1976 Democratic Party Platform
(21,321 words, 65 pages)
PREAMBLE
We meet to adopt a Democratic platform, and to nominate Democratic candidatesfor President and Vice President of the United States, almost 200 yearsfrom the day that our revolutionary founders declared this country's independencefrom the British crown.
The founder of the Democratic Party, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia ‹set forth the reasons for this separation and expressed the basic tenetsof democratic government: That all persons are created equal, that theyare endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that amongthese are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness ‹ That to securethese rights, Governments are instituted among People, deriving their justpowers from the consent of the governed.
These truths may still be self-evident, but they have been tragicallyabused by our national government during the past eight years.
Two Republican Administrations have both misused and mismanaged the powersof national government, obstructing the pursuit of economic and social opportunity,causing needless hardship and despair among millions of our fellow citizens.
Two Republican Administrations have betrayed the people's trust and havecreated suspicion and distrust of government through illegal and unconstitutionalactions.
We acknowledge that no political party, nor any President or Vice President,possesses answers to all of the problems that face us as a nation, but neitherdo we concede that every human problem is beyond our control. We recognizefurther that the present distrust of government cannot be transformed easilyinto confidence.
It is within our power to recapture, in this governing of this nation,the basic tenets of fairness, equality, opportunity and rule of law thatmotivated our revolutionary founders.
We do pledge a government that has as its guiding concern, the needsand aspirations of all the people, rather than the perquisites and specialprivilege of the few.
We do pledge a government that is not afraid to admit its mistakes.
We do pledge a government that will be committed to a fairer distributionof wealth, income and power.
We do pledge a government in which the new Democratic President willwork closely with the leaders of the Congress on a regular, systematic basisso that the people can see the results of unity.
We do pledge a government in which the Democratic members in both housesof Congress will seek a unity of purpose on the principles of the party.
Now, as we enter our 200th year as a nation, we as a party, with a senseof our own limitations, but also with a sense of our obligations, pledgea reaffirmation of this nation's founding principles.
In this platform of the Democratic Party, we present a clear alternativeto the failures of preceding administrations and a projection of the commonfuture to which we aspire: a world at peace; a just society of equals; asociety without violence; a society in consonance with its natural environment,affording freedom to the individual and the opportunity to develop to thefullest human potential.
I. Full Employment, Price Stability and Balanced Growth
The Democratic Party's concern for human dignity and freedom has beendirected at increasing the economic opportunities for all our citizens andreducing the economic deprivation and inequities that have stained the recordof American democracy.
Today, millions of people are unemployed. Unemployment represents mentalanxiety, fear of harassment over unpaid bills, idle hours, loss of self-esteem,strained family relationships, deprivation of children and youth, alcoholism,drug abuse and crime. A job is a key measure of a person's place in society‹ whether as a full-fledged participant or on the outside. Jobs arethe solution to poverty, hunger and other basic needs of workers and theirfamilies. Jobs enable a person to translate legal rights of equality intoreality.
Our industrial capacity is also wastefully underutilized. There are housesto build, urban centers to rebuild, roads and railroads to construct andrepair, rivers to clean, and new sources of energy to develop. Somethingis wrong when there is work to be done, and the people who are willing todo it are without jobs. What we have lacked is leadership.
Republican Mismanagement
During the past 25 years, the American economy has suffered five majorrecessions, all under Republican administrations. During the past eightyears, we have had two costly recessions with continuing unprecedented peacetimeinflation. "Stagflation" has become a new word in our languagejust as it has become a product of Republican economic policy. Never beforehave we had soaring inflation in the midst of a major recession.
Stagnation, waste and human suffering are the legacy left to the Americanpeople by Republican economic policies. During the past five years, U.S.economic growth has averaged only 1 1/2 per cent per year compared withan historical average of about 4 per cent. Because of this shortfall, thenation has lost some $500-billion in the production of goods and services,and, if Republican rule continues, we can expect to lose another $600-$800-billionby 1980.
Ten million people are unemployed right now, and twenty to thirty millionwere jobless at some time in each of the last two years. For major groupsin the labor force ‹ minorities, women, youth, older workers, farm,factory and construction workers ‹ unemployment has been, and remains,at depression levels.
The rising cost of food, clothing, housing, energy and health care haseroded the income of the average American family, and has pushed personson fixed incomes to the brink of economic disaster. Since 1970, the annualrate of inflation has averaged more than 6 per cent and is projected bythe Ford administration to continue at an unprecedented peacetime rate of6 to 7 per cent until 1978.
The depressed production and high unemployment rates of the Nixon-Fordadministrations have produced federal deficits totalling $242-billion. Thosewho should be working and paying taxes are collecting unemployment compensationor other welfare payments in order to survive. For every one per cent increasein the unemployment rate ‹ for every one million Americans out of work‹ we all pay $3-billion more in unemployment compensation and $2-billionin welfare and related costs, and lose $14-billion in taxes. In fiscal 1976,$76-billion was lost to the federal government through increased recession-relatedexpenditures and lost revenues. In addition, state and local governmentslost $27-billion in revenues. A return to full employment will eliminatesuch deficits. With prudent management of existing programs, full employmentrevenues will permit the financing of national Democratic initiatives.
For millions of Americans, the Republican Party has substituted welfarefor work. Huge sums will be spent on food stamps and medical care for familiesof the unemployed. Social insurance costs are greatly increased. This yearalone the federal government will spend nearly $20-billion on unemploymentcompensation. In contrast, spending on job development is only $2 1/2-billion.The goal of the new Democratic administration will be to turn unemploymentchecks into pay checks.
What Democrats Can Achieve
In contrast to the record of Republican mismanagement, the most recenteight years of Democratic leadership, under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.Johnson, produced economic growth that was virtually uninterrupted. Theunemployment rate dropped from 6.7 per cent in 1961 to 3.6 per cent in 1968,and most segments of the population benefited. Inflation increased at anaverage annual rate of only 2 per cent, and the purchasing power of theaverage family steadily increased. In 1960, about 40 million people wereliving in poverty. Over the next eight years, 14 1/2 million people movedout of poverty because of training opportunities, increased jobs and higherincomes. Since 1968, the number of persons living in poverty has remainedvirtually unchanged.
We have met the goals of full employment with stable prices in the pastand can do it again. The Democratic Party is committed to the right of alladult Americans willing, able and seeking work to have opportunities foruseful jobs at living wages. To make that commitment meaningful, we pledgeourselves to the support of legislation that will make every responsibleeffort to reduce adult unemployment to 3 per cent within 4 years.
Modernizing Economic Policy
To meet our goals we must set annual targets for employment, productionand price stability; the Federal Reserve must be made a full partner innational economic decisions and become responsive to the economic goalsof Congress and the President, credit must be generally available at reasonableinterest rates; tax, spending and credit policies must be carefully coordinatedwith our economic goals, and coordinated within the framework of nationaleconomic planning.
Of special importance is the need for national economic planning capability.This planning capability should provide roles for Congress and the Executiveas equal partners in the process and provide for full participation by theprivate sector, and state and local government. Government must plan aheadjust like any business, and this type of planning can be implemented withoutthe creation of a new bureaucracy but rather through the well defined useof existing bodies and techniques. If we do not plan, but continue to reactto crisis after crisis, our economic performance will be further eroded.
Full Employment Policies
Institutional reforms and the use of conventional tax, spending and creditpolicies must be accompanied by a broad range of carefully-targeted employmentprograms that will reduce unemployment in the private sector, and in regions,states and groups that have special employment problems.
The lack of formal coordination among federal, state and local governmentsis a major obstacle to full employment. The absence of economic policy coordinationis particularly visible during times of high unemployment. Recessions reducetax revenues, and increase unemployment-related expenditures for state andlocal governments. To maintain balanced budgets or reduce budget deficitsthese governments are forced to increase taxes and cut services‹actionsthat directly undermine federal efforts to stimulate the economy.
Consistent and coherent economic policy requires federal anti-recessiongrant programs to state and local government, accompanied by public employment,public works projects and direct stimulus to the private sector. In eachcase, the programs should be phased in automatically when unemployment risesand phased out as it declines.
Even during periods of normal economic growth there are communities andregions of the country ‹ particularly central cities and rural areas‹ that do not fully participate in national economic prosperity. TheDemocratic Party has supported national economic policies which have consciouslysought to aid regions in the nation which have been afflicted with poverty,or newer regions which have needed resources for development. These policieswere soundly conceived and have been successful. Today, we have differentareas and regions in economic decline and once again face a problem of balancedeconomic growth. To restore balance, national economic policy should bedesigned to target federal resources in areas of greatest need. To makelow interest loans to businesses and state and local governments for thepurpose of encouraging private sector investment in chronically depressedareas, we endorse consideration of programs such as a domestic developmentbank or federally insured taxable state and local bonds with adequate funding,proper management and public disclosure.
Special problems faced by young people, especially minorities, enteringthe labor force persist regardless of the state of the economy. To meetthe needs of youth, we should consolidate existing youth employment programs;improve training, apprenticeship, internship and job-counseling programsat the high school and college levels; and permit youth participation inpublic employment projects.
There are people who will be especially difficult to employ. Specialmeans for training and locating jobs for these people in the private sector,and, to the extent required, in public employment, should be established.Every effort should be made to create jobs in the private sector. Clearly,useful public jobs are far superior to welfare and unemployment payments.The federal government has the responsibility to ensure that all Americansable, willing and seeking work are provided opportunities for useful jobs.
Equal Employment Opportunity
We must be absolutely certain that no person is excluded from the fullestopportunity for economic and social participation in our society on thebasis of sex, age, color religion or national origin. Minority unemploymenthas historically been at least double the aggregate unemployment rate, withincomes at two-thirds the national average. Special emphasis must be placedon closing this gap.
Accordingly, we reaffirm this Party's commitment to full and vigorousenforcement of all equal opportunities laws and affirmative action. Theprincipal agencies charged with anti-discrimination enforcement in jobs‹ the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor,and the Justice Department ‹ are locked into such overlapping and uncoordinatedstrategies that a greatly improved government-wide system for the deliveryof equal job and promotion opportunities must be developed and adequatefunding committed to that end. New remedies to provide equal opportunitiesneed exploration.
Anti-Inflation Policies
The economic and social costs of inflation have been enormous. Inflationis a tax that erodes the income of our workers, distorts business investmentdecisions, and redistributes income in favor of the rich Americans on fixedincomes, such as the elderly, are often pushed into poverty by this crueltax.
The Ford administration and its economic advisors have been consistentlywrong about the sources and cures of the inflation that has plagued ournation and our people. Fighting inflation by curtailing production and increasingunemployment has done nothing to restrain it. With the current high levelof unemployment and low level of capacity utilization, we can increase productionand employment without rekindling inflation.
A comprehensive anti-inflation policy; must be established to assurerelative price stability. Such a program should emphasize increased productionand productivity and should take other measures to enhance the stabilityand flexibility of our economy.
The see-saw progress of our economy over the past eight years has disruptedeconomic growth. Much of the instability has been created by stop-and-gomonetary policies. High interest rates and the recurring underutilizationof our manufacturing plant and equipment have retarded new investment. Thehigh cost of credit has stifled small business and virtually halted thehousing industry. Unemployment in the construction industry has been raisedto depression levels and home ownership has been priced beyond the reachof the majority of our people.
Stable economic growth with moderate interest rates will not only placedownward pressure on prices through greater efficiency and productivity,but will reduce the prospects for future shortages of supply by increasingthe production of essential goods and services and by providing a more predictableenvironment for business investment.
The government must also work to improve the ability of our economy torespond to change Competition in the private sector a reexamination, reformand consolidation of the existing regulatory structure. and promotion ofa freer but fair system of international trade will aid in achieving thatgoal.
At times. direct government involvement in wage and price decisions maybe required to ensure price stability. But we do not believe that such involvementrequires a comprehensive system of mandatory controls at this time. It willrequire that business and labor must meet fair standards of wage and pricechange. A strong domestic council on price and wage stability should heestablished with particular attention to restraining price increases inthose sectors of our economy where prices are "administered" andwhere price competition does not exist.
The federal government should hold public hearings. investigate and publishfacts an price, profit, wage and interest rate increases that seriouslythreaten national price stability. Such investigations and proper planningcan focus public opinion and awareness on the direction of price, profit,wage and interest rate decisions.
Finally, tax policy should be used if necessary to maintain the realincome of workers as was done with the 1975 tax cut.
Economic Justice
The Democratic Party has a long history of opposition to the undue concentrationof wealth and economic power. It is estimated that about three-quartersof the country's total wealth is owned by one-fifth of the people. The restof our population struggles to make ends meet in the face of rising pricesand taxes.
