Do You Know What Textbooks Your Children Are Really Reading?'
Radical in the White House? Obama's Green Jobs 'Czar' Exposed
'Green Jobs' Goal Is 'Complete Revolution' Away From 'Gray Capitalism'
'Green Jobs Czar' Sorry for Calling GOP 'A-Holes' - Do You Accept?
Green Jobs Czar: 'White Polluters' Steered Poison Into Minority Communities
Obama ‘Green Czar’ on 9/11: Blame U.S. ‘Imperialism’
Science Czar Called for 'Zero Economic Growth.' When Will He Resign?
Science Czar: Fetus Human Only When Socialized
Science Czar 'Disavows' Radical Theories. Does FOX Nation Accept This?
Will FCC 'Diversity Czar' Bring Back Fairness Doctrine?
FCC Diversity Chief Asked Liberals to Fight Limbaugh
Dancing with the Czars ... Check Out This Video!
More Questions Raised Over Influence of Obama 'Czars'
Beck Identifies Obama's 'Disinformation Czar'
The Get-Cheney Squad
George Orwell's truth comes to mind as one reads that Eric Holder has named a special prosecutor to go after the "rough men" who, to keep us sleeping peacefully at night, went too far in frightening Khalid Sheik Muhammad, the engineer of the September massacres.
Yet, it seems now indisputable that those CIA interrogators, with their rough methods, got vital intelligence that saved American lives, as Dick Cheney has consistently contended.
They elicited the names of al-Qaida agents who planned anthrax attacks on Westerners and a massive bombing of Camp Lemonier, the U.S. base in East Africa. They got the names of 70 recruits al-Qaida deemed "suitable for Western attacks" and of the men who made the bomb used on the U.S. consulate in Karachi.
Iyman Faris, an al-Qaeda sleeper agent and truck driver in Ohio, is serving 20 years because of information the CIA got from KSM and associates. Other operations aborted include al-Qaida "plots to fly airliners into buildings on the West Coast, setting off bombs in U.S. cities and planning to employ a network of Pakistanis to target gas stations, railroad tracks and the Brooklyn Bridge."
What were the "inhumane" techniques CIA interrogators used to uncover these plans for the mass murder of Americans?
"Interrogators lifted one detainee off the floor by his arms, while they were bound behind his back with a belt," reports The Washington Post. "Another interrogator used a stiff brush to clean a detainee, scrubbing so roughly that his legs were raw with abrasions. Another squeezed a detainee's neck at his carotid artery until he began to pass out."
The CIA, we are told, used mock executions to frighten captives and threatened to kill KSM's children and rape his mother. Power drills were brandished in interrogation rooms.
Were any children killed? No. Was anyone's mother raped? No. Was the power drill used? No.
Was anyone executed in front of a witness to make him talk? No. It was faked, as Sean Connery faked it in "The Untouchables" to get an underling to blab to Eliot Ness, aka Kevin Costner, about how he could take down Al Capone's mob.
As for threatening to kill the children of our enemies, we did not do that in "The Good War." Instead, what we did was kill them in the thousands every night in air raids over Germany and Japan.
In the Tokyo firestorm of February 1945, the Dresden raid in March, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, we killed grandparents, mothers, fathers, wives, sisters, daughters and sons of the enemy in the scores of thousands on each of those days.
Can it be that the same United States that honored Col. Paul Tibbets and put his Enola Gay, which dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, on display in its Air and Space Museum is going to prosecute a CIA agent for faking an execution and threatening, but never intending, to kill the children of Khalid Sheik Muhammad?
Why is Barack Obama allowing these prosecutions to proceed?
In 2004, career lawyers at Justice looked over the same reports and concluded that prosecutions would not serve the national interest. Obama has himself said he wants to move on.
Now, he and Holder may not like what was done back then, but who does? And where is the criminal intent? These agents are not sadists. They were trying to get intel to abort plots and apprehend terrorists to prevent them from killing us. And they succeeded. Not a single terrorist attack on the United States in eight years.
Do we the people, some of whom may be alive because of what those CIA men did, want them disgraced, prosecuted and punished for not going strictly by the book in protecting us from terrorists?
In its lead editorial Tuesday, "Following the Torture Trail," The Washington Post declaims, "The real culprits in this sordid story are the higher-ups, starting with former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Richard Cheney who led America down the degraded path of state-sponsored torture."
But why is Obama yielding to the clamor of a left that will not be satiated until Cheney and Bush are indicted as Class A war criminals? Is that in the national interest? Is it in Obama's interest to tear his country apart to expose and punish these CIA agents?
In the 1960s, Robert Kennedy and the boys at Justice set up a "Get Hoffa Squad" to take down Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. It was a vendetta that succeeded.
This vendetta will not. For, on the issue of national security, as Barack will painfully discover, he is not more trusted than Dick Cheney or the rough men at the CIA who did the harsh interrogations of terrorists, to keep us sleeping peacefully at night
Faced with a powerful German Wehrmacht that had rolled over Europe, Churchill showed iron resolve while other British leaders broke down. He simply told British subjects that there would be no surrender, that they would fight to the finish. Churchill's crisis leadership defeated the dreaded Nazis as much as anything else.
President Reagan's leadership was of a different sort. He promoted an optimistic pride in America and convinced millions that the USA was a noble nation. It was Reagan's tough resolve, however, that fatally damaged the Soviet Union's evil empire. While Churchill was blunt and blustery, Reagan was charming and smooth. Both men accomplished great things by sheer willpower.
Today, President Barack Obama is in the leadership slot. Relatively young and untested, the president is facing tough situations in Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, as well as back home with the economy and health care. So far, Obama's leadership has been shaky. To be fair, he's only been in office eight months, but the polls show that many Americans are rapidly losing confidence in his ability to deal with vexing problems.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Fouad Ajami said this: "The Obama devotees were the victims of their own belief in political magic. ... In a newly minted U.S. senator from Illinois, they saw the embodiment of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. . All this hero-worship before Mr. Obama met his first test of leadership."
Now the president has been tested, and it has not gone well. He tried but failed to explain his health care vision, giving his opponents an enormous opportunity to beat him down. Americans respond to clarity. Obamacare is so complicated Moses couldn't explain it.
When I interviewed Obama nearly a year ago, I could not ascertain his leadership potential. The talk was intense, and Obama showed a quick mind. But what about his resolve, his ability to stand firm on principle? It was impossible for me to tell while facing him.
But the Rev. Jeremiah Wright situation gave me pause. A true leader does not compromise on certain things. Wright is an America-hater. He believes the country is a deeply flawed, racist enterprise. Somehow, Obama embraced Wright as a pastor and as a friend. What kind of leadership does that show?
I believe President Obama is a man who is brilliant at accommodation. His gifts lie in mass communication and acceptance of situations that might help him even if those situations are dubious. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as accommodation can lead to great success. But leaders lead based on belief, not accommodation.
It is too early to tell whether Obama is in over his head as the world's most powerful man. But his leadership profile is beginning to sag. We are living in complicated, perilous times, and Americans know it. They want decisive, clear direction from their president.
Britain's release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi-- the Libyan terrorist whose bomb blew up a plane over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people-- is galling enough in itself. But it is even more profoundly troubling as a sign of a larger mood that has been growing in the Western democracies in our time.
In ways large and small, domestically and internationally, the West is surrendering on the installment plan to Islamic extremists.
The late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn put his finger on the problem when he said: "The timid civilized world has found nothing with which to oppose the onslaught of a sudden revival of barefaced barbarity, other than concessions and smiles."
He wrote this long before Barack Obama became President of the United States. But this administration epitomizes the "concessions and smiles" approach to countries that are our implacable enemies.
