Human Concerns

We reaffirm our commitment to equality of rights, privileges, and opportunities for all individuals, without regard to race, color, sex, marital or domestic partner status, age, occupation, national origin, disability, physical appearance, living arrangements, sexual orientation, and political or religious preference. We expect vigorous enforcement of civil rights and anti-discrimination laws.

Government should ensure that everyone can lead a dignified, healthy, secure, fulfilling and useful life: one free of abuse and unjust discrimination and with excellent, affordable health care; safe, sanitary, accessible, and affordable housing; access to quality public education; and opportunities for rewarding work, wholesome recreation, and meaningful participation in community affairs.

We are committed to the principle that women and men are equal.

We support equity in pay and benefits.

We oppose all racial profiling.

We support strict enforcement of the constitutional principle of separation of religion and government.

We urge all governments to abide by treaties with Native American Nations.

We support individuals' rights to make their own moral, religious, philosophical, and medical decisions.

We support an individual's right to privacy, and oppose its being narrowed.

We support an individual's right to choose death with dignity.

Family-planning services must be readily accessible, provided confidentially, and available without interference by government or others.

We support the Roe v. Wade decision. We support freedom of choice and oppose all measures that interfere with it or the doctor-patient relationship. Safe abortion must be kept readily available without harassment or danger to patients, health-care providers, or their friends and families.

We support a single-payer health care system that provides universal access, covers all physical and mental illnesses, promotes preventive health care, and covers costs of prescription drugs.

We support the Social Security system and oppose its privatization.

We support Medicare and favor reimbursement for prescription drug costs. We support Medicaid. We favor enhancing programs for the aging and the developmentally, mentally, or physically disabled, including subsidizing in-home and long-term nursing-home care.

There must be adequate funding to provide all veterans medical treatment, rehabilitation, housing, education, and employment opportunities.

Health insurance companies should be required to treat physical and mental illnesses the same and include contraceptives under prescription drug coverage.

Drug use should be addressed primarily as medical and social problems. Treatment, rehabilitation, education, and employment will be more effective than imprisonment.

We oppose the death penalty.

There must be adequate funding for AIDS research, treatment, humane care and prevention.

We support fair wages, decent living conditions and adequate health insurance for agricultural workers and their families.

We advocate a welfare system in which people who are able to work be gainfully employed whenever jobs are available and enables their employment with adequate support for child-care, health insurance, transportation and job-training. The system must not be destructive of parent-child relationships and must provide an effective "safety net" for all.

We call for additional affordable, quality, licensed daycare centers.

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Education

Quality public education for all is critical for individual well being, our economic prosperity and national security, and the health of our democracy. We oppose public funding of private schools and privatization of public educational institutions through vouchers or other means. Federal and state governments should increase funding of public education at all levels. We support expansion of early-childhood and preschool public education programs. The public school teachers of Wisconsin must be better paid. We oppose government burdening teachers and students with excessive, discriminatory testing that diverts attention from learning. State government should increase funding for the UW and Technical College Systems. Tuition in these systems must not increase more rapidly than inflation. We support students' right to participate in governance of state post-secondary schools.

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The Environment

The health of our Earth depends on preserving clean air and water, uncontaminated land, wilderness, wildlife and other natural resources. We must conserve energy, develop sustainable food production systems, and protect biodiversity. We must develop and use safe and renewable energy sources.We must protect resources and human and animal populations from resource mismanagement, pollution, and exposure to unnatural radiation and harmful substances. Mining must be strictly controlled to prevent environmental damage. Environmentally threatening activities like mining, oil or gas extraction, logging, or cattle-grazing, should be banned in public parks and wilderness areas. We oppose diversion of Great Lakes water and large-scale extraction of spring water for commercial bottling. We urge improvement of soil and water-conservation programs. We support a balanced transportation system. Walking and bicycling should be encouraged, and public transportation improved and made affordably available to all. We support efficient, modern passenger rail service and passenger and car ferries. Laws to halt global warming and acid rain must be enforced and strengthened. Power-plant emissions must be strictly controlled. Fuel-efficiencies of all motor vehicles must be increased. We support land-use plans that encourage compact development in urban areas, where municipal services can be efficiently provided, and preserve Wisconsin's rural and agricultural flavor by preventing sprawl and preserving valuable topsoil and green space. Recycling and composting must be priorities to reduce waste and preserve limited landfill space and raw materials. We encourage use of biodegradable and post-consumer recycled packaging and discourage excessive packaging. Communities and workers are entitled to know about and strictly control hazardous substances located or transported near them. We support prompt clean-up of toxic-waste sites, paid for by polluters, and banning residential development on or near them. We oppose massively polluting factory farms and encourage use of farming methods which minimize environmental damage.