Anti-Trust Enforcement
The next Democratic administration will commit itself to move vigorouslyagainst anti-competitive concentration of power within the business sector.This can he accomplished in part by strengthening the anti-trust laws andinsuring adequate commitment and resources for the enforcement of theselaws. But we must go beyond this negative remedy to a positive policy forencouraging the development of small business including the family farm.
Small Businesses
A healthy and growing small business community is a prerequisite forincreasing competition and a thriving national economy While most peoplewould accept this view, the federal government has in the past impeded thegrowth of small business.
To alleviate the unfavorable conditions for small business, we must makeevery effort to assure the availability of loans to small business, includingdirect government loans at reasonable interest rates, particularly to thosein greatest need, such as minority-owned businesses. For example, effortsshould be made to strengthen minority business programs, and increase minorityopportunities for business ownership. We support similar programs and opportunitiesfor women. Federal contract and procurement opportunities in such areasas housing, transportation and energy should support efforts to increasethe volume of minority and small business involvement. Regulatory agenciesand the regulated small business must work together to see that federalregulations are met, without applying a stranglehold on the small firm orfarm and with less paperwork and red tape.
Tax Reform
Economic justice will also require a firm commitment to tax reform atall levels. In recent years there has been a shift in the tax burden fromthe rich to the working people of this country. The Internal Revenue Codeoffers massive tax welfare to the wealthiest income groups in the populationand only higher taxes for the average citizen. In 1973, there were 622 peoplewith adjusted income of $100.000 or more who still managed to pay no tax.Most families pay between 20 and 25 per cent of their incomes in taxes.
We have had endless talk about the need for tax reform and fairness inour federal tax system. It is now time for action.
We pledge the Democratic Party to a complete overhaul of the presenttax system, which will review all special tax provisions to ensure thatthey are justified and distributed equitably among our citizens. A responsibleDemocratic tax reform program could save over $5-billion in the first yearwith larger savings in the future.
We will strengthen the internal revenue tax code so that high incomecitizens pay a reasonable tax on all economic income.
We will reduce the use of unjustified tax shelters in such areas as oiland gas, taxloss farming, real estate, and movies.
We will eliminate unnecessary and ineffective tax provisions to businessand substituting effective incentives to encourage small business and capitalformation in all businesses. Our commitment to full employment and sustainedpurchasing power will also provide a strong incentive for capital formation.
We will end abuses in the tax treatment of income from foreign sources;such as special tax treatment and incentives for multinational corporationsthat drain jobs and capital from the American economy.
We will overhaul federal estate and gift taxes to provide an effectiveand equitable structure to promote tax justice and alleviate some of thelegitimate problems faced by farmers, small business men and women and otherswho would otherwise be forced to liquidate assets in order to pay the tax.
We will seek and eliminate provisions that encourage uneconomic corporatemergers and acquisitions.
We will eliminate tax inequities that adversely affect individuals onthe basis of sex or marital status.
We will curb expense account deductions.
And we will protect the rights of all taxpayers against oppressive proceduresharassment and invasions of privacy by the Internal Revenue Service.
At present, many federal government tax and expenditure programs havea profound but unintended and undesirable impact on jobs and on where peopleand business locate. Tax policies and other indirect subsidies have promoteddeterioration of cities and regions. These policies should be reversed.
There are other areas of taxation where change is also needed. The Fordadministration's unwise and unfair proposal to raise the regressive socialsecurity tax gives new urgency to the Democratic Party's goal of redistributingthe burden of the social security tax by raising the wage base for earningssubject to the tax with effective exemptions and deductions to ease theimpact on low income workers and two-earner families. Further revision inthe Social Security program will be required so that women are treated asindividuals.
The Democratic Party should make a reappraisal of the appropriate sourcesof federal revenues. The historical distribution of the tax burden betweencorporations and individuals, and among the various types of federal taxes,has changed dramatically in recent years. For example, the corporate taxshare of federal revenue has declined from 30 per cent in 1954 to 14 percent in 1975.
Labor Standards and Rights
The purpose of fair labor standards legislation has been the maintenanceof the minimum standards necessary for the health, efficiency and generalwell-being of workers. Recent inflation has eroded the real value of thecurrent minimum wage. This rapid devaluation of basic income for workingpeople makes a periodic review of the level of the minimum wage essential.Such a review should insure that the minimum wage rate at least keep pacewith the increase in the cost of living.
Raising the pay standard for overtime work, additional hiring of part-timepersons and flexible work schedules will increase the independence of workersand create additional job opportunities, especially for women. We also supportthe principle of equal pay for comparable work.
We are committed to full implementation and enforcement of the EqualCredit Opportunity Act.
Over a generation ago this nation established a labor policy whose purposeis to encourage the practice and procedure of collective bargaining andthe right of workers to organize to obtain this goal. The Democratic Partyis committed to extending the benefit of the policy to all workers and toremoving the barriers to its administration. We support the right of publicemployees and agricultural workers to organize and bargain collectively.We urge the adoption of appropriate federal legislation to ensure this goal.
We will seek to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to speed up redressof grievances of workers asserting their legal rights.
We will seek to enforce and, where necessary, to amend the National LaborRelations Act to eliminate delays and inequities and to provide for moreeffective remedies and administration.
We will support the full right of construction workers to picket a jobsite peacefully.
We will seek repeal of Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act which allowsstates to legislate the anti-union open shop.
We will maintain strong support for the process of voluntary arbitration,and we will enact minimum federal standards for workers compensation lawsand for eligibility, benefit amounts, benefit duration and other essentialfeatures of the unemployment insurance program. Unemployment insurance shouldcover all wage and salary workers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 should cover all employeesand be enforced as intended when the law was enacted. Early and periodicreview of its provisions should be made to insure that they are reasonableand workable.
The Democratic Party will also seek to enact a comprehensive mine safetylaw, utilizing the most effective and independent enforcement by the federalgovernment and support special legislation providing adequate compensationto coal miners and their dependents who have suffered disablement or deathas a result of the black lung disease.
We believe these policies will put America back to work, bring balancedgrowth to our economy and give all Americans an opportunity to share inthe expanding prosperity that will come from a new Democratic administration.
II. Government Reform and Business Accountability
The current Republican administration did not invent inept government,but it has saddled the country with ineffective government; captive government,subservient to the special pleading of private economic interests; insensitivegovernment, trampling over the rights of average citizens; and remote government,secretive and unresponsive.
Democrats believe that the cure for these ills is not the abandonmentof governmental responsibility for addressing national problems, but therestoration of legitimate popular control over the organs and activitiesof government.
There must be an ever-increasing accountability of government to thepeople. The Democratic Party is pledged to the fulfillment of four fundamentalcitizen rights of governance: the right to competent government; the rightto responsive government; the right to integrity in government; the rightto fair dealing by government .
The Right to Competent Government
The Democratic Party is committed to the adoption of reforms such aszero-based budgeting, mandatory reorganization timetables, and sunset lawswhich do not jeopardize the implementation of basic human and politicalrights. These reforms are designed to terminate or merge existing agenciesand programs, or to renew them only after assuring elimination of duplication,overlap, and conflicting programs and authorities, and the matching of fundinglevels to public needs. In addition, we seek flexibility to reflect changingpublic needs, the use of alternatives to regulation and the eliminationof special interest favoritism and bias.
To assure that government remains responsive to the people's electedrepresentatives, the Democratic Party supports stepped-up congressionalagency oversight and program evaluation, including full implementation ofthe congressional budget process; an expanded. more forceful role for theGeneral Accounting Office in performing legislative audits for Congress;and restraint by the President in exercising executive privilege designedto withhold necessary information from Congress.
The Right to Responsive Government
To begin to restore the shaken faith of Americans that the governmentin Washington is their government ‹ responsive to their needs and desires,not the special interests of wealth, entrenched political influence, orbureaucratic self-interest ‹ government decision-making must be openedup to citizen advocacy and participation.
Governmental decision-making behind closed doors is the natural enemyof the people. The Democratic Party is committed to openness throughoutgovernment: at regulatory commissions, advisory committee meetings and athearings. Public calendars of scheduled meetings between regulators andthe regulated, and freedom of information policies, should be designed tofacilitate rather than frustrate citizen access to documents and information.
All persons and citizen groups must be given standing to challenge illegalor unconstitutional government action in court and to compel appropriateaction. Where a court or an agency finds evidence of government malfeasanceor neglect those who brought forward such evidence should be compensatedfor their reasonable expenses in doing so.
Democrats have long sought ‹ against fierce Republican and big businessopposition ‹ the creation and maintenance of an independent consumeragency with the staff and power to intervene in regulatory matters on behalfof the consuming and using public. Many states have already demonstratedthat such independent public or consumer advocates can win important victoriesfor the public interest in proceedings before state regulatory agenciesand courts.
This nation's Civil Service numbers countless strong and effective publicservants. It was the resistance of earnest and steadfast federal workersthat stemmed the Nixon-Ford efforts to undermine the integrity of the CivilService. The reorganization of government which we envision will protectthe job rights of civil servants and permit them to more effectively servethe public.
The Democratic Party is committed to the review and overhaul of CivilService laws to assure: insulation from political cronyism, accountabilityfor nonfeasance as well as malfeasance, protection for the public servantwho speaks out to identify corruption or failure, performance standardsand incentives to reward efficiency and innovation and to assure non. discriminationand affirmative action in the recruitment, hiring and promotion of civilservice employees. :
We support the revision of the Hatch Act so as to extend to federal workersthe same political rights enjoyed by other Americans as a birthright, whilestill protecting the Civil Service from political abuse.
The Right to Integrity in Government
The Democratic Party is pledged to the concept of full public disclosureby major public officials and urges appropriate legislation to effectuatethis policy.
We support divestiture of all financial holdings which directly conflictwith official responsibilities and the development of uniform standards,review procedures and sanctions to identify and eliminate potential conflictsof interest.
Tough, competent regulatory commissioners with proven commitment to thepublic interest are urgently needed.
We will seek restrictions on "revolving door" careerism ‹the shuttling back and forth of officials between jobs in regulatory orprocurement agencies and in regulated industries and government contractors.
All diplomats, federal judges and other major officials should be selectedon a basis of qualifications. At all levels of government services, we willrecruit, appoint and promote women and minorities.
We support legislation to ensure that the activities of lobbyists bemore thoroughly revealed both within the Congress and the Executive agencies.
The Democratic Party has led the fight to take the presidency off theauction block by championing the public financing of presidential elections.The public has responded with enthusiastic use of the $1 income tax checkoff.Similar steps must now he taken for congressional candidates. We call forlegislative action to provide for partial public financing on a matchingbasis of the congressional elections, and the exploration of further reformsto insure the integrity of the electoral process.
The Right to Fair Dealing by Government
A citizen has the right to expect fair treatment from government Democratsare determined to find a means to make that right a reality.
An Office of Citizen Advocacy should be established as part of the executivebranch independent of any agency, with full access to agency records andwith both the power and the responsibility to investigate complaints.
Freedom of information requirements must he interpreted in keeping withthe right at the individual to be free from anonymous accusation or slander.Each citizen has the right to know and to review any information directlyconcerning him or her held by the government for any purpose whatsoeverunder the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974, otherthan those exceptions set out in the Freedom of Information Act. Such informationshould be forthcoming promptly, without harassment and at a minimal costto the citizen.
Appropriate remedies must be found for citizens who suffer hardship asthe result of abuse of investigative or prosecutorial powers.
Business Accountability
The Democratic Party believes that competition is preferable to regulationand that government has a responsibility to seek the removal of unreasonablerestraints and barriers to competition. to restore and. where necessary,to stimulate the operation of market forces. Unnecessary regulations shouldhe eliminated or revised. and the burden at excessive paperwork and redtape imposed on citizens and businesses should be removed.
The Democratic Party encourages innovation and efficiency in the privatesector.
The Democratic Party also believes that strengthening consumer sovereignty‹ the ability of consumers to exercise free choice, to demand satisfaction,and to obtain direct redress of grievances ‹ is similarly preferableto the present indirect government protection of consumers. However, governmentmust not shark its responsibility to impose and rigorously enforce regulationwhere necessary to ensure health, safety and fairness. We reiterate oursupport for unflinching antitrust enforcement. and for the selection ofan Attorney General free of political obligation and committed to rigorousantitrust prosecution.
We shall encourage consumer groups to establish and operate consumercooperatives that will enable consumers to provide themselves marketplacealternatives and to provide a competitive spur to profit-oriented enterprises.
We support responsible cost saving in the delivery of professional servicesincluding the use of low-cost paraprofessionals, efficient group practiceand federal standards for state no-fault insurance programs.
We reiterate our support for full funding of neighborhood legal servicesfor the poor.
