Dallas County Democrats
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• The Party supports a tax deduction, tax credit, and/or voucher system for families to give parents the full freedom to choose the very best school for their children: public, private, vocational or home school education.
• The Party supports a state constitutional amendment that prohibits state or federal regulations imposed on private schools.
• All school tax revenues collected within a school district should remain within that school district to be used at the local level.
• We also support the teaching of creation science in Texas public schools.
• We support a character education curriculum and program based upon biblical principles upon which our nation and state law system were founded.

Every Texan knows that our children come first. To make our state's education policy reflect that number-one priority, we should:

• Oppose any form of private school vouchers because vouchers would drain resources essential to guarantee a quality public education for all our children.
• Raise teacher pay to at least the national average, to help recruit and retrain first-class teachers.
• Enforce class-size limits, use the state's resources to get our children out of portable classrooms and into permanent schools
• Assure equal opportunity by equalizing school funding from the bottom up, not by leveling the top down.

• We believe the environment is best served by individuals working in their own best interest.
• We further support the abolition of federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency.

WE OPPOSE

• The theory of global warming and the Kyoto Agreement.
• The vast acquisition of Texas land by conservancy groups and government agencies.

• Today, 50 percent of Texans live in areas that fail to meet clean air standards.
• We pledge to:
• Require "Grandfathered" industrial polluters to come into compliance with clean-air standards within five years.
• Support full implementation of the Clean Air Act and create incentives to reduce or prevent air pollution.
• Support expansion of the state park system.

• We urge the reversal of Roe v. Wade. We affirm our support of the appointment of judges at all levels of the judiciary who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.
• The party supports repeal of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances law.

The Democratic Party trusts the women of Texas to make their own decisions about personal matters such as when and whether to bear children. No government, no politician, and no bureaucrat should interfere in an individual's private and personal decisions

Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country's founders and shared by the majority of Texans. We are opposed to any granting of special legal entitlements, recognition, or privileges including, but not limited to, marriage between persons of the same sex, custody or adoption of children, spousal (partner) insurance or retirement benefits.

We pledge to:

• Fight discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin, disability, socioeconomic status, color, creed or age. This protection extends to the ability to contract, work, vote, serve in the military, obtain an education or engage in all other legal pursuits of happiness.
• Enforce laws prohibiting sexual harassment.

• The Party believes that health care is not primarily a concern of federal government
• We support the abolition of... the Department of Health and Human Services..., and the position of Surgeon General.
• The premise for Texas' recently approved uninsured child legislation, The Healthy Kids Corporation, is based on the error that the number of uninsured children is growing rapidly; however, the U.S. Census Bureau shows in a recent five-year period that children without health care insurance had increased only .2%. The Party urges the Texas Legislature to repeal the Texas Healthy Kids Corporation.

• Texas Democrats support a Patient's Bill of Rights to ensure that Texas families have a right to choose the doctor they want for the care they need. Medical decisions must be made by medical doctors, not insurance company accountants. Families have the right to know all of their medical options, not just the cheapest.
• Texas Democrats support public and private partnerships to provide access to affordable health insurance for the 1.3 million uninsured children in Texas. We support implementation of the Texas Healthy Kids Corporation Program and encourage the utilization of all federal funds available through the Children's Health Insurance Program to improve health care for Texas children.

The Party supports amendment of the American with Disabilities Act to exclude from its definition those persons with infectious diseases, substance addiction, learning disabilities, and behavior disorders and thereby reducing abuse of the Act.

Texas Democrats support choices that promote full and productive lives and initiatives affording equal opportunities to the physically, developmentally and mentally disabled or impaired. We support the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Party believes the minimum wage law should be repealed.

We support a meaningful increase in the federal minimum wage aimed at giving full-time workers the ability to live dignified lives, plus... guarantee that all farm workers are afforded that same dignity.

We support returning immigration quotas to traditional levels in practice prior to 1965 of 300,000 per year or less.

We believe that the United States has been � and should always be � the land of opportunity.

• The Party strongly supports continuation of comprehensive tort reform.
• We support loser pay for frivolous lawsuits.

• We... support open access to the court system for the weak as well as the powerful, including the right to fair and impartial jury trials and respect by the courts for jury verdicts...

• We call upon the Texas Legislature to rescind no-fault divorce laws.
• Local, state, or federal laws, regulations or policies shall not be enacted that limit such rights in the rearing of children, in parental authority to discipline
• Corporal punishment should be used when appropriate and we encourage the legislature to strengthen existing immunity laws wherever possible, respecting corporal punishment.

Domestic violence threatens the health and safety of too many Texas families. We therefore support:

• Programs, education and centers for battered women and children;
• Enhancement of adequate protective services for the victims of child, spousal, adult and elder abuse, and
• Expansion of sexual assault crisis centers to the unserved and underserved areas of the state.