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Here are excerpts from the 1996 Democratic Party Platform. I want my party back.
“Today’s Democratic Party also believes we must remain a nation of laws. We cannot tolerate illegal immigration and we must stop it. For years, our borders might as well not have existed. The border was under-patrolled, and what patrols there were, were under-equipped. Drugs flowed freely. Illegal immigration was rampant. Criminal immigrants, deported after committing crimes in America, returned the very next day to commit crimes again.”
“We are determined to balance the budget.”
“In the next four years, we must continue to work to lower foreign-trade barriers; insist that foreign companies play by fair rules at home and abroad.”
“We should expand public-school choice, and we should promote public charter schools that are held to the highest standards of accountability and access.”
“Our children’s education is not complete unless they learn good values. We applaud the efforts to promote character education in our schools. Teaching good values, strong character, and the responsibilities of citizenship must be an essential part of American education.”
“Our goal is to make abortion less necessary and more rare.”
“We must rein in big government, slash burdensome regulations, eliminate wasteful programs, and shift problem-solving out of Washington and back to people and communities who understand their situations best.”
“The welfare system undermined the very values — work, family, and personal responsibility — that it should promote.”
“Today’s Democratic Party is unwilling to surrender to the voices of retreat and indifference. We believe the only way to ensure America’s security and prosperity over the long run is to continue exerting American leadership across a range of military, diplomatic, and humanitarian challenges around the world.”
“The Democratic Party remains committed to America’s long-standing special relationship with Israel, based on shared values, a mutual commitment to democracy and a strategic alliance that benefits both nations. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.”