The Democratic Party is also committed to strengthening the knowledgeand bargaining power of consumers through government-supported systems fordeveloping objective product performance standards; advertising and labelingrequirements for the disclosure of essential consumer information; and efficientand low-cost redress of consumer complaints including strengthened smallclaims courts, informal dispute settlement mechanisms, and consumer classactions.
The Democratic Party is committed to making the U.S. Postal Service functionproperly as an essential public service.
We reaffirm the historic Democratic commitment to assure the wholesomenessof consumer products such as food, chemicals, drugs and cosmetics, and thesafety of automobiles, toys and appliances. Regulations demanding safe performancecan be developed in a way that minimizes their own costs and actually stimulatesproduct innovation beneficial to consumers.
III. Government and Human Needs
The American people are demanding that their national government actmore efficiently and effectively in those areas of urgent human needs suchas welfare reform, health care and education.
However, beyond these strong national initiatives, state and local governmentsmust be given an increased, permanent role in administering social programs.The federal government's role should be the constructive one of establishingstandards and goals with increased state and local participation. Thereis a need for a new blueprint for the public sector, one which identifiesand responds to national problems, and recognizes the proper point of administrationfor both new and existing programs. In shifting administrative responsibility,such programs must meet minimum federal standards.
Government must concentrate, not scatter, its resources. It should notdivide our people by inadequate and demeaning programs. The initiativeswe propose do not require larger bureaucracy. They do require committedgovernment.
The Democratic Party realizes that accomplishing our goals in the areasof human needs will require time and resources. Additional resources willbecome available as we implement our full-employment policies. Federal revenuesalso grow over time. After full-employment has been achieved, $20-billionof increased revenue will be generated by a fully operating economy eachyear. The program detailed in the areas of human needs cannot be accomplishedimmediately, but an orderly beginning can be made and the effort expandedas additional resources become available.
Health Care
In 1975, national health expenditures averaged $547 per person ‹an almost 40 per cent increase in four years. Inflation and recession havecombined to erode the effectiveness of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
An increasingly high proportion of health costs have been shifted backto the elderly. An increasing Republican emphasis on restricting eligibilityand services is emasculating basic medical care for older citizens who cannotmeet the rising costs of good health.
We need a comprehensive national health insurance system with universaland mandatory coverage. Such a national health insurance system should befinanced by a combination of employer-employee shared payroll taxes andgeneral tax revenues. Consideration should be given to developing a meansof support for national health insurance that taxes all forms of economicincome. We must achieve all that is practical while we strive for what isideal, taking intelligent steps to make adequate health services a rightfor all our people. As resources permit, this system should not discriminateagainst the mentally ill.
Maximum personal interrelationships between patients and their physiciansshould be preserved. We should experiment with new forms of medical caredelivery to mold a national health policy that will meet our needs in afiscally responsible manner.
We must shift our emphasis in both private and public health care awayfrom hospitalization and acute-care services to preventive medicine andthe early detection of the major cripplers and killers of the American people.We further support increased federal aid to government laboratories as wellas private institutions to seek the cure to heart disease, cancer, sicklecell anemia, paralysis from spinal cord injury, drug addiction and othersuch inflictions.
National health insurance must also bring about a more responsive consumeroriented system of health care delivery. Incentives must be used to increasethe number of primary health care providers, and shift emphasis away fromlimited-application, technology- intensive programs. By reducing the barriersto primary preventive care, we can lower the need for costly hospitalization.Communities must be encouraged to avoid duplication of expensive technologiesand meet the genuine needs of their populations. The development of communityhealth centers must be resumed. We must develop new health careers, andpromote a better distribution of health care professionals, including themore efficient use of paramedics. All levels of government should concernthemselves with increasing the number of doctors and paramedical personnelin the field of primary health care.
A further need is the comprehensive treatment of mental illness, includingthe development of Community Mental Health Centers that provide comprehensivesocial services not only to alleviate, but to prevent mental stresses resultingfrom social isolation and economic dislocation. Of particular importanceis improved access to the health care system by underserved population groups.
We must have national health insurance with strong built-in cost andquality controls. Rates for institutional care and physicians' servicesshould be set in advance, prospectively. Alternative approaches to healthcare delivery, based on prepayment financing, should be encouraged and developed.
Americans are currently spending $133-billion for health care ‹8.3% of our Gross National Product. A return to full employment and themaintenance thereafter of stable economic growth will permit the orderlyand progressive development of a comprehensive national health insuranceprogram which is federally financed. Savings will result from the removalof inefficiency and waste in the current multiple public and private insuranceprograms and the structural integration of the delivery system to eliminateduplication and waste The cost of such a program need not exceed the shareof the GNP this nation currently expends on health care; but the resultingimprovement of health service would represent a major improvement in thequality of life enjoyed by Americans at all economic levels.
Welfare Reform
Fundamental welfare reform is necessary. The problems with our currentchaotic and inequitable system of public assistance are notorious, Existingwelfare programs encourage family instability. They have few meaningfulwork incentives. They do little or nothing for the working poor on substandardincomes, The patchwork of federal, state and local programs encourages unfairvariations in benefit levels among the states, and benefits in many statesare well below the standards for even lowest-income budgets.
Of the current programs, only Food Stamps give universal coverage toall Americans in financial need. Cash assistance, housing aid and healthcare subsidies divide recipients into arbitrary categories. People withreal needs who do not fit existing categories are ignored altogether.
The current complexity of the welfare structure requires armies of bureaucratsat all levels of government. Food Stamps, Aid to Families with DependentChildren, and Medicaid are burdened by unbelievably complex regulations,statutes and court orders. Both the recipients of these benefits, and thecitizen who pays for them, suffer as a result. The fact that our currentsystem is administered and funded at different levels of government makesit difficult to take initiatives to improve the status of the poor.
We should move toward replacement of our existing inadequate and wastefulsystem with a simplified system of income maintenance, substantially financedby the federal government, which includes a requirement that those ableto work be provided with appropriate available jobs or job training opportunities.Those persons who are physically able to work (other than mothers with dependentchildren) should be required to accept appropriate available jobs or jobtraining. This maintenance system should embody certain basic principles.First and most important, it should provide an income floor both for theworking poor and the poor not in the labor market. It must treat stableand broken families equally. It must incorporate a simple schedule of workincentives that guarantees equitable levels of assistance to the workingpoor. This reform may require an initial additional investment, but it offersthe prospect of stabilization of welfare costs over the long run, and theassurance that the objectives of this expenditure will be accomplished.
As an interim step, and as a means of providing immediate federal fiscalrelief to state and local governments, local governments should no longerbe required to bear the burden of welfare costs. Further, there should bea phased reduction in the states' share of welfare costs.
Civil and Political Rights
To achieve a just and healthy society and enhance respect and trust inour institutions, we must insure that all citizens are treated equally beforethe law and given the opportunity, regardless of race, color, sex, religion,age, language or national origin, to participate fully in the economic,social and political processes and to vindicate their legal and constitutionalrights.
In reaffirmation of this principle, an historic commitment of the DemocraticParty, we pledge vigorous federal programs and policies of compensatoryopportunity to remedy for many Americans the generations of injustice anddeprivation; and full funding of programs to secure the implementation andenforcement of civil rights.
We seek ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, to insure that sexdiscrimination in all its forms will be ended, implementation of Title IX,and elimination of discrimination against women in all federal programs.
We support the right of all Americans to vote for President no matterwhere they live; vigorous enforcement of voting rights legislation to assurethe constitutional rights of minority and language-minority citizens; thepassage of legislation providing for registration by mail in federal electionsto erase existing barriers to voter participation; and full home rule forthe District of Columbia, including authority over its budget and localrevenues, elimination of federal restrictions in matters which are purelylocal and voting representation in the Congress, and the declaration ofthe birthday of the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., asa national holiday.
We pledge effective and vigorous action to protect citizens privacy frombureaucratic and technological intrusions such as wiretapping and buggingwithout judicial scrutiny and supervision; and a full and complete pardonfor those who are in legal or financial jeopardy because of their peacefulopposition to the Vietnam War, with deserters to be considered on a case-by-casebasis.
We fully recognize the religious and ethical nature of the concerns whichmany Americans have on the subject of abortion. We feel, however, that itis undesirable to attempt to amend the U.S. Constitution to overturn theSupreme Court decision in this area.
The Democratic Party reaffirms and strengthens its legal and moral trustresponsibilities to the American Indian. We believe it is honorable to obeyand implement our treaty obligations to the first Americans. In dischargingour duty, we shall exert all and necessary assistance to afford the AmericanIndians the protection of their land, their water and their civil rights.
Federal laws relating to American Indians and the functions and purposesof the Bureau of Indian Affairs should be re-examined.
We support a provision in the immigration laws to facilitate acquisitionof citizenship by Resident Aliens.
We are committed to Puerto Rico's right to enjoy full self-determinationand a relationship that can evolve in ways that will most benefit U.S. citizensin Puerto Rico. The Democratic Party respects and supports the present desireof the people of Puerto Rico to freely associate in permanent union withthe United States, as an autonomous commonwealth or as a State.
Education
The goal of our educational policy is to provide our citizens with theknowledge and skills they need to live successfully. In pursuing this goal,we will seek adequate funding, implementation and enforcement of requirementsin the education programs already approved by Congress.
We should strengthen federal support of existing programs that stressimprovement of reading and math skills. Title I of the Elementary and SecondaryEducation Act must reach those it is intended to benefit to effectivelyincrease these primary skills "Break-throughs" in compensatoryeducation require a concentration of resources by each individual childand a mix of home and school activities that is not possible with the underfundedRepublican programs. Compensatory education is realistic only when thereis a stable sequence of funding that allows proper planning and continuityof programs, an impossibility under Republican veto and impoundment politics.
We should also work to expand federal support in areas of educationalneed that have not yet been addressed sufficiently by the public schools‹ education of the handicapped, bilingual education and vocationaleducation, and early childhood education. We propose federally financed,family-centered developmental and educational child care programs ‹operated by the public schools or other local organizations, including bothprivate and community ‹ and that they be available to all who needand desire them. We support efforts to provide for the basic nutritionalneeds of students.
We recognize the right of all citizens to education pursuant to TitleVI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the need in affected communitiesfor bilingual and bicultural educational programs. We call for compliancewith civil rights requirements in hiring and promotion in school systems.
For the disadvantaged child, equal opportunity requires concentratedspending. And for all children, we must guarantee that jurisdictions ofdiffering financial capacity can spend equal amounts on education. Thesegoals do not conflict but complement each other.
The principle that a child's education should depend on the propertywealth of his or her school jurisdiction has been discredited in the lastfew years. With increased federal funds, it is possible to enhance educationalopportunity by eliminating spending disparities within state borders. State-basedequalizations, even state takeover of education costs, to relieve the overburdenedproperty taxpayer and to avoid the inequities in the existing finance system,should be encouraged.
The essential purpose of school desegregation is to give all childrenthe same educational opportunities. Mite will continue to support that goal.The Supreme Court decision of 1954 and the aftermath were based on the recognitionthat separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, It is clearlyour responsibility as a party and as citizens to support the principlesof our Constitution.
The Democratic Party pledges its concerted help through special consultation,matching funds incentive grants and other mechanisms to communities whichseek education integrated both in terms of race and economic class, throughequitable, reasonable and constitutional arrangements. Mandatory transportationof students beyond their neighborhoods for the purpose of desegregationremains a judicial tool of last resort for the purpose of achieving schooldesegregation. The Democratic Party will be an active ally of those communitieswhich seek to enhance the quality as well as the integration of educationalopportunities. We encourage a variety of other measures including the redrawingof attendance lines, pairing of schools, use of the "magnet school"concept, strong fair housing enforcement, and other techniques for the achievementof racial and economic integration .
The Party reaffirms its support of public school education. The Partyalso renews its commitment to the support of a constitutionally acceptablemethod of providing tax aid for the education of all pupils in non-segregatedschools in order to insure parental freedom in choosing the best educationfor their children. Specifically, the Party will continue to advocate constitutionallypermissible federal education legislation which provides for the equitableparticipation in federal programs of all low and moderate income pupilsattending all the nation's schools.
The Party commits itself to support of adult education and training whichwill provide skills upgrading.
In higher education, our Party is strongly committed to extending post-secondaryopportunities for students from low and middle-income families, includingolder students and students who can attend only part-time. The Basic EducationalOpportunity Grants should be funded at the full payment schedule, and campus-basedprograms of aid must be supported to provide a reasonable choice of institutionsas well as access. With a coordinated and reliable system of grants, loansand work study, we can relieve the crisis in costs that could shut all butthe affluent out of our colleges and universities.
The federal government and the states must develop strategies to supportinstitutions of higher education from both public and private sources. Thefederal government should directly provide cost of education payments toall higher education institutions, including predominantly black colleges,to help cover per-student costs which far exceed those covered by tuitionand fees.