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Responsive Government, Citizen & Consumer Protection

Government must be responsive to the needs and will of the people while protecting human rights, civil rights and civil liberties and complying fully with the law. We support improvements in government efficiency and encourage initiatives to involve and empower citizens in civic affairs. Consumer- and worker-protection laws must be strengthened. Usurious lending practices should be made illegal. We support re-establishment of the Public Intervenor's Office. The Department of Natural Resources must be restored as independent of the Governor. All government meetings must comply with open meetings laws. All government agencies must comply with freedom of information laws fully and promptly and make all records available through the Internet. The Internet must be affordably available to all Wisconsin citizens without unlawful intrusion on privacy.Public libraries and library systems must be adequately supported, and all citizens guaranteed free access to uncensored information through them. We call for full public financing of all election campaigns, reform of campaign finance laws to lessen the influence of money on public policy, and programs to enhance election participation by all citizens. We vigorously oppose measures which make voting more difficult. Elections should include open, full, and fair debate of issues in the public forum. All licensed broadcasters should be required to provide time for such debate without charge. Government must deal effectively with crime and its causes, while protecting the constitutional rights of all. We support adequate funding for law enforcement. Government must heed the fact that people having access to education and jobs with decent wages is more effective in preventing crime than building and filling prisons. We support equitable sentencing standards commensurate with the crime, updating the criminal code, and providing judges with sentence-modification authority. Marijuana offenses should be handled locally as ordinance violations. We support the right to hunt. We support reasonable firearm regulations, which protect the health and safety of law-abiding citizens, including requiring safety locks on guns and background checks on all gun-purchasers. We oppose taxes or legislation imposed under the guise of gubernatorial partial veto, and support a Constitutional amendment to assure that all taxes and laws are approved by the Legislature. Our wealth should be officially measured not by the GNP alone but by broader measures of well-being such as the United Nations' Human Development Index.

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Labor & Employment

Working people are the backbone of our economy. Our top priority is full employment.All workers must have the right to organize, bargain collectively, and strike to achieve and maintain fair wages, benefits, and safe working conditions. We support public employees' rights to speedy mediation and binding arbitration of labor disputes. The anti-teacher Qualified Economic Offer system must be repealed. We favor strengthening OSHA and other safety agencies to ensure enforcement of workers' rights to a safe workplace. We oppose right-to-work legislation. Hiring strikebreakers must be prohibited. We believe the minimum wage must be a living wage with benefits so that workers can remain out of poverty. We support measures to encourage equitable ratios of management to labor pay. We advocate national industrial policies to ensure thriving basic industries. We urge management and labor to work together to compete successfully in domestic and foreign markets. We support disincentives for American industries to set up plants in foreign countries. We recommend a selective tariff on imports from nations which have unfair conditions that make it impossible for American exporters to develop foreign markets. No employer should be allowed access to employee pension fund assets. Workers owed wages by a bankrupt business must have first claim to the business' assets to cover the wages. Businesses must be required to give sufficient notification of job cutbacks and plant closings to help affected communities and workers adjust. Unemployment compensation should be improved by the addition of health insurance and having benefit periods automatically extended in long recessions. We favor investment in research, technology, and worker retraining for nonmilitary domestic jobs.

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The Economy & Taxes

We favor policies fostering environmentally sound economic growth and property development. We support a tax system which treats work and investment incomes equally, is based on ability to pay, and has a progressive income tax as its core. Estate taxes should be adjusted for inflation but not eliminated. We must lessen our dependence on regressive levies such as property and sales taxes. Taxation of land should be according to use. Property taxes should not be the primary source of school funding. State and federal governments must fund programs they mandate.The state must grant municipalities and school districts equitable funding sources and remove all revenue caps from municipalities, counties, and school districts. We must limit corporate welfare and tax loopholes and discourage corporate activities which result in unemployment and unfair competition. We oppose further tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations, as such cuts exacerbate federal and state deficits and do not spur job growth. Leases for commercial use of, or extraction of resources from, public land should be at fair market value and permitted only for activities that are not environmentally damaging. We are proud of our state's tradition of cooperatives. We support these community-owned and controlled businesses.