Western Europe has gone down that path before us but we now seem to be trying to catch up.
Still, the release of a mass-murdering terrorist, who went home to a hero's welcome in Libya, shows that President Obama is not the only one who wants to move away from the idea of a "war on terror"-- as if that will stop the terrorists' war on us.
The ostensible reason for releasing al-Megrahi was compassion for a man terminally ill. It is ironic that this was said in Scotland, for exactly 250 years ago another Scotsman-- Adam Smith-- said, "Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent."
That lesson seems to have been forgotten in America as well, where so many people seem to have been far more concerned about whether we have been nice enough to the mass-murdering terrorists in our custody than those critics have ever been about the innocent people beheaded or blown up by the terrorists themselves.
Tragically, those with this strange inversion of values include the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder. Although President Obama has said that he does not want to revisit the past, this is only the latest example of how his administration's actions are the direct opposite of his lofty words.
It is not just a question of looking backward. The decision to second-guess CIA agents who extracted information to save American lives is even worse when you look forward.
Years from now, long after Barack Obama is gone, CIA agents dealing with hardened terrorists will have to worry about whether what they do to get information out of them to save American lives will make these agents themselves liable to prosecution that can destroy their careers and ruin their lives.
This is not simply an injustice to those who have tried to keep this country safe, it is a danger recklessly imposed on future Americans whose safety cannot always be guaranteed by sweet and gentle measures against hardened murderers.
Those who are pushing for legal action against CIA agents may talk about "upholding the law" but they are doing no such thing. Neither the Constitution of the United States nor the Geneva Convention gives rights to terrorists who operate outside the law.
There was a time when everybody understood this. German soldiers who put on American military uniforms, in order to infiltrate American lines during the Battle of the Bulge were simply lined up against a wall and shot-- and nobody wrung their hands over it. Nor did the U.S. Army try to conceal what they had done. The executions were filmed and the film has been shown on the History Channel.
So many "rights" have been conjured up out of thin air that many people seem unaware that rights and obligations derive from explicit laws, not from politically correct pieties. If you don't meet the terms of the Geneva Convention, then the Geneva Convention doesn't protect you. If you are not an American citizen, then the rights guaranteed to American citizens do not apply to you.
That should be especially obvious if you are part of an international network bent on killing Americans. But bending over backward to be nice to our enemies is one of the many self-indulgences of those who engage in moral preening.
Liberal Lies About National Health Care: Third in a Series
Hey -- I have an idea: How about we make everyone in America a multimillionaire by pulling Bernie Madoff out of prison and asking him to invest all our money! Both Medicare and Bernie Madoff's investment portfolio are bankrupt because they operate on a similar financial model known as a "Ponzi scheme." These always seem to run fabulously well -- until the money runs out.
Not only is Medicare bankrupt, but it is extremely limited in whom and what it covers. If Medicare were a private insurer, it would be illegal in many states for failing to cover hearing aids, podiatry, acupuncture, chiropractic care, marriage counseling, aromatherapy and gender reassignment surgery.
National health care will eliminate everything outside of Medicare, which is the only thing that allows Medicare to exist.
Obviously, therefore, it's preposterous for Democrats to say national health care will merely extend Medicare to the entire population. This would be like claiming you're designing an apartment building in which every apartment will be a penthouse. Everyone likes the penthouses, so why not have a building in which every apartment is a penthouse?
It doesn't work: What makes the penthouse the penthouse is all the other floors below. An "all-penthouse" building is a blueprint that could make sense only to someone who has never run a business and has zero common sense, i.e., a Democrat.
(10) National health care won't cover illegal aliens -- as the president has twice claimed in recent radio appearances.
Technically, what Obama said is that the bill isn't "designed" to give health insurance to illegal aliens. (That bill, the "Health Insurance for Illegal Aliens Act of 2009," was still being drafted by Ted Kennedy at the time of his death, may he rest in peace.)
But unless the various government bureaucracies dispensing health care are specifically required by law to ask about citizenship status, illegals will be covered. We can't even get employers and police to inquire about citizenship status, but liberals assure us that doctors will?
And by the way -- as with the abortion exclusion -- the Democrats expressly rejected amendments that would have required proof of residency status to receive national health care.
Still not convinced? Day after day, The New York Times has been neurotically asserting that national health care won't cover illegal aliens (without ever explaining how precisely it will exclude illegal aliens).
So far, just this week, these Kim Jong Il-style pronouncements have appeared in the Treason Times:
-- "Illegal immigrants will be covered. (Myth)" -- Katharine Q. Seelye, "Myth vs. Fact vs. Other," The New York Times, Sept. 2, 2009
-- "(Sen. Jim DeMint) fueled speculation that a health care overhaul would cover illegal immigrants, although specific language says it would not." -- Katharine Q. Seelye, "Fighting Health Care Overhaul, and Proud of It," The New York Times, Aug. 31, 2009
-- "'Page 50: All non-U.S. citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free health care services.' ... The falsehoods include (that italic statement)." -- Michael Mason, "Vetting Claims in a Memo," The New York Times, Aug. 30, 2009
-- "But that would not help illegal immigrants. Contrary to some reports, they would not be eligible for any new health coverage under any of the health overhaul plans circulating in Congress." -- Duff Wilson, "Race, Ethnicity and Care," The New York Times, Aug. 30, 2009
The last time the Times engaged in such frantic perseveration about a subject was when the paper was repeatedly insisting that Durham prosecutor Mike Nifong had a solid case against the Duke lacrosse players.
By August 2006, every single person in the United States, including the stripper, knew the stripper's claim of "gang rape" was a lie. That was when Duff Wilson -- quoted above -- co-wrote the Times' infamous cover story on the Duke case, titled: "Files From Duke Rape Case Give Details but No Answers." No answers!
(11) Obama has dropped his demand for the ironically titled "public option" (i.e., government-run health care), which taxpayers will not have an "option" to pay for or not.
Liberals never, ever drop a heinous idea; they just change the name. "Abortion" becomes "choice," "communist" becomes "progressive," "communist dictatorship" becomes "people's democratic republic" and "Nikita Khrushchev" becomes "Barack Obama."
It doesn't matter if liberals start calling national health care a "chocolate chip puppy" or "ice cream sunset" -- if the government is subsidizing it, then the government calls the shots. And the moment the government gets its hands on the controls, it will be establishing death panels, forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions and illegal aliens, rationing care and then demanding yet more government control when partial government control creates a mess.
Which happens to be exactly what liberals are doing right now.
The conventional wisdom is that Obama made a tactical mistake by farming out his agenda to Congress and allowing himself to be pulled left by the doctrinaire liberals of the Democratic congressional leadership. But the idea of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi pulling Obama left is quite ridiculous. Where do you think he came from, this friend of Chavista ex-terrorist William Ayers, of PLO apologist Rashid Khalidi, of racialist inciter Jeremiah Wright?
But forget the character witnesses. Just look at Obama's behavior as president, beginning with his first address to Congress. Unbidden, unforced and unpushed by the congressional leadership, Obama gave his most deeply felt vision of America, delivering the boldest social democratic manifesto ever issued by a U.S. president. In American politics, you can't get more left than that speech and still be on the playing field.
In a center-right country, that was problem enough. Obama then compounded it by vastly misreading his mandate. He assumed it was personal. This, after winning by a mere seven points in a year of true economic catastrophe, of an extraordinarily unpopular Republican incumbent, and of a politically weak and unsteady opponent. Nonetheless, Obama imagined that, as Fouad Ajami so brilliantly observed, he had won the kind of banana-republic plebiscite that grants caudillo-like authority to remake everything in one's own image.
