Salt Valley Sally

Jan 27, 08:43 AM CST

My county Democratic convention is less than six months away. As has recently been made public, I have not heretofore carried my share of the local political burden, and in my shame and innocence, I personally have no share in either praise or blame for my county party’s platform, a document of many pages. Like fictional detective Nero Wolf, the Lancaster County Democrats platform has an opinion about, well, everything.

Same can probably be said regarding the platforms of too many county and state and even perhaps the national Democratic parties. We long to and need to and must be the party of the Big Tent, but with the rising waters of Republican-driven apocalypse, our tent feels more like an ark, with Democrats, like Noah and Adam before him, naming off ALL the animals.

The Democratic Party needs to get over its Annie Hall phase, all self conscious add-ons and layering. Forget shy and bookish, because Bubba does not get it. What the Democratic Party needs is the Little Black Dress of platforms. No more than five things we can all agree on, in plain English.

What would they be, I wonder?

•Protect and create good jobs, including family farm agriculture, the number one economic driver in this state. Free trade is not the same as fair trade, and Americans ought not give up national sovereignty.

•Do not give away the tax base, but levy fair taxes for good education, roads and other infrastructure, safety, culture and health. Taxes should reflect ability to pay; the fairest balance is 1/3 sales tax, 1/3 income tax and 1/3 property tax.

•Provide for honest house-cleaning in federal government with meaningful campaign finance reform and other protections; rein in foreign military adventurism. When you are in a hole, the first step to recovery is to stop digging.

•Quadruple investment in and national commitment to renewable energy development, and come to the table with the rest of the world on mitigating climate change.

•Protect labor rights, the Bill of Rights, Social Security and the safety net for children and the poor. Universal health care access is the next step.

Five bullets, 163 words. All it needs is a candidate and a string of pearls.

– by Sally Herrin | Send this to a friend

  1. I must respectfully disagree with Sally about the usefulness of platforms. What she’s written here are great messages for Democratic candidates to run on, but people look to the Democratic Party as an institution for something more substantive.

    In my mind, what makes a convention-born platform essential is that it provides the leaders of the party infrastructure (not our candidates and office holders) with a document to guide their actions and by which the party’s base can judge their efforts.

    A platform can not be all-encompassing, and it should never be expected that Dem candidates stand-by its every principle and policy. But, in terms of the kinds of candidates being recruited and actions being done in the party’s name on actual issues, I dare say a platform is indispensable.

    Unless, of course, the party exists only to elect Democratic candidates, leaving the agenda entirely to our candidates to set. I can see it either way but sure do like having a forward-thinking, freedom-loving platform to put underneath my pillow every night to make me feel good about being a Democrat.
    — Kyle Michaelis    Jan 27, 10:31 AM CST #
  2. Sally, the county platform reads like a 3-way cross between Ecclesiastes, The Pilgrim’s Progress, and a John Deere Combine Shop Manual. Useful and comprehensive, sometimes inspirational, but not the stuff of one page handouts and 30 second radio commercials.
    Your 163 well-chosen words serve as a doorway to good government, a way to extract the parasites, and begin the healing.
    I showed your mini platform to the non-voting guy up the street. He says we have to include the phrase: “Give a real voice to the common man.” I told him to vote and he would have a voice. He still wants it spelled out.

    Kyle, just for this year, and this year only, let’s operate on the principle that our primary purpose as a party, is to elect our great candidates.
    Remember, the list of life events that feel better than a November Democratic Victory is short and precious.
    — Steve Hollister    Jan 27, 11:00 PM CST #
  3. Great idea, I like it!
    — KPW    Jan 29, 07:27 AM CST #
  4. Is there a simple explanation for the 1/3 – 1/3 – 1/3 tax scheme, or does it just look nice and neat that way? What ratio is our current tax system, and why is it wrong?

    Also, I love the concept of getting energy from the sun and the wind, (feel-good alternatives), but when you look at the costs involved, the most logical energy alternative of the near future is nuclear. We should be able to safely process and store waste. Sorry if that scares you, that’s life.
    — Tony Maloley Jr    Jan 30, 09:18 PM CST #
  5. Right on Sally those are the critical issues that can bring this country back from the grave that is being dug for the last few years. The economy is in serious condition but we can stop the bleeding if we work on the right issues.
    — frank Johannsen    Feb 28, 05:57 PM CST #

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