordination. planning andfunds:
The nation's urban areas must and can be habitable. They are not onlycenters of commerce and trade, but also repositories of history and culture,expressing the richness and variety of their region and of the larger society.They are worthy of the best America can otter. They are America.
Partnership Among Governments. The federal government must assist localcommunities to plan for their growth and development, to improve conditionsand opportunities for all their citizens and to build the public facilitiesthey need.
Effective planning must be done on a regional basis. New means of planningare needed that are practical and realistic, but that go beyond the limitsof jurisdictional lines. If local government is to be responsive to citizenneeds, public services and programs must efficiently be coordinated andevolved through comprehensive regional planning and decision-making. Governmentactivities should take account of the future as well as the present.
In aiding the reform of state and local government, federal authoritymust insist that local decisions take into account the views and needs ofall citizens, white and black, haves and have-nots, young and old, Spanishand other non-English-speaking, urban, suburban and rural.
Americans ask more and more of their local government but the regressiveproperty tax structure makes it impossible for cities and counties to deliver.The Democratic Party is: committed to ensure that state and local governmentshave the funds and the capacity to achieve community service and developmentgoals ‹ goals that are nationally recognized. To this end:
Urban Growth Policy. The Nixon Administrations has neither developedan effective urban growth policy designed to meet critical problems, norconcerned itself with the needed recreation of the quality of life in ourcities, large and small. Instead, it has severely over-administered andunderfunded existing federal aid programs. Through word and deed, the Administrationhas widened the gulf between city and suburb, between core and fringe, betweenhaves and have-nots.
The nation's urban growth policies are seen most clearly in the legitimatecomplaints of suburban householders over rising taxes and of center-cityfamilies over houses that are falling apart and services that are oftennon-existent. And it is here, in the center city, that the failure of NixonAdministration policies is most clear to all who live there.
The Democratic Party pledges:
The Cities. Many of the worst problems in America are centered in ourcities. Countless problems contribute to their plight: decay in housing,the drain of welfare, crime and violence, racism, failing schools. joblessnessand poor mass transit, lack of planning for land use and services.
The Democratic Party pledges itself to change the disastrous policiesof the Nixon Administration toward the cities and to reverse the steadyprocess of decay and dissolution. We will renew the battle begun under theKennedy and Johnson Administrations to improve the quality of life in ourcities. In addition to pledging the resources critically needed, we commitourselves to these actions:
Housing and Community Development. The 1949 Housing Act pledged "adecent home and suitable living environment for every American family."Twenty-three years later, this goal is still far away. Under this Administration,there simply has been no progress in meeting our housing needs, despitethe Democratic Housing Act at 1963. We must build 2.6 million homes a year,including two-thirds of a million units of federally subsidized low- andmiddle-income housing. These targets are not being met. And the lack ofhousing is particularly critical for people with low and middle incomes.
Under Republican leadership, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)has become the biggest slumlord in the country. Some unsophisticated homebuyers have purchased homes with FHA mortgage insurance or subsidies. Theseconsumers, relying on FHA appraisals to protect them, often haze been exploitedby real estate speculators and dishonest builders. Unable to repair or maintainthese houses, the buyers often have no choice but to abandon them. As aresult, the FHA will acquire a quarter million of these abandoned housesat a cost to the taxpayers of billions of dollars.
Under the Republican Administration, the emphasis has been on housingsubsidies for the people who build and sell houses rather than for thosepeople who need and live in them. In many cases, the only decent shelterprovided is a tax shelter.
To correct this inequity the Democratic Party pledges:
The next Administration must build and conserve housing that not onlymeets the basic need for shelter, but also provides a wider choice of qualityhousing and living environments. To meet this challenger the DemocraticParty commits itself to a housing approach that:
New Towns. New towns meet the direct housing and community needs of onlya small part of our population. To do more, new towns must be developedin concert with massive efforts to revitalize central cities and enhancethe quality of life in still growing suburban areas.
The Democratic Party pledges:
Transportation. Urban problems cannot be separated from transportationproblems. Whether tying communities together, connecting one community toanother or linking our cities and towns to rural areas, good transportationis essential to the social and economic life of any community. It joinsworkers to jobs, makes commercial activity both possible and profitableand provides the means for expanding personal horizons and promoting communitycultural life.
Today, however, the automobile is the principal form of transportationin urban areas. The private automobile has made a major contribution toeconomic growth and prosperity in this century. But now we must have betterbalanced transportation ‹ more of it public. Today, 15 times as muchfederal aid goes to highways as to mass transit; tomorrow this must change.At the same time, it is important to preserve and improve transportationin America's rural areas, to end the crisis in rural mobility.
The Democratic Party pledges:
Moreover, we will:
Environment, Technology and Resources. Every American has the right tolive, work and play in a clean, safe and healthy environment. We have theobligation to ourselves and to our children. It is not enough simply toprevent further environmental deterioration and the despoilation of ournatural endowment. Rather, we must improve the quality of the world in whichwe and they will live.
The Nixon Administration's record on the environment is one of big promisesand small actions.
