TOMPKINS COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM - 1996

I. PREAMBLE

The Democratic Party of Tompkins County stands for improving the quality of life for the people in Tompkins County. To this end, it seeks partnerships among people, governments and private organizations and it calls on county, city and village governments to work together by giving careful consideration to the effects of their local actions on the whole region. The Democratic Party opposes domination over people's lives by both governments and economic powers. The Democratic Party envisions both government and the private sector committed to the provision of good jobs and a decent life for all regardless of religion, race, sex, age, nationality, disability, ethnicity, or sexual preference. The Tompkins County Democratic Party affirms this historic commitment to all people in the area and this platform stands on these principles.

II. ECONOMY and the ENVIRONMENT

A. Economic development and jobs.
The Democratic Party is committed to promote economic development and the creation of jobs in Tompkins County. During the last three federal administrations, the poor have fallen further behind the rest of society. Many others face continuing unemployment, underemployment, lowered pay and bankruptcy. While the level of unemployment in Tompkins County is low compared to other surrounding counties, the level of underemployment is high, and these levels are unacceptable to us. The Democratic Party believes in the obligation of governments at all levels to help provide all citizens the opportunity to earn a decent living at a useful job.

The Democratic Party is committed to:

* strengthening the skills of our labor force by increased use of existing job training and educational programs offered at TC3, BOCES, Ithaca College, Cornell, The Learning Web, Literacy Volunteers, and others, and working toward the development of national, state, county, and city programs in vocational and occupational training and retraining with special emphasis on programs for youth, older workers, women, and minorities;
* designing programs to encourage socially and environmentally responsible and stable industrial, high tech and agricultural employment in the county through planning generated from bringing together people from business, banking, commerce, education, trade unions, major employers, farmers, daycare councils and governmental agencies;
* using the county hotel-motel room tax for local tourism development, not only county promotion, but also for job and hospitality training in tourism-related industry careers, for child care and for other tourism-related support services;
* recognizing and seeking solutions to the growing problem of disappearing manufacturing and the growth of part-time, low-wage work without health insurance coverage;
* support legislation which would permit the imposition of developer impact fees to contribute to housing programs, transportation and other community services to alleviate the social, economic and environmental stresses caused by the development;
* investing to preserve and increase the natural beauty of our area to create jobs now, encourage tourism, and maintain a high quality of life in the county to encourage business to locate here;

B. Environment. Tompkins County is proud of its environment. The Democratic Party is committed to protecting and preserving this environment. It is committed to safeguarding this environment both to preserve its value locally and to play our part in the overall preservation of the planet. Moreover, the Democratic Party is aware that the resolution of most environmental problems requires considerable expertise, a balanced view of the needs of the community, and procedures that are clear, open, fair, just, and equitable.

The Democratic Party Urges:

* continued efforts toward a more effective solid waste management plan that would avoid future fiscal and environmental crises by having as its goal the disposal of less and less waste and the conversion of more and more of that waste to beneficial use by processes that are sound for our global environment;
* the creation of a solid waste handling system that satisfies that goal to the extent possible now, and would be flexible enough to allow continued progress as time goes on. It should be able to recover the most material from the waste stream for the least present and future cost in both money and environmental harm, including the harm from its own energy use;
* a continuing vigorous outreach program on solid waste disposal to help the community set priorities among the various present and future monetary and environmental costs;
* federal and state legislation to create tax and other incentives for research and development of markets for recyclable materials to encourage local businesses to use recyclables generated by our new recycling facility;
* legislation to reduce toxic substances in products, and their manufacture;
* legislation to make 3rd class mail returnable to staunch the flow of junk mail, and to provide incentives for the reduction of packaging;
* federal, state, and county support for programs that help farmers profit by practicing conservation and sustainable agriculture, and laws protecting farmers' rights to employ currently acceptable farming practice;
* road salting only where absolutely necessary for traffic safety, and a continued search for more environmentally sound affordable alternatives, to avoid degradation of precious biological resources as well as deterioration of bridges and vehicles;
* strictly enforced standards for underground tanks, with regular state monitoring of compliance;
* development of intermunicipal cooperative growth management strategies for Tompkins County;
* an environmentally sound resolution of the conflict between state and federal regulation of wetlands;
* our local governmental bodies to petition the state for a comprehensive study of environmental aspects of land use and environmental problems affecting the Finger Lakes and cooperation between local government and the State to establish appropriate mechanisms to deal with these problems.

