PREAMBLE

As we come together as Wahkiakum County Democrats to declare our vision for the future, we are mindful of the challenges we face both locally, statewide, and nationally. We are serious about working for change that will enable our citizens to live and work in strong and safe communities with freedom and opportunity for all. To that end we, as Wahkiakum County Democrats, support the following propositions:

GOVERNMENT

We support open and responsive government. Each citizen should have a voice in our government. We believe that our elected officials should never conduct business "behind closed doors." Each and every citizen has a right to know exactly what is happening with our county, state and national programs and monies.

STRONG HEALTHY COMMUNITY

We support inclusive, higher standard health care for every citizen no matter what their economic or social status. The current system is wasteful and spends huge amounts of dollars that benefit corporations and pharmaceutical companies rather than citizens themselves.

We support a safe, healthy home environment for every family. Let’s create opportunities for youth to make healthy choices to discourage underage drinking. We support the creation of a Community Center in our county serving all, especially youth and seniors.

We support efforts to heal dysfunction and isolation. We encourage county and state support of the St. James Family Center, the Wahkiakum Community Network, public transportation, home health care providers and our local health clinic which is an invaluable part of our community.

We applaud and support the high level of volunteerism in our county, and especially commend the successful efforts of our volunteer Emergency Responders to handle increasing demands.

We want to foster an atmosphere in Wahkiakum County where all persons are respected and valued for their contributions. We support equality for all regardless of race, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, marital status, financial status, spiritual beliefs or length of residence.

EDUCATION

We support appropriate funding for education from early childhood programs through college. Public / continuing education provides wider opportunity for all ages to compete in the new global economy.

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

We support achieving energy independence from foreign suppliers. Our current excessive energy dependency and the resulting policy decisions harm our environment, security and economy. We support clean, renewable energy technologies and conservation including investigating the feasibility of a hydroelectric project on the upper Grays River.

We oppose the siting of an LNG facility at Bradwood, Oregon, and generally any place on the Lower Columbia without an independent comprehensive review of the impact upon our county. We insist that any and all LNG mitigation funds flow directly to government entities. We oppose the Federal Government's overriding of state's rights and the granting of sole siting authority to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

OPPORTUNITY

We support the creation and maintenance of good paying and sustainable jobs for our county's citizens. To that end we support diversification of economic development efforts by our county government. Let’s maintain our healthy balance of goods and service jobs, small manufacturing, retirees, telecommuting professionals, tourism and especially our important traditional industries.

We support our county’s citizens that are working in traditional local industries such as fishing, family farming and logging that have suffered assaults from many directions. We can and should support these industries in ways that will allow them to flourish, including balancing the needs of endangered salmon stocks against marine mammal populations and all other factors effecting the health of the fish runs. And we know that this can be done in ways that will help our economy while at the same time protecting our environment. We support and encourage the continuing efforts of our WSU Extension to nurture economic sustainability, self-sufficiency and opportunity.

We believe our nation is becoming a society of rich and poor under the current administration‘s policies. We support social and economic policies that encourage the middle class — which has always been the backbone of our country.

We need to explore ways to promote the availability of affordable housing in our county.

We need to maintain a safe and efficient transportation infrastructure.

We support orderly development in our county with rational land use laws and regulations.

SECURITY & NATIONAL ISSUES

We support peace and security in our community, nation, and world. While we recognize the need for a strong national defense, too many military expenditures are misdirected. We believe that more resources need to be applied to the conflict in Afghanistan.

We support our local law enforcement, emergency personnel, our military, and our veterans and will work to see that they receive both our respect and financial resources.

We oppose the kind of lies and deceit on the part of our national leaders that led us into a capricious and unnecessary war. We are losing the best of a generation at a cost of 5 to 8 billion dollars a month!

We advocate working together with friendly nations where we share the common goals of peace and prosperity rather than wrongfully making enemies out of those who formerly admired us.

We are well aware of the situation in our national government. Our nation’s capitol is led by an ethic of “pay to play” politics where special interests buy access to the levers of power. We are committed to challenging the status quo through implementing meaningful election, lobbying and campaign finance reforms. We also support the restoration of states and local rights as a balance the inequities as stated in this paragraph.

Although we differ among ourselves on issues related to reproductive choice, we are agreed that this area should not be criminalized. We support an atmosphere where both sides can talk and reason with each other.

We recognize how important Social Security is to many individuals and our community at large and so oppose privatizing this program.

CONCLUSION

May our beautiful county, state and nation endure. Let the principles stated above guide us toward life, liberty and happiness.