Inadequate enforcement, uncertain requirements, reduced funding and alack of manpower have undercut the effort commended by a Democratic Administrationto clean up the environment.
We must recognize the costs all Americans pay for the environmental destructionwith which we all live: Poorer health, lessened recreational opportunities,higher maintenance costs, lower land productivity and diminished beautyin our surroundings. Only then can we proceed wisely, yet vigorously witha program of environmental protection which recognizes that, although environmentalprotection will not be cheap, it is worth a far greater price, in effortand money, than we have spent thus far.
Such a program must include adequate federal funding for waste management,recycling and disposal and for purification and conservation of air andwater resources.
The next Administration must reconcile any conflicts among the goalsof cleaner air and water, inexpensive power and industrial development andjobs in specific places. These difficulties do exist ‹ to deny themwould be deceptive and irresponsible. At the same time, we know they canbe resolved by an Administration with energy, intelligence and commitment‹ qualities notably absent from the current Administration's handlingof the problem.
We urge additional financial support to the United States Forest Servicefor planning and management consistent with the environmental ideal statedin this Platform.
Choosing the Right Methods of Environmental Protection. The problem weface is to choose the most efficient, effective and equitable techniquesfor solving each new environmental problem. We cannot afford to waste resourceswhile doing the job, any more than we can afford to leave the job undone.
We also need to develop new public agencies that can act to abate pollution‹ act on a scale commensurate with the size of the problem and thetechnology of pollution control.
Expanded federal funding is required to assist local governments withboth the capital and operating expenses of water pollution control and solidwaste management.
Jobs and the Environment. The United States should not be condemned tothe choice between the development of resources and economic security orpreservation of those resources.
A decent job for every American is a goal that need not, and must not,be sacrificed to our commitment to a clean environment. Far from slowingeconomic growth, spending for environmental protection can create new jobopportunities for many Americans. Nevertheless, some older and less efficientplants might find themselves in a worse competitive position due to environmentalprotection requirements. Closely monitored adjustment assistance shouldbe made available to those plants willing to modernize and institute environmentalprotection measures.
Science and Technology. For years, the United State was the world's undisputedleader in science and technology. Now that leadership is being challenged,in part because of the success of efforts in other countries, and in partbecause of the Nixon Administration's neglect of our basic human and materialresources in this field.
As Democrats, we understand the enormous investment made by the nationin educating and training hundreds of thousands of highly skilled Americansin science and technology. Many of these people are now unemployed, as aerospaceand defense programs are slowly cut back and as the Administration's economicpolicies deprive these Americans, as well as others, of their livelihood.
So far, however, the Nixon Administration has paid scant attention tothese problems. By contrast, the Democratic Party seeks both to increaseefforts by the federal government and to stimulate research in private industry.
In addition, the Democratic Party is committed to increasing the overalllevel of scientific research in the United States, which has been allowedto fall under the Nixon Administration. And we are eager to take managementmethods and techniques developed for the space and defense programs, aswell as our technical resources, and apply them to the city, the environment,education, energy, transportation, health care and other urgent domesticneeds. We propose also to work out a more effective relationship betweengovernment and industry in this area, to stimulate the latter to a greaterresearch and development effort, thus helping buoy up the economy and createmore jobs.
Finally, we will promote the search far new approaches in science andtechnology, so that the benefits of progress may be had without furtherendangering the environment ‹ indeed, so that the environment may bebetter preserved. We must create a systematic way to decide which new technologieswill contribute to the nation's development, and which will cause more problemsthan they solve. We are committed to a role for government in helping tobring the growth of technology into a harmonious relationship with our lives.
Energy Resources. The earth's natural resources, once in abundant andseemingly unlimited supply, can no longer be taken for granted. In particular,the United States is facing major changes in the pattern of energy supplythat will force us to reassess traditional policies. By 1980, we may wellhave to depend on imports from the Eastern Hemisphere for as much as 30to 50 percent of our oil supplies. At the same time new forms of energysupply ‹ such as nuclear, solar or geothermal power ‹ lag farbehind in research and development.
In view of these concerns, it is shocking that the Nixon Administrationstill steadfastly refuses to develop a national energy policy.
The Democratic Party would remedy that glaring oversight. To begin with,we should:
We must also require fun disclosure of the energy needs of consumer productsand home heating to enable consumers to make informed decisions on theiruse of energy.
The Oceans. As with the supply of energy, no longer can we take for grantedthe precious resources we derive from the oceans. Here. too, we need comprehensivenational and international policies to use and protect the vast potentialcontained in the sea. In particular we must:
Ninety percent of all salt water fish species live on our continentalshelves, where plant life is plentiful. For this reason, we support monitoringand strict enforcement of all safety regulations on all off-shore drillingequipment and on environmentally-safe construction of all tankers transportingoil.
Public Lands. For generations, Americans have been concerned with preservingthe natural treasures of our country: Our lakes and rivers, our forestsand mountains. Enlightened Americans of the past decided that the federalgovernment should take a major role in protecting these treasures, on behalfof everyone. Today, however, neglect on the part of the Nixon Administrationis threatening this most valued heritage ‹ and that of our children.Never before in modern history have our public lands been so neglected andthe responsible agencies so starved of funds.
