Sunday, April 11, 2010

Is The GOP Becoming The Constitution Party?

After listening to to conservatives over the past year complain about Democrats, I realized something - the Republican Party has become the Constitution Party.

What is the Constitution Party? It is a American political party, ranked third nationally among all U.S. political parties. According to it's preamble, the goal of the Constitution Party "is to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations and to limit the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries."

Sound familiar?

The Constitution Party is a fringe political group. Proof? Considering there are 438,222 registered members as of October 2008, only 0.15% of the population adhere to the beliefs of the party, which sound oddly like what the Tea Party have been advocating, and claiming to represent the majority of the nation.

Lets take a look at the platform.

The Constitution Party's website is pretty organized in expressing their principles, so I think I'll just cut, paste, and comment on each point.
Sanctity Of 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.

One of the main issues surrounding conservative candidates is whether or not they are for or against abortion...

Bring Government Back Home

Over time, the limitations of federal government power imposed by the Constitution have been substantially eroded. Preservation of constitutional government requires a restoration of the balance of authority between the federal government and the States as provided in the Constitution, itself, and as intended and construed by those who framed and ratified that document.

How many times have we heard the teabaggers claim the government has run rampant and overstepped their boundaries?

Cost Of Big Government

A legitimate and primary 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. We call upon Congress and the President to stop all federal expenditures which are not specifically authorized by the U. S. Constitution, and to restore to the states those powers, programs, and sources of revenue that the federal government has usurped.

How many accusations have been made regarding the government (especially this administration) and rising costs? 

Congressional Reform

The Congress of these 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.

Conscription

Compulsory government service is incompatible with individual liberty.

Defense

It is a primary obligation of the federal government to provide for the common defense, and to be vigilant regarding potential threats, prospective capabilities, and perceived intentions of potential enemies.

We oppose unilateral disarmament and dismemberment of America's defense infrastructure. That which is hastily torn down will not be easily rebuilt.

The Republican Party has tried to brand itself as the military party that is strong on defense.  They oppose nuclear non-proliferation, arms reduction, or anything else that they deem to negatively effect the status of the military.

Domestic Federal Aid

We call upon the states, therefore, to decline to accept all monies from the federal government for any purpose not specifically and clearly articulated in the Constitution, and reject all federal mandates and regulations which are unconstitutional, thus restoring the intended balance of power between the states and their creation, the U.S. Government.

Think of all the Republican governors who turned down stimulus funds, and the attacks against all those who did.

Education

All teaching is related to basic assumptions about God and man. Education as a whole, therefore, cannot be separated from religious faith. The law of our Creator assigns the authority and responsibility of educating children to their parents. Education should be free from all federal government subsidies, including vouchers, tax incentives, and loans, except with respect to veterans.

Consider what had recently occurred in Texas, with conservatives infusing their religious agenda into text books.  Combine that with the recent attacks against the Department of Education by personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, and you will see that the Republicans want to destroy education.

Environment

It is our responsibility to be prudent, productive, and efficient stewards of God's natural resources. In that role, we are commanded to be fruitful and multiply, and to replenish the earth and develop it (e.g., 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.

In keeping with this requirement, we wholeheartedly support realistic efforts to preserve the environment and reduce pollution - air, water, and land. We reject, however, the argument of the perceived threat of man-made global warming which has been refuted by a large number of scientists. The globalists are using the global warming threat to gain more control via worldwide sustainable development.


The GOP has consistently ignored the science of global warming and have taken a decreasingly responsive position regarding environmentalism.

Family

The law of our Creator defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman. The marriage covenant is the foundation of the family, and the family is fundamental in the maintenance of a stable, healthy and prosperous social order. No government may legitimately authorize or define marriage or family relations contrary to what God has instituted. We are opposed to amending the U.S. Constitution for the purpose of defining marriage.

We affirm the value of the father and the mother in the home, and we oppose efforts to legalize adoption of children by homosexual singles or couples.

Conservatives have consistently taken positions that are against the homosexual community.

Foreign Policy

These 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 are, therefore, unalterably opposed to entangling alliances - via treaties, or any other form of commitment - which compromise our national sovereignty, or commit us to intervention in foreign wars. We are opposed to the negotiation or ratification of any treaty, agreement, or partnership that would deprive United States citizens of their rights protected by the United States Constitution.

The right has taken a position that America should be able to do whatever it wants at the expense of every other nation.  They want to withdraw from treaties and organizations like NATO and the United Nations, and they don't believe in aiding foreign governments (remember the criticism against Obama pledging aid to Haiti?).

Gun Control

The right to 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 our Creator to safeguard life, liberty, and property, as well as to help preserve the independence of the nation.

Need I say more?

Health Care And Government

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 - not to politicians, insurance bureaucrats, or HMO Administrators.

If the supply of medical care is controlled by the federal government, then officers of that government will determine which demand is satisfied. The result will be the rationing of services, higher costs, poorer results - and the power of life and death transferred from caring physicians to unaccountable political overseers.

Death panels... rationing... this is the argument propagated by the Tea Party.

Immigration

We affirm the integrity of the international borders of these United States and the Constitutional authority and duty of the federal government to guard and to protect those borders, including the regulation of the numbers and of the qualifications of immigrants into the country.

Money And Banking

The federal government has departed from the principle of "coin" money as defined by the U.S. Constitution and the Mint Act of 1792 and has granted unconstitutional control of the nation's monetary and banking system to the private Federal Reserve System.

The right has been arguing against economic collapse.  Just consider Glenn Beck's constant hocking of gold on his programs...

Religious Freedom

We call upon all branches of government to cease their attacks on the religious liberties of the people and the states, regardless of the forum in which these liberties are exercised.

For some reason, the right believes government is "attacking" religion.

Social Security

The Constitution grants no authority to the federal government to administrate a Social Security system. The Constitution Party advocates phasing out the entire Social Security program, while continuing to meet the obligations already incurred under the system.

State Sovereignty

Our federal republic was created by joint action of the several states. It has been gradually perverted into a socialist machine for federal control in the domestic affairs of the states.

The federal government has no authority to mandate policies relating to state education, natural resources, transportation, private business, housing, and health care, ad infinitum.

We call upon the states to reclaim their legitimate role in federal affairs and legislation (See Amendment 10 United States Constitution) and thus cause the federal government to divest itself of operations not authorized by the Constitution and extract the federal government from such enterprises, whether or not they compete with private enterprise.

Another teabag argument...

Welfare

God, who endows us with life, liberty, property, and the right to pursue happiness, also exhorts 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.
So what is the purpose of posting the Constitution Party's platform?  To illustrate that the GOP and the teabag right has come to embody the platform that only 0.15% of the population adheres to.  This is just evidence that the Republican Party has further embraced the fringe and intend to alienate moderate Americans, and on top of that, impose their beliefs on the minority.

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