|
CONSTITUTION PARTY of TEXAS
2006 STATE PLATFORM
We, the members of the Constitution
Party, gratefully acknowledge the blessings of our Lord God as Creator,
Preserver and Ruler of the Universe and of this Nation. We hereby appeal to Him
for aid, comfort, guidance and the protection of His Divine Providence as we
work to restore and preserve this nation as a government of the people, by the
people, and for the people.
The Declaration of Independence,
the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights established a republic under God,
rather than a democracy.
Our republic is a nation governed
by a Constitution, which is rooted in Biblical law, administered by
representatives who are Constitutionally elected by the citizens.
In a republic governed by
Constitutional law rooted in Biblical law, all life, liberty and property are
protected because law rules.
We affirm the principles of
inherent individual rights upon which these United States of America were
founded:
That each
individual is endowed by his Creator with certain unalienable rights; that
among these are the rights to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of the
individual's personal interest;
That the freedom
to own, use, exchange, control, protect and freely dispose of property is a
natural, necessary and inseparable extension of the individual's unalienable
rights;
That the
legitimate function of government is to secure these rights through the
preservation of all domestic tranquility, the maintenance of a strong national
defense, and the promotion of equal justice for all;
That 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; and that, therefore, it is essential to bind government with the
chains of the Constitution and carefully divide and jealously limit
government's powers to those assigned by the consent of the governed.
The Constitution Party calls on
all who love liberty and value their inherent rights to join with us in the
pursuit of these goals and in the restoration of these founding principles. We
speak for Americans: hardworking, productive, taxpaying men and women who
constitute the backbone, and the heart, of the American republic and its
economy.
These are the producers; these
are the ones who should be "first considered and always remembered.” It is
on their backs that government is carried, and it is out of their pockets that
government is financed. Without them and without the product of their skills
and their labors, there would be no source to fund the legitimate functions of government;
and would be no charity to support the private institutions helping those in
need.
No nation can survive if it fails
to honorably address the problems which concern these citizens. To these
productive but generally forgotten Americans, we offer this platform. It
responds to their desires; it is the voice which speaks of them and for them as
does that of no other political party.
The Constitution Party is on record as recognizing and
putting first the sanctity of human life.
The pre-born child, whose life begins at fertilization, is a
human being created in God's image. The first duty of the law is to prevent the
shedding of innocent blood. It is, therefore, the duty of all civil governments
to secure and to safeguard the lives of the pre-born.
To that end, the Constitution of the United States was
ordained and established for "ourselves and our posterity." Under no
circumstances may the federal government fund or otherwise support any state or
local government or any organization or entity, foreign or domestic, which
advocates, encourages or participates in the practice of abortion. We also
oppose the distribution and use of RU-486 and all other chemical
abortifacients.
Article IV of the U.S. Constitution guarantees to each State
a republican form of government. The taking of innocent life, including the life of the pre-born,
may not be declared lawful by any institution of state or local government-
legislative, judicial or executive. The right to life may certainly not
properly be made dependent upon a vote of a majority of any legislative body.
Nor may that right depend upon a majority of justices on any
court, including the United States Supreme Court. Therefore, although a Supreme
Court decision is binding on the parties to the controversy as to the
particulars of the case, it is not a political rule for the nation. Roe-v-
Wade is illegitimate, contrary to the law of the nation's charter and
constitution. It must be resisted by all civil government officials, federal
state and local, and by all branches of the government, legislative, executive
and judicial.
In office, we will only appoint to the federal judiciary and
to other positions of federal authority qualified individuals who publicly
acknowledge and commit themselves to the legal personhood of the pre-born
child. In addition, we will do all that is within our power to encourage
federal, state and local government officials to protect the sanctity of the
life of the pre-born through legislation, executive action, and judicial
enforcement of the law of the land.
Finally, we condemn the misuse of anti-racketeering and
other federal laws against pro-life demonstrators, and strongly urge the repeal
of the RICO and FACE Acts as unconstitutional expansions of federal power into
areas reserved to the States by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.
Just as we oppose abortion-the taking of an innocent,
pre-born life, so we adamantly oppose assisted suicide. We oppose any laws
which condone or legalize euthanasia, the so-called "mercy killing"
of the aged, the ailing, the infirm. The concept of euthanasia is a dangerous
move toward legalized termination of the non-productive, the unwanted, and the
unprotected. A nation which has become inured to the slaughter of some 30
million innocent babies can all too easily slide into the Hitlerian-Sangerite
goal of eliminating those it considers misfits, undesirables or
non-productives.
Any physician or nurse who assists in the termination of
innocent life is not worthy to be a member of the healing arts profession,
which is one of the noblest of all callings.
The spread of AIDS is attributable to various causes, but
principally to promiscuous homosexual conduct and drug abuse. Because of the
failure of the federal government to protect the blood supply under its control
from corruption, and because of policies which in fact encourage illicit sexual
conduct and which otherwise place innocent citizens at risk, millions of
non-homosexual, non-drug-abusing Americans have been given a death sentence.
