Santa Barbara County Democratic Party

The Santa Barbara County Democratic Party Platform was adopted by the SBCDP Central Committee on Thursday July 2nd, 2009. The preamble is below and attached, the entire document, as well as each section, can be downloaded as PDF documents, below.

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Solidarity and Sustainability

Preamble to the Platform of the Democratic Party of Santa Barbara County

As Democrats, we believe in a society and community based on solidarity and sustainability. We hope for a society and community united by shared values and common purpose. We believe, quite simply that our country does better when everyone does better, and that we need to live in harmony with our environment. These basic principles guide our actions as a political organization, and as a gathering of citizens engaged in community life.

Our aim is to empower, educate and organize citizens and residents of our county. First and foremost, this means mobilizing voters to get to the polls and elect Democrats at all levels of government. However, we know that simply electing Democrats is only a beginning. We must work to hold elected officials accountable to the values and principles of our party, through public advocacy, coalition work, as well as through our endorsement process, which asks candidates seeking our support to pledge to put our shared values into practice.

As an organization, we are committed to being open and accessible. Ours is a big-tent Party, and seeks to be a political home for concerned citizens from all walks of life, including traditional Democrats, marginalized communities, issue-oriented activists and progressive social movements. We believe that the Party must be not just a coalition of interests or an electoral operation, but also an independent, democratic tool for real people to create real change in their communities and their environment. We will advocate for this vision both here in Santa Barbara County and within the California Democratic Party.

We work at all levels, organizing for change at the international, national, state and local levels. However, as a County Party organization, we have a special responsibility to focus on the local political arena. We reject the idea that local politics is merely a technical operation. We believe strongly that local decisions are informed by values, that local budgets are moral documents and that local institutions are the most significant point of interaction between the people and their government. County and municipal-level decisions have a tremendous impact on employment, land use, environmental protection, social welfare, as well as gender, sexual and racial equality. Our goal is to foster sustainability and social justice at all levels.

This platform embodies the values and principles of the Democratic Party of Santa Barbara County. It was adopted by the Party’s Central Committee on July 2nd, 2009, after discussion by the general membership of the Party.