Constitution Party (United States)
The party was founded by Howard Phillips, a conservative activist, after President George H. W. Bush violated his pledge of "read my lips: no new taxes".Michael Peroutka was given the presidential nomination in 2004, followed by Chuck Baldwin in 2008 (although he faced opposition from multiple state affiliates), Virgil Goode in 2012, Darrell Castle in 2016, Don Blankenship in 2020 and Randall Terry in 2024.As of June 2024[update], the Constitution Party has 28 members who have been elected to city council seats and other municipal offices across the United States.[20] The party launched its first petition drive when Jack Perry started a campaign to appear on the 1991 United States special election ballot in Pennsylvania.[33] Phillips accepted the U.S. Taxpayers' Party's presidential nomination at its national convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, which was held from September 4 to 5.[36] Following the 1992 presidential election, the U.S. Taxpayers' Party's had ballot qualified state affiliates in California, New Mexico, and South Carolina.[37] In 1996, Phillips sent a memo to conservative Christian leaders including James Dobson, the head of Focus on the Family, stating that anti-abortion candidates like Pat Buchanan, Alan Keyes, or Bob Dornan were unlikely to become the Republican presidential nominee and that they should instead support an anti-abortion third-party candidate.[40] Phillips was given the party's presidential nomination again at its national convention in San Diego, California, on August 17, 1996, and Herbert Titus was selected to serve as the vice-presidential nominee.[63][64] The Secretary of State of California ruled that the presidential ticket of Keyes and Wiley Drake had the nomination of the American Independent Party.[62] On September 5, the Constitution Party of Montana submitted a list of presidential electors pledged to Ron Paul for president and Michael Peroutka for vice-president.[72][73] On February 21, 2012, Virgil Goode, a former member of the United States House of Representatives who had served as a Democrat, independent, and Republican, announced that he would seek the Constitution Party's presidential nomination.[74] Goode won the nomination at the party's national convention which was held from April 18 to 21, 2012, in Nashville, Tennessee, and Jim Clymer was selected to serve as his vice-presidential running mate.[83] On May 2, 2020, Blankenship won the party's nomination at its virtual convention and William Mohr was selected to serve as the vice-presidential nominee.[91][92] There have been instances of the Democratic Party helping Constitution Party candidates for this reason, such as by running ads for their nominee in the 2020 United States Senate election in South Carolina,[93] or assisting Randall Terry, their nominee in the 2024 presidential election, with ballot access and campaign promotion efforts.[94] Multiple Republicans, including Bob Smith, Virgil Goode, Tom Tancredo, Ellen Craswell, Rick Jore, and Cynthia Davis, have joined the Constitution Party.[97][98] Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project, ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from California's 48th congressional district in a 2005 special election.[105][106] John Hostettler, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1994 to 2006 as a Republican, also considered running for the party's presidential nomination in 2016.[115] The party rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, saying that "globalists are using the global warming threat to gain more control via worldwide sustainable development".The party also opposes pornography, believing that it is "a destructive element of society resulting in significant and real emotional, physical, spiritual and financial costs to individuals, families and communities," and distinguishable from the US citizen's "cherished First Amendment right to free speech."Christian reconstructionism has been influential in the Constitution Party and calls for the remaking of government and society according to Old Testament Biblical law.The party also believes in exercising a tariff system to counteract the United States' increasingly negative balance of trade.
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