Under no circumstances should the federal government
continue to subsidize activities which have the effect of encouraging perverted
or promiscuous sexual conduct. In the name of "safe sex", hundreds of
millions of tax dollars have been misdirected to organizations which contribute
to the spread of AIDS by endorsing, implicitly and explicitly, perverse,
immoral and unhealthy sexual conduct.
In all federally funded facilities and institutions, the
policy of the United States government should be to protect the uninfected from
any avoidable exposure which could place them at risk; not only from HIV and
AIDS, but from all of the diseases. We believe that all HIV infection is a
public health concern and not a civil rights issue.
Criminal penalties should apply to those whose willful acts
of omission or commission place members of the public at toxic risk.
The closer civil government is to the people, the more
responsible, responsive, and accountable it is likely to be. The Tenth
Amendment to the Constitution makes clear that the federal government has only
those powers which are explicitly delegated to it. All other rights and
authorities are reserved to the states and to the people. We pledge to be
faithful to this constitutional requirement and to work methodically to restore
to the states and to the people control over legislative, judicial, executive
and regulatory functions which are beyond the delegated scope of the federal
government.
We stand opposed to regionalization or grouping of
governments at any level, which results in removal of decision-making powers
from the scrutiny of the people.
The Congress of the United States has become an overpaid,
overstaffed, self-serving institution. It confiscates taxpayer funds to finance
exorbitant and unconstitutionally determined salaries, pensions and perks. Most
members of Congress have become more accountable to the Washington
Establishment than to the people in their home districts. Both Houses of
Congress are all too often unresponsive and irresponsible, arrogantly placing
themselves above the very laws they enact, and beyond the control of the
citizens they have sworn to represent and serve.
Abolish Congressional pensions.
Abolish federal pay for members of Congress, and restore
provisions for per diem allowances.
It is time for the American people to renew effective
supervision of their employees in public office, to restore right standards,
and to take back the government. Congress must once again be accountable to the
people, and obedient to the Constitution, repealing all laws that delegate legislative
powers to regulatory agencies, bureaucracies, private organizations, the
Federal Reserve Board, international agencies, the President and the judiciary.
The U.S. Constitution, as originally framed in Article I,
Section 3, provided for U.S. Senators to be elected by the state legislators.
This provided the states direct representation in the legislative branch so as
to deter the usurping of powers that are constitutionally reserved to the
states or to the people.
The Seventeenth Amendment (providing for direct, popular
election of U.S. Senators) took away from state governments their
constitutional role of indirect participation in the federal legislative
process.
If we are to see a return to the states of those powers,
programs and sources of revenues that the federal government has
unconstitutionally taken away, then it is also vital that we repeal the
Seventeenth Amendment and return to the state legislatures the function of
electing the U.S. Senate. In doing so, it would return the U.S. Senate to being
a body that represents the legislatures of the several States, on the federal
level, thereby restoring the tremendously vital part of the designed checks and
balances of power that our Constitution originally provided.
We affirm the original text of the United States
Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We affirm that the nation's charter, the
Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution contain the foundational law
of the federal union. We condemn, therefore, all legislative, executive and
judicial action that departs from the texts of the charter and the Constitution
and their original meaning.
We oppose any attempt to call for a constitutional
convention for any purpose whatsoever, because it cannot be limited to any
single issue, and such convention could seriously erode our constitutionally
protected unalienable rights.
The only legitimate purpose of civil government is to
safeguard the God-given rights of its citizens; namely, life, liberty and
property. Only those duties, functions and programs specifically assigned to
the federal government by the Constitution should be funded.
Since 1961:
Income
tax collections have increased from $41 billion to $631 billion in 1996.
Social Security
Taxes have gone up from $16 billion to $473 billion in 1996.
Corporate taxes
have gone up from $21 billion to $177 billion in 1996.
Estate and gift
taxes have gone up from $1.9 billion to $15.9 billion in 1996.
During that same period, federal spending has increased from
less than $100 billion per year in 1961 to $1.6 trillion for the current fiscal
year. Federal regulations are now costing the American people more than $739
billion per year.
Since 1981 the national debt has quintupled: from $914
billion to more than $5 trillion. Interest on that debt has soared from $9.12
billion in 1961 to $344.63 billion in 1996. It now costs more to service the
debt than Uncle Sam collects in income taxes.
The federal government has turned into a tax-and-spend
monster that is devouring the people it is supposed to be serving.
As the Declaration of Independence cried out, so it is
today: The federal government "has erected a multitude of new offices, and
sent out hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their
substances." Just since 1961, at least 297 new federal commission,
councils, public corporations, grants and management programs have been created
-in addition to all those which existed beforehand.
The Constitution Party calls on all citizens to join in the
drive to restore constitutional government and reduce the cost and controls of
the federal leviathan. We must reduce the reach, the grasp, and the take of the
federal government. It has grown too big, too expensive, too wasteful, too
arrogant. Its cost has been at the expense of America's families, imposing upon
them financial burdens which require both fathers and mothers to work outside
the home just to make ends meet.
