Democrats believe in promoting equal opportunity and social equality. They support policies that aim to reduce income inequality, provide affordable healthcare and education, protect civil rights, ensure voting rights, and promote environmental sustainability. Some key Democratic beliefs include:
Supporting the Middle Class and Reducing Income Inequality
Democrats support policies aimed at growing and strengthening the middle class and reducing income inequality. This includes:
– Raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. Democrats believe the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 is too low and suppresses earning potential for millions of low-income workers. They advocate raising it to $15 per hour.
– Investing in infrastructure, education, and job training programs to spur economic growth and create higher paying jobs.
– Reforming the tax code to make it more progressive. This means higher income earners pay a larger share of taxes compared to middle and lower income earners.
– Expanding tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit to benefit lower income families.
– Cracking down on corporate monopolies and strengthening antitrust regulations to promote market competition.
Providing Affordable Healthcare
Democrats believe healthcare is a human right and support policies to make healthcare more affordable and accessible. This includes:
– Defending and strengthening the Affordable Care Act which expanded health insurance coverage to millions more Americans.
– Adding a public health insurance option to increase competition in the private insurance marketplace and drive down costs.
– Allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug costs.
– Expanding Medicaid coverage to provide health insurance to more low-income individuals and families.
– Lowering the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60 or 55 to cover more seniors.
Investing in Education
Democrats advocate increasing investments in education from early childhood through college. Their education priorities include:
– Providing universal pre-K education.
– Increasing teacher pay and funding Title I schools that serve a high percentage of low-income students.
– Making community college tuition-free.
– Allowing students to refinance student loans at lower interest rates and enabling borrowers to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy.
– Expanding Pell grants and other financial aid programs to make college more affordable.
Advancing Civil Rights and Equality
Democrats support policies to defend and advance civil rights for all Americans regardless of race, gender, religion, disability, or sexual orientation. This includes:
– Ensuring equal pay for women.
– Guaranteeing the right to same-sex marriage.
– Prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
– Passing a new Voting Rights Act to strengthen protections against racial discrimination in voting.
– Reforming the criminal justice system to address systemic racial biases.
– Providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
Protecting Voting Rights
Democrats advocate protecting and expanding voting rights access. They aim to:
– Restore key provisions of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court.
– Implement automatic voter registration, expand early voting and vote-by-mail options.
– Make Election Day a national holiday.
– Restore voting rights to ex-felons who have served their sentences.
– Require non-partisan redistricting commissions to prevent partisan gerrymandering when drawing congressional district boundaries.
– Strengthen cybersecurity defenses against foreign interference in U.S. elections.
Tackling Climate Change
Democrats view climate change as an existential threat that requires urgent action. They support:
– Rejoining and strengthening the Paris Climate Agreement commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
– Setting a national renewable electricity standard requiring utilities to source an increasing percentage of power from renewables.
– Investing in clean energy infrastructure including electric vehicle charging stations nationwide.
– Ending fossil fuel subsidies and banning new oil and gas leases on public lands and waters.
– Imposing carbon pricing to incentivize companies to reduce emissions.
Key Demographic Support
Democrats draw strong support from the following demographic groups:
| Demographic Group | Percentage Supporting Democrats |
|---|---|
| African Americans | 87% |
| Hispanics | 63% |
| Asians | 65% |
| Women | 54% |
| LGBT | 78% |
| Youth (18-29 years old) | 58% |
Promoting Progressive Social Values
Democrats tend to hold more progressive views on social issues. They advocate for:
– Protecting a woman’s right to have an abortion. Most Democrats identify as pro-choice on the abortion issue.
– Stricter gun control measures including expanded background checks, assault weapons bans, and limits on high capacity magazines.
– Comprehensive immigration reform providing a pathway to citizenship for many undocumented immigrants.
– Decriminalizing recreational marijuana use. Most Democrats favor legalizing and regulating cannabis.
– Abolishing capital punishment due to concerns about wrongful executions.
Supporting Labor Unions
Democrats strongly support organized labor and aim to strengthen bargaining rights for public and private sector unions. They oppose so-called “right-to-work” laws that allow employees to opt-out of joining unions and paying dues in unionized workplaces. Democrats also want to crack down on employers interfering with union organizing efforts.
Believing in Effective Government
While Republicans frequently run against “big government”, Democrats argue that government, when well-run, plays an important role in improving people’s lives. Democrats advocate for making government work efficiently to deliver quality public services, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and social safety net programs to benefit society.
Prioritizing Diplomacy and Allies
In foreign policy, Democrats emphasize diplomacy, cooperation with allies, and participation in global institutions like NATO and the United Nations. They favor nuclear non-proliferation efforts, want to restore relations with longtime allies frayed under the Trump administration, and aim to rejoin international agreements like the Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate accord.
Conclusion
At their core, Democrats believe in giving everyone a fair shot in life regardless of their circumstances at birth. They support using the power of government to assist the disadvantaged, regulate powerful interests, and invest in the common good. Democrats envision an inclusive, multicultural society that promotes equality, civil rights, environmental sustainability, and economic opportunity for all.