Accordingly, Obama unveiled his plans for a grand makeover of the American system, animating that vision by enacting measure after measure that greatly enlarged state power, government spending and national debt. Not surprisingly, these measures engendered powerful popular skepticism that burst into tea-party town-hall resistance.
Obama's reaction to that resistance made things worse. Obama fancies himself tribune of the people, spokesman for the grass roots, harbinger of a new kind of politics from below that would upset the established lobbyist special-interest order of Washington. Yet faced with protests from a real grass-roots movement, his party and his supporters called it a mob -- misinformed, misled, irrational, angry, unhinged, bordering on racist. All this while the administration was cutting backroom deals with every manner of special interest -- from drug companies to auto unions to doctors -- in which favors worth billions were quietly and opaquely exchanged.
"Get out of the way" and "don't do a lot of talking," the great bipartisan scolded opponents whom he blamed for creating the "mess" from which he is merely trying to save us. If only they could see. So with boundless confidence in his own persuasiveness, Obama undertook a summer campaign to enlighten the masses by addressing substantive objections to his reforms.
Things got worse still. With answers so slippery and implausible and, well, fishy, he began jeopardizing the most fundamental asset of any new president -- trust. You can't say that the system is totally broken and in need of radical reconstruction, but nothing will change for you; that Medicare is bankrupting the country, but $500 billion in cuts will have no effect on care; that you will expand coverage while reducing deficits -- and not inspire incredulity and mistrust. When ordinary citizens understand they are being played for fools, they bristle.
After a disastrous summer -- mistaking his mandate, believing his press, centralizing power, governing left, disdaining citizens for (of all things) organizing -- Obama is in trouble. Let's be clear: This is a fall, not a collapse. He's not been repudiated or even defeated. He will likely regroup and pass some version of health insurance reform that will restore some of his clout and popularity.
But what has occurred -- irreversibly -- is this: He's become ordinary. The spell is broken. The charismatic conjurer of 2008 has shed his magic. He's regressed to the mean, tellingly expressed in poll numbers hovering at 50 percent.
For a man who only recently bred a cult, ordinariness is a great burden, and for his acolytes, a crushing disappointment. Obama has become a politician like others. And like other flailing presidents, he will try to salvage a cherished reform -- and his own standing -- with yet another prime-time speech.
Trouble In Liberal Land
The cap-and-trade measure (dubbed "cap and tax" by the Wall Street Journal) appears in trouble. Closer scrutiny has revealed it as one more reach into our pockets by politicians who never have enough of our money.
As the first elections since President Obama's presidential victory approach, liberals are getting nervous that all this exposure is leaving them naked before an increasingly skeptical and angry public. The latest Rasmussen poll shows President Obama's approval rating has dropped to 46 percent, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, "demonstrates a substantial drop in presidential approval relative to other elected presidents in the 20th and 21st centuries."
The Washington Post is trying to provide life support for at least one Democrat who is in trouble. In a gift for the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, Creigh Deeds, the Post ran a front-page story above the fold last Sunday trumpeting its "discovery" of a 20-year-old thesis written by the Republican candidate, Bob McDonnell. In that thesis, McDonnell was critical of fornicators, those who have abortions and parents -- especially employed women -- who don't spend enough time with their children.
So that late-summer vacationers might get the point, the Post ran a follow-up story on Tuesday -- again front page -- about the "uproar" created (by the Post) over the thesis. It was accompanied by an editorial critical of McDonnell's views. But on June 11, a Post editorial said, "Democrats ... will try to depict former attorney general Robert F. McDonnell ... as a right-wing zealot and Pat Robertson protege. In fact, both candidates are serious public servants with long records that deserve more careful examination. ... Mr. McDonnell's tenure as attorney general, by most accounts, has been professional and not overtly ideological."
McDonnell now says that while remaining conservative on most issues, he has changed some of his views over the last two decades.
If the Post is so concerned about the fitness of McDonnell for governor because of what he wrote in a single thesis, why hasn't it been similarly aggressive in rooting out Barack Obama's records from Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard? And does anyone -- especially McDonnell's opponent -- want to run on a pro-fornication platform? Even President Obama has said he wants to reduce the number of abortions in America. And who thinks parents spend too much time with their children?
Here is the way I believe it works at liberal universities. Some professors require their students to repeat back to them on test papers and in theses what the professors believe. Unless students hate Republicans, revile George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, renounce God, support abortion and gay rights, they can sometimes expect a lower, even a failing grade. When my wife studied for her master's degree in counseling, she felt pressured to repeat her professors' beliefs instead of stating her own. A friend with a Ph.D. told her, "Write what they want and get the degree. Then you can counsel the way you like." This is academic freedom? It sounds like indoctrination. Why is it OK at liberal universities to tell professors what they want to hear, but not OK at conservative ones to do the same?
The Left is worried not only about the Virginia governor's race, but also the contest in New Jersey, where incumbent Governor Jon Corzine is 10 points behind Republican challenger Chris Christie, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn't up for re-election until next year, but he already trails his likely opponent, Danny Tarkanian, by 11 points.
For growing numbers of people, the elections in Virginia and New Jersey can't come quickly enough and November 2010 is a date being circled in red on many calendars.
Callista and I just returned from 16 days in Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, and North China.
In Japan, we witnessed a political earthquake. Frustrated Japanese voters tossed out the party that has ruled that country virtually uninterrupted for the past half century.
And in South Korea, we witnessed the simultaneous vulnerability and intractability of the totalitarian North, and visited the museum of a war that should never have been.
It was a fascinating time to be in northeast Asia.
"Speaking with the China Health Economics Institute"
Lessons for America in Japan’s Failure to Relaunch Its Economy
What’s more, Japan is a very modern country of great efficiency and tremendous scientific, technological and managerial capabilities.
However, the Japanese have lost confidence through the long period of economic stagnation which began in 1989 and continues to this day. There is a lot in the Japanese failure to relaunch their economy which should worry American policymakers.
After 54 Years of Virtually Uninterrupted Rule, the Governing Machine Gets Tossed Out
In this election, the public was clearly eager to send a resounding signal of rejection to the entrenched LDP machine. But the final results were a bigger defeat for the LDP than anticipated.
When all the votes were counted, the DPJ and its allies had a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Japanese parliament. This will give them the opportunity to pass major changes.
Like Sacramento, Albany and Trenton, the Permanent Bureaucracy in Japan Rules
The first challenge is the degree to which the DPJ is really an anti-LDP coalition. The head of the DPJ, for instance, is a grandson of the co-founder of the LDP. It’s not clear yet if the DPJ has a stable majority to implement its agenda.
The second challenge facing the new ruling party in Japan is one we also face here in the United States.
The great stabilizing force in Japanese government has been the permanent bureaucracy. Much like Sacramento, Albany, and Trenton, the key Japanese interest groups and the permanent Japanese bureaucracy combine to overwhelm the popular will as expressed through elected officials.
If the DPJ Can Reform the Bureaucracy, We Could Learn From Them
If they can, we may learn some lessons that can be applied to our local, state and federal government bureaucracies.
No one knows yet how this election will influence Japanese-American ties. The more likely a DPJ victory became, the more their leadership emphasized continuity and cooperation with the United States. Time will tell.
In Korea, the Death of a Fighter for Freedom and Democracy
In Seoul, we stayed in the Plaza Hotel across from the primary site for paying respects to former President Kim Dae-jung, who died on August 18.
The Nobel laureate’s death brought together most of the country in tribute to his courage, his life-long fight for freedom and democracy, and the sincerity of his efforts to reconcile with and open up North Korea.
The biggest news of our South Korean trip was the North Korean decision to send a significant delegation to express their condolences at the death of the former South Korean President.
