Constitution Party of Missouri

Constitution Party of Missouri
Basic facts
Location:	Piedmont, Mo.
Type:	Political party
Affiliation:	Constitutionist
Top official:	Paul Venable, Chairman
Year founded:	1992
Website:	Official website

The Constitution Party of Missouri is the Missouri political party affiliate of the national Constitution Party. The group is headquartered in Piedmont, Mo.

Background

The Constitution Party of Missouri is "committed to restoring the government to its constitutional limited authority." The party was founded in 1992 and is one of four established political parties in the state.

Initially, the Constitution Party of Missouri organized petitions to place candidates on state and local ballots. In 2004, the party satisfied the minimum vote threshold to gain ballot access and recognition as an established political party. The party has supported several candidates in local, state and federal elections including Gregory Thompson for Governor of Missouri in 2008, Bennie Hatfield for Missouri State Senate in 2010 and Doug Enyart for U.S. House of Representatives in 2014.

On January 30, 2015, the Constitution Party of Missouri filed a federal civil rights lawsuit to gain ballot access for county council races in St. Louis County. A local ordinance currently prevents minor-party candidates from participating in St. Louis County special elections. The trial was scheduled for June 30, 2016.

Platform

The Constitution Party of Missouri follows the platform of the national Constitution Party, which is made up of seven main principles and 39 issues.

Seven principles

• Sanctity of life
  "Life for all human beings: from conception to natural death."
• Liberty
  "Freedom of conscience and actions for the self-governed individual."
• Family
  "One husband and one wife with their children, as divinely instituted."
• Property
  "Each individual’s right to own and steward personal property without government burden."
• Constitution
  "The Founding Documents interpreted according to the Actual Intent of the Founding Fathers."
• State's rights
  "Everything not specifically delegated by the Constitution to the federal government, nor prohibited by the Constitution to the states, is reserved to the states or to the people."
• American sovereignty
  "American government committed to the protection of the borders, trade, and common defense of Americans, with no entanglement in foreign alliances."

