Constitution Party

Tag: state powers

  • ENERGY

    ENERGY

    James Madison, Federalist Papers #45 

    “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.” 

    U.S. Constitution, 10th Amendment 

    “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” 

    We call attention to the continuing need of the United States for a sufficient supply of energy for national security and for the immediate adoption of a policy of free market solutions to achieve energy independence for the United States. 

    Private property rights should be respected

    The federal government should not interfere with the development of potential energy sources, including natural gas, oil, coal, hydroelectric power, solar energy, wind generators, and nuclear energy. 

    We call for abolishing the Department of Energy, transferring its nuclear responsibilities to other appropriate agencies.

  • ELECTORAL COLLEGE

    ELECTORAL COLLEGE

    Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution states, in part: 

    “Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.” 

    This established the Electoral College. 

    The Constitution Party seeks a restoration of this electoral process for the choosing of the President and the Vice President of the United States. 

    The Constitution does not provide for the election of the President and Vice President of the United States by popular vote, but rather by the selection of “Electors” according to rules adopted by each state’s legislators. 

    These electors would receive the list of certified candidates. They would then cast their vote for whomever they ascertained as best qualified to fill these two highest offices of trust with the federal government. 

    The Constitution does not require the states to adhere to any specific manner in electing these electors or how they cast their votes.

    Its wording does suggest that prominent individuals from each congressional district, and the state at large, would be elected or appointed as electors who represent that district. 

    • A voter would vote for three individuals, one to represent his district and two “at large” representatives to represent his state. 
    • These electors, in turn, would then carefully and deliberately select the candidate for president. 
    • Under this system, each congressional district could, in essence, select a different candidate. 
    • The candidate with the most electors nationwide would become the next president. 
    • This was the method used until the 1830s, at which time all the states, except for South Carolina, changed to a “general ticket.”

    THE “GENERAL TICKET” SYSTEM

    The “general ticket” system is still in use today. Inherently, it causes corruption because of the inequitable transfer of power from congressional districts to the states and large cities at the expense of rural communities. 

    The Constitution Party encourages states to eliminate the “general ticket” system and return to the procedure intended by the Framers. 

    THE NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE

    The National Popular Vote system is a dangerous threat to our Constitutional Republic, allowing as few as eighteen to twenty-one states to circumvent the constitutional requirement of thirty-eight states to amend the Constitution. 

    The National Popular Vote process would effectively eliminate the last vestiges of the Electoral College, as originally set forth in the United States Constitution. 

    The National Popular Vote creates a fake majority by forcing electors to vote against the votes cast by their constituents. 

    The national Constitution Party opposes the National Popular Vote and will work to defeat it in individual state legislatures.

    Eliminating the Electoral College would instantly make the votes of Americans in approximately twenty-five states irrelevant. 

    Candidates would only be interested in campaigning in large population states, making small states meaningless zeros. 

    There is no threshold of what constitutes a “majority” under National Popular Vote. Therefore, a presidential candidate could be elected with as little as 15% of the popular vote. 

    Under the National Popular Vote scheme, chaos would ensue in any close election. 

    Under the Electoral College, no single faction or region of the country can elect a president, ensuring broad representation across the United States. 

  • EDUCATION

    EDUCATION

    Since the Constitution grants the federal government NO authority over Education, the Tenth Amendment applies.  It states:

    “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

    All teaching is related to basic assumptions about God and man. Education as a whole, therefore, cannot be separated from religious faith. The law of our Creator assigns the authority and responsibility of educating children to their parents.

    Federal control of Education has long been championed by communists and humanists as a means of overtaking and corrupting our American way of life.

    Karl Marx (10th Point of the Communist Manifesto): “Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. etc.”


    The Humanist Manifesto II:  “We believe in the right to universal education.”

    William Foster, former head of the US Communist Party (On Using Education to Destroy America): “…the schools, colleges and universities will be coordinated and grouped under the National Department of Education and its state and local branches.  The studies will be revolutionized, being cleansed of religious, patriotic and other features of the bourgeois ideology.  The students will be taught on the basis of Marxian dialectical materialism, internationalism and the general ethics of the new Socialist society.  Present obsolete methods of teaching will be superseded by a scientific pedagogy.”

    BASIC PRINCIPLES:

    • Education should be free from all federal government subsidies, including vouchers, tax incentives, and loans, except with respect to veterans.
    • We support the unimpeded right of parents to provide for the education of their children in the manner they deem best, including home, private or religious.
    • All legislation from any level of government that would interfere with or restrict that liberty should be opposed.
    • Equitable tax relief for families whose children do not attend government schools should be provided for.  This could be in the form of tuition write-offs.
    • Compulsory attendance laws should be repealed. Parents need not defy the law by refusing to send their children to schools of which they disapprove.
    • We affirm the free market principles which drive improvement of education through non-traditional options such as internet-based schools, charter schools, Christian and private schools, as well as home schooling options.

    WE CALL FOR THE ELIMINATION OF THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION:

    • There is NO Constitutional provision that empowers the federal government to provide for and regulate the education of our children.
    • All current federal legislation related to education should be repealed. 
    • No new federal laws subsidizing or regulating education should be enacted.

    WE OPPOSE ANY FEDERAL CONTROL OVER THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN:

    • Because control over education is now being relegated to departments other than the Department of Education, we clarify that NO federal agency, department, board, or other entity may exercise jurisdiction over any aspect of children’s upbringing. Education, training, and discipline of children are properly placed in the domain of their parents.
    • Under NO circumstances should the federal government be involved in national teacher certification, educational curricula, textbook selection, learning standards, comprehensive sex education, psychological and psychiatric research testing programs, and personnel.

    WE CALL UPON THE LEGISLATURES OF THE STATES TO EXERCISE THEIR POWERS UNDER THE TENTH AMENDMENT:

    • Nullify the “No Child Left Behind” Act, and all other similar legislative actions.
    • Remove all regulations imposed by the Department of Education.
    • Reject federal monies for grades K-12.
  • DRUG ABUSE

    DRUG ABUSE

    The 10th Amendment states: 

    “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” 

    The 4th Amendment states: 

    “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” 

    The Constitution Party will uphold the right of states and localities to restrict access to drugs and to enforce such restrictions. 

    We support legislation to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States from foreign sources. As a matter of self-defense, retaliatory policies, including embargoes, sanctions, and tariffs, should be considered. 

    THE CONSTITUTION PARTY COMMITMENT

    We will take care to prevent violations of the constitutional and civil rights of American citizens. Searches without probable cause and seizures without due process must be prohibited. The presumption of innocence must be preserved.

  • DOMESTIC FEDERAL AID

    DOMESTIC FEDERAL AID

    The 10th Amendment states:  

    “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” 

    The Constitution assigns all powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or the people. Domestic federal “aid” not authorized by the Constitution is not only illegal, it is immoral. 

    We call upon the states, therefore, to decline to accept all monies from the federal government for any purpose not specifically and clearly articulated in the Constitution, and reject all federal mandates and regulations which are unconstitutional, thus restoring the intended balance of power between the states and their creation, the U.S. Government.