Connecticut

Connecticut Democrats
by Martin Collins

           Connecticut is the nation’s highest-income state and quite possibly the wealthiest. It was one of the last to renounce an established church (in 1818) and one of the last to impose an income tax (in the 1990s). Most of Connecticut’s residents today trace their ancestry to the Catholic groups that came over in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, life here still bears the imprint of its original 17th century settlers. Connecticut was founded by the Puritans who found Massachusetts too lenient and backsliding, and Connecticut Yankees for years have been flintier and more exacting than their Boston brethren - a type readily recognized by readers of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
           For more than a century, Connecticut has had a close relationship with the military. This rapport was strongest during the Reagan defense buildup of the 1980s. The state boomed as General Dynamics and United Technologies created jobs that furnished armaments to the army, navy and air force.
The arms industry, like Connecticut’s civilian manufacturer, depend heavily on precision work. For years, the state was the center of the brass industry and machine tools, and the nation’s main producer of precision instruments. Connecticut workers have always maintained their thriftiness; the state ranks among the highest in new patents per capita. In addition, Connecticut is home to many of America’s greatest insurance companies, Aetna, Connecticut Mutual and ITT Hartford.
           The 1990s has been a tough decade for Connecticut. The insurance industry has consolidated as a result of large casualty losses. The end of the Cold War and decline in defense spending has cost Connecticut nearly 150,000 manufacturing jobs, down from a peak of 420,000 in the early 1980s. Consequently, four of the countries ten fastest shrinking cities are in Connecticut - New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport and Waterbury. In recent years, Connecticut has welcomed new small high-tech businesses and computer companies; however, its biggest growth industry recently has been Foxwoods Casino, the nation’s most profitable in 1992.
           For most of the 20th century, Connecticut politics has been an ethnic struggle between Yankee Republicans and Catholic Democrats, with the latter very slowly but steadily gaining ground. The key figure was John Bailey, state Democratic Party chairman from 1946-75. Bailey’s power was augmented by Connecticut’s strong party and straight ticket voting traditions. Connecticut also had a vital Republican Party that generated national party chairmen and swept occasional elections from 1959-70. Since then, the straight ticket lever has been abolished and Connecticut has been all over the lot politically.
           Connecticut has twice voted for Bill Clinton in the 1990s, elected two Republican governors, including the incumbent John Rowland, and sent two Democratic senators to Washington, Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman.
           Connecticut voted Democratic for president in the 1960s and the 1990s, Republican in the 1970s and 1980s. The shifts from party to party have resulted from fractures of old coalitions: the Democrats split in the culture wars of the old Nixon years, the Republicans spilt amid the economic turmoil of the 1990s.
           Connecticut’s presidential primary is held fairly early in the process and in recent years it has not made much difference. In March 1992, a low-turnout primary, Jerry Brown eked out a narrow victory over Bill Clinton. In 1996, Connecticut gave Bob Dole a solid victory over Steve Forbes; but that was three days after the primary in South Carolina, where the race already was decided.
           The Connecticut State Democrat Party is committed to renew America’s most basic bargain: Opportunity to every American, and responsibility from every American. The values of opportunity, responsibility and community are what made America strong and they are what must guide us in the future.
           Economic growth and opportunity for all is the mission of the Democratic Party. In the last eight years the American people have created more than 14 million new jobs; in addition the United States in once again the world’s leading manufacturer of automobiles. The combined rates of inflation, unemployment and mortgage interest rates are the lowest in three decades. Today more than 6 million Americans own their own home. The Democratic Party supports a comprehensive strategy for continued economic growth and private sector opportunity. America must continue to cut the deficit, expand trade and invest in its people. We are for the Balanced Budget Amendment and utilization of budget surpluses to preserve Medicare and Medcaid, and protecting Social Security for future generations.
           The Connecticut State Democratic Party and the National Democratic Party believe that working people should not be taxed into poverty. They are committed to an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit and targeted tax cuts that help working Americans invest in their future. Democrats want to strengthen middle-class families by increasing the $500 tax cut for children and continuing to help families pay for education after high school. They have allowed for people to use their IRA to buy a first home, deal with medical emergencies and provide for education.
           The Democratic Party knows investments in technology drive economic growth, generate new knowledge, create new high-wage jobs, build new industries and improve our quality of life. The party supports government policies that encourage private sector investment and innovation to create a pro-growth economic climate. When we invest in our research institutions we are investing in our future by helping to train the next generation of American scientists and engineers. As we enter the 21st century we must continue to invest in world-class research and development, advanced technologies in transportation, information and other industries, and agricultural and environmental research in partnership with American business.
           The state and national believe that if the American economy is to continue strong growth, we must continue to expand trade, and not retreat from the world. American markets are open to the world, so America has a right to demand that the world’s markets are open to our products. When American workers and American companies have the chance to compete around the world, we do not take second place. Therefore, we must continue to lower foreign trade barriers; insist that foreign companies play by fair rules at hoe and abroad; strengthen rules that protect the global economy from fraud and dangerous instability; advance American commercial interests abroad; and ensure the new global economy is directly beneficial to American working families.
           Education is the key to opportunity. Democrats across the board recognize that in the new global economy, higher-education is more important than ever before. Education is the fault line that separates those who will prosper from those who cannot. It is imperative that we improve the quality of American education and expand the opportunity for all Americans to get the education they need to succeed. We must strengthen our public school system by requiring them to meet high standards for professional performance; in addition we must ensure they not only teach children but teach them values; provide a safe and healthy environment in which to learn; bring 21st century technology into every classroom; and prepare students for jobs. Government must also do its part by providing tax cuts for college, expanding the work-study program, allowing people to use money from their IRA to help pay for college, furnishing honor scholarships for the top 5 percent of graduates in every high school, and make 14 years the standard education for every American.
