The Permanent Platform

When the U.S. Constitution came into effect in 1789, it did not guarantee a right to vote for senators or the president.  The founders were not keen on universal voting, so the Constitution omitted it. Over time, the Constitution was amended to protect voting rights from discrimination, such as on grounds of race or gender. But it has never guaranteed the right to vote. This is unacceptable.  We demand a permanent, irrevocable right to vote for all U.S. Citizens aged 16 years and older.

"Basic," "adequate" and "sufficient" forms of public education are failing us.  This is unacceptable. Education is more than a civil right; it is a human right; Humans need education to develop their capacity to understand and reflect more completely on what and who they are and to execute what they are doing. Education is a basic right necessary to realize and exercise other rights.  Our education must be ongoing.

Cops as warriors?  No.  Who would they be "at war" with?  Us.  Permanent Platform rejects this entirely, and develops candidates committed to a new form of public safety, with police, and everyone else, functioning as integrated community safety servants, responsive to community needs and measured against a reduced likelihood for service needs because root cause solutions are being implemented.

Normal citizens are  shaken by the fractured nature of healthcare, the degrees of health inequity, and the level of inefficiency in the US market-based "system."  The US is the only modern nation where parents bankrupt themselves trying to save their children, their spouses.  This is unacceptable.  Universal healthcare has two major components: provision of ultra-high-quality healthcare (to all), and protection from personal financial hardship and bankruptcy due to any health-related issue. 

 The built environment touches all aspects of our lives.  Creating all these spaces and systems requires not only enormous quantities of materials, but a vision for how the built environment will deliver, in its very manifestations, well-being for citizens.  A Nation worth caring about goes well beyond delivering basic infrastructure and thinks through built environments that work now, and hundreds of years from now.

 Seen in many parts of the world as an essential public utility, the US tends to treat mass transit as social welfare.  Mass transit should in fact broadly contribute to the social well-being of the vast majority of citizens by being ubiquitous, high quality, low cost and perfectly timely.

Homes among the working-class / working poor lack broadband internet access. This lack of access hinders participation in daily life, from online education to job applications, telehealth, and even basic social interactions.   This is unacceptable.