Democratic Party Platform, a Brief

By Sameed Khan, contributing columnist

With the Democratic Convention looming, the party has released its most recent draft of the current platform. While some of the hotly debated positions may change, it is worth looking at what likely will be the president’s game plan starting this January.

1. Domestic Economics
The platform has devoted almost half of the text to proposals for new domestic economic regulations, with section titles such as “Raise Incomes and Restore Economic Security for the Middle Class” and “Fight for Economic Fairness and Against Inequality.” They propose many ground-breaking ideas in order to level the playing field and create more good-paying jobs for the middle class, such as:
-Raising the minimum wage to $15/hour and indexing it to inflation
-Imposing a limit of at least 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a child or a family member with a serious health issue
-Allowing at least 7 days of paid sick leave for all workers

Wall Street is also taking a gigantic hit in the draft, measures include:
-Updating and modernizing the Glass-Steagall act, which separates commercial banks (the ones that you store and withdraw your money from) from investment banks (the ones that make the huge-money deals on Wall Street) so that investment banks aren’t making risky trades with consumer cash
-More antitrust enforcement: many banks that have merged together to become “too big to fail” will be forcibly broken up by the Department of Justice and/or the Federal Trade Commission

2. Economic Justice
Following the far-left’s cries to double-down on getting money out of politics, the platform includes several measures to that end, as well as working to combat inequality by raising taxes on the wealthy.
-Increase funding to Social Security by increasing taxes on those making more than $250,000
-Close tax loopholes and remove tax breaks for companies that store their assets in offshore accounts
-Create a multimillionaire surtax and enforce estate taxes on multimillion-dollar estates
-Removing tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs
-Strengthen the Federal Election Commission, and remove super political action committees
-Create a small-donor matching public financing system (average citizens make small donations to their candidate, and the government matches those donations by a certain ratio. So, for example, for every $1 a voter donates to a candidate, the government will donate $6.)
-Make community college free and allow current student-loan borrowers to refinance their loans at lower interest rates
-Allow student borrowers to default on loans by declaring bankruptcy

3. Social Justice
Following a year that has been chock-full of social justice issues, such as the Orlando shooting, the platform makes a lot of assertions for social equality, but surprisingly lacks any definite measures or policy proposals for addressing social injustice. On other issues, such as mass incarceration and immigration, the Democratic Party is taking some solid steps forward. The measures they have stated are listed below:
-Reform mandatory minimum sentences and close private prisons and detention facilities
-Invest in officer training in de-escalation and appropriate use of force
-Prioritize treatment over incarceration for tackling addiction and substance abuse
-Work to create legislation that prevents parents of citizens, lawful permanent residents and children of illegal immigrants (DREAMers) from being deported
-Attack state efforts to discriminate against LGBT individuals

4. Middle East Policy and Counter-terrorism
While the platform does make some small strides forward in working to help Muslims, the unfortunate reality is that the party is not budging on the Israel-Palestine issue, and has even gone so far as to align itself against the BDS movement. Also missing is any sort of reform for the drones issue, and we’re likely to see it expand even further under a Clinton presidency.
-Lead a coalition of allies in order to stamp out ISIS, especially pressuring Gulf countries
-Bring together the Syrian opposition and international forces to negotiate an end to the Assad regime
-Uphold the ban on military torture and shut down Guantánamo Bay
-“Provide security and support for Lebanon and Jordan” since they host a huge amount of refugees
– “Oppose any effort to delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement”

While the platform represents some real progress and exciting changes for the Muslim community on the economic and social policy fronts, the Democratic Party is still behind in recognizing the oppression placed upon the Palestinian people and moving forward with addressing the killing of civilians via drones.

Photo courtesy

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