11-04-2019, 11:43 PM
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The Democratic Farmer-Labor Party of Alduria
The Democratic Farmer-Labor Party was officially formed with the merger of the National Congress for Social Democracy and the Communist Party in order to present a united front for the representation of workers in Alduria politics. With the collapse of New Center, a delegation from the left wing of the defunct party met with party leaders at the Hotel Nueva Barris in Punto Santiago to officially merge into the party, resulting in the Neuva Barris declaration, officially stating the general principles of the party and declaring their intention to stand as a single organization going forward.
The Neuva Barris Declaration:
The Neuva Barris Declaration:
Quote:In the interests of the future development of Alduria and the promotion of free, democratic, and egalitarian society, the representatives present of the Movement for Social Democracy, the Communist Party of Alduria, and the New Center Party recognize the following truths of the Aldurian situation in particular and human affairs in general.
1) All people are entitled to dignity within their lives and work and are entitled to the protection of their rights to bargain for and maintain input in the condition of their labor
2) The gross disparity of wealth between both individuals and communities is a fundamental threat to a free and democratic society
3) All people are entitled to the equal protections of law and society regardless of their race, nationality, religion, creed, gender, gender identity, orientation, or other immutable factors of the human condition.
4) A society has a moral and practical mandate to provide for the education, health, and security of the population of that society.
5) The development of economic structures and exploitation of resources within Alduria is and must to the benefit of the Aldurian people. To that end, the undersigned commit to unifying into a political organization dedicated to the advancing these principles in the Aldurian government and society.
The Parliamentary Manifesto of the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party -
1678 Edition
As we approach the the second elections under our new constitution, we must assess the successes and failures of the outgoing administration and the steps necessary to maintain our liberal democracy and promote a better, freer, and fairer society going forward. Towards these ends, the Democratic Farmer-Labor party proposes the following actions and promises the following guidelines on our behavior in the next parliament to be assembled.
-8 hours work, 8 hours rest, and 8 hours liberty: People must be free to pursue their interests, their families, and their lives. We must have ownership of our own time. To that end, among the first priorities of a DFL government will be to mandate that all hourly workers be entitled to 150% of pay time worked over 8 hours in a single a day or 40 hours in a week's time. Additionally, a floor for salaried workers must be instituted to prevent avoidance of these rules.
-The right to collectively organize and bargain is paramount to giving the people power over their own lives. To this end, a DFL government will institute legal protections for worker's ability to organize into bargaining units and for those bargaining units to engage in actions to advance their position and make their voices heard.
-A DFL government will create a clear and unambiguous legal definition of independent contractors so that the designation may not be used to skirt the legal rights of employees.
-A DFL government will institute protections for pension funding in cases of bankruptcy and catastrophe, so that management may not alter the hard won benefits of workers without their collective consent.
-A DLF government will create a single, unified health insurance plan for all of Alduria, replacing current private premiums with a simple progressive marginal premium. This will reduce the inefficiencies created in administering multiple private entities, eliminate the perverse incentives inherit in private insurance markets, and allow us to negotiate payment schedules for drugs and services with a single unified voice as well as insuring that every Aldurian has access to affordable, quality healthcare.
-A DLF government will institute a comprehensive disability, unemployment, and advanced age insurance system. Benefits will be payed out against incoming payments with an income surcharge, with a cap on benefit in the highest income brackets and the difference supplementing benefits at the lowest.
-Funding for both of these programs will be supplemented with a low Value Added-Tax in order to distribute the tax base and decrease the potential burden on an individual
-The DFL will promote advanced, early screening for the cancers that increasingly plague our population so that treatment can be administered as soon as possible
-A DLF government will ensure that all children are granted the education necessary to be full, productive, and happy members of society. We will ensure that every child, from ages 5 to 16 is enrolled in the appropriate educational system and that all children from ages 16 to 18 are either in the educational system or apprenticeship programs, the later to be supplemented with instruction in language, writing, and mathematics.
