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
Constitution Party

The Constitution Party is a conservative third party in the United States, founded as the U.S. Taxpayers Party in 1992. 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.

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.

Platform

File:Constitution party logo.gif.gif

The Constitution Party holds that American laws have origin in the Bible. It advocates a stricter adherence to what it claims to be the original intent of the United States Constitution and the principles of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. It has a strict approach to moral and personal issues, especially homosexuality and abortion, and seeks to encourage the role of religion in American life. The political party has often been associated with the Christian Reconstructionist movement; Howard Philips is a supporter of Reconstructionism and was the party's presidential candidate in 1992, 1996 and again in 2000.

Members support reducing the role of the United States federal government through major reductions in taxes, regulation and spending. 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.

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 illegal immigration and governmental welfare, and they also seek a more restrictive policy on immigration.

The party also generally views the Second Amendment to the Constitution as securing broad rights to own guns.

Controversy

After the 1992 National Convention in New Orleans it was discovered that Michael Skaggs, the party's first convention manager, was fired by nominee and founder Howard Phillips because Skaggs did not vote for Phillips at the convention for president. Skaggs, who was also a delegate representing the District of Columbia and was at no time told his vote for Phillips was a requirement for remaining employed, instead voted for Arizona Governor Evan Mecham and as a result of his vote was fired by Phillips from his position with Phillips' group, the Conservative Caucus. The only reason Phillips gave for the firing was Skaggs' vote for Mecham. Skaggs filed a lawsuit for wrongful firing which was settled out of court. At no time has Phillips admitted any wrongdoing or taken responsibility.

2004 election results

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 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.

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.