Constitution
Party
Platform
(Abridged)
Fighting for
America's
Future!
PREAMBLE
The Constitution Party gratefully acknowledges the blessing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as Creator, Preserver and Ruler of the Universe and of these United States. We hereby appeal to Him for mercy, aid, comfort, guidance, and the protection of His Providence as we work to restore and preserve these United States.
This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been and are afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
We affirm the founding principles of our
God-given, unalienable rights upon which these United States of America were founded:
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The right to Life, Liberty, Property, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
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The freedom to own, use, exchange, control, protect, and freely dispose of property.
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The legitimate function of government is to secure these rights through the preservation of Domestic Tranquility, the maintenance of a strong National Defense, and the promotion of Equal Justice for all.
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History makes clear that left unchecked, it is the nature of government to usurp the liberty of its citizens and eventually become a major violator of the people's rights.
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It is essential to bind government with the chains of the Constitution and carefully divide and jealously limit government powers to those assigned by the consent of the governed.
COST OF BIG GOVERNMENT
We propose to cut spending radically by reducing the structure and functions of government to their Constitutional limits: to safeguard our God-given rights to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. The framers ordained that the best government is closest to home. The Ninth and Tenth Amendments, among, others, speak specifically to this founding principle. We call for the systematic reduction of the federal debt through, but not limited to, the elimination of further borrowing and the elimination of unconstitutional programs and agencies. We reject the misleading use of the terms "surplus" and "balanced budget" as long as we have public debt.
CRIME
Crime, in most cases, should be dealt with by state and local governments, in accordance with the Constitution. We favor the right of the states and localities to execute criminals convicted of capital crimes, and to require restitution for victims of criminals.
DEFENSE
The goal of the federal defense policy is to defend the national security interests of the United States. We should be a friend of liberty everywhere, but the protectors of ours alone. We call for the maintenance of a strong state-of-the-art military and we oppose unilateral disarmament. We believe that defense expenditures must be directly related to the protection of our nation and that these expenditures must be carefully reviewed to eliminate foreign aid, waste, and inefficiency. We reject the policies and practices that permit women to train for and participate in combat. Under no circumstances would we commit U.S. forces to serve under any flag but that of the United States of America, and never in combat without a Constitutional Declaration of War.
CHARACTER AND MORAL CONDUCT
Party leaders and candidates of the Constitution Party are expected to be of good character — exhibiting qualities of honesty, integrity, reliability, moral uprightness, fidelity, prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, self-restraint, courage, kindness, and compassion.
SANCTITY OF LIFE
The first duty of the law is to prevent the shedding of innocent blood. The sanctity and protection of innocent human life, therefore, — from fertilization to natural death — is the highest priority of the Constitution Party.
In office, we shall appoint to all positions of federal authority only those qualified individuals who acknowledge publicly the legal personhood of the pre-born. Moreover, these officials, our party leaders and all candidates for public office endorsed by the Constitution Party must commit themselves to the protection of all innocent human life, without exception. In addition, we oppose the funding and legalization of bio-research involving human embryonic or pre-embryonic cells.
EDUCATION
The law of our Creator assigns the authority and responsibility of educating children to their parents. We oppose compulsory attendance laws and support the unimpeded right of parents to provide for the education of their children in the manner they deem best, including home, private or religious schools.
Federal involvement in education is unconstitutional. We, therefore, call for the abolition of the U. S. Department of Education, and all other federal agencies, boards, entities, and activities engaged in such intrusion.
ELECTION REFORM
The Constitution Party seeks the restoration of an electoral process controlled by state and local authority. We call, therefore, for repeal of the Voting Rights Act and the Federal Election Campaign Act, all federal campaign finance laws, and the abolition of the Federal Election Commission.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS
We oppose those orders that make law or otherwise usurp the Constitutional authority of the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government, or those of the states or the people.
FAMILY
The law of our Creator defines marriage as the covenanted union between one man and one woman, and the foundation of the family. We oppose any legal recognition of homosexual unions and oppose government funding of "partner" benefits for unmarried individuals.
We believe parents have the God-given right and responsibility to nurture, educate, and discipline their children. We oppose the assumption of any of these responsibilities by civil government as tyranny against the family.
FOREIGN POLICY
The United States is properly a free and sovereign republic which should strive to live in peace with all nations, without interfering in their internal affairs, and without permitting their interference in ours.
We oppose American participation in any form of world government organization, including any world court under United Nations auspices.
We call for withdrawal from NATO, the United Nations, and all international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, WTO, NAFTA, GATT, etc. We denounce the agreement establishing the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and any other such trade agreements. We would end all aid to foreign governments.
GUN RIGHTS
The God-given right to keep and bear arms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment; it may not be infringed or denied. We uphold this right and we reject attempts by the federal government to require the registration of guns or ammunition by law-abiding citizens.