-The DLF will ensure that the particulars of methods of instruction, programs, and in so far as possible funding within the education system stays within the purview of local and regional governments
-The DFL will institute a system of land grants, tuition controls, and low interest loans to ensure that higher education is accessible and affordable to all who wish to pursue it
-The DFL will create, within the Department of the Interior, a commission to asses the intensity and risks of radiation on any proposed site of habitation and formulate a plan to remediate those risks.
-A DFL government will immediately begin clean up efforts on the river to bring it up to safe standards for economic and recreational activity, and perhaps eventually drinkablity, to be financed by an emergency surcharge to income taxes on those in the highest 10% of income brackets.
-The DLF believes that the resources of Alduria must be used to the benefit of Aldruais and opposes any oil privatization scheme.
-A DLF government will expand the national oil company to include the whole of the mining sector.
-Any private investments in the Aldurian Oil Company will be on the basis of the private firm collecting a specified amount of the increase in production generated by the investment for specified period and ending with all revenues from oil production eventually being in back public hands
-A DFL government will standardize infrastructure development in Alduria, with a single rail-gauge, minimum bridge and overpass height, and a minimum load capacity for roads and bridges, so that any vehicle may confidently use any road or railroad.
-A DFL government will institute tariffs, where not bound by treaty, on targeted goods in which domestic manufacture may build a competitive advantage and will use the proceeds for further infrastructure development, so we may both nurture domestic industry and create the infrastructure it needed to operate it.
-The DFL does, however, recognize the potential for public-private partnerships to allow for infrastructure development beyond that allowed by current fiscal restraints, and will engage in these provided that the agreements a structured in a manner in which the private entity is incrementally bought out to eventually put in the results of the project in public hands.
-A DFL government will see that branches of the Bank of Alduria are opened in each regional capital. These branches, using federal and regional taxes and trust funds of social insurance programs as initial deposits, offer low interest start up loan and act as lenders of last resort for local banks, to keep the wealth of local communities within local communities and foster reinvestment.
-A DFL government will reform the tax code to move taxation away from productive business activities and toward capital gains and accumulated wealth, to incentivize hiring, construction, and expansion and decentivize dividends, buybacks, and rent seeking.
-The DFL is committed to affordable and secure housing. We will institute a housing bill of rights, to require mediation before eviction or foreclosure, implement, in conjunction with local governments, a sliding scale of rent caps on multi-family units with decreasing allowable margins as value increases and as the building ages, to push developers in build newer and cheaper housing units, while we will institute a right to buy for single family home renters that have maintained a single domicile for five years or greater.
-The DFL is committed to the principles of the separation of church and state, and any DFL will studiously maintain the separation between them.
-The DFL is committed to maintaining legal equality of all races, genders, gender identity, nationalities, and religious persuations within Alduria, and any government in which we participate will respect and when necessary expand these protections
-The DFL is committed to not only legal, but social equality, and will institute legal protections for the protection of all classes in public commendation, hiring, and the workforce.
-The DFL is committed to an open society. We recognize the uniqueness of Alduria as a nation whose identity is formed from a common commitment to liberty, democracy, and the Euran dream. To this end we will maintain an open immigration policy and support programs to help new arrivals integrate into Aldurian society.
-The DFL recognizes the practical necessity and success of the development of Biscarrose and Napoléon by private entities, however we also recognize the moral necessity of democratic governance. We will continue to support their development on the condition that their boards of governance include the elected representatives of the people of those areas.
-The DFL remains committed to policy of armed neutrality and avoiding any entangling foreign alliances, particularly those involved in the USSO and Raspur Pact.
-A DFL government will work to develop economic, cultural, and humanitarian cooperation with other governments who similarly show themselves dedicated to neutrality, sovereignty, and independence.
-The DFL supports the maintenance and development of an integrated and robust sea and air military arm to combat the threat of piracy on the straits
-The DFL will work to avoid armed conflict and oppose any military adventurism not directly related to the security of Alduria.
-The DFL will begin a pilot program to connect returning veterans with housing, jobs, and general social reintegration.