We must restore to the state those powers, programs and
sources of revenues which the federal government has usurped.
The Constitution Party calls upon the Congress and the
Executive to disapprove and halt all federal expenditures which are not
specifically authorized by the Constitution of these United States.
The President of the United States must use his
constitutional veto power to stop irresponsible and unconstitutional
Congressional appropriations, and use his constitutional authority to
faithfully execute laws to refuse to spend any money appropriated by Congress
to unconstitutional programs or in excess of constitutionally imposed tax
revenues.
We call for the abolition of the Civil Service system which
confers on government employees a "property right" in their jobs. The
President should be able to determine who will carry out-free from subversion
or opposition from the tax-paid personnel-those programs which he has promised
the people to inaugurate and implement.
Turning back the "federal spending clock" by five
years will not destroy the economy; in fact, it would revive it. Instead of
having these monies confiscated and squandered by politicians and bureaucrats,
we would return hundreds of billions of dollars to the taxpayers, so that
Americans could spend or invest their own money as they choose. The productive private sector jobs created and the investment of capital released would not
only put new life in the domestic economy, it would be an important assist in the
drive to compete with foreign industries here and in world markets. The return
of people's money would create jobs and investment instead of having it
confiscated and spent on non-productive, wasteful programs and pork barrels by
politicians and bureaucrats.
Crime, in most cases, is to be dealt with by state and local
governments. To the degree that the federal government, in its legislation, in
its judicial actions, in its regulations, and in its Executive Branch
activities, interferes with ability of the people in their communities to
apprehend, judge and penalize accused lawbreakers, it bears responsibility for
the climate of crime which as grown more destructive with each passing year.
We favor the unimpeded right of states and localities to
execute criminals convicted of capital crimes and to require restitution for
the victims of criminals. Federal interference with local criminal justice
processes should be limited to that which is constitutionally required.
All who are accused of crimes, petty to capital, shall have
a trial by jury upon request.
It is a primary obligation of the federal government to
provide for the common defense, vigilant to deal with significant potential
threats and prospective capabilities, as well as with perceived present
intentions.
We oppose unilateral disarmament and dismemberment of
America's defense infrastructure. That which is hastily torn down will not be
easily rebuilt.
In order to protect our territory, our armed forces, and our
citizenry, we should immediately give notice of our withdrawal from the
Nixon-Brezhnev Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which restricts full development
and deployment of a strategic defense system. We condemn the decision to have
no strategic defense system to be deployed before the year 2000.
We condemn the presidential assumption of authority to
deploy American troops without the consent of Congress.
Under no circumstances would we commit U.S. forces to serve
under any flag or command. We are opposed to any New World Order, and we flatly
reject U.S. participation in any New World Army.
The goal of U.S. security policy is to defend the national
security interests of the United States. We should be the friend of liberty
everywhere, but the guarantor and provisioner of ours alone.
We call for the maintenance of a strong, state-of-the-art
military on land, sea, in the air, and in space.
We urge the Executive and Legislative Branches to continue
to provide for the modernization of our Armed Forces, in keeping with advancing
technologies and a constantly changing world situation.
We support the maintenance of a strong and ready and
well-equipped Reserve and National Guard.
Under no circumstances should we unilaterally surrender our
military base rights in Panama. The sovereign right of the United States to the
United States Territory of the Canal Zone has been jeopardized by the treaties
entered into between the United States and Panama. Inasmuch as the United
States bought both the sovereignty and the grant ownership of the ten-mile-wide
Canal Zone, we propose that the Government of the United States maintain and
protect its sovereign right and exclusive jurisdiction of the Canal Zone in
perpetuity, and renegotiate the treaties with Panama by which the ownership of
the canal was surrendered to Panama.
The Constitution Party will uphold the right of states and
localities to restrict access to drugs and to enforce such restrictions in
appropriate cases with application of the death penalty. We support legislation
to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States from foreign sources.
As a matter of self-defense, retaliatory policies, including embargoes,
sanctions and tariffs, should be considered.
At the same time, we will take care to prevent violations of
the constitutional and civil rights of American citizens. Arbitrary searches
and seizures must be prohibited, and the presumption of innocence must be
preserved.
The upbringing and education of children is a fundamental
right of their parents. We, therefore, support school choice-home, public,
private, or parochial-for all parents of school children. We oppose
"taxation without representation"-taxing parents for the support for
the support of public schools while they are paying for private or parochial
education for their children. In addition, parents, not the government should
determine the curriculum and standards for their children's education.
Since parents closely associate their children's education
with their religious training, and since the federal government is not to
interfere with the people's religion and since the Constitution grants the
federal government no involvement in education, we call on Congress to end all
federal participation whatsoever in education.
Ending federal participation in education will include, but
not be limited to, abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. Under no
circumstances should the federal government be involved in educational
curriculum, textbook selection or learning standards, including comprehensive
sex education, and psychological and psychiatric research programs and
personnel.