A Consensus That North Korea Won’t Give Up Their Nuclear Weapons
There was a general consensus that the sanctions were hurting North Korea and the dictatorship was beginning to look for ways to appease other countries and get more economic aid.
There was also a general consensus that the North Koreans would not give up their nuclear weapons and missile technology.
This will turn out to be a much harder problem than people expect.
South Korea: A Success Story of the American Alliance
It is one of the great success stories of a hard working, free people operating within the framework of an American alliance to create one of the most prosperous and freest countries in the world.
There is a lot to be learned by studying the long difficult process of South Korean democracy.
Today the alliance is the collaboration of two genuinely free nations. Twenty-eight thousand American troops reinforce 700,000 South Koreans in a military alliance which has preserved the peace for over a half century.
It is vital that we ratify the United States-South Korean Free Trade Agreement as part of sustaining and deepening the alliance.
Every American Should Visit the Korean War Museum
I wish every American could visit this memorial to an unnecessary war.
The Korean War was totally avoidable. It was caused by American and South Korean military weakness and mixed signals about whether we would defend South Korea.
The result of weakness and miscommunication was a three-year war that killed 33,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Koreans.
The next time someone suggests weakening our intelligence and our defense systems, encourage them to visit the Korean War Museum.
Next week I’ll report on our visit to China.
Platform of the America First Party(Adopted by the delegates at the Founding Convention, Orlando, Florida, August 8 - 11, 2002; as amended by the 2006 Convention, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 3, 2006; as amended by the National Committee, July 17, 2006; as amended by the National Committee, October 16, 2006) Click here for a printer-friendly version of this document.Click here for a PDF version of this document. PART I: PRESERVE AND PROTECT OUR PEOPLE AND OUR SOVEREIGNTYForeign PolicyUnder our Constitution, foreign policy can only serve the lawful best interests of the United States Government and its citizens. The Constitution empowers and limits the federal government; therefore all treaties, alliances and agreements must be subordinate to the Constitution. The America First Party pledges its total allegiance to the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America. The America First Party believes that interpreting the Constitution must be based on the Framers' precise words and the meaning intended at that time. The America First Party totally rejects the concept that the Constitution is a "living document," in which the meaning can be interpreted and altered as society changes. This concept is not only seductive, but totally against the intentions of its Framers. If the citizens of this nation wish to revise or change a portion of the Constitution there is a provision provided by the Framers called the Constitutional Amendment. It is very interesting that the citizens of this nation have found it necessary to amend the Constitution only twenty-seven times since adoption of the Constitution in 1788. Any alliance, treaty or agreement that commits this nation to participate in foreign conflicts subverts our Constitution and the independence of this nation, and is therefore illegal. The Constitution of the United States delegates the authority and responsibility for the common defense and the general welfare of the United States to the Congress - not the President. Only Congress-not the President, the UN, NATO or any other organization-can commit United States armed forces into any armed conflict or war with a declaration of war. All security alliances must be reviewed by the U.S. Congress to determine if they still serve the best interests of this nation and its people. The Constitution does not empower the Federal Government to police the world or protect other nations. The Constitution does not allow our nation's armed forces ever to be under foreign command, which has become common practice under present UN and NATO deployment. The Constitution requires that the President of the United States shall be the Commander in Chief of our nation's armed forces. It does not provide any means for the President to delegate this authority to any domestic or foreign person or organization, as has happened with NATO and the UN forces of late. Both the UN and the NATO treaty claim authority to direct our nation's armed forces into a war [armed conflict] without the Constitutional requirement of Congress declaring war. Since NATO no longer serves a defensive purpose for the United States, it is therefore time that we withdraw from NATO and permit Europe the task of defending itself. The United States must withdraw from the United Nations immediately and require the UN headquarters to relocate out of the United States. Our participation as a member nation in this organization was never constitutional and now places our nation's sovereignty in extreme peril. The United States must promptly withdraw from all international monetary and financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, WTO, NAFTA, GATT, etc. These institutions violate the meaning and intent of our Constitution. Some of these organizations also claim the unconstitutional power to levy tax on the United States Government and the American citizens. The U.S. Federal Government does not have any Constitutional authority to tax the American people or use any U.S. funds for the specific purpose of providing aid of any kind to foreign governments. Therefore, the United States Congress will terminate immediately 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 America First Party is totally opposed and unequivocally rejects the World Court because it violates and claims authority to overrule the United States Constitution. The World Court is just another nice-sounding world organization on the surface, which proclaims to do good and honorable things, but has the sinister and evil power to end the sovereignty of all nations. The America First Party is totally against a New World Order or any one-world government, not simply because it is unconstitutional and would end this nation's sovereignty, but because it will end up enslaving all people except the elite. Special Role of the 2nd AmendmentThe America First Party shall strongly support the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. America is one of the few nations on earth with the right to keep and bear arms. That right is largely responsible for our independence and sovereignty. Our enemies envy us our success and would deny it so that we become reduced to their level. As a foundation block of the Constitution, it is imperative this freedom remain unhindered so our liberty and independence remain unfettered. The America First Party must actively work to impeach any politician who would deny the Second amendment since he is not upholding his oath "…to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," and would allow the tyranny of government to prevail. The Second Amendment is the ultimate persuader against a politician or party intent upon domestic mischief or skullduggery. Support for the 2nd AmendmentWe, The America First Party, wholeheartedly support 2nd Amendment rights as guaranteed by the United States Constitution and as given to us by Almighty God. We hold this to be an individual's right. No law is legitimate that restricts this right. In keeping with this belief, we, The America First Party, will call for repeal of all Federal Gun legislation and nullification of all state laws that are not in accordance with an individual's Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. ImmigrationThe power to regulate immigration is a plenary power of Congress under Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. The America First Party therefore advocates the following policies regarding immigration: Illegal ImmigrationRecognizing that the federal government has conspicuously failed to secure our nation's borders against illegal immigration and that its failure undermines the rule of law, violates our national sovereignty, and imposes intolerable social and fiscal burdens on the American people, the America First Party supports:
Encourage Illegal Immigrant DepartureThe America First Party holds that illegal immigration is a grave threat to our Constitutional Republic, our Environment, our National Security, and our Way of Life. Permitting these lawbreakers to remain in our country defiles the notion of adherence to the rule of law. We are providing amnesty to those who broke our laws by entering and remaining in our nation, if only through the continuation of the present policy of neglect. While our party advocates the mass deportation of these lawbreakers, we recognize that much of this result can be achieved by encouraging illegal aliens to voluntarily depart. To encourage such activity, we advocate rational policies to achieve this end. We hold that these steps are necessary, prudent, and do not violate the civil rights of any law abiding citizen or resident of our nation. Any person who is in this country illegally is, by definition, not law abiding. We therefore propose the following be enacted into law:
Legal ImmigrationWhile we cherish and honor America's proud immigrant history, we must recognize that our nation is no longer an unsettled frontier. Immigration has escalated to over one million each year to the highest level in American history. Because of immigration the Census Bureau projects that U.S. population will exceed 400 million by 2050. A population that big is certain to result in vast increases in traffic congestion, overcrowded schools, urban sprawl, pressure on energy and water resources, and dwindling wilderness and wildlife areas. It will degrade or destroy our American quality of life. Therefore, the America First Party supports:
