Public Comment

An Open Letter to Congresswoman Barbara Lee about the Democratic platform

Raymond Barglow
Friday July 15, 2016 - 12:26:00 PM

Dear Representative Barbara Lee,

I belong to the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club here in the East Bay. What I say below reflects my own views, not any official position taken by the Club. I want first of all to thank you for your consistent support for non-violent alternatives to war and specifically for your opposition to Congressional “Authorization for Use of Military Force” in the aftermath of 9/11 and for your effort to end that authorization in May of this year.

I am also writing to express appreciation for the role you, as a member of the 2016 Democratic Party Platform Committee, have played in shaping the platform. I am one of those who voted for Bernie Sanders in the recently completed primary contest. Sanders has now endorsed Hillary Clinton, and both of them have called for a united campaign going forward. I hope – and I’m sure you do too – that we will all work together to elect progressive Democratic Party candidates in November and to implement a platform that both you and Sanders have acclaimed. (Sanders has hailed the document as “the most progressive Democratic platform in the history of our country.”)  

 

Among the contentious issues that the Platform Committee has dealt with are U.S. policy in the Middle East and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. On these two issues, you voted for a more moderate wording than the ones that Sanders delegates supported, and some critics on the left have taken you to task for doing that. To be sure, there are honest differences of opinion among progressives on these issues. I’d like you to know, though, that some of us who supported Sanders in the primary understand the positions you have taken, even if we do not fully agree in every instance. 

Regarding Middle East policy, Sanders-appointed Platform Committee members have pointed out that the 2016 Draft Platform does not take equally seriously Israeli and Palestinian longings for peace and justice. Still, as Jeremy Ben-Ami, president and founder of J Street, points out, "The new language breaks with the party's practice of framing its aim of establishing a Palestinian state solely in terms of Israel's interests,” and “By including parallel acknowledgment of Israeli and Palestinian rights, the party underscores its belief that the only viable resolution to the conflict -- a two-state solution -- requires recognizing the fates of the two peoples are intertwined.” 

The Draft Platform denounces the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, and in so doing does not, it seems to me, do full justice to this non-violent effort. Moreover, BDS proponents do not speak with one voice, and we should recognize the diversity of opinion among them. It’s noteworthy, though, that some of the most prominent critics of Israeli policies, including Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, and Rabbi Michael Lerner, have opposed the Global BDS Movement. As J Street points out, that movement “does not support the two-state solution, recognize the right of the Jewish people to a state, or distinguish between opposition to the existence of Israel itself and opposition to the occupation of the territory beyond the Green Line.” Hence the criticism of BDS in the Draft Platform is understandable, although the BDS Movement has contributed to raising awareness about the injustices imposed upon Palestinians by Israeli policies.  

Regarding the proposed TPP, here again progressives do not all agree. The Draft Platform stops short of opposition to this trade proposal, although it specifies conditions that trade policy must meet in order to be acceptable. These conditions are expressed in the Draft as general principles that it will be our task, as leaders and grassroots of the Democratic Party, to implement: 

“While we believe that openness to the world economy is an important source of American leadership and dynamism, we will only approve new trade agreements if they support American jobs, raise wages, and improve our national security. We believe any new trade agreements must include strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards in their core text. Trade agreements should crack down on the unfair and illegal subsidies other countries grant their businesses at the expense of ours. It should promote innovation of and access to lifesaving medicines. And it should protect a free and open internet. We should never enter into a trade agreement that prevents our government, or other governments, from putting in place rules that protect the environment, food safety, or the health of American citizens or others around the world.” 

It would have been better if the Draft Platform had expressly rejected the TPP. Yet the language in the Platform is strong and will support our efforts to ensure that future trade agreements protect the needs of workers and consumers in this country and abroad. 

As we all recognize, the Democratic Party is a notoriously diverse “big tent” that brings together Americans of multiple social classes, ethnicities, and persuasions. Hence the Party Platform is bound to be controversial and contested. Yet the drafting process has resulted in solidly progressive policy positions: an ambitious jobs plan, strong support for public education, abolition of the death penalty, expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit to more working people, Wall Street reform, a surtax on millionaires and billionaires, expansion of social security, anti-racism, immigration, universal healthcare, strong support for Tribal Nations, climate change and clean energy, reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and criminal justice reform. 

We should acknowledge, however, that the Draft Platform is deficient in its foreign policy perspective. The Platform should champion the peaceful resolution of international conflicts and advocate a major decrease in the military budget, freeing up funds to rebuild civilian infrastructure and provide millions of new jobs. I know that this is a cause that you hold dear too, and I appreciate the support you have given to it. 

Notwithstanding the neglect of the militarism issue in the Draft Platform, it does address major challenges that face our nation, and it will now be up to us, during and after this election season, to work together to put the Platform’s proposals into practice.