2. We support a constitutional guarantee of the rights of all persons to form families that are fully recognized by government, business, and society without discrimination.

3. We support repeal of the amendment to the Oregon Constitution (Article 15, Section 5a) that limits the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples.

4. We oppose all groups who advocate hate, intolerance, and vigilantism.

2. We support honesty in public service and governmental appointments based on expertise rather than political ideology.

3. We advocate effective controls on lobbyists in both the State Legislature and in Congress.

4. We support reform of the Presidential Primary system and advocate sequential, regional primaries.

5. We support continued effort toward campaign-finance reform that favors adequate public financing of elections and enforceable limits on expenditures.

6. We advocate nation-wide standards for verifiable voting that include open-source software for vote-tabulating equipment and random hand audits at all levels.

7. We support legislative and congressional districting that fairly and accurately represents the populace without gerrymandering for political gain.

8. We urge that licensed commercial media outlets provide free air time equitably, during normal viewing hours, for political candidates.

9. We advocate the use of instant-runoff voting in candidate elections to eliminate the imbalances found in “winner-take-all” systems.

2. We advocate funding that will lower tuition fees enough to enable all Oregon students, regardless of their immigration status, to attend college, university, or vocational school without incurring substantial debt.

3. We advocate funding and incentives that enhance teacher and student performance.

4. We oppose voucher and similar programs that divert public funds to private schools.

5. We support programs that increase opportunities to succeed, such as:

(a) Programs that prepare students for the technology jobs of the future.

(b) Publicly funded full-day kindergarten.

(c) Publicly funded pre-school programs on the Head-Start model.

(d) After-school recreation and enrichment programs.

(e) School-based drug- and sex-education programs.

(f) Adult Education, such as English-as-a-second-language courses.

6. We support separation of church and state so that we have both freedom of religion and freedom from religion.

7. We oppose sharing students’ records with credit-card companies and military recruiters without their consent.

8. We urge our public schools to provide effective bi-lingual education in appropriate educational settings.

9. We support provision of interpreters in schools, that interact with the immigrant community.

10. We advocate that reasonable efforts be made to ensure that school/parent communication be carried out in a language that parents understand.

11. We support schools’ efforts to bring under-represented minority groups into the role of guiding school practices and procedures.

12. We advocate that all children be offered the opportunity to learn a second language in elementary school.

13. We support increased education both in public schools and the community pertaining to cultural/ethnic identity to combat racial inequality and ethnic bias.

provider of their choice, at the time they need it, and at a cost they can afford.

2. We support the 2007 Healthy Oregon Act to reform delivery of health care by 2009 in a manner that emphasizes prevention, lowers costs, improves quality, and assures every Oregonian affordable health insurance, including a choice of a publicly-administered health plan.

3. We support the right of individuals to make end-of-life decisions free of ideological or governmental interference.

4. We support a woman’s right to make reproductive choices free of ideological or governmental interference.

5. We support programs to fund the special service-induced health needs of military veterans.

6. We support equivalent coverage of mental health care by all health insurance plans.

7. We support provision of interpreters on health-care and other public-service agencies.

8. We support programs that encourage individuals to attain and maintain their own good health.

2. We advocate comprehensive state-wide planning that fairly negotiates issues of private and public land use. To that end we will work to protect valuable farmland, encourage self-containedcommunities, and respect the integrity of existing neighborhoods.

3. We support the development of clean energy sources that reduce the negative ecological impacts of fossil fuel extraction and use while simultaneously reducing our dependence on foreign oil sources.

4. We advocate continued, permanent protection of all lands held in common by the people of the United States, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

5. We support the State of Oregon’s litigation to protect all roadless areas in Oregon from threats posed by revisions of federal rules.

6. We support adequate funding for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the addition to its mandate of evaluations that examine effects on human health, and legislation that permits it to respond effectively to newly discovered ecological problems.

7. We oppose the construction of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) facilities in Oregon, including the terminal proposed for Coos Bay and its associated pipeline that would traverse southern Oregon, because such facilities would:

(a) pose long-term safety, environmental, and economic problems;

(b) be contrary to Oregon’s stated goals of energy independence;

(c) serve mainly to deliver expensive, imported natural gas to out-of-state markets.

8. In Oregon, eminent domain should only be used when there is a clear public benefit.

9. We advocate stable funding for our historical societies and museums. To this end, we support the formation of the Rogue Valley Heritage District.

2. We advocate adequate staffing for human-service and public-safety activities.

3. We advocate frequent review of rules and policies relating to criminal sentencing. We oppose ”three strikes” and mandatory minimum sentences and hold that rehabilitation should be emphasized and adequately funded.

(b) Parental training.

(c) Emergency residential shelters for children.

(d) Adequate security measures in public schools.

5. We support provisions for affordable housing that give power to communities to craft their own solutions to problems created by the rising cost of housing.

