Let’s continue the platform issues of our MS Democratic Party. We hope you had the opportunity to study the first 8 planks of our platform. Now please consider the remaining planks.
9. Veterans should be provided the best no-cost medical services for life, education for retraining, and priority in hiring. We prefer that VA counselors be war-trained veterans, but if those are not available, counselors must be university trained psychologists and psychiatrists in the field of combat support and counseling.
10. We support and encourage the creation and development of sustainable local food and forestry systems.
11. The majority of families in Mississippi are headed by women and we oppose any further efforts legislatively or by initiative that would redefine personhood.
12. We are a nation of immigrants, and we will extend the promise of citizenship to those still struggling for freedom. Undocumented immigrants within our borders, who clear a background check, work hard, and pay taxes should have a path to earn full participation in America. Family reunification should continue to be the cornerstone of our legal immigration system, and we should offer more English-language and civic education classes so immigrants can better assume the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
13. Mississippians support the need for insurance companies to eliminate policies that deny reimbursement for services provided by qualified health care providers to their members.
14. (Women and Families) The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right. We also strongly support access to comprehensive affordable family planning services and age-appropriate sex education which empower people to make informed choices and live healthy lives. We recognize that such healthcare and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions. We also strongly support a woman’s decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs.
15. Reform. We believe the citizens of Mississippians should have the right to recall elected officials.
16. Party switching. The Democratic Party believes that if a person of sufficient age and maturity to seek and be elected to public office arrives at some crisis of conscience that would cause him or her to abandon the party of many of the voters who elected them, then they should also exercise that conscience by resigning their office. This would allow those of their former party, whom they misled in the previous election, a chance to choose a candidate who will remain loyal and true to them. It would also allow the rank-and-file voters of their newly-chosen party to decide whether they want these officials to continue in office under their banner.
17. We believe that every student must have access to the highest quality academic and cultural public education and resources that his or her skills, knowledge, and disposition require, and the opportunity to achieve in school and in life to the best of his or her ability.
The best economic development tool that we can provide a child is a high quality education. We do not support charter schools.
If you have any questions about our party or platform, we invite you visit our website at www.prcdec.com.
We also post regularly on Pearl River County Democrats facebook page or contact us through our chair Agnes Dalton at 601-746-6020 or rockman1935@aol.com.

By Agnes Dalton