Assimilation and Cultural IdentityThe America First Party supports passage of legislation designating English as the official language of the United States. The United States shall, in all instances, restrict itself to the English language. Citizenship shall not be granted to anyone that is not at least marginally proficient in speaking, reading and understanding the English language, the U.S. Constitution and our national history. SovereigntyThe United States of America is a Sovereign Republic, subject only to our Creator and not answering to any alien power or foreign potentate. It is therefore imperative that we zealously guard and unequivocally maintain the sovereignty of the United States under all circumstances. Any treaty or alliance that surrenders national sovereignty is, by law and our Constitution, utterly null and void. Any attempt to establish a global government is a direct threat to our Sovereign Republic and endangers our Constitution and will be vigorously opposed. We are completely committed to defending the permanent liberty and independence of the United States of America. Due to both overt and covert efforts to subvert our national sovereignty, the United Nations is considered a hostile enemy of this Constitutional Republic. Therefore, the UN is to be removed from within our national borders along with its entities such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Our membership with any such organization should be totally severed. UN ownership of land within our borders will be prohibited and funding or any other support of the UN or any of its agencies or entities by the United States government will be considered a criminal act. Constitutional Use of the MilitaryThe America First Party seeks to restore the sole right of Congress to declare war. The United States military will only be used to protect U.S. citizens, U.S. property and U.S. border integrity. Our troops will not participate under foreign leadership for any reason at any time. The United States military is only to be used when the United States and its people are under, or anticipated to be under, direct threat of invasion or aerial attack. If the United States or our property or borders are attacked or violated, the military shall be given license to seek out and destroy the enemy. We oppose the use of the military against the America people. We also oppose efforts to repeal the protections of Posse Comitatus under the auspices of Homeland Security. PART II: PROMOTE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND INDEPENDENCEFederal BudgetAmerica is being bankrupted by a bloated federal bureaucracy that now squanders more of our tax dollars than at any point in our nation's history. We are an over-regulated, over-taxed, and over-governed society. The America First Party advocates a return to Constitutional compliance in the size, scope, and authority of the Federal government in the budgetary process by returning to full compliance with the Tenth Amendment. The America First Party supports the following changes in budgetary policy:
TradeRegulation of trade using tariffs and treaties, to promote the general welfare of the United States, is a fundamental Constitutional mandate. Eliminating trade deficits and protecting domestic production are paramount. The America First Party advocates a Trade Policy that:
A vital national trade policy shall require:
The America First Party will support candidates for federal office that support the following positions:
The above positions demonstrate that the economic process currently labeled as "free trade" actually represents a "race to the bottom." By adhering to the above positions, the United States will guarantee its ability to be self-sufficient through bilateral trade and negotiation with other nations. Tax ReformThe America First Party shall endeavor to direct the taxation policy of the nation and our state to that of one reflecting the original intent of the framers of the Constitution. We shall execute a plan to impose and raise tariffs on all goods imported to this country for sale, determined by the country of origin. There shall be no excise taxes imposed on any goods produced within the United States containing at least 75% of its value from components produced within the United States by American-own producers. Tariffs and excise taxes shall be the source of at least fifty percent of the total taxes collected by the Federal Government of the United States. We believe that the remainder of federal receipts should be from usage fees and sales taxes, which shall be uniform among all citizens. We shall work toward the effectual elimination of all state, and local income taxes by immediately and unceasingly reducing the tax in an aggressive, structured, and responsible manner until the tax is nonexistent. We hold that the federal income tax is unconstitutional, as the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified. At no time shall any tax jurisdiction impose both a sales tax and an income tax. We shall oppose all taxes on property beyond any sales taxes paid upon acquisition of that property and hold that no taxes shall be levied on property transferred to any citizen upon the death of another citizen, or taxation of the seller's receipts of a property sale by a citizen. We shall endorse efforts to prohibit the federal governments raising or disbursing tax revenues to be in turn paid to state governments for expenditures strictly within the Constitutional auspices of the state governments, except during a short and limited term of transition to a return of Constitutional governance of our republic. Protecting our Oceans and Fishing RightsThe America First Party is aware of the need to protect our oceans, and of the detrimental effect of excessive regulations on the American fishing industry. The American fishing industry has been decimated by treaties and regulations which give away fishing rights to foreign nations, and which reduce fish quotas unnecessarily. Many Americans have been put out of work for these reasons, and we intend to stop this! Energy PolicyOur nation's national security and economic stability are dependent upon reliable access to affordable, dependable, and efficient energy resources. Any responsible national energy policy must therefore ensure the energy independence of the United States. These are the goals of the Energy Policy of the America First Party. Over the decades, our leaders have failed us. They have attempted to manipulate markets they cannot and do not understand. They have bowed to the political pressures of both industry lobbyists and environmental extremist groups. Moreover, in implementing these policies, they have overstepped their legitimate constitutional authority. The result of their policies is disastrous for our nation and its people. We are more dependent on hostile nations to meet our energy needs than at any other time in our history. Prices have been allowed to artificially fluctuate under the influence of foreign cartels, resulting in the destruction of much of the domestic energy production industry and the good jobs provided. The America First Party holds that our nation must adopt an Energy Policy that is Constitutional and focused on solving our near term energy resource problems, while promoting long term solutions that advance the above stated goals. We support a transition of our nation's energy consumption from the currently used petroleum, and other fossil fuels, to alterative and renewable sources of energy. However, we recognize that many of the most promising technologies are still in the development stages and many years from being cost-effective and reliable sources of energy. Thus, we recommend the following steps be taken to restore energy independence while these new sources of energy are developed into marketable technologies:
Implementation of these steps will allow our nation to become energy independent during the coming years as our nation's scientific community and industries develop the important technologies needed to power our coming oil-free future. PART III: ENCOURAGE THE TRADITIONAL VALUES OF FAITH, FAMILY, AND RESPONSIBILITYRole of the Government in Moral IssuesWe shall address social, moral, and civil rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and its amendments so as to promote freedom tempered by responsibility while seeking justice for all our citizens. We recognize such policies emanate from and must reflect and revitalize our national character and the individual heart. LifeWe affirm the principle espoused in the Declaration of Independence, that we are all endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, and among them is the right to life. The right to life is not superseded by any foreign or domestic law. Since the United States Supreme Court decision in the case of Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, there have been 40 million unborn babies slaughtered, laying to waste an entire generation. It is time that we end the American Holocaust. We are committed to protecting the lives of these innocent persons. The America First Party recognizes that life begins at conception and continues until natural death. We seek to remind medical practitioners that when treating a pregnant woman, a doctor in fact has two patients - the mother and the unborn baby. We support the overturning of Roe v. Wade and seek the passage and vigorous enforcement of legislation which protects the right to life, regardless of age or state of gestation. Health CareApart from the marriage covenant, the association of patient and physician in the medical treatment of the human body is the most intimate and private interaction imaginable. It follows that the liberty to direct and control one's own medical care ought to be paramount in an ordered and free society. The personal freedom to make health-care decisions must remain inviolate, while preserving the moral and legal prohibitions against the deliberate taking of any human life. Interposition of government, third party payers, and bureaucrats between patients and their health care providers must be abolished. The responsibility to provide financial means for health care rests with the patients, their guardians and family alone. While charity and compassion are the moral duty of all persons of good will, there can be no legal duty, either upon society or other members of the general public, to pay for or provide any form of health care. It is the imposition of mandated government insurance, oppressive regulation, the socialization of health care, and public funding of medical research, which are responsible for driving up the costs of medical care. With these basic principles in mind, the America First Party calls for the following action.
