Robert Matsui on Principles & Values Former Democratic Representative (CA-5, 1979-2004)

Religious affiliation: Methodist.

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Member of Democratic Leadership Council.

Mission

Who We Are

Since its inception, the DLC has championed policies from spurring private sector economic growth, fiscal discipline and community policing to work based welfare reform, expanded international trade, and national service. Throughout the 90’s, innovative, New Democrat policies implemented by former DLC Chairman President Bill Clinton have helped produce the longest period of sustained economic growth in our history, the lowest unemployment in a generation, 22 million new jobs, cut the welfare rolls in half, reduced the crime rate for seven straight years, balanced the budget and streamlined the federal bureaucracy to its smallest size since the Kennedy administration.

Now, the DLC is promoting new ideas -- such as a second generation of environmental protection and new economy and technology development strategies -- that is distinctly different from traditional liberalism and conservatism to build the next generation of America’s leaders.

New Democrat: "Third Way" instead of left-right debate.

America and the world have changed dramatically in the closing decades of the 20th century. The industrial order of the 20th century is rapidly yielding to the networked “New Economy” of the 21st century. Our political and governing systems, however, have lagged behind the rest of society in adapting to these seismic shifts. They remain stuck in the left-right debates and the top-down bureaucracies of the industrial past.

The Democratic Leadership Council, and its affiliated think tank the Progressive Policy Institute, have been catalysts for modernizing politics and government. The core principles and ideas of this “Third Way” movement [began with] Bill Clinton’s Presidential campaign in 1992, Tony Blair’s Labour Party in Britain in 1997, and Gerhard Shroeder’s Social Democrats in Germany in 1998.

The Third Way philosophy seeks to adapt enduring progressive values to the new challenges of he information age. It rests on three cornerstones:
1. the idea that government should promote equal opportunity for all while granting special privilege for none;
2. an ethic of mutual responsibility that equally rejects the politics of entitlement and the politics of social abandonment;
3. and, a new approach to governing that empowers citizens to act for themselves.

Member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus .

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), founded in May 16, 1994, by former Congressman Norman Mineta, is comprised of a formal group of Members of Congress (House and Senate) who have strong interests in promoting Asian Pacific American (APA) issues and advocating the concerns of APAs.

The goals of the Caucus are:
• To establish policies and issue policy statements on legislation and issues relating to persons of Asian and/or Pacific Islands ancestry who are citizens or nationals of, residents of, or immigrants to, the United States, its territories and possessions;
• To ensure that legislation passed by the United States Congress, to the greatest extent possible, provides for the full participation of Asian Pacific Americans and reflects the concerns and needs of the Asian Pacific American communities;
• To educate other Members of the Congress about the history, contributions and concerns of Asian Pacific Americans;
• To work with other Members and Caucuses of the Congress to protect and advance the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans; and
• To provide a formal structure to coordinate the efforts, and enhance the ability, of the Asian Pacific American Members of Congress to accomplish those goals.