Preamble

We meet to adopt a Democratic platform, and to nominate Democratic candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, almost 200 years from the day that our revolutionary founders declared this country’s independence from the British crown.

The founder of the Democratic Party—Thomas Jefferson of Virginia—set forth the reasons for this separation and expressed the basic tenets of democratic government: That all persons are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among People, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

These truths may still be self-evident, but they have been tragically abused by our national government during the past eight years.

Two Republican Administrations have both misused and mismanaged the powers of national government, obstructing the pursuit of economic and social opportunity, causing needless hardship and despair among millions of our fellow citizens.

Two Republican Administrations have betrayed the people’s trust and have created suspicion anddistrust of government through illegal and unconstitutional actions.

We acknowledge that no political party, nor any President or Vice President, possesses answers to all of the problems that face us as a nation, but neither do we concede that every human problem is beyond our control. We recognize further that the present distrust of government cannot be transformed easily into confidence.

It is within our power to recapture, in the governing of this nation, the basic tenets of fairness, equality, opportunity and rule of law that motivated our revolutionary founders.

We do pledge a government that has as its guiding concern, the needs and aspirations of all the people, rather than the perquisites and special privilege of the few.

We do pledge a government that listens, that is truthful, and that is not afraid to admit its mistakes.

We do pledge a government that will be committed to a fairer distribution of wealth, income and power.

We do pledge a government in which the new Democratic President will work closely with the leaders of the Congress on a regular, systematic basis so that the people can see the results of unity.

We do pledge a government in which the Democratic members in both houses of Congress will seek a unity of purpose on the principles of the party.

Now, as we enter our 200th year as a nation, we as a party, with a sense of our obligations, pledge a reaffirmation of this nation’s founding principles.

In this platform of the Democratic Party, we present a clear alternative to the failures of preceding administrations and a projection of the common future to which we aspire: a world at peace; a just society of equals; a society without violence; a society in consonance with its natural environment, affording freedom to the individual and the opportunity to develop to the fullest human Potential.