It’s Here! The Draft Version of the 2016 Democratic Platform

$15 Minimum Wage, Abolishing the Death Penalty, Free Community College, More

The Democratic National Committee has just released the draft version of the 2016 Democratic platform. Some highlights include supporting a $15 minimum wage, and abolishing the death penalty, which it calls “a cruel and unusual form of punishment” that “has no place in the United States of America.”

The document mentions “God” three times – something Republicans are sure to seize upon – and only in this phrase: “God-given potential.” It does not use the word “gay” but does say “LGBT” 11 times. It also uses the word “gun” or “guns” eight times.

“We believe in protecting civil liberties and guaranteeing civil rights and voting rights, women’s rights and workers’ rights, LGBT rights and rights for people with disabilities,” the preamble states. “We believe America is still, as Robert Kennedy said, ‘a great country, an unselfish country, and a compassionate country.'”

Its LGBT rights section seems meager:

“Democrats applaud last year’s decision by the Supreme Court that recognized LGBT people— like every other American—have the right to marry the person they love. But there is still much work to be done,” it states. “LGBT kids continue to be bullied at school, a restaurant can refuse to serve a transgender person, and a same-sex couple is at risk of being evicted from their home. That is unacceptable and must change. Democrats will fight for comprehensive federal non- discrimination protections for all LGBT Americans and push back against state efforts to discriminate against LGBT individuals. We will combat LGBT youth homelessness and improve school climates, and we will protect transgender individuals from violence. We will promote LGBT human rights and ensure America’s foreign policy is inclusive of LGBT people around the world.”

Buzzfeed’s Legal Editor Chris Geidner offered this insight:

It also calls for decriminalization of marijuana:

“We believe that the states should be laboratories of democracy on the issue of marijuana, and those states that want to decriminalize marijuana should be able to do so. We support policies that will allow more research on marijuana, as well as reforming our laws to allow legal marijuana businesses to exist without uncertainty. And we recognize our current marijuana laws have had an unacceptable disparate impact, with arrest rates for marijuana possession among African Americans far outstripping arrest rates among whites, despite similar usage rates.”

And it very elegantly says immigration is “not a problem to be solved, it is a defining aspect of the American character and history.”

Calling it “a compromise document between Clinton and Sanders supporters,” The Huffington Post’s Amanda Terkel reports the draft “now heads to the full 187-member platform committee for approval on July 8 and 9 in Orlando. It will then be ratified on the floor of the convention in Philadelphia.”

You can read and/or download the entire document on the DNC’s website. 

 

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.