SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY

PLATFORM

Chairperson’s Message

Dear Friends,

My name is Michael Vargas, and it has been my great privilege to serve as the Chair of the Platform Review Committee for this 2019 revision. Thank you for taking the time to get to know what we’re all about. The Democratic Party’s greatest strength comes from the fact that we are a broad coalition of people joining together to move our country forward, but the fact that we are such a diverse group of Americans creates a special challenge when trying to put together a platform that we can all support. Our goal in drafting this Platform, therefore, was to include as much as we could, hoping that everyone will find something to like about this platform, but knowing that most would also find something to dislike. In drafting this platform we talked to over 200 local democratic activists, and dozens of local Democratic elected officials and progressive organizations to produce what we believe is the most comprehensive and progressive platform we’ve ever had.

It is also important to recognize that this platform is the platform of only one county in California. We studiously avoided national or federal issues, unless we thought it was an issue of such great importance that we ought to take a stand or it was a policy for which our local elected officials could advocate. This platform is, therefore, focused on local issues, particularly city and county issues specific to Silicon Valley. That being said, we know that our members care deeply about a variety of national and international issues and have done incredible work for candidates all over the country, and we will continue to support those efforts whenever we can.

Finally, one of the most consistent pieces of feedback we received when we were out meeting with local Democrats was that our platform was too policy heavy and lacked overarching values that could unite us as Democrats. In response, we have added a “Values” section (located on page 2). The committee believes that these three overarching values are at the core of what it means to be a Democrat, regardless of whether you identify as a moderate, liberal, progressive or anywhere in between. However, we also recognize that this is just the beginning of this conversation, and we hope that the Party will take up this conversation in the years to come and that future platform review committees will continue to hone and sharpen these values in their revisions.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this platform, and I hope that, in these pages, you will see something that makes you say “Yes, this is why I’m a Democrat!”

Yours in Solidarity,

Michael J. Vargas, Esq.

Chair, 2019 Platform Review Committee