New Democrat Update - April 2002
MAKING VICTIMS WHOLE
State Representative Andrew Romanoff (D-Denver), a New Democrat Caucus member, is pushing a great idea to provide workers unpaid leave for judicial and medical matters related to domestic abuse. The proposal also empowers companies to get restraining orders against offenders who have assaulted one of their employees.
This thoughtful synthesis combines victim protection efforts and the principles of the 1993 federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which ensured Americans unpaid leave for their or their family members' illnesses. One year earlier, Colorado voters supported giving crime victims the right to be heard during judicial proceedings, as well as the opportunity for financial compensation. Victims are also notified of the legal status and location of criminals.
Domestic violence victims deserve basic protection, justice and closure. Surely, their needs are at least as important as the rights provided by family/medical leave for doctor appointments or illnesses.
Romanoff's innovation is a great way to address the core New Democrat values of personal responsibility for criminal acts, the mutual responsibility we owe to each other to fully repair the damage wrought by violent crime, and the community of mutual respect this responsibility represents.
The legislature has passed this critical, compassionate and commonsensical measure. Governor Owens should sign it
TOUGH, SMART CRIME-FIGHTING
Romanoff is also pushing a tough, smart and cost-effective strategy that will prevent crimes from happening in the first place. This bold proposal aims at ensuring mentally ill offenders, who have done their time, get adequate medication after being released from prison. The criminal justice system would help inmates determine their eligibility for Medicaid benefits.
Too many offenders are falling through the cracks in a never-ending cycle of imprisonment, release and re-imprisonment. Seriously mentally ill criminals are twice as likely as other prisoners to reenter the system. This vicious cycle - which makes our streets unsafe and busts the state's budget (it costs $25,000 a prisoner per year) - must be broken.
Romanoff said it best in the Rocky Mountains News, "If the bill succeeds in keeping four people from re-entering the prison system, it would pay for itself. We should be willing to spend a fraction of that to do things that can keep them from returning to prison."
Public safety from violent crime is a fundamental responsibility of government, a critical ingredient of our quality of life and key to reviving our neighborhoods. While dropping steadily in nearly every community, crime rates remain high by historic standards.
Now is no time to declare victory. New Democrats know the battle to make our streets safe enough is far from over.
POLITICS POST-SEPT 11th
The tragedy of September 11th has fundamentally changed how Americans view government and politics. Realizing public policy is critically important - if not a matter of life and death, voters have begun to trust government again.
As a result, according to a recent national DLC poll, the GOP political strategy of using simplistic anti-government rhetoric no longer resonates. Along those same lines, citizens believe that future tax cuts will not effectively stimulate the economy and make little sense when fighting a war on terrorism and bolstering homeland security.
However, voters still want smaller, although more effective, government. A tax-and-spend agenda would be politically disastrous for Democrats.
The kind of government most preferred has not changed since September 11th. The electorate remains committed to the Third Way - an activist, non-bureaucratic public sector that promotes economic opportunity, empowers people with the tools they need to succeed and promotes mainstream values. A significant majority rejects both a FDR-style, New Deal government that solves problems for them or one that stays out of their business altogether.
Democrats must also neutralize the significant Republican advantage on values. While we should never back away from our core positions on abortion and gun-safety, we must also relax our sometimes intransigent opposition, advocate sensible limits and avoid unnecessarily polarizing language on these very divisive issues. Our party should also emphasize the importance of parenting and "valuing families" including early childhood development, classroom discipline, character education, economic well-being, and children's health. Finally, we should conduct an all-out assault on the proliferation of sex and violence in the media.
The poll identifies another trend that has accelerated since the 2000 presidential election. The GOP has regained its significant advantages on national/personal security and economic growth - both of which have moved to the top of voters' priorities since September 11th.
Democrats continue to do better on health care, the environment and education, but they rank much farther down the list. To make matters even tougher, an ABC News poll revealed that the American people (61-38) do not trust the public sector's effectiveness in solving social issues, compared to their confidence in government fighting terrorism (68-30).
To meet these serious challenges, our party must advocate New Democrat ideas on the "tough governing" issues - national/homeland security, economic opportunity, fiscal discipline, crime, welfare, and streamlined government. Once that threshold of credibility is reached, party leaders can then maximize their traditional advantages on the "compassion" issues - education, health care and the environment.
A New Democrat message on the tough governing and compassion fronts rallies both the base and more independently-minded voters - the "800-pound gorilla" in politics. These heavily suburban, middle-class, and middle-aged people will determine the outcome of elections, regardless of the turnout patterns among the true believers in both parties.
Those are the challenges the Democratic Party must meet in 2002 and beyond.
"W-NOMICS"
Lacking an economic policy for the 21st century, President Bush and his fellow Republicans brought back their old, conservative agenda from the 1980s, supply-side economics and budgetary red ink. Bush's policy decisions, in his first few months in office, wiped out $5 trillion of the $5.6 trillion surpluses projected for the decade.
In addition to causing fiscal havoc, this flawed agenda will do little to help the economy. Deficit-driven supply-side economics will fail now, more than ever, because it focuses on the wrong factors - capital and labor quantity, rather than the much more important New Economy factors of capital and labor quality.
The new edition of Blueprint takes a comprehensive, in-depth look at the GOP's deeply flawed agenda and proposes a strategy that will get the nation's economy back on track. Read the magazine online. If you would like a hard copy, contact Jim Gibson.