The Democratic Party is concerned about preserving our public lands,and promoting policies of land management in keeping with the broad publicinterest. In particular, it is imperative to restore lost funds for land,park and forest management. It is imperative that decisions about the futureuse of our public lands be opened up to all the people for widespread publicdebate and discussion. Only through such an open process can we set groundrules that appropriately limit the influence of special interests and allowfor cohesive guidelines for national landuse planning.
We are particularly aware of the potential conflicts among the use ofland, rivers, lakes and the seashore for economic development, large-scalerecreation and for preservation as unspoiled wilderness. We recognize thatthere are competing goals, and shall develop means for resolving these conflictsin a way that reflects the federal government's particular responsibilitiesas custodian for the public. We need more National Seashores and expansionof the National Park system. Major steps must be taken to follow up on Congressionalcommitment to scenic riverways. Recreation areas must be made availableto people where they live. This includes the extension of our national wildernesspreserves to include de facto wilderness areas and their preservation freeof commercialization. In this way, we will help to preserve and improvethe quality of life for millions of our people.
With regard to the development of the vast natural resources on our publiclands, we pledge a renewed commitment to proceed in the interests of allour citizens.
V. Education
"The American people want overwhelmingly to give to our childrenand adults equitable educational opportunities of the highest possible quality,not predicated on race, not predicated on past social accomplishment orwealth, except in a compensatory way to those who have been deprived inthe past." ‹Governor Jimmy Carter, Atlanta Hearing, June 9, 1972
Our schools are failing our children. Never, more than now, have we neededthe schools to play their traditional role ‹ to create a sense of nationalunity and to reconcile ethnic, religious and racial conflicts. Yet the NixonAdministration ‹ by ignoring the plight of the nation's schools, bytwice vetoing funds for education ‹ has contributed to this failure.
America in the 1970's requires something the world has never seen: Massesof educated people ‹ educated to feel and to act, as well as to think.The children who enter school next fall still will be in the labor forcein the year 2030; we cannot even imagine what American society will be likethen, let alone what specific jobs they may hold. For them, education mustbe done by teaching them how to learn, how to apply man's wisdom to newproblems as they arise and how to recognize new problems as they arise.Education must prepare students not just to earn a living but to live alife ‹ a creative, humane and sensitive life.
School Finance. Achieving educational excellence requires adequate financialsupport. But today local property taxes ‹ which do not keep pace withinflation ‹ can no longer support educational needs. Continued relianceon this revenue source imposes needless hardship on the American familywithout supplying the means for good schools. At the same time, the Nixonrecession has sapped the resources of state government, and the Administration'sinsensitivity to school children has meant inadequate federal expendituresin education.
The next Democratic Administration should:
Early Childhood Education. Our youngest children are most ignored bynational policy and most harshly treated by the Nixon Administration. PresidentNixon's cruel, irresponsible veto of the Comprehensive Child DevelopmentAct of 1971 indicates dramatically the real values of the present Administration.
That legislation struck down by President Nixon remains the best programto bring support to family units threatened by economic and social pressureto eliminate educational handicaps which leave disadvantaged children unableto compete m school: to prevent early childhood disease before it resultsin adult disability; to interrupt the painful, destructive cycle of welfaredependence, and, most important, to allow all children happy lives as childrenand the opportunity to develop their full potential.
Equal Access to Quality Education. The Supreme Court of the United Statesin Brown v. Board of Education established the Constitutional principlethat states may not discriminate between school children on the basis oftheir race and that separate but equal has no place in our public educationsystem. Eighteen years later the provision of integration is not a reality.
We support the goal of desegregation as a means to achieve equal accessto quality education for all our children. There are many ways to desegregateschools: School attendance lines may be redrawn; schools may be paired;larger physical facilities may be built to serve larger, more diverse enrollments;magnet schools or educational parks may be used. Transportation of studentsis another tool to accomplish desegregation. It may continue to be availableaccording to Supreme Court decisions to eliminate legally imposed segregationand improve the quality of education for all children.
Bilingual Education. Ten percent of school children in the United Statesspeak a language other than English in their homes and communities. Thelargest of the linguistic and cultural groups ‹ Spanish-speaking andAmerican Indians ‹ are among the poorest people in the United States.Increasing evidence indicates an almost total failure of public educationto educate these children.
The drop-out rates of Spanish-speaking and Indian children are the worstof any children in the country. The injury is compounded when such childrenare placed in special "compensatory" programs or programs forthe "dumb" or the "retards" on the basis of tests andevaluations conducted in English.
The passage of the Bilingual Education Act of 1967 began a commitmentby the nation to do something about the injustice committed against thebilingual child. But for 1972-73, Congress appropriated $35 million ‹enough to serve only two percent the children who need help.
The next Democratic Administration should:
Career Education. Academic accomplishment is not the only way to financialsuccess, job satisfaction or rewarding life in America. Many young Americansthink that college is the only viable route when for some a vocational-technicalcareer offers as much promise of a full life. Moreover, the country desperatelyneeds skilled workers, technicians, men and women who understand and canhandle the tools and equipment that mean growth and jobs. By 1975 the needfor skilled craftsmen will increase 18 percent while the need for college-trainedpersons will remain stable.