Finally, government must systematically support basic and applied researchin the liberal arts, the sciences, education and the professions ‹without political interference or bureaucratic restraint. The federal investmentin graduate education should be sustained and selectively increased to meetthe need for highly trained individuals. Trainee-ships and fellowships shouldbe provided to attract the most talented students, especially among minoritygroups and women .
Libraries should receive continuous and guaranteed support and the presentlyimpounded funds for nationwide library planning and development should bereleased immediately.
Social Services
The Nixon-Ford administration would limit eligibility for federally-subsidizedsocial services to the very poor. Social services can make significant changesin the lives of the non-poor, as well. The problems of alcoholism, drugabuse, mental retardation, child abuse or neglect, and mental illness ariseat every income level, and quality day-care has become increasingly urgentfor low- and middle-income families. Federal grants to the states shouldsupport a broad community-based program of social services to low- and middle-incomefamilies, to assure that these programs reach their intended populations.
The states are now being required to take over an increasing share ofexisting social service programs. In 1972, the ceiling for federal socialservice grants was frozen at $2.5-billion, and subsequent inflation of 28per cent has reduced the effective federal aid to existing programs. Whilethere must certainly be a ceiling on such grants it should be raised tocompensate for inflation and to encourage states and localities to expandsocial services to low- and moderate-income families.
Disabled Citizens
We support greater recognition of the problems of the disabled and legislationassuring that all people with disabilities have reasonable access to allpublic accommodations and facilities. The Democratic Party supports affirmativeaction goals for employment of the disabled.
Older citizens
The Democratic Party has always emphasized that adequate income and healthcare for senior citizens are basic federal government responsibilities.The recent failure of government to reduce unemployment and alleviate theimpact of the rising costs of food, housing and energy have placed a heavyburden on those who live on fixed and limited incomes, especially the elderly.Our other platform proposals in these areas are designed to help achievean adequate income level for the elderly.
We will not permit an erosion of social security benefits, and whileour ultimate goal is a health security system ensuring comprehensive andquality care for all Americans, health costs paid by senior citizens underthe present system must be reduced.
We believe that Medicare should be made available to Americans abroadwho are eligible for Social Security.
Democrats strongly support employment programs and the liberalizationof the allowable earnings limitation under Social Security for older Americanswho wish to continue working and living as productive citizens. We willput an end to delay in implementation of nutrition programs for the elderlyand give high priority to a transportation policy for senior citizens underthe Older Americans Act. We pledge to enforce vigorously health and safetystandards for nursing homes, and seek alternatives which allow senior citizenswhere possible to remain in their own homes.
Veterans
America's veterans have been rhetorically praised by the Nixon-Ford administrationat the same time that they have been denied adequate medical, education,pension and employment benefits.
Vietnam veterans have borne the brunt of unemployment and economic mismanagementat home. As late as December 1975, the unemployment rate for Vietnam veteranswas over 10 per cent. Younger Vietnam veterans (ages 20-24) have had unemploymentrates almost twice the rate of similarly-aged non-veterans. Job training,placement, and information and counseling programs for veterans are inadequate.
The Veterans Administration health care program requires adequate fundingand improved management and health care delivery in order to provide highquality service and effectively meet the changing needs of the patient population.
The next Democratic administration must act to rescue pensioner veteransbelow the poverty line. Thirty per cent of the veterans and 50 per centof the widows receiving pensions have total incomes below the poverty line.Cost of living increases should be automatic in the Veterans' pension anddisability system.
Educational assistance should be expanded two years for those veteransalready enrolled and drawing benefits in VA-approved educational and trainingprograms .
The Arts and Humanities
We recognize the essential role played by the arts and humanities inthe development of America. Our nation cannot afford to be materially richand spiritually poor. We endorse a strong role for the federal governmentin reinforcing the vitality and improving the economic strength of the nation'sartists and arts institutions, while recognizing that artists must be absolutelyfree of any government control. We would support the growth and developmentof the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities through adequatefunding, the development of special anti-recession employment programs forartists, copyright reforms to protect the rights of authors, artists andperformers, and revision of the tax laws that unfairly penalize artists.We further pledge our support for the concept and adequate financing ofpublic broadcasting.
IV. States, Counties and Cities
More than eight years ago, the Werner Commission on Civil Disorders concludedthat the disorders of the 1960s were caused by the deteriorating conditionsof life in our urban centers ‹ abject poverty, widespread unemployment,uninhabitable housing, declining services, rampant crime and disintegratingfamilies. Many of these same problems plagued rural America as well. Littlehas been done by the Republican administrations to deal with these fundamentalchallenges to our society. This policy of neglect gives the lie to the currentadministration's rhetorical commitment to state and local governments.
By tolerating intolerable unemployment, by vetoing programs for the poor,the old, and the ill, by abandoning the veterans and the young, and by withholdingnecessary funds for the decaying cities, the Nixon-Ford years have beenyears of retrogression in the nation's efforts to meet the needs of ourcities. By abdicating responsibility for meeting these needs at the nationallevel, the current administration has placed impossible burdens on fiscallyhard-pressed state and local governments. In turn, local governments havebeen forced to rely excessively on the steadily diminishing and regressiveproperty tax ‹ which was originally designed to cover property relatedservices and was never intended to support the services now required inmany of our cities and towns.
Federal policies and programs have inadvertently exacerbated the urbancrisis. Within the framework of a new partnership of federal, state andlocal governments, and the private sector, the Democratic Party is pledgedto the development of America's first national urban policy. Central tothe success of that policy are the Democratic Party's commitments to fullemployment, incentives for urban and rural economic development, welfarereform, adequate health care, equalization of education expenditures, energyconservation and environmental quality. If progress were made in these areas,much of the inappropriately placed fiscal burden would be removed, and localgovernments could better fulfill their appropriate responsibilities.
To assist further in relieving both the fiscal and service delivery problemsof states and local governments, the Democratic Party reaffirms its supportfor general revenue sharing as a base for the fiscal health of all levelsof government, acknowledging that the civil rights and citizens' participationprovisions must be strengthened. We further believe that there must be anincrease in the annual funding to compensate for the erosion of inflation.We believe the distribution formula should be adjusted to reflect bettercommunity and state needs, poverty levels, and tax effort.
Finally, to alleviate the financial burden placed on our cities by thecombination of inflation and recession, the Democratic Party restates itssupport for an emergency anti-recession aid to states and cities particularlyhard hit by recession.
Housing and Community Development
In the past eight Republican years, housing has become a necessity pricedas a luxury. Housing prices have nearly doubled in the past six years andhousing starts have dropped by almost one-quarter The effect is that overthree-fourths of American families cannot afford to buy an average-pricedhome. The basic national goal of providing decent housing and availableshelter has been sacrificed to misguided tax, spending and credit policieswhich were supposed to achieve price stability but have failed to meet thatgoal. As a result, we do not have decent housing or price stability. Thevision of the Housing Act of 1968, the result of three decades of enlightenedDemocratic housing policy, has been lost. The Democratic Party reassertsthese goals and pledges to achieve them.
The Democratic Party believes it is time for a housing and urban developpolicy which recognizes the needs and difficulties of both the buying andrenting public and the housing industry. We support a revitalized housingprogram which will be able to meet the public's need for housing at reasonablecost and the industry's need for relief from years of stagnation and now-chronicunemployment.
We support direct federal subsidies and low interest loans to encouragethe construction of low and moderate income housing. Such subsidies shallnot result in unreasonable profit for builders, developers or credit institutions.
We support the expansion of the highly successful programs of directfederal subsidies to provide housing for the elderly.
We call for greatly increased emphasis on the rehabilitation of existinghousing to rebuild our neighborhoods ‹ a priority which is undercutby the current pattern of federal housing money which includes actual prohibitionsto the use of funds for rehabilitation.
We encourage public and private commitments to the preservation and renovationof our country's historic landmarks so that they can continue as a vitalpart of our commercial and residential architectural heritage.
We will work to assure that credit institutions make greater effortsto direct mortgage money into the financing of private housing.
We will take all necessary steps to prohibit the practice of red-liningby private financial institutions, the FHA, and the secondary mortgage marketwhich have had the effect of depriving certain areas of the necessary mortgagefunds which they need to upgrade themselves. We will further encourage anincrease in loans and subsidies for housing and rehabilitation, especiallyin poverty stricken areas.
We support greater flexibility in the use of community development blockgrants at the local level.
The current Housing and Community Development Act should be reformedand. restructured so that its allocation, monitoring, and citizen participationfeatures better address the needs of local communities, major cities andunderdeveloped rural areas.
The revitalization of our cities must proceed with an understanding thathousing, jobs and related community facilities are all critical to a successfulprogram. The Democratic Party will create the necessary incentives to insurethat private and public jobs are available to meet the employment needsof these communities and pledges a more careful planning process for thelocation of the federal government's own employment-creation facilities.
The Democratic Party proposes a revitalization of the Federal HousingAdministration as a potent institution to stabilize new construction andexisting housing markets. To this end, the Agency's policies must be simplified,its operating practices and insurance rate structures modernized and thesense of public service which was the hallmark of the FHA for so many yearsmust be restored, In addition, we propose automatic triggering of directproduction subsidies and a steady flow of mortgage funds during periodswhen housing starts fall below acceptable levels.
Women, the elderly, single persons and minorities are still excludedfrom exercising their right to select shelter in the areas of their choice,and many "high-risk" communities are systematically denied accessto the capital they require. The Democratic Party pledges itself to theaggressive enforcement of the Fair Housing Act to the promotion and enforcementof equal opportunity in housing; and to the pursuit of new regulatory andincentive policies aimed at providing minority groups and women with equalaccess to mortgage credit.
In addition to direct attacks upon such known violations of the law,a comprehensive approach to these problems must include policies aimed atthe underlying causes of unequal credit allocations. The Democratic Partypledges itself to aggressive policies designed to assure lenders that theircommitments will be backed by government resources, so that investment riskswill be shared by the public and private sectors.
The Special Needs of Older Cities
The Democratic Party recognizes that a number of major, older cities‹ including the nation's largest city ‹ have been forced to undertakeeven greater social responsibilities, which have resulted in unprecedentedfiscal crises. There is a national interest in helping such cities in theirpresent travail, and a new Democratic President and the Congress shall undertakea massive effort to do so.
Law Enforcement and Law Observance
The total crime bill in the United States has been estimated at $90-billiona year, almost as much as the cost of our national defense. But over andabove the economic impact, the raging and unchecked growth of crime seriouslyimpairs the confidence of many of our citizens in their ability to walkon safe streets, to live securely in peaceful and happy homes, and to workSafely in their places of business. Fear mounts along with the crime rate.Homes are made into fortresses. In large sections of every major city, peopleare afraid to go out at night. Outside big cities, the crime rate is growingeven faster, so that suburbs, small towns and rural areas are no longersecure havens.
Defaulting on their "law and order" promises, the Republicansin the last eight years have let the rising tide of crime soil the highestlevels of government, allowed the crime rate to skyrocket and failed toreform the criminal justice system. Recognizing that law enforcement isessentially a local responsibility, we declare that control of crime isan urgent national priority and pledge the efforts of the Democratic Partyto insure that the federal government act effectively to reverse these trendsand to be an effective partner to the cities and states in a well-coordinatedwar on crime.
We must restore confidence in the criminal justice system by insuringthat detection, conviction and punishment of lawbreakers is swift and sure;that the criminal justice system is just and efficient that jobs, decenthousing and educational opportunities provide a real alternative to crimeto those who suffer enforced poverty and injustice. We pledge equally vigorousprosecution and punishment for corporate crime, consumer fraud and deception;programs to combat child abuse and crimes against the elderly; criminallaws that reflect national needs; application of the law with a balancedand fair hand; a judiciary that renders equal justice for all; criminalsentences that provide punishment that actually punishes and rehabilitationthat actually rehabilitates; and a correctional system emphasizing effectivejob training, educational and post-release programs. Only such measureswill restore the faith of the citizens in our criminal justice system.
Toward these ends, we support a major reform of the criminal justicesystem, but we oppose any legislative effort to introduce repressive andanti-civil libertarian measures in the guise of reform of the criminal code.
The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration has not done its job adequately.Federal funding for crime-fighting must be wholly revamped to more efficientlyassist local and state governments in strengthening their law enforcementand criminal justice systems, rather than spend money on the purchase ofexpensive equipment, much of it useless.
Citizen confidence in law enforcement can be enhanced through increasedcitizen participation, by informing citizens of police and prosecutor policies,assuring that police departments reflect a cross-section of the communitiesthey serve, establishing neighborhood forums to settle simple disputes,restoring the grand jury to fair and vigorous independence, establishingadequate victim compensation programs, and reaffirming our respect for theindividual's right to privacy.
