San Juan County Democratic Party Resolutions
Adopted by a quorum of Precinct Delegates, April 19, 2008
County Convention in Friday Harbor
Resolution For A Universal Publicly Funded National Health Program
WHEREAS, Over $2 trillion ($2,000,000,000,000) is spent on health care in the U.S. each year, yet over 46 million of our people lack health care coverage, and many millions more have inadequate coverage; and
WHEREAS, Each year more than 18,000 people die because they do not have health insurance; and
WHEREAS, The United States is the only industrialized nation without a streamlined single national financing system for health care; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. pays 50 percent more of our Gross Domestic Product on health care than nations with national health care programs, yet according to the World Health Organization, ranks a mere 37th in the world in quality of health care; and
WHEREAS, Approximately 25% of every health care dollar spent in the U.S. goes to private health care administration compared to just 3% for Medicare. That means over $400 billion each year is spent on paperwork and cost add-ons charged by private health care administrators, primarily to create and manage regulations to screen out high risk patients; and
WHEREAS, two bills pending in Congress - HR 1200, The American Health Security Act and HR 676, The United States National Health Insurance Act - would ensure that every person in the United States has comprehensive health insurance and would actually save hundreds of billions of dollars on unnecessary duplication, administrative costs and insurance company profits; and
WHEREAS, Corporations have repeatedly claimed that the cost of providing health care to U.S. workers requires that products and services produced here must be sold at higher prices than what foreign corporations charge, and that these higher prices render the U.S. non-competitive. Under HR 1200 and HR 676 most businesses in the U.S. would pay much less for employee health care coverage, thus alleviating that problem; and
WHEREAS, HR 1200 and HR 676 would provide equal access to all necessary medical care regardless of the income level of individuals/families; and
WHEREAS, Under HR 1200 and HR 676 patients would be free to choose their own private doctors and hospitals; and
WHEREAS, HR 1200 and HR 676 would cover hospitalization and office visits, prescription drugs, dental care, vision care, home health care, nursing home care, long term care, mental health care and rehabilitation. HR 1200 and HR 676 would remain in place even if one lost a job or retired; and
WHEREAS, HR 1200 and HR 676 prohibit patients being charged deductibles and co-payments; and
WHEREAS, under HR 1200 and HR 676 the financing of the national health program would be based on combinations of employer and self-employment taxes, individual taxes, existing sources of federal government revenues for health care and other taxes, and most employers and individuals would pay less for health care coverage than they currently do; and
WHEREAS, HR 1200 and HR 676 would provide health care coverage equal to or better than that of each member of Congress; and
WHEREAS, HR 1200 and HR 676 adopt different approaches to the design of a national health program, but both are based on universal coverage and taxpayer-funded financing;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, Members of Congress are hereby instructed to support both HR 1200 and HR 676 and to design and enact a national health program consistent with the principles of universal publicly funded single payer health care coverage.
The War in Iraq
WHEREAS, the Bush administration led the country to war under false pretenses; and
WHEREAS, the Bush administration’s criminal actions have spread hatred and distrust of Americans across religious, cultural, and national borders worldwide; and
WHEREAS, the Bush administration’s war on Iraq has irresponsibly undermined the security of the United States and provided a hotbed of recruiting and training for terrorists; and
WHEREAS, militarism and its wars increase all forms of violence against women and girls, including the de-funding of basic human needs; and
WHEREAS, the war has left all Iraqi citizens with severely damaged infrastructure, widespread hunger, homelessness, disease, and death, and in addition has deprived women of rights they had before the war by giving considerable power to extremist religious interests that oppose women’s interests; and
WHEREAS, the unemployment rate of Iraqis now exceeds sixty percent while American contractors and corporations hoard the benefits of Iraq’s natural resources and expose American citizens to extreme danger for corporate profit; and
THERFORE BE IT RESOLVED the Washington State Democratic Party urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to support the constructive and expeditious withdrawal of all American troops, military advisors and US funded defense contractors from Iraq, not to exceed one year; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Party urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to restore civil society in Iraq through allocation of reconstruction funding and contracts to Iraqi businesses that pledge not to discriminate against women, to hire skilled Iraqi workers, and to train workers and provide new infrastructure, rather than handing contracts to U.S. contractors such as Halliburton and Bechtel; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Party urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to move with all due speed to end our military occupation of Iraq and invest proportionate financial resources in Iraq rebuilding, humanitarian relief and personal safety of Iraqi people; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Party urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to supply humanitarian funds from the U.S. Aid for International Development to indigenous, woman-led Iraqi non-profits to provide humanitarian services, schools, clinics and any other services these organizations deem necessary; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that plans for the future of Iraq must include full equality and representation for women.