Young people should be permitted to make a career choice consistent withtheir interests, aptitudes and aspirations. We must create an atmospherewhere the dignity of work is respected, where diversity of talent and tasteis encouraged and the continuing opportunity exists to keep pace with changeand a saleable skill.
To aid this, the next Democratic Administration can:
Higher Education. We support universal access to opportunities to post-secondaryeducation. The American education system has always been an important pathtoward social and economic advancement. Federal education policy shouldensure that our colleges and universities continue as an open system. Itmust also stimulate the creative development and expansion of higher educationto meet the new social, economic and environmental problems confrontingsociety. To achieve the goals of equal opportunity in education, to meetthe growing financial crisis in higher education and to stimulate reformof educational techniques, the next Democratic Administration should:
Arts and Humanities. Support for the arts and humanities is one of thebenchmarks of a civilized society. Yet, the continued existence of manyof America's great symphonies, theatres and museums, our film institutes,dance companies and other art forms, is now threatened by rising costs,and the public contribution, far less than in most advanced industrial societies,is a fraction of the need.
VI. Crime, Law and Justice
"I think we can reduce crime. Society has no more important challengebecause crime is human conduct and more than any other activity of peopleit reflects the moral character of a nation." ‹ Ramsey Clark,Washington Hearing, June 23, 1972
We advocate and seek a society and a government in which there is anattitude of respect for the law and for those who seek its enforcement andan insistence on the part of our citizens that the judiciary be ever mindfulof their primary duty and function of punishing the guilty and protectingthe innocent. We will insist on prompt, fair and equal treatment for allpersons before the bar of justice.
The problem of crime in America is real, immediate and fundamental; itscosts to the nation are staggering; nearly three quarters of a million victimsof violent crime in one year alone; more than 15,000 murders, billions ofdollars of property loss.
The indirect, intangible costs are even more ominous. A frightened nationis not a free nation. Its citizens are prisoners suspicious of the peoplethey meet, restricted in when they go out and when they return, threatenedeven in their own homes.
Unless government at all levels can restore a sense of confidence andsecurity to its people, there is the ever-present danger that alarm willturn to panic, triggering short-cut remedies that jeopardize hard-won liberties.
When law enforcement breaks down, not only the victims of street violencesuffer; the worker's health and safety is imperiled by unsafe, illegal conditionson the job; the society is defenseless against fraud and pollution; mosttragically of all, parents and communities are ravaged by traffic in dangerousdrugs.
The Nixon Administration campaigned on a pledge to reduce crime ‹to strengthen the "peace forces" against the "criminal forces."Despite claims to the contrary, that pledge has been broken:
To reverse this course, through equal enforcement of the law, and torebuild justice the Democratic Party believes:
Preventing Crime. Effective law enforcement requires tough planning andaction. This Administration has given us nothing but tough words. Togetherwith unequal law enforcement by police, prosecutors and judges, the resultis a "turnstile" system of injustice, where most of those whocommit crime are not arrested, most of those arrested are not prosecuted,and many of those prosecuted are not convicted. Under this Administration,the conviction rate for federal prosecutions has declined to one-half itsformer level. Tens of thousands of offenders simply never appear in courtand are heard from again only when the commit another crime. This systemdoes not deter crime. It invites it. It will be changed only when all levelsof government act to return firmness and fairness to every part of the criminaljustice system.
So that Americans can again live without fear of each other the DemocraticParty believes:
Narcotic Drugs. Drug addiction and alcoholism are health problems. Drugsprey on children, destroy lives and communities, force crimes to satisfyaddicts, corrupt police and government and finance the expansion of organizedcrime. A massive national effort, equal to the scale and complexity of theproblem, is essential.
The next Democratic Administration should support:
Organized and Professional Crime. We are determined to exert the maximumpower and authority of the federal government to protect the many victimswho cannot help themselves against great criminal combinations.
Rehabilitation of Offenders. Few institutions in America are as uniformlycondemned and as consistently ignored as in our existing prison system.Many prisons that are supposed to rehabilitate and separate, in fact traintheir inmates for nothing but brutality and a life of further crime. Onlywhen public understanding recognizes that our existing "corrections"system contributes to escalating crime, will we get the massive effort necessaryfor fundamental restructuring.
Therefore, the Democratic Party commits itself to:
The Quality of Justice. Justice is not merely effective law enforcement‹ though that is an essential part of it. Justice rather, expressesthe moral character of a nation and its commitment to the rule of law, toequality of all people before the law.
The Democratic Parts believes that nothing must abridge the faith ofthe American citizens in their system of law and justice.
We believe that the quality of justice will be enhanced by:
VII. Farming and Rural Life
"A blight hangs over the land caused by misguided farm policies."‹ Tony Dechant, Sioux City, June 16, 1972
For many decades, American agriculture has been the envy of the world;and American farmers and American ranchers have made possible a level ofnutrition and abundance for our people that is unrivaled in history, whilefeeding millions of people abroad.
