Although minor parties—often called “third parties” to distinguish them from the dominant two—have always been a part of American politics, the dissatisfaction with the Republican and Democratic parties in the past few election seasons has led some Christians to give them more consideration than usual. To help Christians think about voting in a way that will most benefit the welfare of our nation (Jer. 29:7), this series will provide, without commentary, an outline of various minor party platforms as they relate to several social issues.
Unfortunately, because there are roughly 50 minor political parties in America this series will not be able to cover them all, so we’ll focus only on the American Solidarity Party, the Constitution Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Green Party. (See the end of this article for an explanation of why these four were chosen.)
In covering these platforms there are two issues to note.
First, unlike with the two major parties, the nominees of the minor parties often have no direct control over their party’s platform. For this reason, the positions held by the particular presidential candidates may differ radically from the positions held by the party. Second, minor parties tend to focus more on broad principles than specific policy prescriptions. This is especially true when it comes to social issues. Wherever possible, I’ll try to highlight the direct policy positions. Otherwise I’ll attempt to summarize their underlying philosophy on a public policy area.
Here are the positions of the Constitution Party as outlined in their platform:
General Principles
• 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.”
• “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 a foundation of Christian principles and values. For this very reason peoples of all faiths have been and are afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
• “The Constitution of the United States provides that ‘no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.’ The Constitution Party supports the original intent of this language. Therefore, the Constitution Party calls on all those 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.”
• “The U.S. Constitution established a Republic rooted in Biblical law, administered by representatives who are constitutionally elected by the citizens. In such a Republic 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 happiness;
- 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 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 powers to those assigned by the consent of the governed.
Bioethics Issues
• Supports the “God-given legal personhood of all human beings from fertilization to natural death, without exception.”
• Opposes legalization of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and suicide.
• Opposes all taxpayer funding and support of abortion.
• Opposes distribution and use of all abortifacients.
• Opposes the funding and legalization of bio-research involving human embryonic or pre-embryonic cells.
• Supports appointing 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.”
• Supports the protection of the pre-born through legislation, executive action, and judicial enforcement of the law of the land at all levels of government.
• Supports limiting the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in all cases of abortion.
• Supports the repeal of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Character and Moral Conduct
• Maintains that members and nominated candidates representing the Constitution Party and its state affiliates “recognize the importance of demonstrating good character in their own lives.”
Civil Rights
• Opposes imposition of the draft, the registration law, compulsory military training or any other form of compulsory government service.
• Opposes “unreasonable searches and seizures,” including “arbitrary or de facto” registration, general and unwarranted electronic surveillance, national computer databases, and national identification cards.
• Oppose legislation and executive actions that deprive the people of their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights under claims of necessity to “combat terrorism” or to “protect national security.”
• Oppose legislation and administrative action utilizing asset forfeiture laws which enable the confiscation of the private property of persons not involved in the crime.
• Opposes the monitoring and controlling of the financial transactions of the people through such proposed laws as “Know Your Customer.”
• Supports privacy legislation that prohibits private parties from discriminating against individuals who refuse to disclose or obtain a Social Security number.
• Supports the repeal of all laws, regulations and statutes that require the use of the Social Security number for any purpose other than Social Security transactions.
Criminal Justice Reform
• Supports the rights of states and localities to execute criminals convicted of capital crimes.
• Supports a requirement of restitution for the victims of criminals.
• Opposes all federal involvement in state and local criminal justice processes that is not limited to that which is Constitutionally permitted.
• Supports trial by jury upon request for all crimes.
• Supports jury nullification (i.e., the right of a criminal jury to acquit the defendant because the jurors consider that the law itself is unjust, that the prosecutor has misapplied the law in the defendant’s case, or that the potential punishment for breaking the law is too harsh).
• Opposes defendants being charged and tried by both state and federal jurisdictions under different laws for the same alleged criminal act.
• Opposes all “hate crime” legislation at all levels of government, and to enhanced penalties for hate crimes.
• Opposes special protection or prosecution for certain classes of people or types of employment in that “all persons, made in the image of God, deserve equal protection with equal prosecution for crimes committed against the innocent victims of crime.”
Drugs
• Supports the right of states and localities to restrict access to drugs and to enforce such restrictions.
• Supports 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.”
Education
• Supports the “unimpeded right of parents” to provide for the education of their children in the manner they deem best, including home, private, or religious.
