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We, the members of the Crook County Democratic Party, want a better future for people today and for the generations that follow.
We recognize our rights and responsibilities in our local communities, our state, our country, and the wider world.
We believe every person deserves a fair shot and fair treatment, along with safety, due process, life, liberty, and the chance to pursue happiness. We see diversity as a national strength and believe equity and inclusion should shape every part of our lives.
Affordable Housing
Safe, stable, affordable housing is basic to human dignity and a fair society.
All Oregonians — no matter their race, immigration status, country of origin, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, income, ability, health, or religious beliefs (including no religious beliefs) — should be able to find housing they can afford and rely on.
We support government, businesses, and community groups working together on policies and programs that ensure people who need housing can get and keep it.
Education
Good education opens doors, strengthens communities, and improves lives.
Strong, well-funded public schools help students build key skills and knowledge and give them cultural, social, civic, and job-related experiences that a healthy democracy depends on.
We support free, public education from pre-K through college or trade school. We believe great teachers are the most important factor in student success. That means making teaching a respected, well-paid career, with strong training and ongoing professional development.
We welcome new and creative education models that give Oregon families real choices. We oppose relying on an unstable income-tax base to fund schools and support changes that provide steady, predictable funding for K–12 and higher education. We oppose school vouchers and shifting public school money to private schools.
Energy, Transportation, and the Environment
Oregon’s natural beauty and healthy environment are central to our quality of life.
We live on a planet with limited resources and limited ability to handle waste. Human activity is already driving climate change, and we’re seeing those impacts now.
We value healthy forests and rangelands, clean rivers and lakes, clean air and drinking water, and a thriving ocean. We believe real prosperity depends on a healthy environment. We support reducing fossil fuel use, expanding renewable energy, and improving transportation options — including public transit — that reduce pollution. We support electrifying our transportation system wherever it makes sense.
We want stronger protections for biodiversity and public lands. Ignoring the climate crisis will cost more in the long run and could make our planet unlivable for many people and species. We believe social and economic justice must be part of every decision about land use and resource extraction, and that a healthy environment is essential for a healthy society. We support amending the Oregon and U.S. Constitutions to guarantee everyone the right to a clean, safe, and healthy environment.
Foreign Policy and National Security
Our responsibilities don’t stop at county or state lines — or even at our national borders.
Our security depends on strong diplomacy and good relationships with other nations. We recognize the inherent dignity and basic rights of all people.
National security starts at home: protecting our democracy, standing up to extremism, defending everyone’s rights, and keeping families safe, while recognizing that threats can come from both inside and outside the country. We support smart defense: a strong military, strong cybersecurity, and a government that always tries diplomacy first.
We honor those who serve our country. They deserve full benefits, including healthcare, housing, education, job training, and real support when they return to civilian life. Our military should reflect our country’s diversity. We also recognize that high military spending hurts our ability to invest in people and communities at home. We believe domestic needs and the general welfare must come first in the budget.
Good Governance
We’re committed to a government that is open, transparent, and responsive — truly of, by, and for the people.
Protecting our democracy and addressing the challenges of new technology and a global economy requires shared effort, compromise, and sustained engagement. We look to our founding principles and the Constitution for guidance.
We believe corporations are not people and money is not speech. Human beings have inherent rights; corporate rights are created and limited by law. Political power shouldn’t depend on wealth. No public official should personally profit from their office. The right — and responsibility — of every eligible person to vote is a core part of our democracy.
Healthcare
Everyone should have access to healthcare that is universal, high-quality, comprehensive, and affordable throughout their lives — no matter their race, immigration status, country of origin, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, income, ability, health, or religious beliefs.
Healthcare should be easy to reach, inclusive, and able to meet a wide range of needs: physical, preventive, mental, gender-affirming, reproductive, and rehabilitative care.
We believe businesses should not have to shoulder the responsibility and cost of providing healthcare. Instead, we support a government-run, single-payer system. Single-payer healthcare ends the harmful practice of profiting off people who are sick or in need. Providing preventive care for everyone is the most cost-effective way to build a healthy, productive society.
Immigration
We are a nation of immigrants.
We celebrate the many cultures and experiences that immigrants and refugees bring and the ways they strengthen our communities. We reject fear-based, racist, and xenophobic immigration rhetoric and policies.
We support policies that keep families together, protect birthright citizenship, provide permanent legal status for Dreamers, and create real, fair paths to citizenship regardless of country of origin. We support strong immigration reform that respects human rights and the Constitution while speeding up the process and resolving cases promptly.
Justice: Criminal
We believe everyone deserves fair and humane treatment — no matter their race, immigration status, country of origin, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, income, ability, health, or religious beliefs.
Judges and law enforcement at every level must honor their oath to uphold the Constitution. That includes protecting people’s privacy, due process, equal treatment, the presumption of innocence, and access to competent legal counsel — even if they can’t afford it.
We oppose privatizing any part of the criminal justice system. No one is above the law, and executive privilege has limits.
Justice: Social and Fundamental Human Rights
Our country’s story is one of constantly expanding who is fully included in “we the people” and what basic rights really mean.
We believe all people must be protected by guarantees of equality, safety, privacy, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — regardless of race, immigration status, country of origin, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, income, ability, health, or religious beliefs, including no religious belief.
We believe the rights to life and the pursuit of happiness include the right to healthcare, and we embrace gender-affirming care as part of that. We support the freedom to make personal end-of-life choices. We believe a woman’s right to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions must be restored. And we insist that due process protections apply to all people within our borders, not just citizens.
Labor, Business, and Jobs
Work should provide dignity, purpose, and security, not just a paycheck.
People thrive when they can innovate and contribute in workplaces that value more than just profit. We want a diverse economy that offers real opportunity and lasting economic security for everyone.
To support small businesses, we back efforts to streamline government where it makes sense and remove unfair barriers to starting and growing a business. We encourage co-ops, employee ownership, and other creative business models, and we support the expansion of trade schools, apprenticeships, and worker training.
We believe workers have the right to organize. We support their fight for a living wage and a safe workplace, free from intimidation and retaliation, and we oppose employers who game the system to avoid paying workers what they’ve earned.
We support community investment and economic policies that help small businesses compete, especially against large multinational corporations. Honest capitalism means taking long-term environmental impacts seriously. Prices should reflect the real costs of goods and services, instead of offloading hidden costs onto communities or the environment.
Revenue and Taxation
We care about fairness, efficiency, and economic mobility, and we oppose extreme financial inequality.
To support these values and rein in a speculative economy, we support a progressive tax system in which tax rates rise as income and wealth rise, and in which capital gains and dividends are taxed at the same rate as earned income.
We support closing corporate and personal tax loopholes, limiting excessive deductions, and ending the offshoring of wealth so everyone pays their fair share.
Science and Technology
Science should play a big role in government decisions, especially when it comes to health and the environment.
Evidence-based research in science and technology is essential to our future. We welcome innovation in all fields, but when there’s a demonstrable risk of harm, we should act to protect the public.
We’re living in a time of rapid advances in medicine, information technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and space exploration. As we become more globally connected, we need to pay close attention to how these changes affect society and share our discoveries widely. We believe an open and democratic Internet is vital to both technological progress and a healthy democracy.
Separation of Church and State
The First Amendment begins, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…,” which clearly establishes a strong separation between church and state, as the Founders intended.
When government policies let people use their religious beliefs to interfere with or deny someone else’s equal rights, that crosses the line. It grants special treatment based on religion and violates the separation of church and state.