The basis far this success ‹ and its promise for the future ‹lies with the family-type farm. It can and must be preserved, in the bestinterests at all Americans and the nation's welfare.
Today, as dwindling income forces thousands of family farmers into bankruptcyeach year, the family-type farm is threatened with extinction. Americanfarming is passing to corporate control.
These trends will benefit few of our people, while hurting many. Thedominance of American food production by the large corporation would destroyindividual enterprise and links that millions of our people have with theland; and it would lead to higher prices and higher food costs for everyone.
Major efforts must be made to present this disaster for the fabric atrural life, for the American farmer, rancher, farm worker and for the consumerand other rural people throughout our nation:
The Democratic Party understands these urgent needs; the Nixon Administrationdoes not and has failed the American farmer. Its record today is consistentwith the Republican record of the past: Low prices, farm surpluses thatdepress the market in callous disregard for the people in rural America.
The Democratic Party will reverse these disastrous policies and beginto recreate a rural society of widespread family farming, individual opportunityand private and cooperative enterprises, where honest work will bring adecent income.
In place of these negative and harmful policies, the Democratic Partypledges itself to take positive and decisive action:
Exporting Our Abundance. For many years, farm exports have made a majorcontribution to our balances of trade and payments. But this benefit forthe entire nation must not be purchased with depressed prices for the producer.
The Democratic Party will ensure that:
Strengthening the Family Farm. These policies and actions will not beenough on their own to strengthen the family farm. The Democratic Partyalso recognizes that farmers and ranchers must be able to gain economicstrength in the marketplace by organizing and bargaining collectively forthe sale of their products. And they need to be free of unfair competitionfrom monopoly and other restrictive corporate practices. We therefore pledge:
Guaranteeing Farm People a Voice. None of these policies can begin towork unless farmers, ranchers, farm workers and other rural people havefull rights of participation in our democratic institutions of government.The Democratic Party is committed to seeing that family-type farmers andranchers will be heard and that they will have ample opportunity to helpshape policies attesting agriculture and rural America. To this end:
Revitalizing Rural America. Sound rural development must start with improvedfarm income, which also promotes the prosperity of the small businessesthat serve all rural people. But there must be other efforts, as well, toensure equity for farm and rural people in the American economy. The DemocraticParty pledges:
The prime goal of land grant colleges and research should be to helpfamily farms and rural people.
VIII. Foreign Policy
"The Administration is continuing a war ‹ continuing the killingof Americans and Vietnamese ‹ when our national security is not atstake.
"It is our duty as the opposition party to point out the Administration'serrors and to offer a responsible alternate"‹ W. Averell Harriman,New York Hearing, June 22, 1972
Strength in defense and wisdom in foreign affairs are essential to prosperityand tranquility. In the modern world, there can be no isolationism in realityor policy. But the measure of our nation's rank in the world must be oursuccess in achieving a just and peaceful society at home.
For the Nixon Administration, foreign policy results have fallen shortof the attention and the slogans.
The next Democratic Administration should:
Vietnam. Nothing better describes the need for a new American foreignpolicy than the fact that now, as for the past seven years, it begins withthe war in Vietnam.
The task now is still to end the war, not to decide who is to blame forit. The Democratic Party must share the responsibility for this tragic war.But, elected with a secret plan to end this war, Nixon's plan is still secret,and we ‹ and the Vietnamese ‹ have had four more years of fightingand death.
It is true that our involvement on the ground has been reduced. Troopsare coming home. But the war has been extended in Laos and Cambodia; thebombing of North Vietnam has been expanded to levels of destruction undreamedof four years ago; North Vietnam has been blockaded; the number of refugeesincreases each day, and the Secretary of Defense warns us of still furtherescalation.
All this has accomplished nothing except to prolong the war.
T he hollowness of "Vietnamization" ‹ a delusive sloganseeming to offer cheap victory ‹ has been exposed by the recent offensive.The Saigon Government, despite massive U.S. support is still not viable.It is militarily ineffective, politically corrupt and economically nearcollapse. Yet it is for this regime that Americans still die, and Americanprisoners still rot in Indo-China camps.
The plight of these American prisoners justly arouses the concern ofall Americans. We must insist that any resolute war include the return ofall prisoners held by North Vietnam and other adversary forces and the fullestpossible accounting for the missing. With increasing lack of credibility,the Nixon Administration has sought to use the prisoners of war as an excusefor its policies. It has refused to make the simple, definite and finalend to U.S. participation in the war, in conjunction with return of allU.S. prisoners.
The majority of the Democratic Senators have called for full U.S. withdrawalby October 1, 1972. We support that position. If the war is not ended beforethe next Democratic Administration takes office, we pledge, as the firstorder of business, an immediate and complete withdrawal of all U.S. farcesin Indo-China. All U.S. military action in Southeast Asia will cease. Afterthe end of U.S. direct combat participation, military aid to the SaigonGovernment, and elsewhere in Indo-China, will be terminated.
The U.S. will no longer seek to determine the political future of thenations of Indo-China. The issue is not whether we will depose the presentSouth Vietnamese Government, rather when we will cease insisting that itmust be the core of any political settlement. We will do what we can tofoster an agreement on an acceptable political solution ‹ but we recognizethat there are sharp limits to our ability to influence this process, andto the importance of the outcome to our interest.
