America's Party (political party)

Last updated
America's Party
Chairman Tom Hoefling
Founder Alan Keyes
FoundedAugust 21, 2008;10 years ago (2008-08-21) (as America's Independent Party)
Split from Constitution Party
Headquarters Fenton, Michigan, U.S.
Ideology American nationalism
Ultraconservatism
Right-wing populism
Paleoconservatism
Political position Right-wing to Far-right [ citation needed ]
International affiliationNone
Colors         Purple, azure
Seats in the Senate
0 / 100
Seats in the House
0 / 435
Governorships
0 / 50
State Upper House Seats
0 / 1,972
State Lower House Seats
0 / 5,411
Territorial Governorships
0 / 6
Territorial Upper Chamber Seats
0 / 97
Territorial Lower Chamber Seats
0 / 91
Website
www.selfgovernment.us

America's Party, founded as America's Independent Party, is a conservative American political party formed in August 2008 in an offshoot of the Constitution Party by supporters of Alan Keyes, with the goal of an alternative to the Republican and Democratic party system. It selected party leader Tom Hoefling in the 2012 presidential election, and Hoefling sought the party nomination again in the 2016 Presidential election.

Conservatism in the United States Political ideologies

American conservatism is a broad system of political beliefs in the United States that is characterized by respect for American traditions, republicanism, support for Judeo-Christian values, moral universalism, business, anti-communism, individualism, advocacy of American exceptionalism, and a defense of Western culture from the perceived threats posed by socialism, authoritarianism, and moral relativism. Liberty is a core value, as is with all major American parties. American conservatives consider individual liberty—within the bounds of American values—as the fundamental trait of democracy; this perspective contrasts with that of modern American liberals, who generally place a greater value on equality and social justice and emphasize the need for state intervention to achieve these goals. American conservatives believe in limiting government in size and scope, and in a balance between national government and states' rights. Apart from some libertarians, they tend to favor strong action in areas they believe to be within government's legitimate jurisdiction, particularly national defense and law enforcement. Social conservatives oppose abortion and favor restricting LGBT rights, while privileging traditional marriage and allowing voluntary school prayer.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Constitution Party (United States) U.S. political party

The Constitution Party, previously known as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party, is a national political party in the United States. The idea that the principles and intents of the U.S. Constitution remain relevant in human relations was the origin of the 1991 founding. Founding members included 2016 presidential candidate Darrell Castle and former acting Office of Economic Opportunity Director Howard Phillips. The party platform is based on originalist interpretations of the Constitution and shaped by principles it finds set forth in the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Constitution and the Bible.

Contents

Founding

Alan Keyes 2008 candidacy before the AIP

Alan Keyes declared his candidacy for President seeking the Republican nomination on September 14, 2007. Just three days later, Keyes placed third in the Family Research Council's Values Voter straw poll, behind Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul, garnering 5% of support. [1]

Alan Keyes American politician

Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, pundit, author and former ambassador.

Republican Party (United States) Major political party in the United States

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.

Family Research Council nonprofit organization

Family Research Council (FRC) is an American conservative Christian nonprofit charity and activist group, with an affiliated lobbying organization. Its stated mission is "to advance faith, family and freedom in public policy and the culture from a Christian worldview". FRC was formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson and incorporated in 1983. In the late 1980s, FRC officially became a division of Dobson's main organization, Focus on the Family; however, after an administrative separation, FRC became an independent entity in 1992. Tony Perkins is its current president.

The Keyes campaign drew limited support in any of the caucuses or primaries that took place. In the Iowa caucuses, Keyes claimed some of the state's ballots did not even list him as a candidate, and his campaign CEO, Stephen Stone, stated that the reason Keyes did not show up on most ballots was primarily because Keyes had decided to enter the election cycle so late. He also blamed the media for not recognizing Keyes as a viable candidate, excluding him from debates and providing practically no campaign coverage. [2]

News media elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news

The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include print media, broadcast news, and more recently the Internet.

Keyes was awarded four Republican Party convention delegates, more than he received in 1996 but less than in 2000. In early 2008, Keyes explored the possibility of allying himself with the Constitution Party, marking this change away from his lifelong involvement in the GOP with a speech on April 15 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, a town which has been a battleground in the political fight over illegal immigration.[ citation needed ] However, due primarily to his fundamental disagreement with CP founder Howard Phillips over foreign policy, the party instead selected Chuck Baldwin at the party's convention. [3] Following the defeat, Keyes told a group of his supporters that he was "prayerfully considering" continuing his candidacy as an independent, [4] and refused to endorse Baldwin. [5]

Hazleton, Pennsylvania City in Pennsylvania, United States

Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census. Hazleton is the second largest city in Luzerne County and the seventeenth largest city in Pennsylvania. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on December 4, 1891.

Howard Phillips (politician) American politician

Howard Jay Phillips was a three-time United States presidential candidate who served as the chairman of The Conservative Caucus, a conservative public policy advocacy group which he founded in 1974. Phillips was a founding member of the U.S. Taxpayers Party, which later became known as the Constitution Party.