Resolution on Global Climate Change
WHEREAS, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, including more than 2000 scientists world-wide in one of the largest peer-reviewed scientific collaborations in history, is warning that the burning of fossil fuels and release of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere is significantly intensifying global climate change; and
WHEREAS, rapid climate change is causing devastating ecological instability as temperature changes outpace the capacity of plant and animal species to adapt; and is contributing to instability in agricultural production, and to increasing breeding rates and ranges of insects and micro-organisms that cause human disease; and
WHEREAS, rapid climate change is accelerating the melting of glaciers and ice sheets world-wide at rates faster than predicted by scientists, as evidenced by the accelerated melting of the Greenland ice sheet, and creating conditions for more frequent and intense storms and rising sea levels threatening to endanger and displace hundreds of millions of people; and
WHEREAS, positive feedback loops, including forest fires caused by increased temperatures releasing additional carbon dioxide and thawing of tundra releasing methane (another potent greenhouse gas), have the potential to further increase rates of global climate change; and
WHEREAS, the Kyoto Protocol objectives are now insufficient to the magnitude of the growing climate crisis, and scientists warn that modest changes in greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries could be swamped by emissions by rapidly developing countries, recommending an urgent global greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 80%; and
WHEREAS, technologies already exist to begin a rapid decrease in carbon emissions through implementing conservation and energy efficiency measures, and building renewable energy infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, economies around the world could be revitalized and enhanced with high quality and meaningful jobs in developing, manufacturing, installing and maintaining renewable energy infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, responding to the global climate crisis would also result in achieving the energy independence increasingly promoted by both Democratic and Republican elected officials;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, Our WA State Congressional Delegation is urged to actively oppose any Energy Appropriations Bills that do not include a massive and urgent shift of subsidies from fossil fuels to energy conservation and efficiency, and to renewable energy, including solar, wind, tidal, micro-hydro and non-GMO biomass fuels; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Our WA State Congressional Delegation is urged to actively write, support and promote legislation to
1) reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 5% per year, first through implementing energy conservation and efficiency measures, and then by building renewable energy infrastructure; and
2) implement a massive transfer of renewable energy technologies to the world’s most rapidly growing economies dependent on coal, especially India and China, and to countries that currently derive their economic stability from fossil fuel production, especially countries of the Middle East which are especially suited to solar energy development; and
3) implement solutions to global climate change in proportion to the magnitude of our energy crisis, such as supporting legislation based on recommendations of the “Step it Up Campaign” [now called the “1Sky” campaign]* to reduce greenhouse gases by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050, and in collaboration with other international allies, establishing an energy project with the magnitude, creativity, and sense of urgency that was incorporated in the "man on the moon" project to address the inevitable challenges of “peak oil,” and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Senate and the Assembly of the State of Washington are hereby directed to write and promote legislation for the immediate implementation of a Washington State Climate Change Action Plan, taking into account the practices and recommendations of other states which have already implemented such a plan.
* http://www.1sky.org/about/solutions
Abolish the Electoral College
WHEREAS, the Electoral College is an antiquated system created over 200 years ago as part of a compromise to win over states with small populations in order to ratify the US constitution; and
WHEREAS, the Electoral College has been described as confusing, complicated, alienating, unnecessary, and moreover, hypocritical to the fundamental principles of American governance, and is the institutionalization of the distrust of the majority; and
WHEREAS, the real basis underlying the Electoral College is not a states’ rights argument or one of protecting the rural states against those with urban centers, but an argument that voters are not smart enough to make choices for themselves regarding something as important as who will be their President; and
WHEREAS, candidates focus only on a handful of contested states and ignore the concerns of tens of millions of Americans living in other states; a candidate can lose in 39 states, but still win the Presidency; a candidate can lose the popular vote by more than 10 million votes, but still win the Presidency; a candidate can win 20 million votes in the general election, but win zero electoral votes as happened to Ross Perot in 1992; smaller states have a disproportionate advantage over larger states because of the two “constant” or “senatorial” electors assigned to each state (Feinstein.senate,gov); and
WHEREAS, since its inception as Article 2, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution, there have been more than 700 attempts to abolish or amend the Electoral College system, the latest being in 1950. 1969 and in 1979, where these attempts failed or were filibustered (Center for Voting and Democracy);
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the San Juan County Democratic Party supports abolishing the Electoral College and replace it with a direct popular instant run-off election.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Party work together with our State Legislators and members of Congress to reform the electoral process and abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a direct popular instant run-off vote.
