Thread: There is a third choice

FROM THE DESK OF JAMES N. CLYMER
CHAIRMAN, CONSTITUTION PARTY NATIONAL COMMITTEE

According to a recent AP article, President Bush's approval ratings continue to swoon to all-time lows, prompting many Republicans to fear an "Election Day massacre" this fall that could end the GOP's control of both houses of Congress. That’s right; the scales are finally falling from the eyes of the Bush-can-do-no-wrong crowd. The folks for whom criticism of the Patriot Act, the Iraq War, or the President’s inability to pronounce the word "nuclear" bordered on sacrilege are, according to the pollsters, angry, confused, and may well sit out this fall's elections altogether. It's too bad it has taken a bloody quagmire in Iraq with a spiraling American body count, astronomical fuel prices, and catastrophic immigration policies that threaten to bury our country, but better late than never.

Among other things, the most recent polling data suggests that:

"Just 33 percent of the public approves of Bush's job performance, the lowest of his presidency. That compares with 36 percent approval in early April. Forty-five percent of self-described conservatives now disapprove of the president."
"Just one-fourth of the public approves of the job Congress is doing, a new low in AP-Ipsos polling and down 5 percentage points since last month. A whopping 65 percent of conservatives disapprove of Congress."
"A majority of Americans say they want Democrats rather than Republicans to control Congress (51 percent to 34 percent). That's the largest gap recorded by AP-Ipsos since Bush took office. Even 31 percent of conservatives want Republicans out of power."
"The souring of the nation's mood has accelerated the past three months, with the percentage of people describing the nation on the wrong track rising 12 points to a new high of 73 percent. Six of 10 conservatives say America is headed in the wrong direction."
These are absolutely stunning numbers. So bad has it become that GOP pollster Whit Ayres admitted that "It’s going to take some events of significance to turn this around. I don't think at this point you can talk your way back from these sorts of ratings." The article cited concerns about runaway government spending and homosexual marriage, in addition to gas prices, Iraq, and immigration, as reasons for conservative unrest.

Now for the downside: many of these former Bush partisans, who refused to heed the warnings years ago, are still in denial about one crucial point. Many of them believe that the only alternative to milquetoast neocon Republicans are liberal Democrats, who, they rightly perceive, are attacking Bush's policies for all of the wrong reasons.

These disgruntled conservatives need to know that there is an alternative to voting for a liberal or staying home in November. The Constitution Party has opposed all of the abovementioned misbegotten policies from their inception, and is unapologetic now for having done so. If elected to office, CP candidates will not stand by wringing their hands while illegal immigrants continue to pour across our southern border, American servicemen continue to die in Iraq, gas prices continue to spiral into the stratosphere, and moral decay continues apace with the help of laws that encourage abortion and sodomy.

As a party, we must focus in particular on the illegal immigration crisis (calling it an "issue" somehow falls short). Our elected elites believe, almost to a man, that America needs to somehow accommodate a problem for which no solution is deemed feasible. Fence the border? Can't be done. Go after employers who hire illegals. Nuh-uh, too intrusive. Impose sanctions on Mexico? Who’re you trying to kid, they’re our friends! Mass deportations? Are you some kinda nutcase? And so forth it goes, an endless string of lukewarm platitudes served up as excuses for refusing to defend our own borders against illegal workers, drug traffickers, and other undesirables, perhaps even terrorists.

As a party, we need to offer a solution to this problem, a program that will silence the critics of the "I-don’t-see-you-offering-any-better-idea" variety. Certainly enhanced border security, including properly constructed and controlled fences, is in order. So is diplomatic action against the Mexican government in the form of sanctions (of course, that would require defiance of the illicit NAFTA regime, a felicitous side effect!). Severe penalties on employers who hire illegals, banks that allow them to do business, and other institutions that facilitate the flow of illegal wages to illegal workers, would be no more difficult to implement than new rules, like "know your customer" requirements for banks, intended to discourage terrorist cells and other illicit activity. As for deportation, the alternative is another several decades of unimpeded illegal entry, which will nail shut the coffin lid on our once-proud, independent republic. Right now, aside from interdiction near the border, deportation is generally only carried out for high-profile cases with a political payoff, or in response to an extradition request. It is, however, a perfectly legal and very humane alternative to imprisoning illegal immigrants, who are, after all, breaking the law in a flagrant manner.

The bottom line, and one worth emphasizing, is that we are literally undergoing a hostile invasion, one whose ultimate agenda its perpetrators do not scruple to conceal, as the recent May 1 demonstrations, boycotts, and work stoppages demonstrated. But the nice thing about this invasion is that we need not resort to armed conflict to stop it. Instead, non-violent, legal measures like those outlines above will put a stop to it in short order, without a shot being fired.

Here's hoping that we will seize the fantastic opportunities of this electoral season and, by our successes this fall, send a loud and unmistakable message to the American body politic: the Constitution Party is here to stay!

I have been voting straight line third party for 10 years now - get rid of the two party system!!!