C. Housing. People deserve affordable, safe and healthy places in which to live. The Democratic Party remains committed to the provision and maintenance of good quality housing and the rehabilitation of substandard housing for all Tompkins County residents, whether urban or rural, of low or moderate income, older or younger, single or married, with families or without families.

The Democratic Party;

* encourages housing and building codes appropriate to each locality's residents;
* zealously supports fair housing policies for all citizens;
* supports efforts to encourage and require that substandard rental housing and apartments be upgraded to a safe and healthy condition;
* defends the rights of tenants and mobile-home occupants, as well as landlords and homeowners;
* supports the creation of affordable housing for area residents, and proposes that the County encourage denser housing in areas readily served by water and sewer systems;
* supports the development of building and zoning codes flexible enough to allow reasonably economic adaptive reuse of existing structures where needed;
* encourages restoration and rehabilitation of abandoned and underutilized buildings for commercial or residential purposes;
* supports public investment in mutual housing, where tenants put up part of the capital and control maintenance decisions, but are not allowed a speculative profit when they leave;
* seeks an expanded partnership between the private sector's financial and contracting institutions and the public sector (such as through Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, Historic Ithaca and Tompkins County, and Better Housing for Tompkins County) to develop innovative alternatives for quality and affordable housing for disadvantaged individuals and families;
* supports a local study of adherence to the Community Lending Act;
* encourages the county's institutions of higher learning to invest in more housing for their students;
* actively supports emergency measures to house the homeless which fully respect the human rights of the homeless while working for more permanent affordable housing.

D. Transportation. The Democratic Party is committed to the provision of transportation for all people, urban and rural, including the handicapped, to travel in the most economical, safe, and least polluting fashion. This principle forces attention toward safer roads and bridges, adequate provisions for pedestrians and joggers and bicyclists, better public surface transportation, and competitive, safe air service.

The Democratic Party favors:

* strict enforcement of the rules of the road especially those against driving while intoxicated;
* continuation and expansion of public transportation, including provisions for the handicapped;
* promotions to encourage more people to use bicycles and public transportation;
* immediate safety improvements on Rte. 13 from Stewart Park to the Cortland County line;
* the aquisition of suitably sited park and ride lots to relieve the growing problem of commuting traffic, and to encourage car pooling;
* development of high-speed rail links between urban centers.

E. Consumer Protection. The Democratic Party has long supported consumer protection.

The Democratic Party recommends:

* legislative, administrative, and enforcement efforts to enable consumers to exercise their rights and safeguard their interests;
* more use of the Community Dispute Resolution Center in resolving consumer complaints.

F. Energy. The Democratic Party is committed to keeping local energy costs as low as possible. Energy costs are already high and continue to escalate.

The Democratic Party believes:

* local governments should place a high priority on thorough energy conservation techniques in existing buildings and new projects, mandate such measures in any private project receiving public funds and actively encourage energy conservation in the private sector;
* in reducing dependence on fossil fuel and nuclear fuel which contribute to environmental degradation and public health risks such as global warming, ocean pollution or generation of long-lived nuclear wastes;
* a national energy tax should be levied to help reduce dependence on fossil fuel and encourage development of new technologies and alternative energy sources.

