We don't need polls to tell us who we are. We know
where we stand, and we reaffirm the enduring principles
that guide us.
In keeping with our party's grand tradition, we share
Jefferson's belief in individual liberty and responsibility.
We endorse Jackson's credo of equal opportunity for all, and
special privileges for none. We embrace Roosevelt's thirst
for innovation, and Truman's sense in the uncommon sense of
common men and women. We carry on Kennedy's summons to
civic duty and public service, Johnson's passion for social
justice, and Carter's commitment to human rights.
We believe the promise of America is equal opportunity,
not equal outcomes.
We believe the Democratic Party's fundamental mission
is to expand opportunity, not government.
We believe in the politics of inclusion. Our party has
historically been the means by which aspiring Americans from
every background have achieved equal rights and full
citizenship.
We believe that America must remain energetically
engaged in the worldwide struggle for individual liberty,
human rights, and prosperity, not retreat from the world.
We believe that the U.S. must maintain a strong and
capable defense, which reflects dramatic changes in the
world, but which recognizes that the collapse of communism
does not mean the end of danger.
We believe that economic growth is the prerequisite to
expanding opportunity for everyone. The free market,
regulated in the public interest, is the best engine of
general prosperity.
We believe the right way to rebuild America's economic
security is to invest in the skills and ingenuity of our
people, and to expand trade, not restrict it.
We believe that all claims on government are not equal.
Our leaders must reject demands that are less worthy, and
hold to clear governing priorities.
We believe a progressive tax system is the only fair
way to pay for government.
We believe in preventing crime and punishing criminals,
not in explaining away their behavior.
We believe the purpose of social welfare is to bring
the poor into the nation's economic mainstream, not to
maintain them in dependence.
We believe in the protection of civil rights and the
broad movement of minorities into America's economic and
cultural mainstream, not racial, gender or ethnic
separatism. We will not tolerate another decade in which
the only civil rights movement is backward.
We believe government should respect individual liberty
and stay out of our private lives and personal decisions.
We believe in the moral and cultural values that most
American's share: liberty of conscience, individual
responsibility, tolerance of difference, the imperative of
work, the need for faith, and the importance of family.
Finally we believe that American citizenship entails
responsibility as well as rights, and we mean to ask our
citizens to give something back to their communities and
their country.
Blueprint Keywords: Extra Timeline