Disengagement from this terrible war will not be a "defeat"for America. It will not imply any weakness in America's will or abilityto protect its vital interests from attack. On the contrary disengagementwill enable us to heal domestic diversions and to end the distortion ofour international priorities which the war has caused.
A Democratic Administration will act to ease the hard transitions whichwill come with an end to this war. We pledge to offer to the people of Vietnamhumanitarian assistance to help them repair the ravages of 30 years of warto the economy and to the people of that devastated land.
To our own people, we pledge a true effort to extend the hand of reconciliationand assistance to those most affected by the war.
T those who have served in this war, we pledge a full G.I. Bill of Rights,with benefits sufficient to pay for an education of the veteran's choice,job training programs and the guarantee of employment and the best medicalcare this country can provide, including a full program of rehabilitationfor those who hare returned addicted to dangerous drugs. To those who forreasons of conscience refused to serve in this war and were prosecuted orsought refuge abroad, we state our firm intention to declare an amnesty,on an appropriate basis, when the fighting has ceased and our troops andprisoners of war have returned.
Military Policy. We propose a program of national defense which is bothprudent and responsible, which will retain the confidence of our alliesand which will be a deterrent to potential aggressors.
Military strength remains an essential element of a responsible internationalpolicy. America must have the strength required for effective deterrence.
But military defense cannot be treated in isolation from other vitalnational concerns. Spending for military purposes is greater by far thanfederal spending for education, housing, environmental protection, unemploymentinsurance or welfare. Unneeded dollars for the military at once add to thetax burden and pre-empt funds from programs of direct and immediate benefitto our people. Moreover, too much that is now spent on defense not onlyadds nothing to our strength but makes us less secure by stimulating othercountries to respond.
Under the Nixon stewardship of our defense policy, lack of sound managementcontrols over defense projects threatens to price us out of an adequatedefense. The reaction of the Defense Department to exposure of cost overrunshas been to strike back at the critics instead of acting to stop the waste.
Needless projects continue and grow, despite evidence of waste, militaryineffectiveness and even affirmative danger to real security. The "development"budget starts pressure for larger procurement budgets in a few years. Moraleand military effectiveness deteriorate as drugs, desertion and racial hatredsplague the armed forces, especially in Vietnam.
The Democratic Party pledges itself to maintain adequate military forcesfor deterrence and effective support of our international position. Butwe will also insist on the firm control of specific costs and projects thatare essential to ensure that each defense dollar makes a real contributionto national security. Specifically, a Democratic Administration should:
By these reforms and this new approach to budgeting coupled with a promptend to U.S. involvement in the war in Indo-China, the military budget canbe reduced substantially with no weakening of our national security. Indeeda leaner, better-run system will mean added strength, efficiency and moralefor our military forces.
Workers and industries now dependent on defense spending should not bemade to pay the price of altering our priorities. Therefore, we pledge reconversionpolicies and government resources to assure jobs and new industrial opportunitiesfor all those adversely affected by curtailed defense spending.
Draft. We urge abolition of the draft.
Disarmament and Arms Control. The Democratic Party stands for keepingAmerica strong; we reject the concept of unilateral reductions below levelsneeded for adequate military defense. But effective international arms controland disarmament do not threaten American security; they enhance it.
The last Democratic Administration took the lead in pressing for U.S.-Sovietagreement on strategic arms limitation. The recent SALT agreement is animportant and useful first step.
The SALT agreement should be quickly ratified and taken as a startingpoint for new agreements. It must not be used as an excuse for new "bargainingchip" military programs or the next round of the arms race.
The next Democratic Administration should:
U.S. and the World Community. A new foreign policy must be adequate fora rapidly changing world. We welcome the opportunity this brings for improvedrelations with the U.S.S.R. and China. But we value even more America'srelations with our friends and allies in the Hemisphere, in Western Europe,Japan and other industrialized countries, Israel and the Middle East, andin the developing nations of Asia and Africa. With them, our relations mustbe conducted on a basis of mutual trust and consultation, seeking to strengthenour ties and to resolve differences on a basis of mutual advantage. Throughoutthe world, the focus of our policy should be a commitment to peace, self-determination,development, liberty and international cooperation, without distortion infavor of military points of view.
Europe. Europe's increasing economic and political strength and the growingcooperation and self-confidence of its people have made the Atlantic Alliancea partnership of equals. If we face the challenge of this new relationship,our historic partnership can endure.
The next Democratic Administration should:
We welcome every improvement in relations between the United States andthe Soviet Union and every step taken toward reaching vital agreements ontrade and other subjects. However, in our pursuit of improved relations,America cannot afford to be blind to the continued existence of seriousdifferences between us. In particular. the United States should, by diplomaticcontacts, seek to mobilize world opinion to express concern at the denialto the oppressed peoples of Eastern Europe and the minorities of the SovietUnion, including the Soviet Jews, of the right to practice their religionand culture and to leave their respective countries.