Coordinated action is necessary to end the vicious cycle of drug addictionand crime. We must break up organized crime syndicates dealing in drugs,take necessary action to get drug pushers off the streets, provide drugusers with effective rehabilitation programs, including medical assistance,ensure that all young people are aware of the costs of a life of drug dependency,and use worldwide efforts to stop international production and traffickingin illicit drugs .
A Democratic Congress in 1974 passed the Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention Act to come to grips with the fact that juveniles account foralmost half of the serious crimes in the United States, and to remedy thefact that federal programs thus far have not met the crisis of juveniledelinquency. We pledge funding and implementation of this Act, which hasbeen ignored by the Republican Administration.
Handguns simplify and intensify violent crime. Ways must be found tocurtail the availability of these weapons. The Democratic Party must providethe leadership for a coordinated federal and state effort to strengthenthe presently inadequate controls over the manufacture, assembly, distributionand possession of handguns and to ban Saturday night specials.
Furthermore, since people and not guns commit crimes, we support mandatorysentencing for individuals convicted of committing a felony with a gun.
The Democratic Party, however, affirms the right of sportsmen to possessguns for purely hunting and target-shooting purposes.
The full implementation of these policies will not in themselves stoplawlessness. To insure professionally trained and equitably rewarded policeforces, law enforcement officers must be properly recruited and trained,and provided with decent wages, working conditions, support staff, and federaldeath benefits for those killed in line of duty.
Effective police forces cannot operate without just and speedy courtsystems. We must reform bail and pre-trial detention procedures. We mustassure speedy trials and ease court congestion by increasing the numberof judges, prosecutors and public defenders. We must improve and streamlinecourthouse management procedures, require criminal justice records to beaccurate and responsible, and establish fair and more uniform sentencingfor crimes.
Courts should give priority to crimes which are serious enough to deserveimprisonment. Law enforcement should emphasize the prosecution of crimesagainst persons and property as a higher priority than victimless crimes.Current rape laws need to be amended to abolish archaic evidence rules thatdiscriminate against rape victims.
We pledge that the Democratic Party will not tolerate abuses of governmentalprocesses and unconstitutional action by the government itself. Recognizingthe value of legitimate intelligence efforts to combat espionage and majorcrime, we call for new legislation to ensure that these efforts will nolonger be used as an excuse for abuses such as bugging, wiretaps, mail openingand disruption aimed at lawful political and private activities.
The Attorney General in the next Democratic administration will be anindependent, non-political official of the highest integrity. If lawlessnessis found at any level, in any branch, immediate and decisive action willbe taken to root it out. To that end, we will establish the machinery forappointing an independent Special Prosecutor whenever needed.
As a party, as a nation, we must commit ourselves to the eliminationof injustice wherever it plagues our government, our people and our future.
Transportation
An effective national transportation policy must be grounded in an understandingof all transportation systems and their consequences for costs, reliability,safety, environmental quality and energy savings. Without public transportation,the rights of all citizens to jobs and social services cannot be met.
To that end, we will work to expand substantially the discretion availableto states and cities in the use of federal transportation money, for eitheroperating expenses or capital programs on the modes of transportation whichthey choose. A greater share of Highway Trust Fund money should also beavailable on a flexible basis.
We will change further the current restrictive limits on the use of masstransit funds by urban and rural localities so that greater amounts canbe used as operating subsidies; we emphatically oppose the Republican administration'sefforts to reduce federal operating subsidies.
We are committed to dealing with the transportation needs of rural Americaby upgrading secondary roads and bridges and by completion of the originalplan of 1956 for the interstate highway system where it benefits rural Americans.Among other benefits, these measures would help overcome the problems ofgetting products to market, and services to isolated persons in need.
We will take whatever action is necessary to reorganize and revitalizeour nation's railroads.
We are also committed to the support of healthy trucking and bus, inlandwaterway and air transport systems.
A program of national rail and road rehabilitation and improved masstransit would not only mean better transportation for our people, but itwould also put thousands of unemployed construction workers back to workand make them productive tax-paying citizens once again.
Further, it would move toward the Democratic Party's goal of assuringbalanced transportation services for all areas of the nation‹urbanand rural. Such a policy is intended to reorganize both pressing urban needsand the sorry state of rural public transportation.
Rural Development
The problems of rural America are closely linked to those of our cities.Rural poor and the rural elderly suffer under the same economic pressuresand have at least as many social needs as their counterparts in the cities.The absence of rural jobs and rural vitality and the continuing demise ofthe family farm have prompted a migration to our cities which is beyondthe capacity of the cities to absorb. Over 20 million Americans moved tourban areas between 1940 and 1960 alone. We pledge to develop programs tomake the family farm economically healthy again so as to be attractive toyoung people.
To that end, the Democratic Party pledges to strengthen the economy andthereby create jobs in our great agricultural and rural areas by the fullimplementation and funding of the Rural Development Act of 1972 and by theadoption of an agricultural policy which recognizes that our capacity toproduce food and fiber is one of our greatest assets.
While it is bad enough to be poor, or old, or alone in the city, it isworse in the country, We are therefore committed to overcome the problemsof rural as well as urban isolation and poverty by insuring the existenceof adequate health facilities, critically-needed community facilities suchas water supply and sewage disposal systems, decent housing, adequate educationalopportunity and needed transportation throughout rural America.
As discussed in the transportation section, we believe that transportationdollars should be available in a manner to permit their flexible use. Inrural areas this means they could be used for such needs as secondary roadimprovement, taxi systems, buses, or other systems to overcome the problemsof widely dispersed populations, to facilitate provisions of social servicesand to assure access of citizens to meet human needs.
Two thousand family farms are lost per week. To help assure that familyfarms stay in the family where they belong, we will push increases in relevantestate tax exemptions. This increased exemption, when coupled with programsto increase generally the vitality of rural America, should mean that thedemise of the family farm can be reversed.
We will seek adequate levels of insured and guaranteed loans for electrificationand telephone facilities.
Only such a coordinated program can make rural America again attractiveand vigorous, as it needs to be if we are to deal with the challenges facingthe nation as a whole.
Administration of Federal Aid
Federal aid programs impose jurisdictional and administrative complicationswhich substantially diminish the good accomplished by the federal expenditureof about $50-billion annually on state and local governments. An uncoordinatedpolicy regarding eligibility requirements, audit guidelines, accountingprocedures and the like compromise the over 800 categorical aid programsand threaten to bog down the more broadly conceived flexible block grantprograms. The Democratic Party is committed to cutting through this chaosand simplifying the grant process for both recipient governments and programadministrators.
The Democratic Party also reaffirms the role of state and general purposelocal governments as the principal governments in the orderly administrationof federal aide and revenue sharing programs.
V. Natural Resources and Environmental Quality
Energy
Almost three years have passed since the oil embargo. Yet, by any measure,the nation's energy lifeline is in far greater peril today. America is runningout of energy ‹ natural gas, gasoline and oil.
The economy is already being stifled. The resulting threat of unemploymentand diminished production is already present.
If America, as we know it, is to survive, we must move quickly to developrenewable sources of energy.
The Democratic Party will strive to replace the rapidly diminishing supplyof petroleum and natural gas with solar, geothermal, wind, tide and otherforms of energy, and we recommend that the federal government promptly expandwhatever funds are required to develop new systems of energy.
We have grown increasingly dependent on imported oil. Domestic production,despite massive price increases, continues to decline. Energy stockpiles,while authorized, are yet to be created. We have no agreements with anyproducing nations for security of supply. Efforts to develop alternativeenergy sources have moved forward slowly. Production of our most, availableand plentiful alternative ‹ coal ‹ is not increasing. Energy conservationis still a slogan, instead of a program.
Republican energy policy has failed because it is based on illusions;the illusion of a free market in energy that does not exist, the illusionthat ever-increasing energy prices will not harm the economy, and the illusionof an energy program based on unobtainable independence.
The time has come to deal with the realities of the energy crisis, notits illusions. The realities are that rising energy prices, falling domesticsupply, increasing demand, and the threat to national security of growingimports, have not been contained by the private sector.
The Democratic energy platform begins with a recognition that the federalgovernment has an important role to play in insuring the nation's energyfuture, and that it must be given the tools it needs to protect the economyand the nation's consumers from arbitrary and excessive energy price increasesand help the nation embark on a massive domestic energy program focusingon conservation, coal conversion, exploration and development of new technologiesto insure an adequate short-term and long-term supply of energy for thenation's needs. A nation advanced enough and wealthy enough to send a manto the moon must dedicate itself to developing alternate sources of energy.
Energy Pricing
Enactment of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 establishedoil ceiling prices at levels sufficient to maximize domestic productionbut still below OPEC equivalents. The act was a direct result of the DemocraticCongress commitment to the principle that beyond certain levels. increasingenergy prices simply produce high-cost energy ‹ without producing anyadditional energy supplies.
This oil-pricing lesson should also be applied to natural gas. Thosenot pressing to turn natural gas price regulation over to OPEC, while arguingthe rhetoric of so-called deregulation, must not prevail. The pricing ofnew natural gas is in need of reform. We should narrow the gap between oiland natural gas prices with new natural gas ceiling prices that maximizeproduction and investment while protecting the economy and the consumer.Any reforms in the pricing of new natural gas should not be at the costof severe economic dislocations that would accelerate inflation and increaseunemployment .
An examination must be made of advertising cost policies of utilitiesand the imposition of these costs on the consumer. Advertising costs usedto influence public policy ought to be borne by stockholders of the utilitycompanies and not by the consumers.
Domestic Supply and Demand
The most promising neglected domestic option for helping balance ourenergy budget is energy conservation. But major investments in conservationare still not being made.
The Democratic Party will support legislation to establish national buildingperformance standards on a regional basis designed to improve energy efficiency.We will provide new incentives for aiding individual homeowners, particularlyaverage income families and the poor in undertaking conservation investments.We will support the reform of utility rate structures and regulatory rulesto encourage conservation and ease the utility rate burden on residentialusers, farmers and other consumers who can least afford it; make more efficientuse of electrical generating capacity, and we will aggressively pursue implementationof automobile efficiency standards and appliance labeling programs alreadyestablished by Democratic initiative in the Energy Policy and ConservationAct.
Coal currently comprises 80 per cent of the nations energy resources,but produces only 16 per cent of the nation's energy. The Democratic Partybelieves that the United States' coal production can and must be increasedwithout endangering the health and safety of miners, diminishing the landand water resources necessary for increased food production, and sacrificingthe personal and property rights of farmers, ranchers and Indian tribes.
We must encourage the production of the highest quality coal, closestto consuming markets, in order to insure that investments in energy productionreinforce the economics of energy producing and consuming regions. Improvedrail transportation systems will make coal available where it is actuallyneeded, and will insure a rail transport network required for a healthyindustrial and agricultural economy.
We support an active federal role in the research and development ofclean burning and commercially competitive coal burning systems and technologies,and we encourage the conversion to coal of industrial users of natural gasand imported oil. Air quality standards that make possible the burning ofcoal without danger to the public health or degradation of the nation'sclear air must be developed and implemented.
The Democratic Party wants to put an end to the economic depression,loss of life and environmental destruction that has long accompanied irresponsiblecoal development in Appalachia. Strip mining legislation designed to protectand restore the environment, while ending the uncertainty over the rulesgoverning future coal mining, must be enacted.
The huge reserves of oil, gas and coal on federal territory, includingthe outer continental shelf, belong to all the people. The Republicans havepursued leasing policies which give the public treasury the least benefitand the energy industry the most benefit from these public resources. Consistentwith environmentally sound practices, new leasing procedures must be adoptedto correct these policies, as well as insure the timely development of existingleases.
Major federal initiatives, including major governmental participationin early high-risk development projects, are required if we are to harnessrenewable resources like solar, wind, geothermal, the oceans, and othernew technologies such as fusion, fuel cells and the conservation of solidwaste and starches into energy. The Ford Administration has failed to providethose initiatives, and, in the process, has denied American workers importantnew opportunities for employment in the building and servicing of emergingnew energy industries.
U.S. dependence on nuclear power should be kept to the minimum necessaryto meet our needs. We should apply stronger safety standards as we regulateits use. And we must be honest with our people concerning its problems anddangers as well as its benefits.
An increasing share of the nuclear research dollar must be invested infinding better solutions to the problems of nuclear waste disposal, reactorsafety and nuclear safeguards ‹ both domestically and internationally.
Competition in the Domestic Petroleum Industry
Legislation must be enacted to insure energy administrators and legislatorsaccess to information they need for making the kind of informed decisionsthat future energy policy will require. We believe full disclosure of dataon reserves, supplies and costs of production should be mandated by law
It is increasingly clear that there is no free, competitive market forcrude oil in the United States. Instead, through their control of the nation'soil pipelines, refineries and marketing, the major oil producers have thecapability of controlling the field and often the downstream price of almostall oil.