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Agricultural Affairs

We are committed to preserving family-farm agriculture. We favor a long-term agricultural policy that preserves existing family farms and creates economic systems that allow people to succeed with their farms and farm-related enterprises. We support supply management programs that enhance the income of family farmers. We oppose the current high levels of processor-concentration in agriculture. We support verifiable price discovery. We call for distribution of farm subsidies that favors family over large corporate farms. We favor agricultural practices which provide a safe and wholesome food supply and ensure the health of the land. We support accurate labeling of all food products, including "organic". We seek the development of international markets for our agricultural products. There must be adequate government support of rural health care, public education, and other social services. We discourage non-farmer ownership and operation of farms and support watchful regulation of corporate farms. We oppose farmland ownership by foreign interests.

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Urban Affairs

Development patterns must maintain strong, well defined urban areas to which basic municipal services can be efficiently provided and preserve Wisconsin's rural and agricultural flavor. Land use plans must encourage compact development in urban areas, prevent sprawl, preserve valuable top soil and greenspace, and allow expansion of municipal boundaries to accommodate growth consistent with long range planning.

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Foreign Affairs, War & Peace

We recognize our responsibilities as citizens of the world.The United Nations Charter directs that members settle their disputes peacefully. Law must replace force in international decision making. We call on the President to follow international law, and the House and Senate to use their powers of the purse and advice and consent toward that end. We must strengthen, appropriately fund, use, and cooperate with international institutions like the United Nations, its agencies, the International Court of Justice, and the new International Criminal Court. We need a foreign policy of befriending all nations and addressing grievances that foster terrorism. We should be working with other nations seeking global solutions to scourges such as hunger, homelessness, disease, illiteracy, unemployment, overpopulation, and pollution. Economic sanctions should be applied sparingly and without genocidal effects. The U.S. should eliminate the sanctions on Cuba and restore our "good neighbor policy" of non?intervention in Latin America. We should demonstrate cooperation for a better world by ratifying and observing the Treaty Banning Land Mines, the Law of the Sea Treaty, and the Kyoto Protocol to control global warming. We should be leading the world to negotiate additional measures to protect the world's environment and wildlife. We support the Universal Declarations of Human rights, and urge ratification of treaties implementing it - including the Conventions on Rights of the Child and Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Our foreign policy should encourage growth of democracy worldwide. Our economic aid should be allocated on the basis of meeting human needs and encouraging observance of human rights. We should be working urgently against racism and denial of equal rights for women. We should offer refuge to victims of oppressive regimes, regardless of political persuasion, and promote fair immigration policies. The U.S. must lead the world in halting the arms race. We should continue the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty process with Russia and work with other nuclear powers until the goal of complete elimination of nuclear weapons we set in 2000 with Russia, China, Britain, and France is achieved. Existing nuclear weapons should be taken off hair trigger alert, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty should be ratified, and nuclear material from dismantled weapons should be safeguarded and disposed of with appropriate concern for the environment. We should rejoin negotiations on the Biological Weapons Convention to strengthen its verification protocol. As arms are reduced, our war industries should be encouraged to convert to civilian products. The international arms trade should be brought under international control. Our government should reaffirm the Anti?Ballistic Missile Treaty and abandon all ballistic missile defense plans. These plans are technically unproven, costly, and unnecessary, but likely to provoke an arms race in space, in violation of the Outer Space Treaty. We support expansion of international trade as beneficial to consumers and world peace, so long as environmental and worker safety and compensation standards are not eroded and democracy is not impaired. We oppose fast-track legislation limiting Congress' authority to amend trade agreements. The monopolistic practices of multinational corporations require international controls.

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Conclusion

We expect Democratic candidates and public officials, and all whom we help to gain office, to support and work to implement this Platform.

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