Cloning and Genetic ManipulationThe mapping of the human genome at the dawn of this new century is a tremendous achievement that will propel us towards real cures for many diseases that baffle our medical community today. It has allowed us to learn how to read a complex code laid before us by our creator. However, we must be mindful of our obligations to use this technology wisely and with great reverence and using the highest moral standards. The America First Party calls for the following minimum guidelines to be codified into law regarding the further research and development of this technology:
Parental PrimacyThe America First Party unequivocally supports the return of all God-given rights for every family to decide how to discipline their children, what their children are allowed to do, and with whom their children are allowed to associate. Parents will decide where and how their child will be educated, whether in public, private or religious education. Parents will have the right to withdraw their child from sexual education classes if they believe the program is not in the best interest of their child - such as the teaching of homosexual practices. These practices are completely against Godly and family values. Parents must be notified if their child asks for an abortion, or the taking of birth control pills. There should never be any type of sexual examination at school or on school time. An examination must be done with the parent's consent, and at their physician's office, or in extreme cases where abuse can and will be proved, by court order. No family should ever be threatened with the taking of their child if they do not conform to government rules and regulations. The government of the United States of America should never interfere with how a family decides to rear one's child. If it comes down to real child abuse, government involvement should revert to the county where the child lives, and then only with proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Every child should be allowed to have prayer at school, during recess, lunch, or after school on school property. They should be allowed to have religious classes on their own time. These schools are paid for by "We the People." EducationA free society demands an educated people. Parents have the right to make decisions concerning their children's education. Because Federal education programs are unconstitutional, this function must be returned to the states and/or to the people. Whereas our United States Constitution does not grant powers to the Federal Government other than those enumerated therein, we call for the dismantling of the Department of Education. The Federal Government shall not regulate nor intervene in our schools. It must not provide or endorse a particular worldview or philosophy, in keeping with the First Amendment, which prohibits the establishment of a religion. The responsibility to educate our youth belongs to the people, in particular to the parents or legitimate guardian of the child, and this right shall not be denied them. They shall have the right to choose the method of education that shall include but not be limited to: private schools, correspondence schools, home schooling or public schools run by local and independent school boards, whose members are elected in fair elections, free from special interest groups, union and political influence. We recommend that America First Party state organizations issue a supplemental education platform that addresses the particular needs of the people in their state. The indiscriminate diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), hyperactivity, and depression by school staff, and the undue pressure exerted on parents to medicate their children with mind-altering drugs such as Ritalin, Paxil, and Prozac (to name a few), is a scandal in our school system and an injustice to our children. The diagnosing, prescribing and dissemination of medication and medical procedures are not legitimate functions of our schools, and should be discontinued immediately. The responsibility for the health and welfare of children belongs to the parent or legal guardian in consultation with their family physician, and this right shall not be breached by school administrators, staff or federal and state agencies. We do not support bilingual education, which only prolongs the assimilation of immigrant children into our American culture. Children progress faster when immersed in the English language. For this reason, we do not support keeping immigrant children languishing in foreign speaking classes. We oppose federal funding for education. We believe funding for public education should be derived from local sources such as state and county taxes, municipal bonds, private grants and philanthropic scholarships. To this end, the America First Party will work to discontinue a national curriculum, mandates, federal grants and programs such as Goals 2000, Outcome Based Education, School to Work, sensitivity workshops, sex education and a host of other programs that proliferate in our schools and seek to corrupt our children and undermine parental authority and traditional family values. The right of parents to educate their children is paramount. Therefore, the America First Party will work to elect servants of the people who pledge to safeguard this right, for we know that the future of our nation and the continuance of our liberties are vested in our youth. Homosexuals in the MilitaryThe America First Party will not support any proposal that allows homosexuals into the military service of the United States of America, in any capacity. The United States military service is an honorable vocation for honorable men and women. MarriageThe America First Party strongly supports the traditional family as ordained by God and built upon the marital union of one man and one woman. The institution of marriage is a sacred value upon which the traditional family is based. Therefore, we believe there should be a constitutional amendment to protect marriage as being a union between one man and one woman only. Religious ExpressionNo society can survive in the absence of moral governance. In recognizing America's historic Christian roots, the America First Party firmly supports the necessary restoration of God to the public square. On AdoptionThree of the greatest tragedies that affect both our nation and individual families are the slaughter of unwanted children in the womb, the pain of those families who are unable to have children of their own, and the woeful way we treat unwanted children who are allowed to be born. Too many of our children are stuck in an overburdened foster care system designed to prevent the emotional attachments necessary for children to develop into healthy adults. Too many prospective parents are frustrated by adoption laws that seem to care too little about love and too much about money. The America First Party shall support laws that make it easier for a qualified mother and father to open their hearts and homes to children unwanted by their birth parents. With the interests of the child foremost in our thoughts, we shall seek to protect the parental rights of both biological parents. We shall seek to lower the barriers to a stable, traditional family life we know to be in the best interests of all children. PART IV: ENSURE EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW IN PROTECTING THOSE RIGHTS GRANTED BY THE CREATORHate or Thought CrimeThe America First Party is unalterably opposed to all so-called ' hate crime ' laws whether they are federal, state, county, or municipal. The elusive element of ' hate ' as a significant factor in the commission of a particular crime is something that can best be determined by God; not by Man. Security in One's Person and PropertyThe right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects will be emphasized. "No knock" raids and violation of a person's property will not be tolerated. Searches will not be conducted without a properly executed warrant. Private property may not be taken for public use until after just compensation has been paid. Stolen property may be recovered for return to rightful owner. Separation of PowersEnsure the federal government adheres strictly to the separation of powers enumerated in the Constitution. Rescind all Executive Orders and Presidential Directives and deny "Fast Track" authority since it is a clear violation of the separation of powers. End judicial activism as well as the delegation of power by Congress to either of the other branches or to any of its agencies or institutions. Government agencies and institutions having no basis in the Constitution should be promptly terminated or transferred to the respective states. Repeal all Emergency Powers thus ensuring power is returned to the Congress, the states and the people in accordance with the original intentions of the US Constitution. States' RightsRestore states' rights by ensuring the powers not specifically delegated to the Federal government by Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution are restored to the states respectively or to the people. Federal agencies not in compliance with amendment 10 are to be abolished with the attendant responsibilities being transferred to the states respectively. Oppose the Police StateA people cannot be considered free if they fear their own government. As control of the law enforcement apparatus has been slowly transferred to our federal government and the threat looms of transfer to unelected transnational overseers, fear of our own government will naturally rise. Additionally, as unconstitutional regulatory agencies are armed and military branches are granted competing enforcement powers, the incentives to arrest, harass, seize the property of, and even murder our fellow citizens rises and our Bill of Rights is shredded in the name of law and order. The America First Party takes a strong stand against the rise of state police powers and laws that allow for the people to be penalized in fines and property seizures without due process of law. We stand against the use of secret evidence in the attaining of search warrants or as cause for detaining citizens. We support the right of all our citizens to face our accusers and to know the evidence against them in a court of law. Finally, we hold dear that our citizens should be secure in the knowledge that no agency shall be allowed to monitor our citizens' communications, associations, or examine personal effects without due process of law and public disclosure of that process. Constitutionality of Federal LegislationRequire that all legislation brought to the floor of Congress cite the portion of the U.S. Constitution that grants its authority. Any legislation currently in effect that cannot meet that strict criterion must be rescinded. Money and the Federal ReserveAs insisted upon by the founding fathers, the U.S. is to operate on a coined money standard without interference or influence from private financial institutions, either foreign or domestic. Dissolve the Federal Reserve Bank, which has no legal basis