When competition inadequate to insure free markets and maximum benefitto American consumers exists, we support effective restrictions on the rightof major companies to own all phases of the oil industry.
We also support the legal prohibition against corporate ownership ofcompeting types of energy, such as oil and coal. We believe such "horizontal"concentration of economic power to be dangerous both to the national interestand to the functioning of the competitive system.
Improved Energy Planning
Establishment of a more orderly system for setting energy goals and developingprograms for reaching those goals should be undertaken. The current proliferationof energy jurisdictions among many executive agencies underscores the needfor a more coordinated system. Such a system should be undertaken, and providefor centralization of overall energy planning in a specific executive agencyand an assessment of the capital needs for all priority programs to increaseproduction and conservation of energy.
Mineral Resources
As with energy resources, many essential mineral resources may soon beinadequate to meet our growing needs unless we plan more wisely than wehave with respect to energy. The Democratic Party pledges to undertake along-range assessment of supply of our mineral reserves as well as the demandfor them.
Agriculture
As a nation, we are blessed with rich resources of land, water and climate.When the supporting technology has been used to preserve and promote thefamily ownership and operation of farms and ranches, the people have beenwell served.
America's farm families have demonstrated their ability and eagernessto produce food in sufficient quantity to feed their fellow citizens andshare with hungry people around the world as well. Yet this national assethas been neither prudently developed nor intelligently used.
The eight-year record of the Nixon-Ford administration is a record oflost opportunities, failure to meet the challenges of agricultural statesmanship,and favoritism to the special pleading of giant corporate agricultural interests.
Republican misrule in agriculture has caused wide fluctuations in pricesto producers, inflated food prices to consumers, unconscionable profiteeringon food by business, unscrupulous shipping practices by grain traders, andthe mishandling of our abundance in export markets. Republican agriculturalpolicy has spelled high food prices, unstable farm income, windfalls forcommodity speculators and multinational corporations, and confrontationsbetween farmer and consumer.
Foremost attention must be directed to the establishment of a nationalfood and fiber policy which will be fair to both producer and consumer,and be based on the family farm agricultural system which has served thenation and the world so well for so long.
Maximum agricultural production will be the most effective means of achievingan adequate food and fiber supply and reasonable price stability to Americanconsumers. Without parity income assurance to farmers, full production cannotbe achieved in an uncertain economy. We must assure parity returns to farmersbased on costs of production plus a reasonable profit.
We must continue and intensify efforts to expand agriculture's long-termmarkets abroad, and at the same time we must prevent irresponsible and inflationarysales from the American granary to foreign purchasers. Aggressive but stableand consistent export policy must be our goal. The production of food andfiber in America must be used as part of a constructive foreign policy basedon long-term benefits at home and abroad, but not at the expense of thefarmers.
Producers shall be encouraged to produce at full capacity within thelimits of good conservation practices, including the use of recycled materials,if possible and desirable, to restore natural soil fertility. Any surplusproduction needed to protect the people of the world from famine shall bestored on the farm in such a manner as to isolate it from the market place.
Excess production beyond the needs of the people for food shall be convertedto industrial purposes.
Farmers as individual producers must deal constantly with organized suppliersand marketers, and compete with non-farm conglomerates. To assist them inbargaining for the tools of production, and to strengthen the institutionof the family farm, the Democratic Party will: support the Capper-VolsteadAct in its present form; curb the influence of non-farm conglomerates which,through the elimination of competition in the marketplace, pose a threatto farmers; support the farmer cooperatives and bargaining associations;scrutinize and remedy any illegal concentrations and price manipulationsof farm equipment and supply industries; revitalize basic credit programsfor farmers; provide adequate credit tailored to the needs of young farmers;assure access for farmers and rural residents to energy, transportation,electricity and telephone services; reinstate sound, locally administeredsoil conservation programs; eliminate tax shelter farming; and overhaulfederal estate and gift taxes to alleviate some of the legal problems facedby farm families who would otherwise be forced to liquidate their assetsto pay the tax.
Long overdue are programs of assistance to farm workers in housing, employment,health, social services and education .
To protect the health of our citizens the government shall insure thatall agricultural imports must meet the same quality standards as those imposedon agricultural products produced in the United States and that only qualityAmerican agricultural products be exported.
Fisheries
America's fisheries must be protected and enhanced as a renewable resourcethrough ecologically sound conservation practices and meaningful internationalagreements and compacts between individual states.
Environmental Quality
The Democratic Party's strong commitment to environmental quality isbased on its conviction that environmental protection is not simply an aestheticgoal, but is necessary to achieve a more just society. Cleaning up air andwater supplies and controlling the proliferation of dangerous chemicalsis a necessary part of a successful national health program. Protectingthe worker from workplace hazards is a key element of our full employmentprogram. Occupational disease and death must not be the price of a weeklywage.
The Democratic Party, through the Congress, has recognized the need forbasic environmental security, and has authored a comprehensive program toachieve this objective. In eight years, the efforts to implement that programhave been thwarted by an administration committed only to unfounded allegationsthat economic growth and environmental protection are incompatible .
Quite to the contrary, the Democratic Party believes that a concern forthe environment need not and must not stand in the way of a much-neededpolicy of high economic growth.
Moreover, environmental protection creates jobs. Environmental legislationenacted since 1970 already has produced more than one million jobs, andwe pledge to continue to work for additional laws to protect, restore andpreserve the environment while providing still more jobs.
Today, permanently harmful chemicals are dispersed, and irrecoverableland is rendered worthless. If we are to avoid repeated environmental crises,we must now renew our efforts to restore both environmental quality andeconomic growth.
Those who would use the environment must assume the burden of demonstratingthat it will not be abused. For too long this burden has been on governmentagencies representing the public, to assess and hopefully correct the damagethat has already been done.
Our irreplaceable natural and aesthetic resources must be managed toensure abundance for future generations. Strong land and ocean use planningis an essential element of such management. The artifacts of the desert,the national forests, the wilderness areas, the endangered species, thecoastal beaches and barrier dunes and other precious resources are in danger.They cannot be restored. They must be protected.
Economic inequities created by subsidies for virgin materials to thedisadvantage of recycled materials must be eliminated. Depletion allowancesand unequal freight rates serve to discourage the growing numbers of businessesengaged in recycling efforts.
Environmental research and development within the public sector shouldbe increased substantially. For the immediate future, we must learn howto correct the damage we have already done, but more importantly, we needresearch on how to build a society in which renewable and non-renewableresources are used wisely and efficiently.
Federal environmental anti-pollution requirement programs should be asuniform as possible to eliminate economic discrimination. A vigorous programwith national minimum environmental standards fully implemented, recognizingbasic regional differences, will ensure that states and workers are notpenalized by pursuing environmental programs.
The technological community should be encouraged to produce better pollutioncontrol equipment, and more importantly, to produce technology which producesless pollution.
VI. International Relations
The next Democratic administration must and will initiate a new Americanforeign policy.
Eight-years of Nixon-Ford diplomacy have left our nation isolated abroadand divided at home. Policies have been developed and applied secretly andarbitrarily by the executive department from the time of secret bombingin Cambodia to recent covert assistance in Angola. They have been policiesthat relied on ad hoc unilateral maneuvering, and a balance-of-power diplomacysuited better to the last century than to this one. They have disdainedtraditional American principles which once earned the respect of other peopleswhile inspiring our own. Instead of efforts to foster freedom and justicesin the world, the Republican administration has built a sorry record ofdisregard for human rights manipulative interference in the internal affairsof other nations, and, frequently a greater concern for our relations withtotalitarian adversaries than with our democratic allies. And its effortsto preserve rather than reform, the international status quo betray a self-fulfillingpessimism that contradicts a traditional American belief in the possibilityof human progress.
Defense policy and spending for military forces must be consistent withmeeting the real security needs of the American people We recognize thatthe security of our nation depends first and foremost on the internal strengthof American society ‹ economic, social and political. We also recognizethat serious international threats to our security, such as shortages offood and raw materials, are not solely military in nature and cannot bemet by military force or the threat of force. The Republican Administrationhas, through mismanagement and misguided policies, undermined the securityof our nation by neglecting human needs at home while, for the first timein our nation's history, increasing military spending after a war. Billionsof dollars have been diverted into wasteful, extravagant and, in some instances,destabilizing military programs. Our country can‹and under a Democraticadministration it will ‹ work vigorously for the adoption of policiesof full employment and economic growth which will enable us to meet boththe justified domestic needs of our citizens and our needs for an adequatenational defense.
A Democratic administration will work to create a foreign policy thatdoes justice to the strength and decency of the American people throughadherence to these fundamental principles and priorities:
We will act on the premise that candor in policy-making with all itsliabilities, is preferable to deceit. The Congress will be involved in themajor international decisions of our government, and our foreign policieswill be openly and consistently presented to the American people. For evenif diplomatic tactics and national security information must sometimes remainsecrets there can be no excuse for formulating and executing basic policyWithout public understanding and support.
Our policy must be based on our nation's commitment to the ideal of individualfreedom and justice. Experience has taught us not to rely solely on militarystrength or economic power, as necessary as they are, in pursuit of ourinternational objectives. We must rely too on the moral strength of ourdemocratic values ‹ the greatest inspiration to our friends and theattribute most feared by our enemies. We will ensure that human needs arenot sacrificed to military spending, while maintaining the military forceswe require for our security.
We will strengthen our ties to the other great democracies, working togetherto resolve common economic and social problems as well as to keep our defensesstrong.
We will restore the Democratic tradition of friendship and support toThird World nations.
We must also seek areas of cooperation with our traditional adversaries.There is no other option, for human survival itself is at stake. But pursuitof detente will require maintenance of a strong American military deterrent,hard bargaining for our own interest, recognition of continuing competition,and a refusal to oversell the immediate benefits of such a policy to theAmerican public.
We will reaffirm the fundamental American commitment to human rightsacross the globe. America must work for a release of all political prisoners‹ men and women who are in jail simply because they have opposed peacefullythe policies of their governments or have aided others who have ‹ inall countries. America must take a firm stand to support and implement existingU.S. law to bring about liberalization of emigration policy in countrieswhich limit or prohibit free emigration. America must be resolute in itssupport of the right of workers to organize and of trade unions to act freelyand independently, and in its support of freedom of the press. America mustcontinue to stand as a bulwark in support of human liberty in all countries.A return to the politics of principle requires a reaffirmation of humanfreedom throughout the world.
The Challenge of Interdependence
The International Economy
Eight years of mismanagement of the American economy have contributedto global recession and inflation. The most important contribution a Democraticadministration will make to the returning health of the world economy willbe to restore the health of our own economy, with all that means to internationaleconomic stability and progress.
We are committed to trade policies that can benefit a full employmenteconomy ‹ through creation of new jobs for American workers, new marketsfor American farmers and businesses, and lower prices and a wider choiceof goods for American consumers. Orderly reductions in trade barriers shouldbe negotiated on a reciprocal basis that does not allow other nations todeny us access to their markets while enjoying access to ours. These measuresmust be accompanied by improved programs to ease dislocations and to relievethe hardship of American workers affected by foreign competition.
The Democratic Party will also seek to promote higher labor standardsin those nations where productivity far outstrips wage rates, harming Americanworkers through unfair exploitation of foreign labor, and encouraging Americancapital to pursue low wage opportunities that damage our own economy andweaken the dollar.
We will exert leadership in international efforts to strengthen the worldeconomic system. The Ford administration philosophy of reliance on the international"market economy" is insufficient in a world where some governmentsand multinational corporations are active in managing and influencing marketforces.
We pledge constant efforts to keep world monetary systems functioningproperly in order to provide a reasonably stable economic environment forbusiness and to prevent the importation of inflation. We will support reformof the international monetary system to strengthen institutional means ofcoordinating national economic policies, especially with our European andJapanese allies, thus facilitating efforts by our government and othersto achieve full employment.
The Democratic Party is committed to a strong and competitive merchantfleet, built in the United States and manned by American seamen, as an instrumentof international relations and national security. In order to revitalizeour merchant Feet, the party pledges itself to a higher level of coordinationof maritime policy, reaffirmation of the objectives of the Merchant MarineActs of 1936 and 1970, and the development of a national cargo policy whichassures the U.S. Beet a fair participation in all U.S. trade.
A Democratic administration will vigorously pursue international negotiationsto insure that the multinational activities of corporations, whether Americanor foreign, he made more responsible to the international community. Wewill give priority attention to the establishment of an international codeof conduct for multinational corporations and host countries.
We will encourage multinational corporations ‹ before they relocateproduction across international boundaries ‹ to make sufficient advancearrangements for the workers whose jobs will be affected.
We will eliminate bribery and other corrupt practices.