G. Labor. Work is one of the primary activities affecting people's perspectives, satisfactions, and identities in life. The Democratic Party recognizes and respects the dignity and value of all work. It supports the rights of working people to receive a decent and living wage for work performed, to a meaningful and satisfying job, and to bargain collectively over the various conditions associated with their work life. It recognizes that in the American system unions are vitally important defenders of the rights of their members and believes that all employees should be able to choose freely to organize for collective bargaining.

The Democratic Party:

* urges employers to involve the community in seeking ways to preserve jobs and avoid massive layoffs;
* supports employees in their struggles to form and maintain effective and honest unions
* believes when costs need to be cut in firms and public agencies that labor should be included in the process of deciding how saving should be realized
* abhors poverty level wages and supports an adequate minimum wage, indexed to the cost of living;
* Will work to insure the safest possible workplace environments;
* urges elected office holders, in their capacity as employers, to provide a workplace for their employees that espouses and is indicative of these ideals;
* urges elected office holders, in their capacity as employers, to negotiate in good faith and in a timely manner with these employees.

H. Agriculture. The Democratic Party believes that a strong rural sector is essential to the nation's industrial strength and balance-of-payments export markets and to the state's people for employment and food needs.

The Democratic Party calls for;

* strengthening New York's farmland preservation legislation by trading tax relief for land protection to prevent further conversion of our best agricultural lands;
* the state's agricultural research institutions to put more emphasis on environmental problems related to agricultural production and further research on sustainable agriculture;
* advocating a living wage and decent working conditions for farmworkers;
* expanding aid to displaced farmworkers, including the strengthening of job opportunities.

III. QUALITY of LOCAL LIFE

A. Neighborhoods and Rural Communities. The Democratic Party seeks to preserve the integrity and diversity of the communities and neighborhoods neighborhoods throughout Tompkins County while ensuring that no one is excluded on the basis of race, religion, sex, age, or because of any other kind of "invisible" discrimination. It supports local determination of land uses, and the involvement of the neighborhood community councils and associations in local planning and decision-making.

The Democratic Party recommends:

* county, town, and city planning agencies provide technical assistance to local governments, and neighborhood associations and councils, to help in initiating and implementing locality and neighborhood planning proposals;
* stronger support of local volunteer services such as fire, ambulance, emergency medical technicians and other community improvement projects;
* that police and sheriffs assist in organizing local crimewatches to keep neighborhoods and communities safe and free of crime;
* that a 911 system be developed for Tompkins County.

B. Justice and Law Enforcement. The Democratic Party advocates that courts, police departments and other law enforcement agencies take steps to insure that the rights and property of all citizens are protected equally regardless of age, ethnic background, gender, sexual preference or social class. It believes that all persons are entitled to due process and equal protection of the law, including those who are accused or suspected of committing crimes and those who have been victimized by crime. The failure to insure due process harms not only the accused but the society at large.

The Democratic Party recommends:

* adequate well-trained staffing of law enforcement bodies;
* efforts to improve the degree to which men and women of local law enforcement agencies are representative of the area's ethnic and racial mix;
* increasing cooperation between law enforcement agencies and community groups in dealing with such issues as driving while intoxicated, drug use, domestic violence, rape, and child abuse;
* that the method for developing a pool of jurors be amended to assure that the pool is drawn from the whole community; that the methods include the use of utility, school district, local college and university, and other broadly drawn lists, and that members of a jury pool be summoned to duty whether or not they return the preliminary questionnaire;
* developing and implementing procedures that ensure the integrity of evidence produced by the police and other agencies, including the social agencies which regularly produce such evidence in court;
* developing systems for maintaining strong ethics in local police agencies including civilian oversight of citizen grievances about police conduct;
* increased support for victim's assistance programs to provide counseling and support to victims of crime before, during, and after legal proceedings, to assist them with medical bills and other financial matters, and to help them understand the legal process and prepare them for the witness experience;
* support of stronger, responsible, and strictly enforced gun control laws;
* more effective protection for individuals and organizations threatened with violence
* developing additional alternatives to incarceration at the state and local level consistent with a safe community, to encourage and assist offenders to become law-abiding members of society and limit the cost of incarceration. Therefore the Democratic Party encourages;
* discretionary instead of mandatory sentences, where appropriate, at all levels of government;
* having a sufficient number of parole and probation officers to permit a variety of supervised options in pre-sentencing and sentencing;
* developing and using treatment centers for substance abusers;
* expanding the Service Work Alternative Program (SWAP),and other community service options which allow restitution to the community or victim rather than retribution and punishment alone;
* implementing an educational program showing citizens the high cost of incarceration, and the greater success in reducing recidivism by using a variety of sentencing options;
* opposing legislation to reinstate the death penalty.


