The temporary platform committee of the Democratic Party is hard at work developing a party platform to present to convention delegates for approval. And representatives of both Clinton and Sanders have been trying to negotiate a platform that can be accepted by both camps.The Sanders people are unhappy because they are not getting everything they wanted, although much of what Sanders campaigned on has been included in the platform. The sticking point seems to be the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) -- a free trade agreement supported by President Obama. Opposition to the TPP has been left out of the platform.
The Sanders delegates will probably initiate a floor fight to try and get this in the platform, but I expect they will fail. And they should fail, because the Democratic Party (and the Republican Party) are split over the issue. This is an issue that will have to be settled in a bipartisan fashion after the election.
The Democrats will have a very progressive platform though -- perhaps the most progressive platform in many years. It supports a $15 an hour minimum wage, and goes even further -- supporting the indexing of that wage to the inflation rate. It also supports eliminating the below-minimum wage pay that some workers get (like waiters and waitresses).
That's a very good thing. But it's not all. The platform also has other progressive positions, including:
Calling for urgently needed voting reforms, rejecting the vilification of Muslim-Americans, ending the death penalty, enacting a financial transactions tax to curb excessive speculation, expanding Social Security, banning golden parachutes for taking government jobs, establishing a new surtax on multimillionaires, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, using government contracts to support good jobs, honoring and strengthening our relationships with Tribal Sovereign Nations, passing a modernized Glass-Steagall law, and moving our economy to 100% clean energy by 2050.
It's time for Democrats to unite, and I think this is going to be a platform that they can all unite behind.