Formation

Following the failure to come together with the Constitution Party, Keyes' supporters formed America's Independent Party, which held its convention in Fenton, Michigan on August 21, 2008, making Keyes their Presidential nominee. A press release from the party said: "John McCain has abandoned the principles of Ronald Reagan – particularly the Reagan pro-life platform plank," and the party also opposed John McCain on other points, such as his opposition to a federal amendment outlawing marriage for same-sex couples, sponsoring McCain/Feingold legislation, which they said was "a direct attack on their First Amendment rights to political free speech and grassroots citizen activism;" they also opposed his support for immigration reform, deriding it as "amnesty" and his support for legislation intended to combat global warming. [6] The AIP gained ballot access in three states and became a recognized write-in candidate in several dozen others. A struggle within the American Independent Party of California (the California affiliate of the Constitution Party), between a pro-Keyes faction and Constitution Party supporters of the 2008 candidacy of Chuck Baldwin, led to the placement of Keyes and Wiley S. Drake on the ballot as the AIP-CA nominees, where they received 40,673 votes. Two lawsuits by the Baldwin forces to regain control of the California AIP, one before the election and one after, failed. Keyes also received 2,550 votes on the AIP ticket in Florida, [7] 3,051 votes in Colorado, and write-in votes in a few other states, for a nationwide total of 47,941 recorded votes, or 0.04% of the national popular vote, with approximately 85% of votes for the ticket cast in California. [8] [9] [10]

Fenton, Michigan City in Michigan, United States

Fenton is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan that lies mostly in Genesee County, with small portions in neighboring Oakland County and Livingston County.

John McCain American politician

John Sidney McCain III was an American politician and military officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from January 1987 until his death. He previously served two terms in the United States House of Representatives and was the Republican nominee for president of the United States in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama.

Ronald Reagan 40th president of the United States

Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Prior to his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and union leader before serving as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

Renaming and financing

According to the party's official website, it has renamed itself "America's Party". [11] The party's website announces that, "America's Party does not accept financial contributions.... Instead, we're asking you to directly support fully-vetted, proven, principled candidates, so that 100% of your precious resources will go directly to the most important work." [12] Instead, the party maintains a "Directory of Approved Candidates, State, County & Local Front Porch Caucuses" on its website (paid for by party Chairman Tom Hoefling). There was a convention on February 18, 2012 to nominate candidates for President and Vice President resulting in the nominations of Tom Hoefling as presidential candidate and J.D. Ellis as vice-presidential candidate. [13] During this convention the America's Party also ratified its 2012 platform. [14]

President of the United States Head of state and of government of the United States

The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

Outreach

America's Party has several outreach groups. Having stated that the mainstream news media is biased against conservatives, the party maintains its own "America's Party News" site. [15] Party members may submit news reports and opinion columns via the "We Are the Media" outreach group. Another outreach group is "Can-Do USA", which appeals to business owners, inventors, entrepreneurs, etc. " Veterans United to Save America" (V-USA) [16] is the outreach group to military veterans. That group is chaired by screen actor Tom Kovach, [17] who is a former Security Police staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force.

Issues

Tax reform

The party seeks to reform the tax structure by advocating the repeal of the 16th Amendment, and despite the fact that many members support the FairTax, the platform remains open to other replacements for the federal income tax.

Abortion

America's Party supports amending the 14th Amendment to include protections for the unborn from the point of biological conception. They support removing individuals from public office if they do not "carry out this supreme sworn duty". [18]

Same-sex marriage

The party supports the Federal Marriage Amendment being added to the U.S. Constitution.

2012 presidential election

On February 18, 2012, Party chairman Tom Hoefling was chosen as the America's Party 2012 presidential nominee in an online nominating convention. J.D. Ellis was selected as the vice presidential nominee. [19] The ticket received 40,624 votes in the election, or 0.03% of the national popular vote, with about 95% of the votes coming from California.

2016 presidential election

In late January, founding chairman Tom Hoefling announced that he would again run for president. Three weeks later, on President's Day, V-USA chairman Tom Kovach announced that he was "testing the waters" for a possible presidential campaign. The party's nominating convention was planned for July.

See also

DodgerBlue flag waving.svg Conservatismportal

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in defense of liberty and against tyranny. I speak for the republic and against the fascism that seems to be enveloping us. The general government was created by the sovereign states for a specific purpose; that purpose was to protect our God-given rights. Anything that runs afoul of that purpose is therefore illegal and unconstitutional. And since virtually everything this government does runs afoul of that purpose, virtually everything it does is illegal and unconstitutional.

References

  1. ↑ Luo, Michael (September 18, 2007). "Values Voters Pick Huckabee". The New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  2. ↑ Tommy Birch (2008-01-03). "Keyes garners little support in Iowa". IowaStateDaily.com. Archived from the original on 2008-01-26. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  3. ↑ Penn, Steve. Constitution Party stunner: Chuck Baldwin KOs firebrand Alan Keyes. Kansas City Star, 26 April 2008.
  4. ↑ Hill, Trent "Keyes' Continuing Candidacy" Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine , Third Party Watch.com. April 27, 2008
  5. ↑ Kraske, Steve "Constitution Party stunner II: Keyes won't back Chuck Baldwin for president, suggests party used him", KansasCity Star. April 30, 2008
  6. ↑ ""Alan Keyes Acceptance Speech"". Archived from the original on 2008-09-16. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
  7. ↑ Brill, Sanford. "Florida Department of State - Election Results". Archived from the original on 2013-07-20. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  8. ↑ "Ballot Access News -- December 1, 2008".
  9. ↑ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=2008&minper=0&f=1&off=0&elect=0
  10. ↑ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2008&fips=6&f=1&off=0&elect=0
  11. ↑ "Platform".
  12. ↑ "No donations".
  13. ↑ "America's Party nominates Hoefling and Ellis, ratifies platform".
  14. ↑ "Platform".
  15. ↑ "Category & forums listing - America's Party News".
  16. ↑ "Security Check Required".
  17. ↑ "Tom Kovach".
  18. ↑ "Platform". America's Party National Committee. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
  19. ↑ "Alan Keyes' Party Qualifies for Florida Ballot". Ballot Access News . February 29, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
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