C. Historic Preservation. The Democratic Party recognizes that maintenance and rehabilitation of older buildings in our communities -whether residences, schools, churches, stores, theaters, factories or agricultural building - enhance neighborhood pride and stability. Such rehabilitation for re-use is also a tool in economic development. Rehabilitation represents labor-intensive activities that bolster local economies and achieve stronger tax bases, as well as leave distinctive visual results.

The Democratic Party will;
* seek means to promote more rehabilitation projects.


D. Arts, Parks and Recreation. The Democratic Party recognizes the need for leisure-time activities for all ages and for appropriate areas in which to pursue them. Support for the arts is important for our citizens and their personal development. Endeavors in recreation and the arts and the natural beauty of our parks and recreation areas are related to our educational and tourism businesses and in strategies to attract and keep industry in the county.

The Democratic Party recommends:
* government support for developing facilities and programs, based on consultation with various community groups through funds, publicity and other appropriate aid;
* government efforts to beautify public works, to control noise and advertising signs and to review building designs;
* local television cable systems be more responsive to the local community on issues of local arts and recreational activities;
* the preservation of our scenic and recreational heritage


IV. HEALTH and SOCIAL SERVICES




A. Health The Democratic Party believes that good, health-care should be available to all regardless of ability to pay. The continuing rise in health care costs requires that the Democratic Party at all levels work for a rational, compassionate health care system. It will approach this issue comprehensively and cooperatively to develop ways of making the considerable body of medical knowledge available to all our citizens and to insure that an appropriate level of care is available. Essential to a good health-care delivery system are fair wages for all health-care workers.

The Democratic Party supports:
* developing a universal-coverage national single-payer health-care system that stresses prevention and expands medical research including research and prevention funding for AIDs;
* continued development of locally available medical options, such as HMO's, hospices, and home care;
* expanding public health services in Tompkins County in basic areas of disease prevention;
* supporting programs to reduce local hunger and malnutrition and promote increased nutrition awareness in Tompkins County;
* examining how a public agency can be created in order to provide low-cost group health insurance and/or adequate health services for those who currently have no health insurance;
* expanding local substance abuse programs;
* programs for safe, healthy, and smoke-free environments in public and work places, (through measures such as environmental and workplace safety laws, air quality testing, and educational services).


B. Education. The Democratic Party supports and encourages public and private educational opportunities for all people regardless of educational level, income, age, or race. It recognizes that adults have ongoing educational needs if they are to expand the base of knowledge and skills necessary for them to reach full potential and for the local economy to thrive.

The Democratic Party supports:
* programs in job training and retraining for the unemployed and underemployed, along with necessary support services to make such programs attractive and possible;
* vocational apprenticeship programs as well as academic vocational aptitude, and other programs at the high school level designed to ease the transition from school to work among young people;
* programs which support the on-going educational needs of adults, and teens, including parenting education, life-skills training, English as a second language, the Empire State College, Tompkins Cortland Community College, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and BOCES.


C. Human Services. The Democratic Party is committed to providing human services and humane treatment of all people regardless of age, present condition or length of residence in the community. The question is not whether we are able to afford these services.

