Thoughts on the Constitution Party Platform

When your preferred candidate begins to lose ground in an election season, third party candidates begin to look more attractive. So what does the Constitution Party have to offer? If you have a conservative perspective on politics, the Constitution Party is in many ways a very handsome suitor. There are some warts though.

The Preamble to the Constitution Party platform begins as follows...

“The Constitution Party gratefully acknowledges the blessing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as Creator, Preserver and Ruler of the Universe and of these United States. We hereby appeal to Him for mercy, aid, comfort, guidance and the protection of His Providence as we work to restore and preserve these United States.”

It is interesting and ironic that a party ostensibly organized for the purpose of restoring Constitutional government to these United States, would, by naming Jesus Christ as the Creator, Preserver and Ruler of the nation, begin its platform with such an audacious rejection of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Those documents carefully avoid any mention of our Savior, precisely because the authors sought to avoid any official sanction for the notion that ours is a Christian nation. This party finds the Founding Fathers in error on that point. Rather than tell you that this is so, and that theirs is a departure from the Declaration and Constitution, the party platform deceitfully presents this novel idea under the party’s overarching theme of restoring government to the original intent of the Founding Fathers and their founding documents. It needs to be pointed out that this is false and deceitful.

The Preamble to the party platform continues...

“This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

I’m sorry, but, again, this is a factual error. In the first place, NO nation is founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “My way of reigning is not the world’s way.” (John 18:36) Anything that purports to serve as the foundation for nation building is, by definition, something other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Secondly, the Founding Fathers are more accurately characterized as theistic rationalists than as Christians. They admired the Christian religion in many respects, but for the most part they were not believers themselves, nor did they make any effort to establish this nation on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Naturally, the reader is inclined to question the motives of a group that will base its agenda on a false history; but more than that we ought to question their judgment. We ought to question their ability to see the world clearly as it actually is, because they have demonstrated an inability to see the world as it actually was.

“For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been and are afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”

Historically speaking, that really doesn’t make a lot of sense. Prior to the establishment of this Republic, Christian societies in every part of the globe were organized in such a way as to deny certain civil rights to those who did not accept and cherish the particular brand of Christianity officially sanctioned by the state. There is no reason to believe that nations founded by Christians “on the Gospel of Jesus Christ” naturally tend to promote religious freedom. Again, when we have such clear evidence that party does not recognize the reality of the past, we ought to wonder whether its members and candidates have the ability to recognize reality in the present.

“The goal of the Constitution Party is to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations and to limit the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries.”

...and then further down...

“The U.S. Constitution established a Republic rooted in Biblical law, administered by representatives who are Constitutionally elected by the citizens. In such a Republic all Life, Liberty and Property are protected because law rules.”

The Constitution Party is saying that the American system of law was founded on the Bible and its laws. I do not believe this is true. Again, the Founding Fathers had great respect for the Christian religion and for the Bible, but this does not mean they consulted the Bible directly or exclusively in establishing the American system of jurisprudence or in writing the U.S. Constitution. The claim that American jurisprudence and the U.S. Constitution is rooted in the Bible or in Biblical law recognizes certain points of congruity between the American system and Biblical thought, and then refuses to make any distinction between direct and indirect relationships. I think that is the more charitable way of putting it. The alternative is to say that the claim deliberately finds a direct relationship, without much regard for good evidence, because the finding has such significant practical value in advancing a “distinctively Christian” legal and political agenda.

The platform says...

“The Constitution of these United States provides that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." The Constitution Party supports the original intent of this language. Therefore, the Constitution Party calls on all those who love liberty and value their inherent rights to join with us in the pursuit of these goals and in the restoration of these founding principles.”

Well, that is, at least, magnanimous.

“We affirm the principles of inherent individual rights upon which these United States of America were founded:

That each individual is endowed by his Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are the rights to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness;

That the freedom to own, use, exchange, control, protect, and freely dispose of property is a natural, necessary and inseparable extension of the individual's unalienable rights;

That the legitimate function of government is to secure these rights through the preservation of domestic tranquility, the maintenance of a strong national defense, and the promotion of equal justice for all;

That history makes clear that left unchecked, it is the nature of government to usurp the liberty of its citizens and eventually become a major violator of the people's rights; and

That, therefore, it is essential to bind government with the chains of the Constitution and carefully divide and jealously limit government powers to those assigned by the consent of the governed.”

Now, I like that last part... very much!