-8 hours work, 8 hours rest, and 8 hours liberty: People must be free to pursue their interests, their families, and their lives. We must have ownership of our own time. To that end, among the first priorities of a DFL government will be to mandate that all hourly workers be entitled to 150% of pay time worked over 8 hours in a single a day or 40 hours in a week's time. Additionally, a floor for salaried workers must be instituted to prevent avoidance of these rules.
-The right to collectively organize and bargain is paramount to giving the people power over their own lives. To this end, a DFL government will institute legal protections for worker's ability to organize into bargaining units and for those bargaining units to engage in actions to advance their position and make their voices heard.
-A DFL government will create a clear and unambiguous legal definition of independent contractors so that the designation may not be used to skirt the legal rights of employees.
-A DFL government will institute protections for pension funding in cases of bankruptcy and catastrophe, so that management may not alter the hard won benefits of workers without their collective consent.
-A DLF government will create a single, unified health insurance plan for all of Alduria, replacing current private premiums with a simple progressive marginal premium. This will reduce the inefficiencies created in administering multiple private entities, eliminate the perverse incentives inherit in private insurance markets, and allow us to negotiate payment schedules for drugs and services with a single unified voice as well as insuring that every Aldurian has access to affordable, quality healthcare.
-A DLF government will institute a comprehensive disability, unemployment, and advanced age insurance system. Benefits will be payed out against incoming payments with an income surcharge, with a cap on benefit in the highest income brackets and the difference supplementing benefits at the lowest.
-Funding for both of these programs will be supplemented with a low Value Added-Tax in order to distribute the tax base and decrease the potential burden on an individual
-The DFL will promote advanced, early screening for the cancers that increasingly plague our population so that treatment can be administered as soon as possible
-A DLF government will ensure that all children are granted the education necessary to be full, productive, and happy members of society. We will ensure that every child, from ages 5 to 16 is enrolled in the appropriate educational system and that all children from ages 16 to 18 are either in the educational system or apprenticeship programs, the later to be supplemented with instruction in language, writing, and mathematics.
-The DLF will ensure that the particulars of methods of instruction, programs, and in so far as possible funding within the education system stays within the purview of local and regional governments
-The DFL will institute a system of land grants, tuition controls, and low interest loans to ensure that higher education is accessible and affordable to all who wish to pursue it
-The DFL will create, within the Department of the Interior, a commission to asses the intensity and risks of radiation on any proposed site of habitation and formulate a plan to remediate those risks.
-A DFL government will immediately begin clean up efforts on the river to bring it up to safe standards for economic and recreational activity, and perhaps eventually drinkablity, to be financed by an emergency surcharge to income taxes on those in the highest 10% of income brackets.
-The DLF believes that the resources of Alduria must be used to the benefit of Aldruais and opposes any oil privatization scheme.
-A DLF government will expand the national oil company to include the whole of the mining sector.
-Any private investments in the Aldurian Oil Company will be on the basis of the private firm collecting a specified amount of the increase in production generated by the investment for specified period and ending with all revenues from oil production eventually being in back public hands
-A DFL government will standardize infrastructure development in Alduria, with a single rail-gauge, minimum bridge and overpass height, and a minimum load capacity for roads and bridges, so that any vehicle may confidently use any road or railroad.
-A DFL government will institute tariffs, where not bound by treaty, on targeted goods in which domestic manufacture may build a competitive advantage and will use the proceeds for further infrastructure development, so we may both nurture domestic industry and create the infrastructure it needed to operate it.
-The DFL does, however, recognize the potential for public-private partnerships to allow for infrastructure development beyond that allowed by current fiscal restraints, and will engage in these provided that the agreements a structured in a manner in which the private entity is incrementally bought out to eventually put in the results of the project in public hands.
-A DFL government will see that branches of the Bank of Alduria are opened in each regional capital. These branches, using federal and regional taxes and trust funds of social insurance programs as initial deposits, offer low interest start up loan and act as lenders of last resort for local banks, to keep the wealth of local communities within local communities and foster reinvestment.
-A DFL government will reform the tax code to move taxation away from productive business activities and toward capital gains and accumulated wealth, to incentivize hiring, construction, and expansion and decentivize dividends, buybacks, and rent seeking.