The Democratic Party advocates:
* making programs and services maximally available and accesible to those persons in need of them;
* supporting the allocation of resources to address local human needs in such a way as to enhance rather than harm our economy;
* studying the dysfunctions of our society that cause poverty, alienation, crime, abuse, illiteracy and dependency, and to seek corrective actions.


D. Caregiving. The Democratic Party, continuing its concern for each individual human life, recognizes that all human beings are in need of care during certain periods in their lives. In the development of the American economy, little economic value has been assigned to caregiving, thus inadequate provision has been made for paying for the day care of those who need it. This has caused an acute shortage in available care for children and the elderly. The effects of neglect of young children will be felt socially and economically far into the future. We cannot afford to throw away care-needing children, adults, and senior citizens. As human beings, we cannot turn away from this crisis.

The Democratic Party will:
* continue to seek creative solutions to bring caregiving into the economic mainstream; therefore we applaud such efforts, possibly including a proposal which would develop a system of paying family members and other home caregivers to care for those in need of care;
* encourage the business and educational communities to explore options for increased participation in day care activities, by donation of funds, space and services for example;
* seek support for sick-child and infant care and after-school programs;
* attempt to ameliorate the needs of senior citizens by working for improved options, including home respite and day care.


E. Children and Youth. The Democratic Party recognizes that rearing children is the responsibility of the entire community and that the future of our country and our humanity depends on raising each generation to responsible, capable and compassionate adulthood. The increased incidence of child abuse and teenage suicide underscores the importance of appropriate community responses these enduring responsibilities.

The Democratic Party supports and will work to develop:
* programs to train and support parents and others working with children and youth with particular attention to new parents at risk to become abusive parents;
* community programs which will help provide an atmosphere for the stimulation and growth of children and young people;
* community programs which will help provide transition to adulthood and the world of work for adolescents, such as mentoring, apprenticeship and parent-education training;
* a more extensive suicide prevention and substance abuse program aimed at children and youth.
* prevention of unwanted pregnancy.


F. Senior Citizens. The Democratic Party recognizes the desire of senior citizens to live a full life and to participate actively in the community.

The Democratic Party will:
* encourage all levels of local government to be more diligent in applying for state and federal funding for assistance to senior citizens in the areas of housing, nutrition and health care;
* encourage local governments to assist private organizations in their efforts to obtain state and federal funds to benefit senior citizens.


V. HUMAN RIGHTS, GOVERNMENT, AND CITIZENSHIP




A. Citizen Participation in Government. The Democratic Party is committed to increase citizen participation in government affairs. Free exchange of diverse ideas is a prerequisite for citizen participation. Voting is the most basic form of participation. Voluntary participation on governmental review and advisory boards, committees and councils is another crucial feature of representative government. At present these boards are not broadly representative. Local government should utilize various means, including the media, to inform citizens of the structure of their local government and encourage their participation in it.

The Democratic Party will:
* encourage laws that favor the widest possible voter registration and encourage and assist with non-partisan voter registration drives in public buildings and elsewhere;
* encourage elected representatives to maintain regular contact with the public by holding regular meetings and office hours in their districts and to reach out to constituents who cannot come to them;
* encourage local legislatures, in order to keep legislators responsive to their constituents, not to schedule their most important vote on the budget in lame duck sessions;
* assure broad publicity for advisory board positions through notices in community buildings, public offices, churches, etc., as well as through the mass media and apply affirmative action guidelines to appointments on these boards;
* assure that agenda of legislative and advisory boards are widely publicized through the media and results publicized afterwards;
* support provision of child care for legislators, school and advisory board members and people attending meetings and by timing meetings to fit work and family schedules;
* encourage public bulletin boards, defend community access cable TV and seek public access to radio;
* encourage the county-designated newspapers to publish, as a public service, a "week's public business" type of column, listing important public meetings, agenda and other necessary information about the coming week's government events;
* support meaningful national and statewide political reform legislation, including the concept of public campaign funding with limits on campaign spending and a stronger ethics bill for legislators and all other public officials.