We will prevent these corporations from interfering in the politicalsystems of the countries in which they operate.
If such a code cannot be negotiated or proves to be unenforceable, ourcountry should reserve the right to take unilateral action directed towardeach of these problems, specifically including the outlawing of bribes andother improper payments to government officials of other nations.
In pursuit of open and fair international economic relationships, wewill seek mechanisms, including legislation, to ensure that foreign governmentscannot introduce third party boycotts or racial and religious discriminationinto the conduct of American foreign commerce.
Energy
The United States must be a leader in promoting cooperation among theindustrialized countries in developing alternative energy sources and reducingenergy consumption, thus reducing our dependence on imports from the MiddleEast and restraining high energy prices. Under a Democratic Administration,the United States also will support international efforts to develop thevast energy potential of the developing countries.
We will also actively seek to limit the dangers inherent in the internationaldevelopment of atomic energy and in the proliferation of nuclear weapons,Steps to be given high priority will include: revitalization of the NonproliferationTreaty, expansion of the International Atomic Energy Agency and other internationalsafeguards and monitoring of national facilities, cooperation against potentialterrorism involving nuclear weapons, agreement by suppliers not to transferenrichment or reprocessing facilities, international assurance of supplyof nuclear fuel only to countries cooperating with strict nonproliferationmeasures, subsidization of multinational nuclear facilities, and gradualconversion to international control of non-weapons fissionable material.
The Developing World
We have a historic opportunity in the next decade to improve the extentand quality of cooperation between the rich and poor countries. The potentialbenefits to our nation of a policy of constructive cooperation with thedeveloping world would be considerable: uninterrupted access at reasonablecost to raw materials and to basic commodities; lower rates of global inflation,improved world markets for our goods; and a more benign atmosphere for internationalnegotiation in general. Above all, the prospects for the maintenance ofpeace will be vastly higher in a world in which fewer and fewer people sufferthe pangs of hunger and the yoke of economic oppression.
We support efforts to stabilize and increase export earnings of developingcountries through our participation in reasonable commodity arrangements.We support strengthening of global financing mechanisms and trade liberalizationefforts. We will assist in promoting greater developing country capitalmarkets.
Because our country provides food and fiber to all the world, the Americanfarmer is heavily dependent on world markets. These markets must be developedin a way that prevents the wild gyrations of food prices and the periodicshortages that have been common under recent Republican Administrations.We pledge significant financial support to the International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment; more effective food aid through further revision of the U.S.Food for Peace program; significant contributions to a multinational worldfood reserve system, with appropriate safeguards for American farmers; andcontinuing efforts to promote American food exports.
The proliferation in arms, both conventional and nuclear, is a principalpotential source of conflict in the developing as well as the industrializedworld. The United States should limit significantly conventional arms salesand reduce military aid to developing countries, should include conventionalarms transfers on the arms control agenda, and should regulate country-by-countryjustification for U.S. arms transfers, whether by sales or aid. Such salesor aid must be justified in terms of foreign policy benefits to the UnitedStates and not simply because of their economic value to American weaponsproducers.
A primary object of American aid, both military and economic, is firstof all to enhance the condition of freedom in the world. The United Statesshould not provide aid to any government ‹ anywhere in the world ‹which uses secret police, detention without charges, and torture to enforceits powers. Exceptions to this policy should be rare, and the aid providedshould be limited to that which is absolutely necessary. The United Statesshould be open and unashamed in its exercise of diplomatic efforts to encouragethe observance of human rights in countries which receive American aid.
Current world population growth is a threat to the long-range well-beingof mankind. We pledge to support effective voluntary family planning aroundthe world, as well as at home, and to recognize officially the link betweensocial and economic development and the willingness of the individual tolimit family size.
To be true to the traditional concern of Americans for the disadvantagedand the oppressed, our aid programs should focus on alleviating povertyand on support of the quest for human liberty and dignity. We will workto see that the United States does its fair share in international developmentassistance efforts, including participation in the fifth replenishment ofthe World Bank's International Development Association. We will implementa foreign assistance policy which emphasizes utilization of multilateraland regional development institutions, and one that includes a review ofaid programs, country by country, to reinforce those projects whose financialbenefits go to the people most in need and which are consistent with overallUnited States foreign policy goals.
The World Environment
Decay of the environment knows no national boundary. A government committedto protect our environment knows no national boundary. A government committedto protect our environment at home must also seek international cooperationin defending the global environment.
Working through and supporting such organizations as the United NationsEnvironmental Program, we will join other governments in more effectiveefforts to preserve the quality and resources of the oceans; to preserveendangered species of fish and wildlife; to reverse the encroachment ofthe deserts, the erosion of the world's agricultural lands, and the acceleratingdestruction of its forests; to limit pollution of the atmosphere; and tocontrol alterations of the global climate.
Criminal Justice Rights of Americans Abroad
We will protect the rights and interests of Americans charged with crimesor jailed in foreign countries by vigorously exerting all appropriate effortsto guarantee humane treatment and due process and to secure extraditionto the United States where appropriate.
International Drug Traffic
We call for the use of diplomatic efforts to stop international productionand trafficking in illicit drugs including the possible cut-off of foreignaid to noncooperating countries.
Defense Policy
The size and structure of our military forces must be carefully relatedto the demands of our foreign policies in this new era. These should bebased on a careful assessment of what will be needed in the long-run todeter our potential adversaries, to fight successfully, if necessary, conventionalwars in areas in which our national security is threatened, and to reassureour allies and friends ‹ notably in Western Europe, Japan and the NearEast. To this end, our strategic nuclear forces must provide a strong andcredible deterrent to nuclear attack and nuclear blackmail. Our conventionalforces must be strong enough to deter aggression in areas whose securityis vital to our own. In a manner consistent with these objectives, we shouldseek those disarmament and arms control agreements which will contributeto mutual reductions in both nuclear and conventional arms.
The hallmarks of the Nixon-Ford administration's defense policy, however,have been stagnation and vulnerability.
By its reluctance to make changes in those features of our armed forceswhich were designed to deal with the problems of the past, the Administrationhas not only squandered defense dollars, but also neglected making improvementswhich area needed to increase our forces' fighting effectiveness and theircapability to deter future aggression.
By its undue emphasis on the overall size of the defense budget as theprimary measure of both our national resolve and the proficiency of ourarmed forces, the administration has forgotten that we are seeking not tooutspend, but to be able to deter and, if necessary, outfight our potentialadversaries. While we must spend whatever is legitimately needed for defense,cutbacks on duplication and waste are both feasible and essential. Barringany major change in the international situation, with the proper management,with the proper kind of investment of defense dollars, and with the properchoice of military programs we believe we can reduce present defense spendingby about $5-billion to $7-billion. We must be tough-minded about the developmentof new weapons systems which add only marginal military value. The sizeof our defense budget should not be dictated by bureaucratic imperativesor the needs of defense contractors but by our assessment of internationalrealities. In order to provide for a comprehensive review of the B-1 testand evaluation program, no decision regarding B-1 production should be madeprior to February 1977.
The Pentagon has one of the federal government's most overgrown bureaucracies.The Department of Defense can be operated more effectively and efficientlyand its budget reduced, without in any way compromising our defense posture.Our armed forces have many more admirals and generals today than duringWorld War II, when our fighting force was much larger than now. We can reducethe ratio of officers to men and of support forces to combat troops.
Misdirected efforts such as the construction of pork-barrel projectsunder the jurisdiction of the Defense Department can be terminated. Exoticarms systems which serve no defense or foreign policy purpose should notbe initiated.
By ignoring opportunities to use our advanced technology innovativelyto obtain maximum effectiveness in weapons and minimize complexity and cost,the Republican administration has failed to reverse the trend toward increasinglyintricate and expensive weapons systems. Thus. it has helped to put ourforces ‹ particularly the Navy ‹ on the dangerous path of becomingboth smaller in numbers and more vulnerable.
A new approach is needed. Our strategic nuclear forces should be structuredto ensure their ability to survive nuclear attack, thereby assuring deterrenceof nuclear war. Successful nuclear deterrence is the single most importanttask of our armed forces. We should, however, avoid becoming diverted intomaking expenditures which have only symbolic or prestige value or whichthemselves contribute to nuclear instability
The United States Navy must remain the foremost fleet in the world. Ournaval forces should be improved to stress survivability and our modern technologyshould he used in new ways to keep the essential sea lanes open. Concretelywe should put more stress on new sensors and armaments and give priorityto a navy consisting of a greater number of smaller and less vulnerablevessels.
Our land forces should be structured to fight effectively in supportof our political and military commitments. To this end, modern, well-equippedand highly mobile land forces are more important than large numbers of sparsely-equippedinfantry divisions .
Our tactical air forces should be designed to establish air superiorityquickly in the event of hostilities, and to support our land and naval forces.
We can and will make significant economies in the overhead and supportStructure of our military forces.
The defense procurement system should be reformed to require, whereverpossible and consistent with efforts to encourage full participation bysmall and minority businesses, advertised competitive bids and other improvementsin procurement procedure so as to encourage full and fair competition amongpotential contractors and to cut the current waste in defense procurement.A more equitable formula should be considered for distribution of defensecontracts and other federal procurement on a state or regional basis.
The United States and other nations share a common interest in reducingmilitary expenditures and transferring the savings into activities whichraise living standards. In order to smooth the path for such changes, theExecutive Branch and the Congress should encourage long-range planning bydefense-dependent communities and managements of defense firms and unions.This process should take place within the context of the Democratic Party'scommitment to planned full employment.
Our civilian and military intelligence agencies should be structuredto provide timely and accurate information and analysis of foreign affairsand military matters. Covert action must be used only in the most compellingcases where the national security of the U.S. is vitally involved; assassinationmust be prohibited. There should be full and thorough congressional oversightof our intelligence agencies. The constitutional rights of American citizenscan and must be fully protected, and intelligence abuses corrected, withoutendangering the confidentiality of properly classified intelligence or compromisingthe fundamental intelligence mission .
U.S.-U.S.S.R. Relations
The United States and the Soviet Union are the only powers who, by rivalryor miscalculation, could bring general nuclear war upon our civilization.A principal goal must be the continued reduction of tension with the U.S.S.R.This can, however, only be accomplished by fidelity to our principles andinterests and through businesslike negotiations about specific issues, notby the bad bargains, dramatic posturing, and the stress on general declarationsthat have characterized the Nixon-Ford administration's detente policy.
Soviet actions continue to pose severe threats to peace and stabilityin many parts of the world and to undermine support in the West for fruitfulnegotiations toward mutually beneficial agreements. The U.S.S.R. has undertakena major military buildup over the last several years in its navy, in itsstrategic forces, and in its land forces stationed in Eastern Europe andAsia. It has sought one-sided advantages in negotiations, and has exertedpolitical and military pressure in such areas as the Near East and Africa,not hesitating to dispatch to Angola its own advisors as well as the expeditionaryforces of its clients.
The continued U.S.S.R. military dominance of many Eastern European countriesremains a source of oppression for the peoples of those nations, an oppressionwe do not accept and to which we are morally opposed. Any attempt by theSoviet Union similarly to dominate other parts of Europe ‹ such asYugoslavia ‹ would be an action posing a grave threat to peace. EasternEurope will not truly be an area of stability until these countries regaintheir independence and become part of a large European framework.
Our task is to establish U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations on a stable basis, avoidingexcesses of both hope and fear. Patience, a clear sense of our own priorities,and a willingness to negotiate specific firm agreements in areas of mutualinterest can return balance to relations between the United States and theSoviet Union.
In the field of nuclear disarmament and arms control we should work toward:limitations on the international spread of fissionable materials and nuclearweapons; specific strategic arms limitation agreements which will increasethe stability of the strategic balance and reduce the risk of nuclear war,emphasizing mutual reductions and limitations on future weapons deploymentwhich most threaten the strategic balance because their characteristicsindicate a potential firststrike use; a comprehensive ban on nuclear tests;mutual reduction with the Soviet Union and others, under assured safeguards,of our nuclear arsenals, leading ultimately to the elimination of such arsenals;mutual restrictions with the Soviet Union and others on sales or other transfersof arms to developing countries; and conventional arms agreements and mutualand balanced force reductions in Europe.
However, in the area of strategic arms limitation, the U.S. should acceptonly such agreements that would not over-all limit the U.S. to levels ofintercontinental strategic forces inferior to the limits provided for theSoviet Union.
