Has anyone ever read the DLC's platform?

[jackson_dem]

I put in bold some of the more controversial, at least in the blogosphere, aspects of the DLC's platform that have been embraced by our candidates.

Where We Stand

In keeping with our party's grand tradition, we reaffirm Jefferson's belief in individual liberty and capacity for self-government. We endorse Jackson's credo of equal opportunity for all, special privileges for none. We embrace Roosevelt's thirst for innovation and Kennedy's summons to civic duty. And we intend to carry on Clinton's insistence upon new means to achieve progressive ideals.

As New Democrats, we believe in a Third Way that rejects the old left-right debate and affirms America's basic bargain: opportunity for all, responsibility from all, and community of all.

We believe in free enterprise to stimulate economic innovation and growth and in public activism to ensure that everyone can share in America's prosperity.

We believe that government's proper role in the New Economy is to equip working Americans with new tools for economic success and security.

We believe in expanding trade and investment because we must be a party of economic progress, not economic reaction.

We believe that global markets demand global rules and institutions to ensure fair competition and to provide checks and balances on private power.

We believe that fiscal discipline is fundamental to sustained economic growth as well as responsible government.

We believe that a progressive tax system is the only fair way to pay for government.

We believe the Democratic Party's mission is to expand opportunity, not government.

We believe that education must be America's great equalizer, and we will not abandon our public schools or tolerate their failure.

We believe that all Americans must have access to health insurance in a system that balances governmental and individual responsibility.

We believe in preventing crime and punishing criminals and that America's criminal justice system should be rooted in and responsive to the communities it serves.

We believe in a new social compact that requires and rewards work in exchange for public assistance and that ensures that no family with a full-time worker will live in poverty.

We believe that public policies should reinforce marriage, promote family, demand parental responsibility, and discourage out-of-wedlock births.

We believe in shifting the focus of America's anti-poverty and social insurance programs from transferring wealth to creating wealth.

We believe in replacing top-down bureaucracy with more flexible public institutions that enable citizens and communities to solve their own problems.

We believe government should harness the forces of choice and competition to achieve public goals.

We believe in enhancing the role that civic entrepreneurs, voluntary groups, and religious institutions play in tackling America's social ills.

We believe in strengthening environmental protection by giving communities the flexibility to tackle new challenges that cannot be solved with top-down mandates.

We believe government must combat discrimination on the basis of race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation; defend civil liberties; and stay out of our private lives.

We believe that the common civic ideals Americans share transcend group differences and forge unity from diversity.

We believe that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.

We believe in progressive internationalism -- the bold exercise of U.S. leadership to foster peace, prosperity, and democracy.

We believe that the United States must maintain a strong, technologically superior defense to protect our interests and values.

Finally, we believe that American citizenship entails responsibilities as well as rights, and we mean to ask our citizens to give something back to their communities and their country.

A New Politics for a New America

At the beginning of a new century and new millennium we see a nation in the midst of a great transformation.

As modernizers of the American progressive political tradition, we call for a new politics for the next decade to reflect new realities.

These new realities include:

# An information-, technology-driven, and ever more global New Economy that is changing the way Americans work, live, and communicate with each other.

# A population that is rapidly becoming more diverse, more affluent, more educated, more suburban, more "wired," less political, and more centrist.

# The emergence of a new social structure, in which the "learning class" of well-educated and skilled citizens prospers while those without education and skills are at risk of being left behind.

# The aging of the population, creating new intergenerational tensions over resources for schools, retirement, and health care.

# A generational change in attitudes as the New Deal/World War II generation gives way to the baby boom and GenX generations that are far more skeptical about politics and government, even as they crave a "higher politics" of moral purpose.

# A rapidly changing global environment in which American values and interests are predominant, but in which we face a new series of international challenges based not on a monolithic threat from another superpower, but on regional instability, economic rivalries, ethnic conflicts, rogue states, and terrorism.

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A New Agenda for the New Decade

Based on the new realities of American life and on our enduring values as progressives, we present the following agenda for America's next decade.

Making the New Economy Work for All Americans

1. Expand the Economy While Expanding the "Winner's Circle"

Our first economic priority must be to keep today's "long boom" alive through the formula that created it: fiscal discipline, open trade, support for innovation and entrepreneurship, and investment in the knowledge and skills of the work force.

Fiscal discipline means not only balanced federal budgets, but action to reduce the national debt and to deal with the obligations associated with the retirement of the baby boom generation.

Open trade is integral to growth because it creates new markets abroad for our goods and services, lowers consumer prices, and spurs innovation. At the same time, we must tap new markets in inner-city and rural neighborhoods at home.

The key to lifting wages and living standards for all Americans is to boost productivity by investing heavily in technology and skills. As the economic rewards of education rise, we must continue to expand access to higher education. We should also stimulate the spread of new technologies and the Internet to every industry, every classroom, and every family. As e-commerce grows, citizens must be empowered to control the use of personal information they disclose online.

As we expand our economy, we must expand the winner's circle of Americans equipped to benefit from the New Economy. This is the New Deal for economic security in the New Economy: lifelong learning for everyone, portable pensions and health insurance, and new opportunities for working families to save, build financial assets, and become homeowners.

Goals for 2010

# Boost investment in technology and lifelong learning.

# Pay down the national debt.

# Increase the percentage of Americans owning capital assets (including homes) from 50 percent to 75 percent.

# Double the percentage of minority families owning homes.

# Make access to the Internet as common as access to telephones.

# Ensure that all students who make a "B" average or agree to serve their country can afford to go to college.

2. Write New Rules for the Global Economy

The rise of global markets has undermined the ability of national governments to control their own economies. he answer is neither global laissez faire nor protectionism but a Third Way: New international rules and institutions to ensure that globalization goes hand in hand with higher living standards, basic worker rights, and environmental protection.

U.S. leadership is crucial in building a rules-based global trading system as well as international structures that enhance worker rights and the environment without killing trade. For example, instead of restricting trade, we should negotiate specific multilateral accords to deal with specific environmental threats.

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Goals for 2010

# Conclude a new round of trade liberalization under the auspices of the World Trade Organization.

# Open the WTO, the World Bank, and International Monetary Fund to wider participation and scrutiny.

# Strengthen the International Labor Organization's power to enforce core labor rights, including the right of free association.

# Launch a new series of multinational treaties to protect the world environment.

3. Create World-Class Public Schools

Now more than ever, quality public education is the key to equal opportunity and upward mobility in America. Yet our neediest children often attend the worst schools. While lifting the performance of all schools, we must place special emphasis on strengthening those institutions serving, and too often failing, low-income students.

To close this achievement and opportunity gap, underperforming public schools need more resources, and above all, real accountability for results. Accountability means ending social promotion, measuring student performance with standards-based assessments, and testing teachers for subject-matter competency.

As we demand accountability, we should ensure that every school has the resources needed to achieve higher standards, including safe and modern physical facilities, well-paid teachers and staff, and opportunities for remedial help after school and during summers. Parents, too, must accept greater responsibility for supporting their children's education.

We need greater choice, competition, and accountability within the public school system, not a diversion of public funds to private schools that are unaccountable to taxpayers. With research increasingly showing the critical nature of learning in the early years, we should move toward universal access to pre-kindergarten education.

The rest can be found at http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=128&subid=174&contentid=1926 Compare it to http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/