Education
WHEREAS, we support a quality education for every child by providing funding needed for all students to achieve educational excellence; and such an education requires adequate and equitable funding from public tax sources for schools to obtain the resources (e.g., personnel, programs, materials, buildings, and technology) to meet the needs of all students; and
WHEREAS, we support the concept that public monies should not be used for students to attend sectarian schools or other institutions in order to obtain educational services available to them in public schools to which they have reasonable access; and, in addition, we believe any private school or agency that receives public funding through voucher plans, tax credits, or other funding/financial arrangements must be subject to all accountability \measures and regulations required of public schools;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Party urges the Congress and the President of the United States to abolish the No Child Left Behind Act and to restore a class size reduction program to give students more individualized attention, to increase the number of highly qualified teachers in our nation’s public schools, and to fully fund its obligations to America’s public school students; and support state control of public education
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that sectarian schools that receive public funding through voucher plans, tax credits, and other funding or financial arrangements be subject to all accountability and regulations required of the public schools.
STOP CITIZENSHIP CHECKS AT THE ANACORTES FERRY
WHEREAS Washington State has a diverse community supported substantially through the labors of immigrants with green cards and those here with out legal documents; and
WHEREAS, many immigrants have risked their lives to come to the U.S., leaving behind extended family and homeland, because of economic deprivation and lack of economic opportunities in their own countries; and
WHEREAS, Immigration Control and Enforcement agents have been using the U.S. customs facilities in Anacortes to stop and question people traveling from the San Juan Islands to the Anacortes ferry terminal – intrastate travel on the Washington State highway system – in a way that appears to be racial and ethnic profiling; and
WHEREAS, Immigration Control and Enforcement agents have detained members of our community without giving timely opportunity to contact concerned family members, and separating families by sudden deportation, leading to fear of separation and restriction of necessary travel by members of our community; and
WHEREAS, to fully integrate immigrants into our communities, immigrants need to be treated with fairness and respect and afforded the due process of law; and
WHEREAS, comprehensive legislation is needed that rewards work, reunites families, respects the rights of US-born and immigrant workers, reinforces the rule of law and our nation’s security – and that includes fair trade policies that strengthen the economies of neighboring countries; and
WHEREAS, Immigration Control and Enforcement agents have informed legal residents of San Juan County that the citizenship and radiation checks at the ferry terminal are necessary – to protect us in the “War against Terror,” because “‘bad guys’ might be sneaking dangerous materials across the international border in small boats” – without providing any evidence to suspect such activities; and
WHEREAS, citizenship inspections by Immigration Control and Enforcement agents on our Washington State highway system constitutes an erosion by the federal government of our Fourth Amendment right to freedom from search and seizure; and
WHEREAS, as taxpayers, we pay for this service, whether we want it or not,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that our Washington State congressional delegation work to stop citizenship inspections of intra-state travel on our Washington State highway system; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the San Juan County Democratic Party requires that all persons living and working in our communities be treated with respect and fairness; and
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the San Juan County Democratic Party supports immigration reform that restores economic balance among countries, basic civil liberties and human rights, and defends the due process rights of everyone.
A Resolution to Limit Corporate Powers and Corporate Life Terms
WHEREAS natural, (real) persons existed well before the creation of the artificial entity, the corporation; and,
WHEREAS corporations are artificial entities created by natural persons; and,
WHEREAS corporations are artificial entities created by natural persons specifically for the benefit and welfare of natural persons; and,
WHEREAS the concept of "corporate personhood" was bestowed upon corporations long after the first creation of corporations within this nation; and,
WHEREAS the concept of "corporate personhood" was bestowed upon corporations by the actions of a few people for the sole benefit of corporations and a few select people at the expense of all natural persons and is, therefore, illegitimate; and,
WHEREAS, owing to the fact that corporations never die, whereas natural persons do, corporations have accrued over time unequal access to wealth, unequal access to power, unequal access to the commons and unequal influence over the judiciary, the legislatures, the executives of our governance; and,
WHEREAS corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes but more benefits accrue to these artificial entities than to natural persons from the proceeds of our tax dollars; and,
WHEREAS corporations now have more privacy rights than natural persons; and,
WHEREAS corporations are not held responsible for their crimes in the same way that natural persons are held; and,
WHEREAS corporations, artificial entities created for the benefit and welfare of natural persons, now do great harm, in many cases, to natural persons; and,
WHEREAS there are many instances of artificial entity malfeasance which have caused the deaths and incredible suffering of natural persons;
Because these rights to due process and equal protection were so valuable, the definition of the word “person” in the 14th Amendment became the focus of hundreds of legal battles for the next 20 years. The questions was who gets to be a person protected by the 14th Amendment.
