The official Democratic Party platform has been published. You can read the whole document here, but this jumped right off the page at me, under the heading of Civil Rights: We understand that women’s rights are civil rights. That’s why
September 4, 2012

The official Democratic Party platform has been published. You can read the whole document here, but this jumped right off the page at me, under the heading of Civil Rights:

We understand that women’s rights are civil rights. That’s why we reaffirm our support for the ERA, recommit to enforcing Title IX,and will urge ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. That’s why we are committed to ending violence against women, why Vice President Joe Biden originally wrote and championed the Violence Against Women Act during his time in the Senate, and why we support reauthorizing and strengthening it now.

In 2008, that language was not part of the platform. In 2012, with the right wing determined to rob women of all rights and hand them over to men, it is heartening to see affirmative support not only for VAWA reauthorization, but also a renewed commitment to ratification of the ERA.

Here's a snippet of the official statement of the Democratic Party:

This election is not simply a choice between two candidates or two political parties, but between two fundamentally different paths for our country and our families.

"We Democrats offer America the opportunity to move our country forward by creating an economy built to last and built from the middle out. Mitt Romney and the Republican Party have a drastically different vision. They still believe the best way to grow the economy is from the top down - the same approach that benefited the wealthy few but crashed the economy and crushed the middle class...

"The Republican Party has turned its back on the middle class Americans who built this country. Our opponents believe we should go back to the top-down economic policies of the last decade. They think that if we simply eliminate protections for families and consumers, let Wall Street write its own rules again, and cut taxes for the wealthiest, the market will solve all our problems on its own. They argue that if we help corporations and wealthy investors maximize their profits by whatever means necessary, whether through layoffs or outsourcing, it will automatically translate into jobs and prosperity that benefits us all. They would repeal health reform, turn Medicare into a voucher program, and follow the same path of fiscal irresponsibility of the past administration - giving trillions of dollars in tax cuts weighted towards millionaires and billionaires while sticking the middle class with the bill. But we've tried their policies - and we've all suffered when they failed...

The ad at the top is running in North Carolina this week, affirming this core message. Women will be a huge theme here this week, as will the issues facing middle class people. There's still a long road to travel, but the platform is a solid document with much to agree with.

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