B. Conduct and Funding of Government. The Democratic Party believes that elected officials are the servants of the people, and that they must conduct the people's business openly, honestly and responsively. Operating government responsibly also means doing so in an economical and efficient manner, including treating public employees fairly and with respect. The Democratic Party believes that people should pay taxes based on ability to pay from their incomes, and that sometimes governments must spend money on some items (e.g. Headstart) in order to save more money on other items.

The Democratic Party advocates:
* studying every new issue coming before the county in terms of its cost-benefit ratio in relation to other programs;
* maintaining a reasonable level of local taxation, commensurate with humane and efficient provision of necessary services;
* not increasing property and sales taxes without giving serious consideration to alternative forms of revenue generation;
* evaluating the fairness of the property tax as compared with an income tax;
* studying every alternative to increasing taxes (e.g., user fees, contracting out or reducing cash reserves, in addition to tax abatements) in terms of its cost effectiveness for achieving desired goals;
* achieving more responsible budgeting, and making the budget easier for ordinary citizens to understand;
* greater cooperation among local governments, in areas like planning, purchasing, and law enforcement, when services can be provided at lower cost;
* pressing for a state takeover of funding for state mandated programs, especially Medicaid, and mandated educational programs;
* to advocate, plan for, and properly utilize the "peace dividend" that can accrue from the cessation of hostilities between Eastern and western bloc governments in Europe through stricter oversight national security planning and funding;
* making the Social Security system more progressive in the way it collects revenues and maintain the Social Security system fund separate from the general federal account.


C. Equality and Civil Rights. The Democratic Party reaffirms its commitment to equality, civil rights, and pluralism. Discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, age, gender, status, religion or sexual orientation is unacceptable.

The Democratic Party:

* specifically opposes discriminatory practices based on sexual orientation of the parent in child custody, and adoption or foster-parent legal decisions;
* strongly supports the enforcement of the 1984 Fair Practices Ordinance of the City of Ithaca and encourages other jurisdictions in the county to adopt and enforce similar legislation;
* will strive for increasing diversity in employment in all levels of city and county government;
* will vigorously advocate economic development in the private sector to increase diversity in employment, both in existing firms and through the creation of more minority business ownership;
* will endeavor to make diverse voices more audible on county and city advisory boards;
* will work to make the Democratic County Committee more diverse;
* will encourage candidates from all sectors of our society to seek public office;
* supports domestic partner benefits for county and city employees equivalent to those offered married couples;
* supports making all buildings open to the public accessible to the handicapped;
* supports a state law to create a separate category of crime for bias-related violence and intimidation intended to deprive persons of their civil rights because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability, age or sexual orientation;

D. Women. The Democratic Party pledges to continue to redress the historic pattern of discrimination against women. Women are paid, on average, less than men. Women are penalized unjustly for parenting, in employment, and in Social Security. Women do not always receive due police and court protection from violence. The Democratic Party is committed to the autonomy and responsibility of the individual, opposes government intrusion into private lives, and stands in favor of each woman's right to choose on matters of reproduction.

The Democratic Party:

* enthusiastically endorses a federal Equal Rights Amendment;
* commits itself to a policy of equal pay for comparable work and will work to implement this principle in local government;
* will vigorously pursue an affirmative action program;
* backs the right of an employee to be free from sexual harassment;
* asserts that crimes against women must be prosecuted, regardless of the social or marital status of the perpetrator.
* supports parental leave for men and women to care for family members in need.