In the long-run, further development of more extensive economic relationsbetween the United States and the Soviet Union may bring significant benefitto both societies. The U.S.S.R. has sought, however, through unfair tradepractices to dominate such strategic fields as merchant shipping. Ratherthan effectively resisting such efforts, the Nixon-Ford administration haslooked favorably on such steps as subsidizing U.S.-U.S.S.R. trade by givingthe Soviet Union concessionary credits, promoting trade increases becauseof a short-run hope of using trade to modify political behavior, and evenplacing major United States energy investments in pawn to Soviet Union policy.Where bilateral trade agreements with the U.S.S.R. are to our economic advantage,we should pursue them, but our watch-words would be tough bargaining andconcrete economic, political or other benefits for the United States. Weshould also press the Soviet Union to take a greater share of responsibilityin multilateral solutions to such problems as creating adequate world grainreserves.
Our stance on the issue of human rights and political liberties in theSoviet Union is important to American self-respect and our moral standingin the world. We should continually remind the Soviet Union, by word andconduct, of its commitments in Helsinki to the free flow of people and ideasand of how offensive we and other free people find its violations of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights. As part of our programs of official,technical, trade, cultural and other exchanges with the U.S.S.R., we shouldpress its leaders to open their society to a genuine interchange of peopleand ideas.
We must avoid assuming that the whole of American-Soviet relations isgreater than the sum of its parts, that any agreement is superior to none,or that we can negotiate effectively as supplicants. We must realize thatour firmness can help build respect for us and improve the long-run opportunitiesfor mutually-beneficial concrete agreements. We must beware of the notionthat Soviet-American relations are a seamless web in which concessions inone area will bring us benefits in others. By the same token, we must husbandour resources to concentrate on what is most important to us. Detente mustbe military as well as political.
More fundamentally, we must recognize that the general character of ourforeign policies will not and must not be set by our direct relationshipwith the Soviet Union. Our allies and friends must come first. Nor can thepursuit of our interests elsewhere in the world be dominated by concernfor Soviet views. For example, American policy toward China should continueto be based on a desire for a steady improvement and broadening of relations,whatever the tenor and direction of Chinese-Soviet relations.
Above all, we must be open, honest, mature and patient with ourselvesand with our allies. We must recognize that, in the long-run, an effectivepolicy toward the Soviet Union can only be grounded on honest discussion,and on a national and, to some extent, an international consensus. Our owninstitutions, especially the Congress, must be consulted and must help formulateour policy. The governments of our allies and friends must be made partnersin our undertakings. Haste and secret bilateral executive arrangements inour dealings with the U.S.S.R. can only promote a mood of uncertainty andsuspicion which undermines the public support essential to effective andstable international relations.
America in the World Community
Many of the critical foreign policy issues we face require global approaches,but an effective international role for the United States also demands effectiveworking with the special interests of specific foreign nations and regions.The touchstone of our policy must be our own interests, which in turn meansthat we should not seek or expect to control events everywhere. Indeed,intelligent pursuit of our objectives demands a realization that even whereour interests are great and our involvement essential, we do not act alone,but in a world setting where others have interests and objectives as well.
We cannot give expression to our national values without continuing toplay a strong role in the affairs of the United Nations and its agencies.Firm and positive advocacy of our positions is essential.
We should make a major effort at reforming and restructuring the U.N.systems. The intensity of interrelated problems is rapidly increasing, andit is likely that in the future, the issues of war and peace will be morea function of economic and social problems than of the military securityproblems that have dominated international relations since 1945.
The heat of debate at the General Assembly should not obscure the valueof our supporting United Nations involvement in keeping the peace and inthe increasingly complex technical and social problems‹such as pollution,health, economic development and population growth‹that challenge theworld community, But we must let the world know that anti-American polemicsis no substitute for sound policy and that the United Nations is weakenedby harsh rhetoric from other countries or by blasphemous resolutions suchas the one equating Zionism and racism.
A Democratic Administration should seek a fair and comprehensive Law-of-the-SeaTreaty that will balance the interests of the developed and less developedcountries.
Europe
The nations of Western Europe, together with Japan, are among our closestallies. Except for our closest neighbors in this hemisphere, it is in theseregions where our interests are most strongly linked with those of othernations. At the same time, the growing economic and political strength ofEurope and Japan creates areas of conflict and tension in a relationshipboth sides must keep close and healthy.
On the great economic issues ‹ trade, energy, employment, internationalfinance, resources ‹ we must work with the Europeans, the Japaneseand other nations to serve our long-run mutual interests in stability andgrowth, and in the development of poorer nations.
The military security of Europe is fundamental to our own. To that end,NATO remains a vital commitment. We should retain in Europe a U.S. contributionto NATO forces so that they are sufficient to deter or defeat attack withoutpremature resort to nuclear weapons. This does not exclude moderate reductionsin manpower levels made possible by more efficiency, and it affirmativelyrequires a thorough reform and overhaul of NATO forces, plans and deployments.We encourage our European allies to increase their share of the contributionsto NATO defense, both in terms of troops and hardware. By mutual agreementor through modernizations, the thousands of tactical nuclear weapons inEurope should be reduced, saving money and manpower and increasing our ownand international security.
Europe, like the rest of the world, faces substantial political change.We cannot control that process. However, we can publicly make known ourpreference for developments consistent with our interests and principles.In particular, we should encourage the most rapid possible growth of stabledemocratic institutions in Spain, and a continuation on the path of democracyof Portugal and Greece, opposing authoritarian takeover from either leftor right. We can make clear our sense of the risks and dangers of Communistparticipation in Western European governments, while being equally clearthat we will work on a broad range of non-military matters with any legally-constitutedgovernment that is prepared to do the same with us. We similarly must reaffirmour support for the continued growth and cohesion of the institutions ofthe European community.
The voice of the United States should be heard in Northern Ireland againstviolence and terror, against the discrimination, repression and deprivationwhich brought about that civil strife, and for the efforts of the partiestoward a peaceful resolution of the future of Northern Ireland. Pertinentalliances such as NATO and international organizations such as the UnitedNations should be fully apprised of the interests of the United States withrespect to the status of Ireland in the international community of nations.
We must do all that is possible, consistent with our interest in a strongNATO in Southern Europe and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean, to encouragea fair settlement of the Cyprus issue, which continues to extract humancosts.
Middle East
We shall continue to seek a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.The cornerstone of our policy is a firm commitment to the independence andsecurity of the State of Israel. This special relationship does not prejudiceimproved relations with other nations in the region. Real peace in the MiddleEast will permit Israel and her Arab neighbors to turn their energies tointernal development and will eliminate the threat of world conflict spreadingfrom tensions there.
The Middle East conflict is complex, and a realistic, pragmatic approachis essential. Our policy must be based on firm adherence to these fundamentalprinciples of Middle East policy:
We will continue our consistent support of Israel, including sufficientmilitary and economic assistance to maintain Israel's deterrent strengthin the region, and the maintenance of U.S. military forces in the Mediterraneanadequate to deter military intervention by the Soviet Union.
We steadfastly oppose any move to isolate Israel in the internationalarena or suspend it from the United Nations or its constituent organizations.
We will avoid efforts to impose on the region an externally devised formulafor settlements and will provide support for initiatives toward settlement,based on direct face to-face negotiation between the parties and normalizationof relations and a full peace within secure and defensible boundaries.
We vigorously support the free passage of shipping in the Middle East‹ especially in the Suez Canal.
We recognize that the solution to the problems of Arab and Jewish refugeesmust be among the factors taken into account in the course of continuedprogress toward peace. Such problems cannot be solved, however. by recognitionof terrorist groups which refuse to acknowledge their adversary's rightto exist, or groups which have no legitimate claim to represent the peoplefor whom they purport to be speaking.
We support initiation of government enforcement action to insure thatstated U.S. policy ‹ in opposition to boycotts against friendly countries‹ is fully and vigorously implemented.
We recognize and support the established status of Jerusalem as the capitalof Israel. with free access to all its holy places provided to all faiths.As a symbol of this stand, the U.S. Embassy should be moved from Tel Avivto Jerusalem.
Asia
We remain a Pacific power with important stakes and objectives in theregion, but the Vietnam War has taught us the folly of becoming militarilyinvolved where our vital interests were not at stake.
Friendship and cooperation with Japan are the cornerstone of our Asianinterests and policy. Our commitment to the security of Japan is centralto our own, and it is an essential condition to a constructive peacefulrole for that nation in the future of Asia. In our economic dealings withJapan, we must make clear our insistence on mutuality of benefits and opportunities,while focusing on ways to expand our trade avoiding economic shocks andresultant retaliation on either side. We must avoid the "shocks"to Japan which have resulted from Republican foreign policy.
We reaffirm our commitment to the security of the Republic of Korea,both in itself and as a key to the security of Japan. However, on a prudentand carefully planned basis, we can redeploy, and gradually phase out, theU.S. ground forces, and can withdraw the nuclear weapons now stationed inKorea without endangering that support as long as our tactical air and navalforces in the region remain strong. Our continued resolve in the area shouldnot be misunderstood. However, we deplore the denial of human rights inthe Republic of Korea just as we deplore the brutal and aggressive actsof the regime in North Korea.
We have learned, at a tragically high price, certain lessons regardingSoutheast Asia. We should not seek to control the political future of thatregion. Rather, we should encourage and welcome peaceful relations withthe nations of that area. In conjunction with the fullest possible accountingof our citizens still listed as missing in action, we should move towardnormalized relations with Vietnam.
No foreign policy that reflects traditional American humanitarian concernscan be indifferent to the plight of the peoples of the Asian subcontinent.
The recent improvement in relations with China, which has received bipartisansupport, is a welcome recognition that there are few areas in which ourvital interests clash with those of China. Our relations with China shouldcontinue to develop on peaceful lines, including early movement toward normalizingdiplomatic relations in the context of a peaceful resolution of the futureof Taiwan.
The Americas
We recognize the fundamental importance of close relations and the easingof economic tension with our Canadian and Mexican neighbors.
In the last eight years, our relations with Latin America have deterioratedamid high-level indifference, increased military domination of Latin Americangovernments, and revelations of extensive American interference in the internalpolitics of Chile and other nations. The principles of the Good NeighborPolicy and the Alliance for Progress, under which we are committed to workingwith the nations of the Americas as equals, remain valid today but seemto have been forgotten by the present administration.
The U.S. should adopt policies on trade, aid and investment that includecommodity agreements and an appropriate system of trade preferences.
We must make clear our revulsion at the systematic violations of basichuman rights that have occurred under some Latin American military regimes.
We pledge support for a new Panama Canal treaty, which insures the interestsof the United States in that waterway, recognizes the principles alreadyagreed upon, takes into account the interests of the Canal work force, andwhich will have wide hemispheric support.
Relations with Cuba can only be normalized if Cuba refrains from interferencein the internal affairs of the United States and releases all U.S. citizenscurrently detained in Cuban prisons and labor camps for political reasons.We can move towards such relations if Cuba abandons its provocative internationalactions and policies .
Africa
Eight years of indifference, accompanied by increasing cooperation withracist regimes, have left our influence and prestige in Africa at an historicallow. We must adopt policies that recognize the intrinsic importance of Africaand its development to the United States, and the inevitability of majorityrule on that continent.
The first task is to formulate a rational African policy in terms ofenlightened U.S. African priorities, not a corollary of U.S.-Soviet policy.Angola demonstrated that we must have sound relations with Black Africaand disassociate our policies from those of South Africa to achieve thedesired African response to Soviet expansionism in Africa. Our policy mustfoster high-level U.S.-Africa communications and establish a sound basisfor dealing when crises arise.
The next Democratic administration will work aggressively to involveblack Americans in foreign policy positions, at home and abroad, and indecisions affecting African interests.
To promote African economic development, the U.S. should undertake increasedbilateral and multilateral assistance, continue congressional initiativesin food assistance and food production, with special aid to the Sahel andimplementation of the Sahel Development Plan; and carry forward our commitmentto negotiate with developing countries on key trade and economic issuessuch as commodity arrangements and trade preferences .
Our policy must be reformulated towards unequivocal and concrete supportof majority rule in Southern Africa, recognizing that our true interestslie in peaceful progress toward a free South Africa for all South Africans,black and white. As part of our commitment to the development of a freeand democratic South Africa, we should support the position of African nationsin denying recognition to "homelands" given pseudoindependenceby the South African government under its current policy of "separatedevelopment."
The Republican administration's relaxation of the arms embargo againstSouth Africa must be ended, and the embargo tightened to prevent transfersof military significance, particularly of nuclear material. The U.S. governmentshould not engage in any activity regarding Namibia that would recognizeor support the illegal South African administration, including grantingtax credits to U.S. companies doing business in Namibia and paying taxesto South Africa. Moreover, the U.S. government should deny tax advantagesto all corporations doing business in South Africa and Rhodesia who supportor participate in apartheid practices and policies .
The U.S. government should fully enforce the U.N.-ordered Rhodesia sanctions,seek universal compliance with such measures, and repeal the Byrd Amendment.
Efforts should be made to normalize relations with Angola.