The national charter of the National Education Association
should be revoked and that association placed on the same footing as other
trade and professional unions.
Because control over education is now being relegated to
departments other than the Department of Education, we clarify that no federal
agency, department, board or other entity may exercise jurisdiction over any
aspect of children's upbringing.
Education, training and discipline of children is properly
placed in the domain of parents.
Since the theory of evolution is an essential fundamental
doctrine of Humanism, and since Humanism has been correctly defined as a
religion by our Supreme Court, we call on the States to remove atheistic
religious doctrine from our children's textbooks, and leave religious training
to parents.
Whereas it is the duty of those who operate our educational
system to teach our children and to protect them while in that so-called
"learning environment;" and
Whereas there have been more and more sensational tragedies
perpetrated in our schools by armed terrorists against unarmed students and
teachers, these murderers each trying to outdo the previous ones they saw on
television; and
Whereas the problem is not the presence of guns in the hands
of responsible citizens, but the absence of them,
Be it therefore resolved that we call for the "Israeli
Solution" to be employed in our State schools, whereby certain teachers
and staff and parents be allowed to carry weapons on their persons at all
times.
The Constitution Party seeks the restoration of an electoral
process which is controlled at the state and local levels and is beyond
manipulation by federal judges and bureaucrats. The federal government has
unconstitutionally and unwisely preempted control in matters of district
boundaries, electoral procedures, and campaign activities.
The Voting Rights Act should be repealed. The Federal
Election Campaign Act, including its 1974 amendments, and the Federal Election
Commission should be abolished.
Each citizen should have the right to seek public office in
accordance with the qualifications set forth in the federal and state
constitutions. Additional restrictions and obligations governing candidate
eligibility and campaign procedures unconstitutionally burden the fairness and
accountability of our political system.
We urge an end to electronic or mechanical voting processes,
and urge a return to the manual counting process overseen by, and accountable
to, voters resident in each precinct where the votes are cast.
We call attention to the continuing need of the United
States for a sufficient supply of energy to sustain the nation's standard of
living and its agricultural, business and industrial activities.
Private property rights should be respected, and government
should not interfere with the development of potential energy sources,
including natural gas, hydroelectric power, solar energy, wind generators, and
nuclear energy.
We also encourage the use of coal, shale and oil sands for
the production of power, and the conversion of coal, shale and agricultural
products to synthetic fuels.
We oppose any increase in federal fuel taxes and insist
that, so long as such taxes are collected in any amount, all of their proceeds
should be used exclusively for the maintenance of interstate highways.
It is a prime responsibility of a man to be a prudent,
productive, and efficient steward of God's natural resources. In that role, man
is commanded to be fruitful, to multiply, to replenish the earth and develop
it-to turn deserts into farms and wastelands into groves. This requires a
proper and continuing dynamic balance between development and conservation;
between use and preservation.
The proper exercise of stewardship demands that we avoid the
extremes; that we escape the deadly hand of government confiscation; that we
recognize and preserve the right of the individual to acquire, own and use his
property so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of other individuals
to do the same.
The progress and well-being of society requires that the
best interests of human beings must be accorded preference to so-called animal
rights. This is not to say that the preservation and care of the creatures of
the forest, field and water is not part of stewardship: they are; but when we
choose between an owl or snail darter and the jobs of American citizens and the
well-being of their families and children, the families must be valued above
plants and animals.
We wholeheartedly support realistic efforts to preserve the
environment and reduce pollution-air, water and land. We reject, however, the
argument that this objective ought to be pursued by costly governmental
interference, accompanied by multitudes of regulations and the heavy hand of
arrogant bureaucrats spurred-on by irresponsible pressure groups.
The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution limits
the federal power of eminent domain solely to the purchase of private property
at fair market value for public use, such as military reservations and
government office buildings; not for public ownership, such as urban renewal,
environmental protection, or historic preservation. Under no circumstances may
the federal government take private property without just compensation by means
of rules and regulations which preclude or substantially reduce the productive
use of the property.
We call for a return to the states and to the people all
lands which are held by the federal government without authorization by the
Constitution.
We affirm that the law of the Creator creates and defines
marriage as the union between a man and a woman, and the family. We further
affirm that no state may authorize marriage and family relations contrary to
that law. Therefore, no state is obliged by the full faith and credit clause of
the United States Constitution to enforce any state law governing marriage the
family which conflicts with the law of the Creator.
Whereas the Constitution says that the Powers not delegated
to the federal government are reserved to the States or the people; and
Whereas so-called "federal aid" in areas not
authorized is unconstitutional, illegal and immoral,
Be it therefore resolved that the State of Texas declines to
accept all monies from the federal government for any purpose not specifically
and clearly articulated in the Constitution, and rejects all Federal mandates
and regulations which are unconstitutional, thus restoring the intended the balance
of power between the States and their creation, the U.S. Government.