The Democratic Party is committed to protecting the environment and wants all Americans to enjoy our country’s natural heritage. We want people to know that the air they breathe is pure, the water they drink is clean, and the land they live on is safe from hazard. Government has a responsibility to enforce the laws that help keep toxic chemicals from our water, pesticides from our food and smog from our air. Democrats believe we can protect the environment and expand the economy. We can create more jobs over the long run by cleaning the environment. We want to challenge businesses and communities to take more initiative in protecting the environment and we want to make it easier for them to do so. Environmental protection should include education on compliance for small and medium sized business, more strategies to increase compliance for all businesses, and tough enforcement, including criminal prosecution, for those who put human health and the environment at risk.
           Foreign policy and maintaining America’s global role are vital to our nation’s security and prosperity in the 21st century. To meet the challenges of this new era of promise and peril, America needs leadership that sees the contours of the new world and is willing to act with steadiness, strength and flexibility in the face of change. The only way to ensure America’s global future is to continue exerting American leadership across a range of military, diplomatic, and humanitarian challenges around the world. The Democratic Party has a far reaching agenda to strengthen our security, and promote peace and freedom.
           We are committed to strengthening our military and adapting it to new challenges; reducing the threat of weapons of mass destruction; and meeting new challenges to our security such as terrorism, international crime and drug trafficking.
Over the last eight years, government has undertaken the most successful restructuring of our military forces in history. Even as the size of our forces decreased, their capabilities, readiness and qualitative edge have increased. Democrats have insured that America is prepared to fight alongside others when we can, and alone when we must. The present defense plan reverses the downward trend in procurement with a 40% real increase for weapons modernization by 2001. America must have the best trained, best equipped, best prepared fighting forces in the world. We are committed to undertaking standard review of our defense structure, finding new ways for our service branches to work jointly to increase our war fighting capabilities; and ensuring that troops can dominate the battlefield of the future.
           We are waging a three front war on terrorism - abroad, through greater cooperation with our allies; at home, by giving law enforcement the most powerful tools available to fight terrorism; and in our airports and on our airplanes, through tough air travel security measures. We are determined to keep the war on global terrorism, narcotics, and crime at the center of our security agenda.
           The party knows that peace and democracy are products of decisive strength and active diplomacy; a key to strengthening peace is stable and peaceful relations among the world’s major powers. We are committed to promoting democracy in regions and countries that are important to America’s security, and to standing with all those willing to take risks for peace.
           The security of Europe remains a vital American interest. It is our vision to see a community of free, democratic and peaceful nations, bound by political, security, cultural, and economic ties, spanning across North America and Europe. Efforts to foster a peaceful and undivided Europe include expanding support for reform in former communist states, the Partnership for Peace program of military cooperation with Europe’s new democracies, and continued efforts in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, and Russia for the evolution of prosperity and peace.
America’s most pressing security challenges and most promising commercial lie in the Asia Pacific region. We support the effort of close cooperation with the Republic of Korea toward the goal of a unified non-nuclear peninsula, and the deployment of an American naval task force to the Taiwan Straits to ensure that China’s military exercises do not imperil the region. We support the policy of steady engagement to encourage a stable, secure, open and prosperous China; also, a China that respects human rights, joins international efforts against weapons proliferation and plays by the rules of free and fair trade.
           In the Middle East, the Democratic Party is committed to continuing the efforts made toward establishing peace in this vital region. Peace and security are indivisible, therefore, we support the accords for a comprehensive and lasting peace among Israel and all its neighbors, including Lebanon and Syria. The Democratic Party remains committed to its long-standing special relationship with Israel and we are committed to working with our Arab neighbors to build a brighter, more secure and prosperous future for all the people in the Middle East.
           The Democratic Party believes we must reawaken the strong sense of community that has helped America prosper for 220 years. We must never let our differences divide us; instead, we must come together on a new common ground, considering the enduring vales we share. When Americans work together they can meet any challenge and realize any dream. Together we must put families first, stand up for parents rights, ensure responsible entertainment, educate our children on the perils of cigarette smoking and alcohol.
           Communities must continue to be given the tools they need to create opportunity. Citizens, local government, the private sector, and civic groups must come together and take the responsibility to rebuild their communities. Together we must encourage private sector investment and community-based solutions, help people afford safe and secure housing, and shift the focus of homeless shelters from temporary domiciles to permanent solutions designed to move people back into the mainstream, into jobs and a home of their own.
Social policy must also include accessible, affordable and high-quality health care for all Americans; a Social Security and Medicare system strengthened to meet the demands of future generations; a Welfare System that exists to provide people with a hand up and not a handout; and stronger gun control laws and a strengthening of those laws already on the books. The Democratic Party is committed to the efforts of parents, community, business and religious leaders to preventing teen pregnancy. We support the expansion of community-based prevention programs that teach abstinence and demand responsibility.
           The Democratic Party stands behind the right of every woman to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of ability to pay. The right to make such decisions is protected for all Americans. We believe it is a fundamental constitutional liberty that individual Americans can best take responsibility for making the most difficult and intensely personal decisions regarding reproduction.
           Democrats are strongly in favor of campaign finance reform. We support limiting the influence of special interests and expanding the influence of the American people. We embrace the efforts to limit campaign spending, curb the influence of PACs and lobbyists, and an end to the soft money system. It is time to take the reigns of democracy away from big money and put them back in the hands of the American people where they belong. Accordingly, we support the efforts of broadcasters and citizens alike to increase candidates’ direct access to voters through free TV.
           The Democratic Party believes every American has a duty and a responsibility to give something back to their country. We challenge Americans in all walks of life to make a new commitment to taking responsibility for themselves, their families, communities and country. If we do our job, together, we will make the next American century as great as the one that has come before it.