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June 14, 2008 11:33 AM
Democrats' draft platform
Posted by David Postman
Here is the current draft of the Washington state Democratic Party's platform.
A few interesting items in the draft. Many speakers in the past two days talked about how the extended battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was good for the Democratic Party. But the platform calls for:
Significantly shortening the process of selecting Presidential nominees and allowing for
accessible and meaningful citizen participation;
Democrats mention free trade in several places in the platform. It says Democrats want
- International trade based on fair trade including living wages and environmental protection;
- Only those multilateral trade agreements that are conditioned on environmental , health and safety standards, human rights and workers rights, and which support transparent democratic processes;
- Strict health, safety and environmental standards worldwide, as well as worker rights and welfare internationally.
- Renegotiation of treaties such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that fail to promote human rights, labor rights and environmental protections;
The draft calls for a federal “cabinet-level Department of Peace and Nonviolence” and a “progressive tax system at both the federal and state level,” and “Immediate restoration of voting rights of felons upon completion of parole.”
On education, the party’s draft is in opposition to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s support of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, and calls for
Abandoning the WASL as a mandatory high school graduation requirement;
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