HEALTH CARE AND GOVERNMENT
We oppose the socialization of American medicine. We support the freedom to choose medical coverage and medical treatment without government interference. Hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers should be accountable to patients — not to politicians, insurance bureaucrats, or HMO administrators.
The federal government must cease the subsidy of perverted and promiscuous sexual conduct that risks public health and welfare: such as AIDS and HIV.
IMMIGRATION
We affirm the Constitutional duty of the federal government to secure our borders and to regulate the numbers and qualifications of immigrants. We insist that potential immigrants be disqualified whenever, on the grounds of health, criminality, morals, or financial dependence, their admission would impose an improper burden on citizens of the United States. We oppose 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.
THE JUDICIARY
The Constitution does not provide for lifetime appointment of federal judges but only for a term of office during "good behavior." Therefore, we strongly support the constitutional provision for impeachment when appropriate.
MONEY AND BANKING
The federal government has radically departed from the Constitutional principles of money and banking. Today's monetary system is precisely what the Framers feared most and sought to prohibit constitutionally. These violations threaten the economic stability and survival of America. We call for a return to the provisions set forth in the Constitution. We favor repeal of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913; and all fractional reserve banking must be ended. It is our intention that no system of "debt money" shall be imposed and we support a debt-free, interest-free money system.
PORNOGRAPHY
Pornography is a distortion of the true nature of sex created by God for the procreative union between one man and one woman in the holy bonds of matrimony. Pornography is a destructive element of society resulting in emotional, physical, and spiritual damage to individuals and families. We call on local, state, and federal governments to uphold our cherished First Amendment right to free speech by vigorously enforcing our laws against obscenity to maintain a degree of separation between that which is truly speech and that which only seeks to distort and destroy.
TARIFFS AND TRADE
We oppose the unconstitutional transfer of authority over U.S. trade policy from Congress to agencies, domestic and foreign, which improperly establish policy with respect to U.S. trade. We, therefore, oppose GATT, NAFTA, the World Trade Organization, most favored nations policies, and other unconstitutional trade agreements. We oppose that, in the name of free trade, multi-national corporations have been given tax breaks by the U. S. government which are not available to American businesses, and the money extracted from U.S. taxpayers has been used by the government to subsidize exports and encourage businesses to move abroad.
PERSONAL AND PRIVATE PROPERTY
We affirm the Fourth Amendment right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, including general and unwarranted electronic surveillance, national computer databases, and national identification cards or numbers.
We vigorously oppose legislation and executive orders that deprive the people of their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights under claims of necessity to "combat terrorism," to "protect national security," or to "protect the environment."
Fighting for
America's
Future!
TERRORISM AND PERSONAL LIBERTY
The Constitution Party is unalterably opposed to the criminal acts of terrorists, and their organizations, as well as the governments which condone them. Individuals responsible for acts of terrorism must be punished for their crimes. In responding to terrorism, however, the United States must avoid acts of retaliation abroad which destroy innocent human lives.
We vigorously oppose legislation that deprives the people of their rights secured under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments under the guise of "combating terrorism." Therefore, we are opposed to the USA Patriot Act which permits, among other things, arrests without warrants, wiretaps without court supervision, searches and seizures without notification, and a host of other violations of the legal safeguards developed according to the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Article I of the Bill of Rights reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
Our Constitution grants no authority to the federal government either to grant or deny the religious expressions of its citizens in any place. Both the First and Tenth Amendments forbid such tyranny.
We, therefore, insist that all branches of government cease their attacks on the religious liberties of the people.
SOCIAL SECURITY
The Constitution grants no authority to the federal government to require citizens to participate in Social Security. Until compulsory taxation is ended, we support legislation to secure Social Security funds as a trust that can be used only to fulfill its obligations to those who have contributed to the system. We will propose a plan to end the system with an orderly and fair transition to privatization.
TAXES
We will propose legislation to abolish the IRS. It is our intention to replace the current tax system (including income taxes, Social Security taxes, estate taxes, and inheritance taxes) with an approach based on the original design of the Framers. To the degree that excise taxes and tariffs are insufficient to cover legitimate Constitutional expenditures, we propose a "state-rate tax to meet excess obligations. This tax will be apportioned among the states according to population. The effect of this revision will be to encourage politicians and the people to argue for less, rather than more, federal spending. We endorse ratification of the Liberty Amendment, which would repeal the Sixteenth amendment.
WELFARE
The provision of charity by the federal government is not only unconstitutional; it is immoral and socially destructive.
Under no circumstances should citizens be taxed to fund welfare. Charity must be voluntary. Individuals, families, religious entities and other private organizations are God's intended providers.