Ever since World War II, the United States has provided
military and non-military aid to over 100 nations. Hundreds of billions of
dollars have been poured down that bottomless pit-with little evident benefit
to the safety and security of the American people. Not only have we given aid
to our "friends", but even to "neutrals," by means of which
aid we hoped to buy their "friendship.” Finally, we are now committing
ourselves to send the taxpayer's dollars to those who have been our enemies for
years. This must stop!
The Congress and President have a duty to provide for the
defense of this country, but the American people have no similar duty to
provide for the defense of any foreign nation. Further, the U.S. Government has
no constitutional authority to tax the American people to provide aid of any
kind to foreign governments.
Therefore, the Constitution Party calls for the termination
of all programs of foreign aid, whether military or non-military, to any
foreign government or to any international organization, including the United
Nations, the IMF, the World Bank and other similar institutions.
The only constitutional purpose and basis of foreign policy
is to serve the best interests of the U.S., not to police the world. We pledge
our allegiance to the American Republic. We say "No!" to any
so-called New World Order or to any one-world government. Not one whit of
American autonomy may be given up to any international organization or group of
nations. We oppose entangling foreign alliances. NATO no longer serves a
defensive purpose and the U.S. must withdraw from it.
The Constitution Party strongly opposes any alliance of participation
in any treaty or agreement which compromises our independence as a nation, or
which subverts our Constitution by improperly committing us to participation in
foreign conflicts or intervention in foreign wars.
All treaties must be subordinate to the Constitution, since
the Constitution is the only act which empowers and limits the federal
government.
The United States must not enter into agreements which would
have an adverse impact on the security and safety of this nation.
The Constitution Party calls on the United States to
withdraw from the United Nations and to require the U.N. to move out of the
United States.
The United States should withdraw from all international
monetary and financial institutions and agencies such as the International
Monetary Fund (IMP), World Bank, WTO, NAFTA, GATT, etc.
Under no circumstances shall any international power or
agency levy a tax on American citizens.
The right to keep and bear arms is inherent in the right of
self defense, defense of the family, and defense against tyranny, conferred on
the individual and the community by the Creator to safeguard life, liberty and
property and that ofhis family, as well as to help preserve the independence of
the nation.
The right to keep and bear arms is guaranteed by the Second
Amendment to the Constitution; it may not properly be infringed upon nor
denied.
The Constitution Party upholds the right of the citizen to
keep and bear arms. We oppose attempts to prohibit the ownership of guns by
law-abiding citizens, and stand against all laws which would require the
registration of guns or ammunition.
We emphasize that if guns are outlawed, only the outlaws
will have them. In such circumstances, the peaceful citizen's protection
against the criminal would be seriously jeopardized.
The Constitution Party opposes the governmentalization and
bureaucratization of American medicine.
Government regulation and subsidy constitutes a threat to
both the quality and availability of patient-oriented health care and
treatment.
Hospitals, doctors and other health care providers should be
accountable to patients and State regulations-not to politicians and the
federal government.
Since the federal government has no constitutional provision
to regulate or restrict the freedom of the people to have access to medical
care, supplies or treatments we advocate returning these activities to the
States respectively. We further advocate the elimination of the federal Food
and Drug Administration, as it has been the federal agency primarily
responsible for prohibiting beneficial products, treatments and technologies
here in the United States, that are freely available in much of the rest of the
civilized world.
We believe parents and citizens should have freedom of
choice concerning immunization without penalty or discrimination.
We affirm the integrity of the international borders of the
United States and the constitutional authority and the right of the federal
government under the law of nations to guard and to protect those borders,
including the regulation of the numbers and of the qualifications of immigrants
into the country.
Each year numerous illegal immigrants enter the United
States. These illegal immigrants have been made eligible for various kinds of
public assistance including housing, education, social security, and legal
services. This unconstitutional drain on the federal treasury is having a
severe and adverse impact on our economy, increasing the cost of government at
national and local levels adding to the tax burden, and stressing the fabric of
society.
We favor the immediate termination of all federal subsidies
and assistance for illegal immigrants.
We also insist that every individual group and/or private
agency which requests the admission of an immigrant to the U.S. on whatever
basis be required to legally commit to provide housing and sustenance for such
immigrants, bear full responsibility for the economic independence of the
immigrants, and post appropriate bonds to seal such covenants.
The Constitution Party demands 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 dependency, they would impose an improper
burden on the United States, any State, or any citizen of the United States.
We oppose the provision of welfare 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.
We support the Immigration and Naturalization Service, in
the proper screening of immigrants, the apprehending and deportation of illegal
aliens, and the protection of our borders.
We oppose bilingual ballots. We insist that those who wish
to take part in the electoral process and governance of this nation should be
required to read and comprehend basic English as a precondition of citizenship.
We support English as the official language for all governmental business by
the United States, and of all individual States.
Human dignity is a basic right recognized in the Constitution
by our Founding Fathers. We affirm that human beings are created equal by God
and, therefore, should be evaluated on their individual merits.
