[Platform] the sunset proposal

[John Walsh]

PLEASE FORWARD.
I think that Bill raises an extremely important point.
Clearly one of the things that we wish to change is the domination of  
the executive over the legislative - that is, the domination of non- 
democratic means over democratic means.  Perhaps the greatest problem  
with the Democrat Party is that it is not democratic.  Here in MA the  
state convention routinely passes policy statements, for example for  
single-payer, and the leadership and pols simply ignore them.  Or  
shall we say the leaders "sunset" them.
There can be no justification for the StateCom or Adcom or any other  
con to "sunset" a major policy statement by the State Convention.   
The only proper way is to have a vote at the state convention to get  
rid of a policy statement or to pass an alternative.
At the last state convention I was impressed by the good sense of a  
large majority of our activist members.  Let us stick with that.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I believe that we had a  
rewording of the Sudan policy which met with approval from all  
sides.   I would suggest we return to it.
jw
p.s. I believe the underlying question here is whether there can be a  
benevolent empire.  I would say no, because empire is always the  
domination of one people over another.  And if we believe in  
benevolent empire, we had better stop calling ourselves non- 
interventionists.  Empire takes every decent impulse and employs it  
for its own purposes.  Since we fought to make the world safe for  
democracy and before, it was always thus.




On Jan 20, 2008, at 9:47 AM, BillCunningham wrote:

> Dear friends in GRP,
>
> I would like to draw your attention to the "Sunset Proposal" which  
> the Cochairs have made to the January 27 StateCom meeting. I have  
> just posted the following response to that proposal.
>
> This proposal refers to "party statements of policy." But it does  
> not define that term. The GRP website contains a list of documents,  
> on the main page and the "read more" page. Not every document is  
> titled as "statement." Some documents are titled as "press  
> release," "endorsement," "letter," or "platform."
>
> The titles are not systematic but arbitrary. For example, the 2004  
> DNC "statement" is really more of a press release. Any reader can  
> see that it is not current. The Palestine "statement" is a party  
> position because it is current. Any reader can see that it refers  
> to an ongoing situation. (Any reader who has the code to open the  
> document, that is!)
>
> A party position is, in effect, an addition to the party platform.  
> The process for adopting a party position is completely different  
> from the process for issuing a press release or endorsement of  
> someone else's position.
>
> If StateCom has the power or right to sunset a position adopted by  
> Convention, does it also have the power or right to reinstate or  
> revise such a position? This proposal assumes that StateCom does  
> have that power and right. Is there any precedent or rule to  
> justify this?
>
> Does the sunset apply to every policy document on the page or only  
> those with the formal title "statement"?  If it applies to all,  
> that would sink the existing State platform, which is more than  
> three years old. If it applies only to formally titled "documents"  
> then it is as arbitrary as the titles themselves.
>
> It appears that there are only five policy documents on the GRP  
> website which are more than three years old. They are the  
> statements on Sudan, Palestine and Iraq (for some reason Iraq isn't  
> actually on the page), the DNC press release "statement" and the  
> party platform.
>
> I ask that the sponsors clarify their intent by clarifying the  
> language of their proposal.
>
> Bill Cunningham
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John V. Walsh, MD
Professor of Physiology
University of Massachusetts Medical School
508-856-3360 (Office)
508-868-1653 (Cell)
john.walsh at umassmed.edu