Democrats propose new draft to party platform, revealing shifts in focus since 2016 [View all]

The Democratic Party has produced a 2020 platform draft that opposes “regime change,” proposes “less” spending on national defense and remains silent on former vice president Joe Biden’s proposal to ban new fracking leases on public lands.

The 80-page document, produced by a 15-person panel of Democratic leaders including allies of Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), was released Tuesday to party members in advance of a July 27 meeting of the full Platform Committee, a body of about 180 delegates who will have an opportunity to make amendments and then forward the document for ratification by the full Democratic convention next month.

The draft recognizes in broad strokes the shift the party has undergone since 2016, with far more emphasis on issues such as climate change and police brutality, and a new proposal for a national commission to study slavery reparations and the lasting effects of other forms of institutionalized racism.

“We must acknowledge that there can be no realization of the American Dream without grappling with the lasting effects of slavery, and facing up to the centuries-long campaign of violence, fear, and trauma wrought upon Black Americans,” the draft reads.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-propose-new-draft-to-party-platform-revealing-shifts-in-focus-since-2016/2020/07/22/e9fc9062-cbbe-11ea-bc6a-6841b28d9093_story.html