We call for the elimination of all so-called affirmative
action programs which substitute race, or creed, or other illegitimate criteria
for merit.
Each and every citizen shall be free to choose his friends
and associates, to offer, seek or refuse employment, and to rent or sell
property without interference from the state. Further, businesses should be
free to protect their employees by refusing service in any circumstance where
the lives of the employees or property are perceived to be endangered.
The United States Constitution does not provide for lifetime
appointment of federal judges, but only for a term of office during good
behavior. We strongly support presidential enforcement of the constitutional
rule of good behavior, and urge the Congress to enact such legislation as is
necessary and proper to enforce that rule.
We assert that judicial encroachment upon the enforcement
powers of the executive and/or the lawmaking powers of the Congress is bad
behavior. Likewise, ignoring, twisting, or perverting the plain English the
common sense intent of the Constitution to conform to sitting judges' concept
of social or political correctness constitutes bad behavior.
We therefore call on the President and the Congress to
review the judiciary record of all sitting judges, leading to potential
impeachment of those who have shown an ongoing misunderstanding of, or brazen
disregard for our Constitution and our Bill of Rights-restricting some
unalienable rights while extending others to ridiculous and licentious
extremes.
Congress must exert the power it possesses to prohibit all federal
courts from hearing cases which Congress deems to be outside federal
jurisdiction pursuant to Article III, Section II of the Constitution.
Money is both a medium of exchange and a measure of a
nation's morality.
Properly established and guarded, it provides the citizen
with an assured standard by which he can trade (exchange) his labors or
property for a service or product he desires to acquire. The improper control
(manipulation) of the money and banking system destroys the value of the
citizen's earnings, and investments, and brings untold misery upon the people.
Indeed, it can spawn rebellion and anarchy, which shatters societies and
topples governments.
The Founding Fathers established a system of sound and
honest money designed to prohibit "improper and wicked" manipulation
of the medium of exchange. Its purpose was to guarantee that the purchasing
power of the citizen's earnings would not be diminished or degraded between the
time income is earned and the time it is spent; that it will not lose its
purchasing power between the time it is invested and the time it is withdrawn.
Over the years, the federal government has radically
departed from the constitutional principles of money and banking. The present
regime of fiat money provides no restraint on the politicians' and the monetary
authorities' power to debase the currency. Indeed, today's monetary system is
precisely what the Founding Fathers feared most and sought to prohibit
constitutionally.
The results of these violations of the Constitution threaten
the economic stability and indeed the survival of America's republican form of
government. Fundamental reform of the monetary and banking systems of the
United States is imperative if this nation is to regain its political integrity
and restore its economic health.
The Constitution Party calls for, and sees as vital, a
return to the monetary and banking provisions set forth in the Constitution.
Those rules define a system of money and banking relying upon free market
principles, and prescribe what must be done:
Restore, as the nation's official medium of exchange, the
type of money the world has historically favored-commodity money; money
capable of being coined or tendered as coin;
-Re-establish the quality of money
which the international market recognizes as preeminent--silver and gold
exclusively as the standard of the money of the United States;
-Adopt again, as the unit of money,
the sound dollar of 371.25 grains (troy) of fine silver; and
-Leave determination of the ultimate
supply of money up to the free market system of free coinage embodied in Anglo-
American common law.
Further, we believe that to restore integrity, credibility
and stability of the nation's money and banking system, we must:
Declare unconstitutional:
The Federal Reserve Act of 1913; The
seizure of gold coins in 1933;
The outlawing in 1934 of private
contracts that called for payment in silver and gold.
Disestablish the Federal Reserve System.
Terminate the status of the Federal Reserve
System.
-Restore to the constitutional
monetary system that gold which was unconstitutionally seized from the American
people in 1933 and which is now held by the U.S. Treasury.
-Revalue in constitutional (silver)
dollars all outstanding contracts now payable in Federal Reserve Notes.
-Resume the "free coinage"
of constitutional (silver) dollars and appropriate gold coins.
-Adopt all monetarily-viable foreign
silver and gold coins as money in the United States.
-Prohibit all fraudulent
"fractional reserve" banking schemes and related commercial practices
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 banks, and national identification cards. We
also reaffirm that civil governments must be strictly limited in their powers to
intrude upon the persons and private property of individual citizens, in
particular that no place be searched and no thing be seized, except upon proof
of probable cause that a crime has been committed and the proper judicial
warrant be issued.
We further reaffirm the common law rule that protects the
people from any search or seizure whatsoever, when that search or seizure
violates the people's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
We deplore and vigorously oppose legislation and executive
action that deprives the people of their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights
under claims of necessity to "combat terrorism" or to "protect
national security.”
We further deplore and vigorously oppose legislation and
executive action expanding asset forfeiture laws that enable the confiscation
of private property of citizens who have not, by their own criminal action,
forfeited their property rights to the asset subject to forfeiture.