Middle East. The United States must be unequivocally committed to supportof Israel's right to exist within secure and defensible boundaries. Progresstoward a negotiated political settlement in the Middle East will permitIsrael and her Arab neighbors to live at peace with each other, and to turntheir energies to internal development. It will also free the world fromthe threat of the explosion of Mid-East tensions into world war. In workingtoward a settlement, our continuing pledge to the security and freedom ofIsrael must be both clear and consistent.
The next Democratic Administration should:
Africa. The central feature of African politics today is the struggleagainst racism and colonialism in Southern Africa. There should be no mistakeabout which side we are on. We stand for full political, civil and economicrights for black and other non-white peoples in Southern Africa. We areagainst white-minority rule. We should not underwrite a return to the interventionismof the past. But we can end United States complicity with such governments.
The focus of America's concern with Africa must be on economic and socialdevelopment. Economic aid to Africa, without political conditions, shouldbe expanded, and African states assured an adequate share of the aid dollar.Military aid and aid given for military purposes should he sharply reduced.
Asia. Japan. Our relations with Japan have been severely strained bya series of "Nixon shocks." We must restore our friendship withJapan, the leading industrial nation of Asia and a growing world power.There are genuine issues between us and Japan in the economic area, butaccommodation of trade problems will be greatly eased by an end to the NixonAdministration's calculated insensitivity to Japan and her interests, markedby repeated failures to afford advance warnings, much less consultationover sudden shifts in U.S. diplomatic and economic policy that affect Japan.
India, Pakistan and Bangla Desh. A Democratic Administration should workto restore the damage done to America's friendship with India as a resultof the Administration's folly in "tilting" in favor of Pakistanand against Bangla Desh. The alienation by the Nixon Administration of India,the world's largest democracy, and the continued suspension of economicaid to India have seriously damaged the status of the United States in Asia.We pledge generous support for the essential work of reconstruction andreconciliation in Bangla Desh. At the same time, we will maintain friendshipand developmental assistance to the "new" Pakistan which has emergedfrom these sad events.
China. The beginning of a new U.S.-China relationship is welcome andimportant. However, so far, little of substance has changed, and the exaggeratedsecrecy and rhetoric of the Nixon Administration have produced unnecessarycomplications in our relationship with our allies and friends in Asia andwith the U.S.S.R.
What is needed now is serious negotiation on trade, travel exchangesand progress on more basic issues. The U.S. should take the steps necessaryto establish regular diplomatic relations with China.
Other Asian Countries. The future of Asia will be determined by its people,not by the United States. We should support accommodation and cooperationamong all Asian countries and continue to assist in economic development.
Canada. A Democratic Administration should restore close U.S.-Canadiancooperation and communication, respecting Canada's nationhood and pride.In settling economic issues, we should not compromise our interests, butseek mutually advantageous and equitable solutions. In areas such as environmentalprotection and social policies, the Americans and Canadians share commonproblems and we must act together.
Latin America. The Good Neighbor policy of Franklin Roosevelt and theAlliance for Progress of John Kennedy set still-living goals ‹ insulationfrom external political conflicts, mutual non-interference in internal affairs,and support for political liberty, social justice and economic progress.The Nixon Administration has lost sight of these goals, and the result ishostility and suspicion of the U.S. unmatched in generations.
The next Democratic Administration should:
The United Nations. The U.N. cannot solve all the great political problemsof our time, but in an increasingly interdependent world, a world body isessential and its potential must be increasingly relied upon.
The next Democratic Administration should:
International Economic Policy. In a prosperous economy, foreign tradehas benefits for virtually everyone. For the consumer, it means lower pricesand a wider choice of goods. For the worker and the businessman, it meansnew jobs and new markets. For nations it means greater efficiency and growth.
But in a weak economy ‹ with over five million men and women outof work ‹ foreign imports bring hardships to many Americans. The automobileor electrical worker, the electronics technician, the small businessman‹ for them, and millions of others, foreign competition coincidingwith a slack economy has spelled financial distress. Our national commitmentto liberal trade policies takes its toll when times are bad, but yieldsits benefits when the economy is fully employed.
The Democratic Party proposes no retreat from this commitment. Our internationaleconomic policy should have these goals: To expand jobs and business opportunitiesin this country and to establish two-way trade relations with other nations.
To do this, we support the following policies:
Developing Nations. Poverty at home or abroad is part of a common problem.Great and growing income gaps among nations are no more tenable than suchgaps among groups in our own country. We should remain committed to U.S.support for economic and social development of countries in need. Old waysof providing aid must be revised ‹ to reduce U.S. involvement in administrationto encourage other nations to contribute jointly with us. But funding mustbe adequate to help poor countries achieve accelerated rates of growth.
Specifically, the next Democratic Administration should support:
The Methods and Structures of U.S. Foreign and Military Policy. The neededfundamental reordering of U.S. foreign and military policy calls for changesin the structure of decisionmaking, as well as in particular policies. Thismeans:
IX. The People and the Government
"Our people are disspirited because there seems to be no way bywhich they can call to office a government which will cut the ties to thepast, meet the challenge of leadership and begin a new era of bold action.
