Constitution Party (United States)
Constitution Party | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Jim Clymer |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Headquarters | 23 North Lime St. Lancaster, PA 17602 |
| Ideology | Conservatism, Constitutional Conservatism, Nationalism |
| International affiliation | None |
| Colours | Red, White, and Blue |
| Website | |
| http://www.constitutionparty.com | |
The Constitution Party is a conservative third party in the United States, founded as the U.S. Taxpayers Party in 1992. Its membership is mainly comprised of traditional conservatives. Its name was changed to the Constitution Party in 1999, but some state affiliate parties have different names. The Michigan affiliate has kept the U.S. Taxpayers Party name in order to retain ballot status, and in Connecticut the affiliate is the Concerned Citizens Party.
The Constitution Party ranks third nationally in registered voters, most of which come from two states: California, in which the affiliate is the American Independent Party, founded in 1967, and Nevada, in which the affiliate is named the Independent American Party. According to Richard Winger, the editor of Ballot Access News, and other observers, the word "Independent" in the party name may have attracted the registrations of voters intending to declare themselves unaffiliated with any party.
The party has some high profile members. Pat Buchanan threatened to run as the U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate if Bob Dole had chosen a pro-choice running mate in 1996. Dole ultimately chose pro-life Jack Kemp and received Buchanan's endorsement. It also gained publicity when conservative U.S. senator Bob Smith announced his switch from Republican to this party, then the U.S. Taxpayers Party. He also briefly ran for its presidential nomination though he ended his campaign a month later. The Constitution Party discussed a merger between several third parties such as the Reform Party, Independent American Party, American Independent Party, and the America First Party. A possible merger is still in negotiations but is relatively dormant today. All of the aforementioned parties except for the Reform Party endorsed Michael Peroutka as their presidential candidate in 2004. The conservatism of the American First Party, Independent American Party, and the American Independent Party as well as the relative inactivity of these parties in fielding many candidates makes a merge likely.
In the 2004 elections, the Constitution Party was the only one of the national third parties to increase its percentage of the vote, polling more than 40% better than in 2000. One of its candidates, Rick Jore, was thought to have won election to the Montana state legislature, but lost when the state supreme court invalidated "one or more" of seven disputed ballots. Rick Jore has intended to rerun for the seat, and the Montana Constitution Party is fielding around 20 candidates to run for the Montana state legislature. Considering the 50-50 number of Republicans and Democrats in the state house, many analysts view the Constitution Party as a potential spoiler in this race.
Platform
The Constitution Party holds that Republican and Democratic parties are becoming corrupt and are subversive in nature. They emphasize how America was not founded upon religion, but upon Biblical principles. It advocates a stronger adherence to the "original intent" of the United States Constitution and the principles of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. It has a strong conservative approach on moral issues and seeks to encourage the role of Christian values and morality in American life, and thus it opposes the termination of life before its natural end, as well as government recognition of homosexual unions.
Constitutionalists support reducing the role of the United States federal government through: cutting bureaucratic regulation, spending, and they call for the abolishment of the IRS to be replaced with a fair tax system. Its leaders are among the strongest advocates of abolishing most forms of federal taxation, especially the income tax. They view most current regular federal expenditures (such as those for healthcare, education, welfare, etc.) as unconstitutional per the Tenth Amendment.
They support paying off the federal debt through a systematic elimination of further borrowing and unconstitutional programs and agencies such as the Department of Education, Internal Revenue Service, United States Department of Health and Human Services, etc. They strongly oppose foreign aid, ask that no further funds be appropriated for any kind of foreign aid program, and encourage the idea that United States participation in international lending institutions, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the Export-Import Bank be abolished. They pledge that all government subsidies, tax preferences, and investment guarantees to encourage U.S. businesses to invest in foreign lands be immediately terminated; and all debts owed to the United States by foreign countries, or foreign entities, be collected.
Additionally, they favor a noninterventionist foreign policy. In such, they advocate reduction and eventual elimination of the role the United States plays in multinational and international organizations such as the United Nations and favor withdrawal of the United States from most current treaties. The party takes paleoconservative positions in supporting protectionist policies on international trade. They are steadfastly opposed to the USA Patriot Act, illegal immigration and governmental welfare, and they also seek a more restrictive policy on immigration and support a federal law of California Proposition 187.
They demand that the federal government restore immigration policies based on the practice that potential immigrants will be disqualified from admission to the U.S. if, on the grounds of health, criminality, morals, or financial dependence, they would impose an improper burden on the United States, any state, or any citizen of the United States.
Additionally they oppose the provision of welfare subsidies and other taxpayer-supported benefits to illegal aliens, and reject the practice of bestowing U.S. citizenship on children born to illegal alien parents while in this country; also any extension of amnesty to illegal aliens. The Constitution Party calls for the use of U.S. troops to protect the states against an influx of illegal immigrants.
The party opposes bilingual ballots and insists that those who wish to take part in the electoral process and governance of the US be required to read and comprehend basic English as a precondition of citizenship. They support English as the official language for all governmental business by the United States.
They strongly support the right to bear arms and view the Second Amendment to the Constitution as securing broad rights to own guns.
Recent election results
The Constitution Party did fairly poorly in the 2000 election, gaining 98.022 (0.09%), placing in fifth place. This was probably because of the relative lack of knowledge about the party and the fact that the other arch-conservative candidate in the race, Pat Buchanan was much more well-known by voters. Nationally, the Peroutka/Baldwin ballot (144,292 votes) received over 33% more votes than Howard Phillips did in 2000. This came during an election when the Green Party vote for Cobb/LaMarche (119,852 votes) declined by 83% and the Libertarian Party vote for Badnarik/Campagna (397,367 votes) was essentially flat compared to the 2000 election. Pat Buchanan's absence from the race as a candidate may have contributed in large part to the increase in the Constitution vote in 2004.
Rick Jore nearly won a seat in the Montana House of Representatives, but was found to have lost by one vote after some dual-marked ballots with one vote crossed out were discarded. In Pennsylvania, Jim Clymer won 214,837 votes in his race against incumbent U.S. Senator Arlen Specter. Attorney Joel Hansen, running on the Independent American Party ticket, got 197,934 votes (27%) for Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court. The number of Nevada voters registered in the Constitution Party doubled in 2004, making it the third largest party in the state. In South Carolina, Gary McLeod, running for a U.S. House seat in the Sixth Congressional District received 79,600 votes, 33 percent of the total votes cast, as the candidate of both the Constitution and Republican parties, but only 4,157 of those votes were cast for him as the Constitution Party candidate with the remainder (over 90% of his votes) being cast for him as the Republican candidate.
In 2005 Minuteman Project Co-founder Jim Gilchrist ran for U.S. Congress under the California state affiliate American Independent Party, (which he is a member of), and garnered 25% of the vote.
In recent months, some Republicans are concerned over whether the Constitution Party could spoil some elections, especially local ones. In such a close and crucial election, the Constitution Party could be the "Nader of 2006"
Presidential and vice presidential nominees
- 1992: Howard Phillips and Albion Knight, Jr. — 42,960 popular votes (0.04%)
- 1996: Howard Phillips and Herb Titus — 184,820 popular votes (0.19%)
- 2000: Howard Phillips and Dr. J. Curtis Frazier (replacing Joseph Sobran) — 98,020 popular votes (0.09%)
- 2004: Michael Peroutka and Chuck Baldwin — 144,421 popular votes (0.12%)
See also
- List of political parties in the United States
- Christian Heritage Party of Canada A similar political party.
- Constitution Party National Convention
- Official Constitution Party website