6. We support a safe food supply, with requirements for humane treatment of animals, and for truth in labeling food content and origins, including products containing genetically-modified organisms and/or bovine growth hormone; we advocate a moratorium on the use of genetically-engineered organisms in Oregon agricultural practices and strict standards for research procedures to maintain isolation of such organisms from natural systems.

7. We advocate an improved communication network between local citizens’ Emergency Response Teams and the federal Department of Homeland Security, including F.E.M.A.

8. We support re-establishment of outreach programs to help veterans access the benefits to which they are entitled.

2. We support measures that outlaw efforts by businesses and government to undermine organized labor.

3. We support steps toward guaranteeing a living wage for all workers.

4. We advocate programs that support low-income and disadvantaged workers, and include support for child care, transportation, health care, and job training.

5. We support measures that would outlaw excessive and unreasonable interest rates and deceptive lending practices by all financial institutions.

6. We support federal comprehensive immigration reform because we are a nation of immigrants that owes fair treatment to documented and undocumented immigrants who work in our communities. Our responsibilities include providing those with work permits:

(a) An affordable path to citizenship;

(b) Participation in collective bargaining;

(c) Prevailing wage rates, equal access to available jobs, and access to current worker protections;

(d) Protection from unreasonable housing, transportation, or recruitment fees that reduce wages and benefits for local and contracted foreign labor.

7. We support reforms that secure all our borders, but we oppose the construction of unreasonable physical barriers on any of our borders.

8. We support the right of individuals, regardless of immigration status, to obtain a driver’s permit and/or license and to consult local, state, and federal authorities regarding their personal and family safety, their educational pursuits, and their medical needs, without fear of repercussions, detention, or deportation.

(a) Revise the tax code to adequately fund the local, state, and federal government, and establish a “pay as you go” approach to funding programs.

(b) Repeal those tax rates that disproportionately favor the higher-income tax brackets.

(c) Coordinate re-financing of Medicare with plans for national health insurance.

(d) Require full disclosure, prior to passage, of campaign contributions made to members of Congress by recipients of “earmarks”.

(e) Require the funding of military operations in time of war with a supplementary war tax.

2. In Oregon, we support the newly-instituted, bi-partisan commission on tax reform. Among the issues it should address are:

(a) alternative taxes that would reduce dependency on state income tax and property taxes,

(b) fair and reasonable corporate income taxes,

(c) provisions for allocating budget surpluses to a “rainy day” fund for offsetting future budget deficiencies.

2. We oppose national security policies that limit freedoms, operate outside the law, and violate established constraints on executive power.

3. We advocate substantial investment in technologies for alternative energy, mass transportation, and energy conservation.

4. We advocate a moratorium on future trade agreements with other nations; holding in abeyance pending agreements, and re-negotiating existing trade agreements, until definable, accountable, and enforceable standards can be established that will protect the rights of all workers, foreign and domestic, whether working in the U.S. or abroad, and provide for environmental protection.

5. We advocate that all federal agencies monitoring, protecting, and regulating the environment, product safety, food and drugs, security, communications, financial and other practices, be restored, expanded appropriately, and funded sufficiently, so that they can effectively carry out their stated missions.

6. We support restoration of Research and Development funding to adequate levels, by means of incremental, regular increases that will enable rational expansion of scientific research.

7. We support legislation to curtail the power of eminent domain granted by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to private energy companies, which enables the seizure of private and public lands for up to 3000-foot-wide energy-transport corridors without review by the states.

2. We acknowledge that our venture in Iraq has been the country’s biggest strategic blunder—ever—and that, as a result, there is no guarantee of a peaceful resolution whether we stay or leave. Nevertheless, we urge a prompt, planned, orderly withdrawal of American troops out of combat in Iraq, a cessation of planning for permanent military bases in that country, and emphasis on increased Iraqi participation in security and reconstruction. The withdrawal itself will provide an opportunity for the Iraqi people and their government to develop their own political systems and security forces in ways that will lead to relative stability and peace. Among the remaining.  U.S. responsibilities is provision of as much aid as possible to the Iraqi refugees in neighboring nations and within Iraq.

3. We support a requirement that the corps of American diplomats be deeply informed about the cultures, and fluent in the languages, of the countries to which they are assigned.

4. We support a strong United Nations with the U.S. paying its fair share of the costs.

5. We encourage U.S. leadership in international efforts to reduce carbon fuel-based greenhouse gas emissions.

6. We support international programs that promote human rights, economic and sexual equity, universal education, toleration of religious differences, and freedom from poverty.

7. We reject the use of interrogation techniques that violate the Geneva Accords.

8. We continue to support working toward world-wide nuclear disarmament. We demand that the U. S. discontinue use of depleted uranium in its weaponry and support a treaty to ban its military use worldwide.

9. We advocate the requirement of a formal Declaration of War by Congress prior to any offensive military operations against another country or its regime.

10. We support Fair-Trade Agreements and debt forgiveness in Third-World countries to increase their chances of participating equitably in the global economy; we support providing funds for AIDS education and other humanitarian efforts.