-The DFL is committed to affordable and secure housing. We will institute a housing bill of rights, to require mediation before eviction or foreclosure, implement, in conjunction with local governments, a sliding scale of rent caps on multi-family units with decreasing allowable margins as value increases and as the building ages, to push developers in build newer and cheaper housing units, while we will institute a right to buy for single family home renters that have maintained a single domicile for five years or greater.
-The DFL is committed to the principles of the separation of church and state, and any DFL will studiously maintain the separation between them.
-The DFL is committed to maintaining legal equality of all races, genders, gender identity, nationalities, and religious persuations within Alduria, and any government in which we participate will respect and when necessary expand these protections
-The DFL is committed to not only legal, but social equality, and will institute legal protections for the protection of all classes in public commendation, hiring, and the workforce.
-The DFL is committed to an open society. We recognize the uniqueness of Alduria as a nation whose identity is formed from a common commitment to liberty, democracy, and the Euran dream. To this end we will maintain an open immigration policy and support programs to help new arrivals integrate into Aldurian society.
-The DFL recognizes the practical necessity and success of the development of Biscarrose and Napoléon by private entities, however we also recognize the moral necessity of democratic governance. We will continue to support their development on the condition that their boards of governance include the elected representatives of the people of those areas.
-The DFL remains committed to policy of armed neutrality and avoiding any entangling foreign alliances, particularly those involved in the USSO and Raspur Pact.
-A DFL government will work to develop economic, cultural, and humanitarian cooperation with other governments who similarly show themselves dedicated to neutrality, sovereignty, and independence.
-The DFL supports the maintenance and development of an integrated and robust sea and air military arm to combat the threat of piracy on the straits
-The DFL will work to avoid armed conflict and oppose any military adventurism not directly related to the security of Alduria.
-The DFL will begin a pilot program to connect returning veterans with housing, jobs, and general social reintegration.
Organizational Strategy
The DFL, being the merger of two and half parties, has spend the period since the last election streamlining organizing efforts into three groups, the smallest and, usually, most senior being those assigned to manage relations and win the endorsement or at least tacit support of existing social organizations, labor unions obviously, but also women's groups, student organizations, lgbtq advocacy groups, immigrant's organizations, farmer's groups, veteran's groups, PTAs, seniors groups, even, maybe, your local homeowners association or neighborhood watch (those last two probably aren't that friendly), the largest group, by far, being the general foot soldiers to do the door knocking, pamphleting, voter registration, and, eventually, the get out the vote drives, and lastly the local organizing committees, who are in charge of overseeing funding, logistics, and media relations.
When it comes to candidate selections, obviously any sitting MP, barring scandal or a lost vote of no confidence from the constituency membership, would be able to rerun on the DFL ticket, barring perhaps a few truly out there communists. When selecting new candidates, the DFL has tried to focus on people who are already known and trusted in their community, with an eye towards matching the candidate and community. Labor organizers abound in working class communities, immigration advocates in heavily (non-Alexandrian) immigrant communities, school board members and local government officials in the suburbs, student union leaders and politically engaged academics in university districts, senior citizen and pensioner groups or doctors in districts that are older, grangers and large animal vets in agricultural communities, even, when possible, some local faith leaders in particularly religious communities. The idea being to find candidate with built-in constituencies who help the party present itself as the party of communities united.