The watershed moment came in 1886 when the Supreme Court ruled on a case called Santa clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad. In that case the court ruled that the Constitution, which forbids a Seattle court to deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. This case is a precedent for further erosion of the Constitution. Then, because corporations are now persons under the 14th Amendment, it would be discriminatory not to give them the same rights under federal laws. With the granting of the 5th Amendment right to due process (Noble vs. Union River Logging, 1983), corporate lawyers could challenge – and the Supreme Court could find grounds to overturn – democratically legislated laws that originated at the federal as well as state levels.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party as a champion of natural persons act to protect these same natural persons from the malfeasance and harm done by artificial entities; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that artificial entities which cause death or great suffering to natural persons be instantly dissolved and the assets of these artificial entities shall be distributed amongst survivors and sufferers; and,
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the concept of corporate personhood be stricken from the laws of the United States.
Immigration
WHEREAS, women and children are more than half of the almost 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.; and
WHEREAS, immigrant women are the most vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and human rights violations and face particular challenges due to inequalities between men and women, while having the additional responsibilities of family and home; and
WHEREAS, immigrant women often come to the U.S. to be domestic workers or caregivers, are subject to exploitation, work for substandard wages, and may have to leave their own children behind to be raised by relatives; and
WHEREAS, immigrant women and their children not only face language, cultural and community isolation and live at the margins of society without documents, but also suffer as victims of family and sexual violence and have little or no resources to get help including language and culturally sensitive counseling and services; and
WHEREAS, the current discussion in the U.S. Congress and in many cities with large immigrant populations is filled with racist and hate-filled calls for making felons out of undocumented immigrants, building more prisons, walls and electric fences, and promoting vigilante tactics;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Washington State Democratic Party urges Congress and the President to create a path to permanent residency and citizenship, including a reasonable timetable, for undocumented immigrants who want to remain in the United States, including men, women and children and especially those who do not work outside of the home; promote reunification of families, provisions to improve wages and working conditions of immigrant workers to protect them from exploitation, preserving the provisions addressing violence against immigrant women and families in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and a more efficient system to process those eligible to work and seek permanent residency/citizenship, one that excludes the building of prisons and border fences and walls.
Department of Peace and Nonviolence
WHEREAS, on Feb 5, 2007, House Bill 808 was introduced in the United State House of Representatives to create a United States Department of Peace and Nonviolence, which to date has garnered the sponsorship of 68 members of the House of Representatives; and
WHEREAS, the proposed legislation to create a Department of Peace and Nonviolence will establish a cabinet-level department that will be headed by a Secretary of Peace and Nonviolence, who will advise the President on issues both domestic and international in scope, giving peace a building place, voice and budget at the highest levels of government; and
WHEREAS, the proposed legislation to create a Department of Peace and Nonviolence will benefit Washington State by supporting existing programs and developing new programs to address and reduce the number and frequency of incidents related to domestic violence, child and spousal abuse, school violence, gang violence, gun violence, and hate crimes, and will assist Police Departments in Washington State in experiencing fewer dangerous encounters especially while making routine calls, and
WHEREAS, the proposed legislation to create a Department of Peace and Nonviolence will benefit Washington State by encouraging and supporting development of conflict resolution and violence prevention initiatives from within the community, including its religious and non-governmental organizations, thus creating greater community involvement and thereby a strong, stable and cohesive civil society, and
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED THAT the San Juan County Democratic Party urges our Washington State Congressional Delegation to sponsor the Department of Peace and Nonviolence legislation in the United States Senate, and to co-sponsor the Department of Peace and Nonviolence legislation, HR808, in the United States House of Representatives, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the San Juan County Democratic Party urges our Washington State Legislature to pass a resolution in support of legislation to establish a United States Department of Peace and Nonviolence.
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The full text of HR 808 may be found on The Peace Alliance website: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/content/view/278/23/
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