2016 Democratic Party Platform

[Ranb]

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/papers_pdf/117717.pdf

Just spent a little while reading through the Democrat's Platform. I could have done without all of the "Trump sucks" comments even though it is obvious to the most casual observer that Trump does indeed suck donkey *****.

Below are a few parts of the platform that stood out over the more general "we're going to do this" stuff.

We should raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over time and index it,

Will this increase or decrease unemployment?

Democrats will make sure that the United States finally enacts national paid family and medical leave by passing a family and medical leave act that would provide all workers at least 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a new child or address a personal or family member’s serious health issue. We will fight to allow workers the right to earn at least seven days of paid sick leave. We will also encourage employers to provide paid vacation.

With the minimum wage above, I can see this increasing the number of "under the table" employees.

We will make sure Social Security’s guaranteed benefits continue for generations to come by asking those at the top to pay more, and will achieve this goal by taxing some of the income of people above $250,000.

I always just assumed that the feds would lower benefits and increase payments to keep Social Security solvent. I'll never make $250k a year, but some of those I know who do are not rich.

Because of conflicting federal and state laws concerning marijuana, we encourage the federal government to remove marijuana from the list of “Schedule 1" federal controlled substances and to appropriately regulate it, providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization.

I've yet to see that pot is any more benefit than tobacco or booze. And though I'm in favor of less government restrictions, I can't see any benefit of these chemicals to anyone.

We will abolish the death penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment.

As much as some people deserve to die for their crimes, the state has proven itself incompetent when it comes to deciding how gets the axe.

That is why the Democratic Party will fulfill, honor, and strengthen to the highest extent possible the United States’ fundamental trust responsibility, grounded in the Constitution, treaties, and case law to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.

So are they going to get their land back or not?

We must restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.

If there was anything on voter fraud here, I missed it.

we will expand and strengthen background checks and close dangerous loopholes in our current laws; repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to revoke the dangerous legal immunity protections gun makers and sellers now enjoy; and keep weapons of war—such as assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines (LCAM's)—off our streets.

Well, they got to do something about those people selling a legal product then blaming them when someone else uses it for an illegal purpose.

When all guns are assault weapons and all magazines are high capacity, who do we thank? I guess we can start with the MA AG for getting the ball rolling.

There is insufficient research on effective gun prevention policies, which is why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must have the resources it needs to study gun violence as a public health issue.

No **** !

The RNC platform is here; no chance to read it yet.
https://prod-static-ngop-pbl.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/DRAFT_12_FINAL[1]-ben_1468872234.pdf

Ranb

 

[GodMark2]

Will this increase or decrease unemployment?

Probably not, but I'm sure it will be blamed for whichever happens.

I always just assumed that the feds would lower benefits and increase payments to keep Social Security solvent. I'll never make $250k a year, but some of those I know who do are not rich.

Funny, everyone I know that makes more than $250,000 is rich, though they somehow insist that they aren't, cause they can't afford multiple Astons to park in their million-dollar house' garage.

I've yet to see that pot is any more benefit than tobacco or booze. And though I'm in favor of less government restrictions, I can't see any benefit of these chemicals to anyone.

It's hard to say what benefits there may be, given the practical prohibition on even trying to look for any benefits of the past several decades. I'd like to at least allow people to do some research.

 

[dudalb]

Party platforms are something of a joke with both parties;symbolic gestures to the hardliners in both parties that can be forgotten by the candidates about five minutes after the convention closes.

 

[Stacko]

Party platforms are something of a joke with both parties;symbolic gestures to the hardliners in both parties that can be forgotten by the candidates about five minutes after the convention closes.

Then why did Donald request that one pro-Russia change? Hint platforms matter.

 

[dudalb]

Then why did Donald request that one pro-Russia change? Hint platforms matter.

A meaningless shout out to Vlad?

I guarantee, GOP candidates in Swing districts are going to pretend most of the GOP Platform does not exist....

 

[Stacko]

A meaningless shout out to Vlad?

I guarantee, GOP candidates in Swing districts are going to pretend most of the GOP Platform does not exist....

And will vote for if elected roughly 80% of the time.

 

[Civet]

Started glancing through it and came across this bit:

We oppose high-stakes standardized tests that falsely and unfairly label students of color, students with disabilities and English Language Learners as failing; the use of standardized test scores as basis for refusing to fund schools or to close schools; and the use of student test scores in teacher and principal evaluations, a practice which has been repeatedly rejected by researchers. We support enabling parents to opt their children out of standardized tests without penalty for either the student or their school.

It troubles me. I agree that standardized tests are far from the only measure of educational performance, but this seems to make them almost irrelevant. I'd like to see something more balanced.

 

[Tero]

The schools have a responsibility to teat if kids are illiterate. They can then add teaching staff to teach those kids in smaller groups.

 

[Tero]

spelling: test