When it comes to campaign strategy, there is a general focus across the board on universal healthcare and workers rights, but DFL campaigns make an effort to tailor their pitches based on region and demographics. In regional terms, in the outlying provinces they tend to stress the regional development banks, keeping oil nationalized, and social insurance programs, while in Punto Santiago, the pitch is more focused on housing, immigration, and the eight hour work day. In terms of demographics, the targeting falls along two axes, the first being the pitches to specific groups, with the core DFL voter, working class families, activist students, and civil servants and government employees, (left overs from the Social Democrats, Communists, and New Center respectively), they largely center things on making sure that they are registered and ready to vote and on addressing concerns or countering harmful narratives that might crop up. For other groups, the party has identified five marginal groups and come up with general appeals aimed at winning them over. First, for the lgbt and racial minorities, the focus is on contrasting the DFL's platform of expanding anti-discrimination protections into public accommodation and the workplace as compared to L&D. For students and young people, the twin maxims are focus on what DFL can do for you (social insurance, affordable housing, tuition controls, ect.) and avoid patronizing appeals, such as trying to be the cool young person's party. For religiously inclined voters, stress the increase in family time and engagement springing from the eight hour work day and protections against religious discrimination. For rural voters, focus on enviromental and infrastructure policy. For Eureans, focus on education and protecting against privatization, and for unaffiliated former New Center voters, focus on education and environmental policy.
For mass communication events, the party divides demographics into the likely age cohort of the audience. For likely younger and unestablished audiences, the focus is on the environment, housing, healthcare, and civil rights, for middle-aged, established audiences, the focus is on the eight hour day, the right to buy, and workplace protections, and for elderly audiences, the focus should be on social insurance and healthcare programs.
When it comes to getting out the vote, the organizing committees are hard at work organizing phone banks, buses, and carpooling for election day. Additionally, voter registration drives will be conducted until the last minute in likely DFL communities and all DFL ads have been mandated to include the day of the election, and, for direct mailing to domiciles, the location and times of their local polling station.
When it comes to candidate selections, obviously any sitting MP, barring scandal or a lost vote of no confidence from the constituency membership, would be able to rerun on the DFL ticket, barring perhaps a few truly out there communists. When selecting new candidates, the DFL has tried to focus on people who are already known and trusted in their community, with an eye towards matching the candidate and community. Labor organizers abound in working class communities, immigration advocates in heavily (non-Alexandrian) immigrant communities, school board members and local government officials in the suburbs, student union leaders and politically engaged academics in university districts, senior citizen and pensioner groups or doctors in districts that are older, grangers and large animal vets in agricultural communities, even, when possible, some local faith leaders in particularly religious communities. The idea being to find candidate with built-in constituencies who help the party present itself as the party of communities united.
When it comes to campaign strategy, there is a general focus across the board on universal healthcare and workers rights, but DFL campaigns make an effort to tailor their pitches based on region and demographics. In regional terms, in the outlying provinces they tend to stress the regional development banks, keeping oil nationalized, and social insurance programs, while in Punto Santiago, the pitch is more focused on housing, immigration, and the eight hour work day. In terms of demographics, the targeting falls along two axes, the first being the pitches to specific groups, with the core DFL voter, working class families, activist students, and civil servants and government employees, (left overs from the Social Democrats, Communists, and New Center respectively), they largely center things on making sure that they are registered and ready to vote and on addressing concerns or countering harmful narratives that might crop up. For other groups, the party has identified five marginal groups and come up with general appeals aimed at winning them over. First, for the lgbt and racial minorities, the focus is on contrasting the DFL's platform of expanding anti-discrimination protections into public accommodation and the workplace as compared to L&D. For students and young people, the twin maxims are focus on what DFL can do for you (social insurance, affordable housing, tuition controls, ect.) and avoid patronizing appeals, such as trying to be the cool young person's party. For religiously inclined voters, stress the increase in family time and engagement springing from the eight hour work day and protections against religious discrimination. For rural voters, focus on enviromental and infrastructure policy. For Eureans, focus on education and protecting against privatization, and for unaffiliated former New Center voters, focus on education and environmental policy.
For mass communication events, the party divides demographics into the likely age cohort of the audience. For likely younger and unestablished audiences, the focus is on the environment, housing, healthcare, and civil rights, for middle-aged, established audiences, the focus is on the eight hour day, the right to buy, and workplace protections, and for elderly audiences, the focus should be on social insurance and healthcare programs.
When it comes to getting out the vote, the organizing committees are hard at work organizing phone banks, buses, and carpooling for election day. Additionally, voter registration drives will be conducted until the last minute in likely DFL communities and all DFL ads have been mandated to include the day of the election, and, for direct mailing to domiciles, the location and times of their local polling station.