Click to view the full party platform
Constitution Party Platform
Sanctity of life "We affirm the God-given legal personhood of all human beings from fertilization to natural death, without exception." Bring government back home "We pledge to be faithful to this constitutional requirement and to work methodically to restore to the States and to the people their rightful control over legislative, judicial, executive, and regulatory functions which are not constitutionally delegated to the federal government." Character and moral conduct "Our party leaders and public officials must display exemplary qualities of honesty, integrity, reliability, moral uprightness, fidelity, prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, self-restraint, courage, kindness, and compassion. If they cannot be trusted in private life, neither can they be trusted in public life." Congressional reform "Congress must once again be accountable to the people and obedient to the Constitution, repealing all laws that delegate legislative powers to regulatory agencies, bureaucracies, private organizations, the Federal Reserve Board, international agencies, the president, and the judiciary." Conscription "We oppose imposition of the draft, the registration law, compulsory military training or any other form of compulsory government service." Constitutional convention "We oppose any attempt to call for a Constitutional convention, for any purpose whatsoever, because it cannot be limited to any single issue, and such convention could seriously erode our Constitutionally protected unalienable rights." Copyrights and patents "We oppose the unconstitutional transfer of authority over copyright and patent policy from Congress to other agencies, domestic or foreign." Cost of big government "Only those duties, functions, and programs specifically assigned to the federal government by the Constitution should be funded." Crime "We favor the right of states and localities to execute criminals convicted of capital crimes and to require restitution for the victims of criminals. Federal involvement in state and local criminal justice processes should be limited to that which is constitutionally permitted." Defense "We call for the maintenance of a strong, state-of-the-art military on land, sea, in the air, and in space. We urge the executive and legislative branches to continue to provide for the modernization of our armed forces." Domestic federal aid "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." Drug abuse "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." Education "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." Election reform "The Constitution Party seeks the restoration of an electoral process which is controlled at the state and local level and is beyond manipulation by federal judges and bureaucrats." Electoral college "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." Energy "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. We call for abolishing the Department of Energy." Environment "We wholeheartedly support realistic efforts to preserve the environment and reduce pollution - air, water, and land. We reject, however, the argument of the perceived threat of man-made global warming which has been refuted by a large number of scientists." Executive orders "We oppose the use of Presidential executive orders that make law or otherwise usurp the Constitutional authority and responsibilities of the legislative and judicial branches." Family "No government may legitimately authorize or define marriage or family relations contrary to what God has instituted. We are opposed to any judicial ruling or amending the U.S. Constitution or any state constitution re-defining marriage with any definition other than the Biblical standard." Foreign policy "The Constitution Party has consistently opposed American involvement in conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Central and South America. The United States has no interest in these areas which would justify the sacrifice of Americans on foreign battlefields - nor is our country properly cast as a merchant of death in international arms races." Gambling "We are opposed to government sponsorship, involvement in or promotion of gambling such as lotteries, casinos or subsidization of Native American casinos." Government/private partnership "The Constitution Party is opposed to public-private partnerships and is for a return to the true 'free enterprise' system that once made our nation great and economically prosperous." Gun control "The Constitution Party upholds the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms. We oppose attempts to prohibit ownership of guns by law-abiding citizens and stand against all laws which would require the registration of guns or ammunition." Healthcare and government "The Constitution Party opposes the governmentalization and bureaucratization of American medicine. Government regulation and subsidy constitutes a threat to both the quality and availability of patient-oriented health care and treatment." Immigration "We affirm the integrity of the international borders of the United States and the Constitutional authority and duty of the federal government to guard and to protect those borders, including the regulation of the numbers and of the qualifications of immigrants into the country." Judiciary "The United States Constitution does not provide for lifetime appointment of federal judges, but only for a term of office during good behavior." Money and banking "It is our intention that no system of 'debt money' shall be imposed on the people of the United States. We support a debt free, interest free money system." Personal and private property security "We affirm the Fourth Amendment right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, including arbitrary or de facto registration, general and unwarranted electronic surveillance, national computer databases, and national identification cards." Pornography, obscenity and sexually oriented businesses "Pornography, obscenity and sexually oriented businesses are a distortion of the true nature of sex created by God for the procreative union between one man and one woman in the holy bonds of matrimony." Religious freedom "We call upon all branches of government to cease their attacks on the religious liberties of the people and the states, regardless of the forum in which these liberties are exercised." Social security "The Constitution grants no authority to the federal government to administrate a Social Security system. The Constitution Party advocates phasing out the entire Social Security program, while continuing to meet the obligations already incurred under the system." Statehood "We support the equal footing doctrine, co-equal with the original thirteen states for all states coming into and having entered the Union as states." State sovereignty "We call upon the states to reclaim their legitimate role in federal affairs and legislation (See Amendment 10 United States Constitution) and thus cause the federal government to divest itself of operations not authorized by the Constitution and extract the federal government from such enterprises, whether or not they compete with private enterprise." Tariffs and trade "Congress may not abdicate or transfer to others these Constitutional powers. We oppose, therefore, the unconstitutional transfer of authority over U.S. trade policy from Congress to agencies, domestic or foreign, which improperly exercise policy-setting functions with respect to U.S. trade policy." Taxes "Since 1913, our Constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property have been abridged and diminished by the imposition on each of us of Federal income, payroll and estate taxes. This is an unconstitutional Federal assumption of direct taxing authority." Terrorism and personal liberty "The Constitution Party opposes all violent acts of sedition, treason and covert guerilla warfare conducted on U.S. soil." Veterans "The Constitution Party appreciates the contributions of our servicemen and veterans to the preservation of American freedom. We shall continue to recognize their contributions to the national welfare by providing equitable pay and benefits to our military personnel, and generous health, education, and other benefits to veterans." Wage and price control "We deny that civil government has the authority to set wages and prices; so doing is inconsistent with principles of individual liberty and the free market." Welfare "America's welfare crisis is a government-induced crisis. Government social and cultural policies have undermined the work ethic, even as the government's economic and regulatory policies have undermined the ability of our citizens to obtain work."

Rules and bylaws

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Note: This article is not intended to serve as a guide to running for public office. Individuals should contact their state election agencies for further information.

The party is governed by a set of rules and bylaws. Typically, these give structure to the different levels of organization—local, county and state committees—and establish protocol for electing committee members. The bylaws also typically give details on the party's process for nominating and sending delegates to the national party convention during presidential elections. The following is a summary of the Missouri Constitution Party's rules. This summary focuses on the structure and governance of the party:

• The party is governed by the State Committee, which is made up of the chairman, vice chairman, secretary and treasurer.
• Local chapters are grouped into five regions: Saint Louis metropolitan area, southeast region, southwest region, northwest region/Kansas City area and the central region.
• Local chapters are organized according to congressional districts or counties.

Convention

As of January 2016, the date of the 2016 convention of the Constitution Party of Missouri, when the party selects its delegates to the Constitution Party National Convention, had yet to be determined.

Leadership

As of October 2023, the Missouri Constitution Party did not have an executive director.

The website for the Missouri Constitution Party lists the following state leadership:

• Paul Venable, Chairman
• Cindy Redburn, Vice chairman
• Jen DePee, Secretary
• Richard McKie, Treasurer

Recent news

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See also

• Constitution Party
• Missouri

External links

• Constitution Party of Missouri homepage
• Constitution Party of Missouri on Facebook
• Constitution Party of Missouri on LinkedIn