"Bold action by innovative government ‹ responsive to the people'sneeds and desires ‹ is essential to the achievement of our nationalhopes." ‹ Leonard Woodcock, New York Hearing, June 22, 1972
Representative democracy fails when citizens cannot know:
Today, it is imperative that the Democratic Party again take the leadin reforming those practices that limit the responsiveness of governmentand remove it from the control of the people.
Seniority. The seniority system is one of the principal reasons thatparty platforms ‹ and parties themselves ‹ have lost meaning andimportance in our political life. Seniority has weakened Congress as aneffective and responsive institution in a changing society. It has crippledeffective Congressional leadership and made it impossible to present andenact a coherent legislative program. It has permitted the power of theDemocratic majority to be misused and abused. It has stifled initiativeand wasted the talents of many members by making length of service the onlycriterion for selection to the vital positions of Congressional power andleadership.
We, therefore, call on the Democratic Members of the Congress to usethe powers inherent in their House and Senate caucuses to implement thepolicies and programs of the National Democratic Party. It is specificallynot intended that Democratic members be directed how to vote on issues onthe floor. But, in order that they be responsive to broad party policiesand programs, we nonetheless call upon Members of Congress to:
Secrecy. Public business should be transacted publicly, except when nationalsecurity might be jeopardized.
To combat secrecy in government, we call on the Democratic Members ofCongress and state legislatures to:
We also call on the Democratic Members of the House of Representativesto take action through their caucuses to end the "closed rule,"which is used to prevent amendments and votes on vital tax matters and otherimportant issues, and we call on the Democratic Members of the Senate toliberalize the cloture rule, which is used to prevent votes in that body,so that after full and extensive debate majority rule can prevail.
Administrative Agencies. There is, among more and more citizens, a growingrevolt against large, remote and impersonal governmental agencies that arenot responsive to human needs. We pledge to build a representative processinto the Executive Branch, so that individuals affected by agency programscan be involved in formulating, implementing and revising them. This requiresa basic restructuring of procedures -- public hearings before guidelinesand regulations are handed down, the processing of citizen complaints, thegranting of citizen standing and the recovery of litigation fees for thosewho win suits against the government.
We recommend these specific changes in the rule-making and adjudicationprocess of the federal government:
In addition, we must more effectively protect consumer rights beforethe government. The consumer must be made an integral part of any relationshipbetween government and institutions (public or private) at every level ofproceedings whether formal or informal.
A Democratic Administration would instruct all federal agencies to identifyAmerican Indians, Asian Americans and Spanish-speaking Americans in separatecategories in all statistical data that note racial or ethnic heritage.Only in this way can these Americans be assured their rights under federalprograms.
Finally, in appropriate geographical areas, agencies of the federal governmentshould be equipped to conduct business in such a fashion that Spanish-speakingcitizens should not be hampered by language difficulties.
Conflict of Interest. The public interest must not be sacrificed to personalgain. Therefore, we call for legislation requiring full disclosure of thefinancial interests of Members of Congress and their staffs and high officialsof the Executive Branch and independent agencies. Disclosure should includebusiness directorships held and associations with individuals or firms lobbyingor doing business with the government.
Congress should forbid its members to engage in the practice of law orto retain association with a law firm while in office. Legislators servingon a committee whose jurisdiction includes matters in which they have afinancial interest should divest themselves of the interest or resign fromthe committee.
Campaign Finance. A total overhaul of the present system of financingelections is a national necessity. Candidates should not be dependent onlarge contributions who seek preferential treatment. We call for Congressionalaction to provide for public financing of most election costs by 1974. Werecommend a statutory ceiling on political gifts at a reasonable limit.Publicly opined communications facilities such as television, radio andthe postal service should be made available, but on a limited basis, tocandidates for federal office.
Regulation of Lobbyists. We also call upon Congress to enact rigorouslobbying disclosure legislation, to replace the present shockingly ineffectivelaw. There should be full disclosure of all organized lobbying ‹ includingnames of lobbyists, identity of the source of funds, total receipts andexpenditures, the nature of the lobbying operation and specific target issuesor bills. Reports should be filed at least quarterly, with criminal penaltiesfor late filing. Lobbying regulations should cover attempts to influenceboth legislative and Executive Branch decisions. The legislation shouldspecifically cover lobbying appeals in subscription publications.
As a safeguard, we urge the availability of subpoena and cease-and-desistpowers to enforce these conflict of interest, campaign financing and lobbyingdisclosure laws. We also affirm the citizens' right to seek enforcementthrough the courts, should public officials fail in enforcement.
Taking Part in the Political Process. The Presidential primary systemtoday is an unacceptable patchwork. The Democratic Party supports federallaws that will embody the following principles:
We also call for full and uniform enforcement of the Voting Rights Actof 1965. But further steps are needed to end all banners to participationin the political process:
These changes in themselves will not solve the problems of governmentfor all time. As our society changes, so must the ways we use to make governmentmore responsive to the people. Our challenge, today, as always, is to ensurethat politics and institutions belong in spirit and in practice to all thepeople of our nation. In 1972, Americans are deciding that they want theircountry back again.