since it is a privately owned corporation. Judicial ActivismCongress shall have the power to overturn federal judicial decisions that misinterpret the laws Congress has passed. Death PenaltyWhen punishing criminals for their crimes, the United States Constitution is clear that "No person shall be...deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." It further explicitly prohibits the imposition of "cruel and unusual punishments." Some argue that the Death Penalty is unconstitutional, based on the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause. This line of argument often relies on irrationally conflating "rare" and "unusual." Such argument also relies on a moral determination that the Death Penalty is "cruel." However, such determinations are best made by the people through their elected representatives, not unelected judges. It is the position of the America First Party that when the totality of the Constitution is considered, the Death Penalty is constitutional so long as there is appropriate due process in the determination and imposition of this penalty. Thus the issues become: - When should the imposition of such a penalty be allowed by law, and - What constitutes "due process" in such a case? The ultimate penalty a society can impose for a criminal act is the Death Penalty, depriving a person of his or her life. Once implemented, this penalty is irreversible. Thus, it is especially important that a society ensures that it is both justly and morally imposed and implemented. The limited protections actually offered to defendants in a criminal case exist to protect the innocent from wrongful imprisonment. Among these protections are the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the guarantee of trial by jury, and a standard of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. These protections are intended to ensure that only the guilty are convicted and punished--and that the innocent are set free. This principle is the goal of our judicial system. However, our judicial system is broken, with innocent persons too often being imprisoned, and guilty persons too often set free. In civil cases, results resemble legalese lotteries, not just determinations based on the facts and the law. Too often, it is clear that jurors do not understand the concepts of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and justice. Too often judges lack both common sense and good judgment, and their rulings appear guided by either corrupt motives or political agendas, not the impartial search for justice. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is legally defined as proof of such a convincing character that one would be willing to rely and act upon it without hesitation in the most important of one's own affairs. However, it does not mean an absolute certainty. In Article III, Section 3, a standard of proof is set forth for the crime of Treason, which has been a capital crime throughout history. In requiring a standard of "Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court," the Framers proposed a standard of absolute certainty for a crime they expected would carry the Death Penalty. Given the absolute finality of the Death Penalty, the America First Party supports the proposition that due process requires a higher standard of proof than "beyond a reasonable doubt" to impose the death penalty. We therefore propose the following as regards to the Death Penalty:
We call for swift action to restore the honor and integrity of our judicial system. We further call upon citizens of good will to engage in a sober and thoughtful discussion regarding the nature of justice when punishing those who commit the most heinous of crimes and the goal of such punishment. Rights of Private Property OwnersThe perception that Liberty, Science, and Technology are more of a threat to the environment than a blessing seems to be the current thinking on environmental policy. The Federal government has used environmental policy to initiate government management of the environment, limit the peoples right to the use of their private property, and to bind this nation to international treaties based on exaggerated claims of dubious scientific value. The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution limits the federal power of eminent domain. The activities of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have become extra-constitutional in this regard and must be ended. Congress cannot abrogate their responsibilities under the Fifth Amendment to such an extra-constitutional Federal Agency. The federal governments binding U.S. citizens under UN or international treaties that are in violation of the U.S. Constitution should be ended and treaties rescinded; they include Kyoto, The Biodiversity Treaty, Convention on Climate Control, and Agenda 21. Preserve Knowledge of the ConstitutionA primary responsibility of the federal government is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the U.S. All freshmen congressmen should attend classes stressing Constitutional principles and responsibilities for upholding those principles. Encourage the states to embark on rigorous programs of teaching the Constitution of the U.S. and of each respective state to its population. Privacy RightsThe Government of the United States of America will not abide by or make any laws that will deprive any citizen of his or her rights to privacy. No government body, domestic or foreign, shall have any authority to abuse these rights. These rights include, but are not limited to, living on our own land without interference, to worship at the manner of our choice, to rear our children with love and understanding, to work where and how we wish, to have guns to protect ourselves and our loved ones according to our second amendment rights, to freedom of speech and press and all the freedoms granted by the Creator and guaranteed to us under the Constitution of the United States. In addition, these God-given rights guarantee us protection from being forced or coerced to receive drugs or technological devices. However, the right to privacy cannot be used as a justification for any government or individual to perform criminal acts or violate the fundamental rights of any other person. Privacy ProtectionThe America First Party stands steadfastly against all forms of biometric identification and tracking of innocent Americans. These include fingerprinting, facial and retina scans, implant chips and DNA sampling. We oppose the forced or voluntary fingerprinting of American citizens to obtain drivers licenses. In addition, we oppose the use of Social Security numbers as a means of identification and all attempts to establish a national identification system. Affirmative ActionThe America First Party calls for the elimination of all laws that grant Special Privileges or Protection for any race or group. Affirmative Action creates inequality before the Law, and only serves to fracture our national unity. Limitation of Federal Law EnforcementWhile the ability of law enforcement is limited by a number of geographic and demographic factors, the ability of nation-wide law enforcement to carry out duties efficiently and fairly is not practical. It shall be the position of the America First Party that national law enforcement agencies be restricted to protective services, local and state resource agencies, and investigative agencies, to the limitation that arrest and search powers rest with local and state authorities. Restraint of the Executive by the LawSubmission to the Law by the Government is the cornerstone of the Rule of Law. Our Constitutional Republic binds its governing authorities with the chains of the Constitution, and no President or other executive officer may claim any exemption therefrom due to the exigencies of war or urgencies of policy considerations. Every effort by the President or other executive officers to escape or evade the restraint of law and the Constitution is repugnant to the solemn Oath each undertakes upon entry into office. At several times throughout its history, our country has suffered the rule of Presidents who saw their powers as unlimited and themselves as modern American Caesars. In order that the public might recognize these repeated abuses for what they are, we declare our opposition to all such illegal claims of power and artifices to escape the law:
Congress has the sworn duty to utilize the constitutional processes of Impeachment and Removal from Office for any President or executive official who advocates or embraces any such trick or artifice, or makes any such illegal claim of power. All such abuses are repugnant to the Constitution and the Rule of Law. PART V: CLEAN UP OUR CORRUPTED POLITICAL SYSTEMEliminate Special Interest Budget InfluenceCongress shall make no law that grants financial, political or social benefit to a specific foreign or domestic group or business interest. All current laws that fall in this category are hereby abolished. Restore Constitutional GovernanceThe freedom and happiness of our nation's citizens must be restored, by binding the government's power under the chains of the Constitution. Government EthicsThe America First Party believes that faith in our government institutions requires our government officials to act in an honorable manner and we shall require the highest ethical conduct by all of our government officials. The reforms we propose have become necessary because many government officials have seemingly misplaced their moral compasses and abdicated ethical responsibilities incumbent for a Constitutional Republic to survive. Since many government officials seem unable to distinguish right from wrong, we demand the following reforms be enacted into law:
Campaign Finance ReformThe source of corruption of our political system that causes so many of our people to turn away in disgust or to adopt an attitude of cynicism instead of optimism is not money but rather the source of that money. Money is merely the megaphone. The America First Party holds that government of, by, and for the people cannot endure when our political conversation is controlled and polluted by corporations interested in profits instead of the best interests of the American people. We believe that the protections of the 1st Amendment were primarily designed to political speech of individual citizens. We also believe that individual citizens have a constitutional right to speak on the issues of the day, to assemble collectively to do so, and to influence the elections in which they can vote and to know who is attempting to influence their vote. We shall promote and enact the following reforms of our campaign finance system:
Election ReformThe U.S. Constitution guarantees each State a republican form of government. Therefore, the America First Party seeks a verifiable election process, with citizen checks and balances, which are beyond the control of our federal judicial system and the media. We favor retaining the Electoral College, which serves a vital role in ensuring all regions of the country are represented, rather than only a few urban population centers. The Electoral College should be strengthened, by having states change from a winner-take all system to a system where two electors are elected at large, and each congressional district elects the remaining electors. We favor easily read and marked paper ballots. These ballots shall be hand-counted at the precinct immediately upon the polls closing, and before being transferred to the county elections office. The Federal government shall not require any other language besides English for voting materials. We oppose any voting system that gives a voter a receipt, which can be abused by facilitating the sale of votes. We oppose any voting system that does not generate a permanent, easily human-readable artifact that can be used to verify a proper vote count. We favor paper ballots where each race or ballot issue shall have an option to abstain from voting for that race or ballot issue. This reduces the potential of partially blank ballots being tampered with. We call for an end to early-return ballot casting. Instead, anyone wishing to vote early should instead request an absentee ballot and vote according to that method or drop his or her ballot in person into the Absentee Ballot receptacle. Absentee ballots will contain paper ballot to be processed with other paper ballots. Except for military voters, all ballots in a Federal election must be received by election officials by the close of the final Election Day. Military votes shall be given to an appropriate designated officer by close of Election Day, sealed and certified by the officer and sent via expedited channels, to arrive no later than 5 days after the final Election Day. Requests for absentee military ballots shall be sent via designated expedited channels. Election results may not be announced until either all eligible military ballots have been counted or it is determined that the margin of victory exceeds the number of outstanding military ballots. We favor the repeal of Motor Voter laws and all laws, which enable non-US citizens to register to vote and fraudulent voter rolls to be created. We favor laws that make casting of a ballot by an illegal alien a felony resulting in immediate deportation with no possibility of return. We favor a uniform poll closing time shall be established of Midnight EST (6 pm in Hawaii) for all 50 states. Each state may otherwise choose their own poll opening time. We favor prohibiting all exit polls announcements until all voting has been completed in Hawaii. In the case of contested elections, exit poll results will not be announced until that election is decided by the proper authorities. We call for a congressional investigation into Voter News Service (VNS) out of New York City. This investigation should focus on the role of VNS in calling past elections. We urge voters to carefully consider how public opinion polls can influence public opinion, and the ways in which opinion polls can be manipulated by the choice of respondents, and by the phrasing of questions to get a desired response. While it is the first amendment right of pollsters to publish their conclusions, voters would do well to disregard opinion and exit polls and vote their conscience. Any candidate who has a ballot line and a theoretical chance of winning shall be admitted to any and all televised or published debates; otherwise the cost of the media coverage shall be treated as an in-kind contribution to each of the participating candidates. Any media outlet receiving Federal funding (e.g. PBS, NPR) shall be required to give equal time to all such candidates. Whereas various states are trying out several different forms of open primaries, the America First Party supports evaluation of the benefits of each of these systems before making any national recommendation. All election return results shall be posted at each local polling place after counting takes place. Consolidated final vote tallies for multiple polling places shall be announced only by a designated election official having jurisdiction over all relevant polling places. Under no circumstances shall inter-mediate tallies be announced prior to announcing the overall totals. Disclosure of intermediate tallies by election workers or by media prior to official announcement of the final vote result shall be a felony. We favor an election process whereby our election officials who preside over our elections are above reproach in the vote counting process. Election officials should not be subject to an environment where the voting public is forced to rely on blind faith and trust as to the honor of any and all presiding elections officials. Therefore, we favor administrative changes to be enacted by county elections officials. Among these:
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Keep and Bear Arms - this coalition stands to fight for gun rights and the 2nd Amendment, especially opposing the extension of the "semi-automatic" weapon bans. The America First Party is the first political party to become a member of this coalition. |
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Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership - "Before a government can become a full-blown tyranny, the government must first disarm its citizens. The Founders of this nation, from their own experience, knew that when government goes bad, liberty evaporates and people die ... unless the people are armed." |
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Get US Out of the UN - this group opposes the United Nations, and educates the public on why the United States must withdraw from that internationalist locus of the New World Order. |
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We The People - this organization sponsored the "Freedom Drive 2002", a march on our Nation's capitol by patriots from all across America demanding answers to grievances from our elected officials. The America First Party was represented at the rally. The government officials refused to answer the Petitions for Redress of Grievances which were presented by the assembled citizens. |
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Ludwig von Mises Institute - This site promotes the economic writings of Ludwig von Mises, the premier scholar of the "Austrian School" of economics, which advocates free enterprise and opposes all forms of welfare and socialism. Mises promoted a libertarian economic perspective, and spent his entire life creating a devastating critique of planned economies and socialism. |
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AmericanEconomicAlert.Org - Fighting For American Companies and American Jobs, AmericanEconomicAlert.org was founded by the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the American people's awareness of critical public policy issues in such diverse fields as trade, taxation, education, health care, foreign relations, defense, and national security. |
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Americans for Fair Taxation - Also known as FairTax.org, this organization is the primary promoter of the Fair Tax, a plan to abolish the income tax and the IRS and replace it with a national sales tax on the retail sale of goods and services. FairTax.org provides detailed information on the legislation which would implement this sales tax, as well as the comparative hidden costs of the income tax as a burden on production and prosperity in our society. |
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MinuteMan Project - This is the website for the Minuteman Project, a movement of citizens organized to guard the border of America and assist the Border Patrol officials in detecting and rebuffing illegal aliens coming into the country. |
NEW YORK Congresswoman: Holding Town Halls Beneath 'Dignity of My Office'
Rep. Louise Slaughter: "I'm not doing town meetings; I'm not going to give those people a forum. I went through it with the Clinton health care bill, with the John Birch Society, where we had to have police around, and people hysterically crying…" Click here to watch the video.
www.campaignforliberty.com/usa/NY/
Senators who have failed to co-sponsor S 604, the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act: Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand
Representatives who have failed to co-sponsor HR 1207 the Federal Reserve Transparency Act: Israel (2), McCarthy (4), Ackerman (5), Meeks (6), Crowley (7), Nadler (8), Weiner (9), Towns (10), Clarke (11), Velazquez (12), McMahon (13), Maloney (14), Rangel (15), Serrano (16), Engel (17), Lowey (18), Hall (19), Arcuri (24), Higgins (27)
Take action now: Click Here!
www.edwardsforexecutive.com/ (Chautauqua Co Executive)
www.collinsforourfuture.com/ (Erie Co Executive)
www.nysenate.gov/senator/catharine-young
assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=149 Joe Giglio
assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=146 Jack Quinn
assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=142 Jane Corwin
assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=139 Stephen Hawley
www.senatormaziarz.com/62/default.aspx
peteking.com/HOME/tabid/37/Default.aspx (Long Island. Re-elect for US Congress)
lazio.com/ (for Governor)
dandonovan.org/ (for state District Attorney)
www.citizens4reed.com/ (for US Congress - take out Massa !)
doughoffmanforcongress.com/ (say no to Dede Scozzafava - Liberal Republican)
www.frankscaturro.com/ (time for Carolyn Mccarthy to go)
As a New Yorker, I believe real estate taxes are far too high. I call upon you, my elected representative, to correct this inequity, giving Upstate New Yorkers the opportunity to thrive and prosper.
11847 people have signed the petition so far
Political parties in NY we support (in no particular order)
America First Party of New York State
Conservative Party of New York State
New York State Constitution Party
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Albany Times Union
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Buffalo Artvoice (Alternative)
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Empire Page Politics
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Hamilton County News
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Ithaca Times
LGNY (NYC - Gay & Lesbian)
Little Falls Evening Times
Livingston County Lake and Valley Clarion
LIPolitics.com (Long Island)
Medina Journal-Register
Middletown Cable TV-6
Middletown Times-Herald Record
New York City Gotham Gazette
New York Daily News
New York Law Journal
New York Magazine
New York Newsday - (Politics Section)
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New York Village Voice
New York Wired
News-12 New York (Cablevision - Long Island/Bronx/Westchester)
NY1: News
Oswego Palladium-Times
PolitickerNY.com
PoliticsWNY.com
Rome Sentinel
Schenectady Daily Gazette
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Staten Island Advance
Sullivan County Democrat
Syracuse Post-Standard - (Election News)
Syracuse New Times
Troy Record
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Westchester Today
WRBW TV-16 (WB - Rochester)
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