VI. TOMPKINS COUNTY, and the WORLD

Whereas an age of peace, freedom, and equal justice would improve the local quality of life for all, it is appropriate for local political groups to make known their views on international issues. The Democratic Party seeks to achieve a world free of exploitation, racism, sexism, imperialism, the imposition of one population segment's morality on others, and free of the threat of war, especially nuclear war. The Democratic Party believes that a vigorous exploitation of current opportunities for arms control and foreign policy review will decrease the size of the military establishment and free resources to address what are increasingly recognized as more enduring non-military national security concerns both at home and abroad. These interwoven concerns include economic strength, the peaceful resolution of conflict, improved education, the development of democratic institutions, the elimination of hunger, poverty, social injustice, the problems of substance abuse, and environmental threats.

A. International Politics. The Democratic Party:

* supports a foreign policy committed to a fair, amicable, and peaceful resolution of international and intranational conflicts worldwide, and the addressing of the issues now dividing the industrial and the predominantly agrarian, raw-material producing nations;
* supports the effort to reduce the number, proliferation, sale and resale of nuclear weapons, weapons grade material and chemical and biological weapons; moreover, so that those weapons will not be replaced by new, more terrifying and destabilizing weapons, the Democratic Party also supports efforts to freeze the technological arms race, by preserving the original intent of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, and by helping to achieve a comprehensive test ban treaty, and nuclear non-proliferation treaty;
* supports further reductions in conventional weaponry and the elimination of landmines throughout the world;
* believes that the so-called "war" on the supply of drugs can be waged most effectively and economically through partnership with Pan-American and other bodies without relying on unilateral military means;
* condemns the violation of fundamental human rights as defined by the international law of human rights, and supports multilateral intervention to protect civilian populations threatened by genocidal practices, gross human rights abuses, famine, or other catastrophic threats to human dignity.
* supports the right of all peoples to self determination;
* supports efforts to strengthen the United Nations to make it more internationally democratic and effective for furtherance of international security and the protection and promotion of human rights; to this end the Democratic Party urges timely payment of dues owed by the United States to the United Nations.
* recommends that our nation encourage trade with other nations whose governments arise from free and fair elections and are founded on principles of liberty and justice for ethnic, racial and political minorities and women;
* recommends foreign aid to low-income countries that demonstrate the will and ability to use such resources productively, and foreign aid to encourage and support the emergence of democratic institutions;
* calls on our government to end all military aid and sale of arms, and most-favored nation status to nations which grossly violate human rights;
* supports strengthening export industries by negotiating reduced barriers to U.S. goods and by developing an industrial policy which fosters export industries whose products can be legally sold in the U.S.;
* advocates strong, effective U.S. leadership in global efforts to combat environmental threats to our planet, and developing international cooperative methods for dealing with environmental threats, beginning with our compliance with international conventions and treaties, and including technical facilities, and educational, and financial assistance to developing nations to help them meet their environmental responsibilities as well.

B. World Hunger. The Democratic Party strives to end the specter of starvation on Earth.

The Democratic Party therefore supports:

* increased utilization of federal surplus food stocks for emergency food relief;
* indigenous agricultural development projects to increase food self-sufficiency in low-income nations;
* establishing an international Food Reserve program, consisting of annual food contributions from food-surplus nations that will be available to food-deficit nations in times of crop failures;
* increased aid to those nations which seek to develop democratically determined programs for increased food production;
* curbing multi-national commercial agribusiness interests in exportable cash crops in the food-deficit nations which destroy these nations' capabilities for food self-sufficiency;
* increased bio-technological research to produce nutritionally enhanced food crops suitable for food-deficit nations' agronomic conditions and technological support capabilities.

C. Natural disasters. The Democratic Party seeks to develop a national commitment toward an international relief capability to mitigate prolonged suffering, unnecessary deaths, and illness in the wake of natural disasters. While a genuine commitment to alleviate such suffering exists on the part of many nations inadequate coordination has hampered relief efforts.

The Democratic Party urges:

* the establishment of an international Rescue Force under the United Nations, supported by and composed of specialists from all nations;
* the development of an international system for timely distribution of relief supplies.