The Constitution Party of Texas does not recognize the unratified
Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
There is no Constitutional basis for the federal
government's engaging in enterprises that are not authorized by the U.S.
Constitution including, but not limited to, national parks, Amtrak; the TVA,
the Oak Ridge uranium enrichment facility, or the regulating of Utah coal
deposits.
Further, in violation of Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 17
of the Constitution, the federal government has vast areas of land under
federal control which has nothing to do with the nation's defense or seat of
government. We call on the States to reaffirm their ownership and control of
those lands currently and unconstitutionally identified as "federal"
lands.
The Constitution Party calls for the federal government to
divest itself of operations which are not authorized by the Constitution. We
call upon the Congress to get the federal government out of such enterprises
which compete with private free enterprise.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
The plain English meaning of the First amendment is apparent
to the common sense of every rational citizen-the people's religion is none of
the federal government's business. Therefore, our Supreme Court grossly erred
when they presumed to interpret and enforce laws that Congress is expressly
forbidden to enact. The Court should have found the interfering with our religious
expression in any place whatsoever outside the federal courts' jurisdiction .
Every succeeding President, likewise, has violated his oath
to defend our Constitution by allowing this judicial edict to be enforced.
Congress also has neglected to counteract the Court's infringement upon the
legislative powers.
We commend the good intentions of Congress to pass a law
"allowing" the Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools
following the outbreak of mass murder in public schools. Our Constitution,
however, grants no authority to the federal government to either allow or deny
the religious expressions of the people in any place. Both the First and Tenth
Amendments forbid such tyranny.
Believing the faithful adherence to our First, Ninth, and
Tenth Amendments to be sufficient restraint upon our federal government, we do
not support a Religious Liberties Amendment. Our original Constitution is not
at fault, but the violation of it by our federal government is.
We, therefore, call upon our Supreme Court to redress this
grievance by nullifying all post-1947 federal court decisions regarding the
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and by
declaring the people's religion outside the jurisdiction of the federal
government.
Believing that federal government interference with the
people's religion is responsible for much of our social, moral, and family
decay, we call upon the President by executive proclamation, and Congress by
legislation to redress this grievance by declaring unconstitutional and
unenforceable the Court's edicts against the people's religious liberty.
The Social Security trust should not be a rainy-day fund
which politicians can pirate, or from which they can borrow to cover their
errors and pay for their excesses.
The Constitution Party supports legislation to require that
the federal government meet its obligations and protect the Social Security
funds as a trust which can be used only to fulfill its obligations to those who
have contributed to the system.
To protect and enhance the return on payments made by Social
Security taxpayers and prevent future defaults, we call for the transfer of all
Social Security funds to accounts beyond the reach of politicians who
improperly transfer funds from Social Security to help pay the price of other
federal programs.
The Constitution grants no authority to the federal
government to require its citizens to participate in Social Security.
The Party believes participation in Social Security should
be voluntary for all citizens, including average American workers.
Additionally, the Party believes participants should have
the option to opt out and place funds contributed into IRA’s or similar
investments under the control of the individual, either at their place of
employment or independently.
The Party supports privacy legislation to make it an offense
for private parties to discriminate against individuals who refuse to disclose
or obtain a Social Security number for other than lawful purposes.
We call for the removal of earning limitations on persons
aged 62 and over, so that they may earn any amount of additional income they
choose, without placing their Social Security benefits at risk.
We urge the repeal of those provisions of the Social
Security system which penalize those born during the "notch years between
1917 and 1926, and argue that such persons be placed on the same benefit
schedules as all other beneficiaries.
We oppose any effort to confer statehood on the District of
Columbia or any representation in the Congress comparable to that of an
independent state in the federal union.
We oppose efforts to confer statehood upon the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico or upon territories owned or under the protection of the United
States.
Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution states that
Congress shall have the power "To regulate Commerce with foreign
Nations", and "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by
securing" copyright and patent protection for authors and inventors.
Congress may not abdicate nor transfer to others these
constitutional powers. We, therefore, oppose the unconstitutional transfer of
authority over U .S. trade policy from the Congress to agencies, domestic or
foreign, which improperly exercise policy-setting functions with respect to U
.S. trade policy, and the unconstitutional transfer of authority over copyright
and patent policy from Congress to agencies, domestic and foreign.
We favor the abolition of the Office of Special Trade
Representative, and insist on the withdrawal of the United States from the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), from the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and all other
agreements wherein bureaucracies, institutions or individuals, other than the
Congress of the United States, improperly assume responsibility for
establishing policies which directly affect the economic well-being of every
American citizen. We also favor more vigorous efforts to protect the copyright
and patent rights of their owners in both domestic and foreign markets.
As indicated in Article I, Section 8: duties, imposts and
excises are legitimate revenue-raising measures on which the United States
government may properly rely. As Abraham Lincoln pointed out, the legitimate
costs of the federal government can be borne, either by taxes on American
citizens and businesses, or by tariffs on foreign companies and products. The
latter is preferable to the former.