• Opposes all legislation from any level of government that would interfere with parents’ right to educate their children.
• Opposes compulsory attendance laws.
• Supports the “free market principles which drive improvement of education” through non-traditional options such as internet-based schools, charter schools, Christian and private schools, as well as homeschooling options.
• Supports the elimination of the federal Department of Education.
• Supports the repeal of all current federal legislation related to education.
• Opposes new federal laws subsidizing or regulating education.
• Opposes any federal agency, department, board, or other entity having jurisdiction over any aspect of children’s upbringing, education, training, or discipline.
• Opposes all federal government involvement in national teacher certification, educational curricula, textbook selection, learning standards, comprehensive sex education, psychological and psychiatric research testing programs, and personnel.
• Supports repeal of the No Child Left Behind Act and Race to the Top.
Environment
• Supports returning to the states and to the people all lands that are held by the federal government without authorization by the Constitution.
• Supports repeal of federal wetlands legislation.
• Supports repeal of the federal Endangered Species Act.
• Opposes U.S. participation in UN programs such as UNESCO, Man and the Biosphere, and the UN Council on Sustainable Development.
• Opposes any attempt to designate private or public property as United Nations World Heritage sites or Biosphere reserves.
• Opposes environmental treaties and conventions such as the Biodiversity Treaty, the Convention on Climate Control, and Agenda 21, which “destroy our sovereignty and right to private property.”
Family Issues
• Supports defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman and opposes any judicial redefinition of the institution.
• Opposes all taxation and economic formulas that discourage marriage, incentivize cohabitation and childbearing outside of marriage, or authorize or provide government funding for policies and programs that “further erode the jurisdiction of the family or parental rights.”
• Opposes government funding of “partner” benefits for unmarried individuals.
• Supports parents “fundamental right and responsibility to nurture, educate, and discipline their children.”
• Opposes efforts to legalize adoption of children by homosexual singles or couples.
Gambling
• Opposed to government sponsorship, involvement in, or promotion of gambling such as lotteries, casinos or subsidization of Native American casinos.
Healthcare Issues
• Opposes the “governmentalization and bureaucratization of American medicine.”
• Opposes any civil government entity’s using age or any other personal characteristic to: “preclude people and insurance firms from freely contracting for medical coverage; conscript such people into socialized medicine, e.g., Medicare; or prohibit these people from using insurance payments and/or their own money to obtain medical services in addition to, or to augment the quality of, those services prescribed by the program.”
• Supports proposals for employee-controlled “family coverage” health insurance plans based on cash value life insurance principles.
• Supports elimination of the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• Supports freedom of choice of practitioner and treatment for all citizens for their health care.
• Supports the right of patients to seek redress of their grievances through the courts against insurers and/or HMO’s.
Pornography
• Supports enforcing, at all levels of government, all laws against obscenity.
• Calls on “all levels of government to protect and promote that which is truly free speech while vigorously defending and enforcing laws that protect us from the proliferation of the pornography and sexually oriented business industries because they are proven to be toxic to community standards, lower property values, and increase crime.”
Religious Freedom
• Opposes any form of taxation on churches and other religious organizations.
• Supports allowing private organizations to determine their own membership, volunteers, and employment based on their oaths and creeds.
Sexuality Issues
• Supports the rights of states and localities to proscribe offensive sexual behavior.
• Opposes “sexual orientation” statutes that “attempt to legitimize inappropriate sexual behavior or stifle public opposition to its expression.”
• Opposes any legal recognition of homosexual or civil unions.
Welfare
• “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 for other citizens. Neither should taxpayers be indentured to subsidize welfare for persons who enter the United States illegally.”
Addendum:
To narrow the list, I selected minor parties who had presidential candidates with ballot access to at least 50 electoral votes in the 2020 election. That eliminated all but four minor parties: the American Solidarity Party, the Constitution Party, the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Alliance Party, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
I excluded the Alliance Party because they do not have a party platform and take few positions on social issues relevant to TGC readers. I excluded the Party for Socialism and Liberation because their radical positions on abortion (e.g., “The right to contraception, birth control and abortion services will not be restricted in any way, nor will there be any restriction on a woman’s right to decide to have children or not. Abortion services will be available free and on demand.”) and sexuality (e.g., “No law or measure will give preference in word or in deed that favors heterosexual relationships over other relationships.”) are unlikely to make the party of interest to TGC readers.
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