The Media Is Wrong: Democrats Have a Platform and It’s Even Titled ‘For the People’

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:47 pm

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If I had a dime for every time some pundit claimed Democrats didn’t have a platform or some try-hard, Kool Kid commenter claimed Leader Nancy Pelosi didn’t have a platform for the people, I’d be rich.

Because she does. It’s even titled…

FOR THE PEOPLE.

Send the dimes my way.

Here it is, courtesy of Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office as sent to me – and yes, it covers healthcare, raising wages and making government more transparent, which is the way we root out special interests and the power of dark money and other things the cool kids are supposed to care about, but somehow seem to think only white men can do:

For the People

Lower your health care costs and prescription drug prices
No American should ever have to break the bank to pay for lifesaving care. But today, too many Americans are forced to make the choice between paying their bills or buying their pills. Democrats will fight to bring down health care costs and lower prescription drug prices by holding insurance and drug companies accountable while strengthening Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Our country and our economy are stronger and healthier when every American has access to quality, affordable health care.

Increase your pay through strong economic growth and by rebuilding America
Here in America, we should reward honest, hard work with jobs that pay enough to get ahead—whether you’re the custodian or the company president. But right now, too many jobs don’t pay enough to allow hardworking Americans to build a good life or save for a secure retirement. Democrats will invest in innovation industries like clean energy and build economic infrastructure like roads, bridges and ports to help our economy grow and create good-paying jobs. Because when working families earn more, our economy works better for everyone.

Clean up corruption to make Washington work for you
Every American should have an equal say in our government, but the dysfunctional political system in DC allows greedy special interest lobbyists to rig the rules at the expense of the people. Democrats will clean up the culture of corruption in Washington and break the stranglehold on our democracy by big corporations and wealthy campaign donors. We will restore dignity to our democracy and give power back to the people—because our leaders should be focused on making sure our government works for everyone.

Of course, the Democratic Leader’s agenda has been available online for the public: It’s here, and unlike Republican agendas, it’s not blank pages with big graphics full of empty promises meant to manipulate the public, like calling a tax cut for the rich a “Jobs Bill.”

In an exclusive interview, Leader Pelosi explained to me the importance of the American people speaking up in order to convince the president to go along with the Democratic agenda. “That’s why these three things (healthcare costs, wages and a transparent government) go together… Now, we have to convince the president, but the only way to convince the president is to convince the American people.”

There are other key issues the Leader is eying, like a gun safety bill, which is another issue favored by the majority of Americans but Republicans have refused to even bring it up for a vote. She also mentioned the DREAMers, children being separated from their parents at the border and other issues that a majority of Americans agree upon.

It’s beyond bizarre, and almost feels like we’re living in Kellyanne Conway’s “Alternative Facts” reality, when the media continues to behave as if it is Nancy Pelosi who is the outlier here. Just because Republicans hate Nancy Pelosi and run against the boogeywoman paper tiger figure they’ve made of her doesn’t mean she is actually polarizing. Her stance on these issues is right in line with what polls show a majority of Americans want and value.

While threats to the ACA, Medicare and Medicaid (healthcare) are putting most of us in danger right now, the single biggest thing Democrats could do to help really change our country is the third item on their agenda regarding the transparency in Congress. Pelosi is talking about rooting out the dark money that keeps members from voting for their constituents on all manner of issues, from gun safety to healthcare.

“Fairness in our economy and a transparent government,” Pelosi told me were Democrats’ top issues. “The Republicans only accomplish one thing in terms of an interview of an agenda, and that was to pass a tax scam of that ripped off the American people… (Republicans) gave up 83 percent of the benefits to the top one percent in our country.”

The Democratic Party is not perfect- no organization run by humans is. Power often attracts less than savory people. But it does our country a great disservice when the media treats both parties as if they are the same, and repeats the false narrative that Democrats don’t have an economic platform, just like they said Hillary Clinton didn’t address “economic anxieties” — when, in fact, she had an entire platform addressing economic anxieties.

The Democrats have a platform and it is designed to actually help people and make our government more transparent. Will they be able to pull that off? Not without your voices and your votes. It is, as former President Obama often said, the job of the people to push their elected officials to do their will. But that only works when dark money isn’t running the swamp show.

And that is why Pelosi is focused on number three: rooting out corruption via dark money that silences the people.

More on the Pelosi interview here.

Sarah Jones

Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.

Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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