Similarly, we oppose other international trade agreements
which ha1{e the effect of diminishing America's economic self-sufficiency and
of exporting jobs, the loss of which will impoverish American families,
undermine American communities, and diminish America's capacity for economic
self-reliance.
We see our country and its workers as more than bargaining
chips for multinational corporations and international banks in their ill-and
evilly-conceived New World Order.
The defense of the American nation and the preservation of
its economic integrity is essential to the defense of the liberty and
prosperity of every American citizen.
We will insist on strict federal criminal penalties for any
officer of the United States government, or spouse thereof, who subsequently
hires himself or herself out to represent any foreign government or other
entity, public or private, with respect to influencing either public opinion or
public policy on matters affecting U.S. trade with any such governments or
other entities.
The indebtedness of the American government has dangerously
contributed to making our economy more vulnerable to foreign takeover and
manipulation. Particularly in the area of national security, foreign interests
have thus been abetted in gaining access to America's high-tech secrets under
the guise of commercial enterprise.
We reject the concept of Most Favored Nation status,
especially insofar as it has been used to curry favor with regimes whose
domestic and international policies are abhorrent to decent people everywhere,
and are in fundamental conflict with the vital interests of the United States
of America.
The Constitution, in Article I, Section 8, gives Congress
the power "to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay
the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United
States."
In Article I, Section 9, the original document made clear
that "no Capitation, or other direct Tax shall be laid, unless in
Proportion to the Census of Enumeration herein before directed to be
taken." It is moreover established that "No Tax or Duty shall be laid
on Articles exported from any State."
Since 1913, our constitutional rights to life, liberty and
property have been abridged and diminished by the assumption of direct taxing
authority on each of us by the federal government.
We will propose legislation to abolish the Internal Revenue
Service, and will veto any authorization, appropriation or continuing
resolution which contains any funding whatsoever for that illicit and
unconstitutional agency. We endorse ratification of the Liberty Amendment which
would repeal the Sixteenth Amendment.
Moreover, it is our intention to replace entirely the
current tax system of the U.S. government (including income taxes, Social
Security taxes, estate taxes, inheritance taxes, corporate taxes, and fuel
taxes) with a new approach based on the original design of our Founding
Fathers.
To the degree that tariffs on foreign products are
insufficient to cover the legitimate constitutional costs of the federal
government, we will offer a "state rate tax" in which the
responsibility for covering the cost of unmet obligations will be divided among
the several states in accordance with their proportion of the total population
of the United States, excluding the District of Columbia. Thus, if a state
contains 10 percent of the nation's citizens, it will be responsible for
assuming payment of 10 percent of the annual deficit.
The effect of this "state rate tax" will be to
encourage politicians to argue for less, rather than more, federal spending.
Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution says: "No
money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations
made by Law.” Appropriations can be made in only two circumstances; either:
-A money measure passed by Congress
and signed into law by the President; or A money measure enacted over a
President's veto.
-A President who enjoys the support
of one-third-plus-one of the members of the House of Congress, has the
constitutional authority to stop unwise and excessive federal spending.
We urge the President of the United States to use his veto
power to terminate funding for all federal departments, agencies, and
regulatory authorities which exist or operate beyond the bounds of the U.S.
Constitution.
We condemn the line item veto as an unconstitutional
delegation of legislative power to the President.
God, who endows us with life, liberty, property, and the
right to pursue happiness also authorizes individuals to care for the needy,
the sick, the homeless, the aged, and those who are otherwise unable to care
for themselves.
America's welfare crisis is a government-induced crisis.
Government, social, and cultural policies have undermined the work ethic, even
as the government's economic and regulatory policies have undermined the
ability of our citizens to obtain work.
Charity, and provision of welfare to those in need, is not a
responsibility of the federal government. Under no circumstances should the
taxpayers of the United States be obligated, under penalty of law through
forced taxation, to assume the cost of providing welfare to able-bodied
individuals. Nor should taxpayers be indentured to subsidize welfare for
persons who enter the United States illegally.
The message of Christian charity is fundamentally at odds with
the concept of welfare rights. In many cases, the delivery of welfare by
government is not only misdirected, but morally destructive. It is the intended
purpose of civil government to safeguard the people's lives, liberty and
property-not to redistribute the people's wealth, which is contrary to the
Biblical command against theft.
We encourage individuals and
families to fulfill their personal responsibility to help those in need through
tithes, offerings and other acts of charity. The nation's churches and
synagogues should manifest their faith by supporting effective programs to
assist those who are in need.
Untitled
| When honest people who hold strong opinions come together, it is natural that they state their opinions, and that those opinions occasionally clash. The articles that you see on this website represent the opinion of the writers, and are not the official opinion of this party. To see the official party position on any question, the reader is referred to the Party Platform. |
|
Permission to reprint/republish granted, as long as you include the name of our site, the author,and our URL. www.cptexas.org. All CP Texas reports, and all editorials are property of The Constitution Party of Texas © 2002 (unless otherwise noted).
Untitled
|
