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Preamble We, the representatives of the Prohibition
Party, assembled in National Convention at St. Louis, Missouri, August
29-30, 1963, recognizing Almighty God as the source of all just government,
and with faith in the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, do solemnly
promise that, if our party is chosen to administer the affairs of the
nation, we will, with earnest dedication to the principles of righteousness,
seek to serve the needs and to preserve the rights, the prerogatives and
the basic freedoms, of the people of the United States. For the realization
of these ends we propose the following program of government: Constitutional
Government We affirm our sincere loyalty to the Constitution
of the United States, and express our deep confidence in that document
as the basic law of our land. We deplore all attempts to violate it, whether
by legislation, by means of evasion, or through judicial interpretation.
We believe in the principles of liberty and justice enunciated in the
Declaration of Independence and in the Preamble and Bill of Rights of
our Constitution. We declare ourselves in hearty support of our system
of representative government, with its plan of checks and balances, and
express our firm intent to serve the people of our nation with a constructive,
forward-looking program of good government, dedicated to the general welfare. Communism
- Totalitarianism We are positively, aggressively and unalterably,
opposed to Communism as a way of life or as a governmental system. We
believe that the program of Communism, with its intent to infiltrate and
to overthrow our present form of government, must be pitilessly exposed.
We challenge all loyal citizens to become fully aware of this menace to
civilization, to exert every effort to defeat these 'masters of deceit,'
and to help preserve our American way of life. We also declare ourselves opposed to any other
form of totalitarian philosophy or form of government. We endorse the
efforts of those agencies which have been honestly and earnestly exposing
subversive activities and groups. Governmental
Economy and Taxation We live in an era of extravagance and wasteful
spending. This spirit has invaded government at all levels, demanding
an ever-increasing tax load upon our people. The constant increase in
taxation, requiring nearly one-third of the total income of our citizens
to pay the expenses of government, is approaching the point of confiscation,
leading to economic bankruptcy. We believe that good government ought
not to attempt to do for people what they can do for themselves. With
proper economy, governmental costs can be lowered, the tax load can be
lightened, and the public debt can be reduced. We promise to devote ourselves
to such an end, even though it involves the reorganization and/or abolition
of certain departments, bureaus and vested interests. Money
and Finance A sound financial program and a dependable
monetary policy are fundamental to a stable economy. Our Constitution
gives to Congress the power to 'coin money' and to 'regulate the value
thereof.' We believe that Congress, working with the executive department
of our government, should take immediate steps to establish a financial
program that will block inflationary trends, insure a sound currency,
stabilize price levels and provide for systematic retirement of the national
debt. We urge that careful consideration be given to a return to the gold
standard, suggesting that such a step would help stabilize our economy,
would promote confidence in our monetary system and would underwrite
a continuing program of sound finance and expanding industrial progress. The
Federal Budget Good government and a sound economy demand
a balanced federal budget. The inflationary effects and the disturbing
influence of unbalanced budgets must be eliminated. We cannot, with impunity,
continue to increase the mortgage on our future and the interest load
of the present. As the level of taxation is already excessive, there must
be either a decided reduction in governmental services and federal spending
or a substantial improvement in efficiency, with consequent elimination
of waste in both personnel and materials. Actually, both areas need careful
exploration with a view not only to maintaining a balanced budget, but
also to reduction of the national debt. Foreign
Aid Many billions of dollars of our taxpayers'
money have been and are still being given to foreign countries. Unfortunately,
substantial portions have been used to support governments and programs
considerably at variance with American ideals and concepts. It is frankly
recognized that complex and baffling problems are involved in this area
of international relations, but it is likewise believed that the practice
needs most careful scrutiny and review. Free
Enterprise We are srongly opposed to governmental restraints
on our free enterprise system, to detailed regulation of our economic
life and to federal interference with individual initiative. We believe
that free enterprise is threatened in three ways: (1) by excessive governmental regulation, (2)
by growth of public and/or private monopoly, and (3) by unethical practices
of unscrupulous groups. It will be the policy of our administration
to encourage independent, non-monopolistic business enterprises which
serve genuine consumer needs and are operated with a sense of responsibility
to the public. We will take necessary steps to prevent the evils both
of monopoly, and of excessive regulation by government and to protect
adequately the consuming public from irresponsible or deceptive practices
contrary to public welfare. We propose that our government withdraw, with
reasonable promptness, from the field of business activity and sell to
private industry, at proper investment prices, those business enterprises
now owned and operated by the federal government. Labor
and Industry In the area of labor and industrial relations
we believe that the public welfare must be given paramount consideration.
Both management and labor must be held responsible for their economic
and their social behavior. Neither should be permitted to dominate at
the expense of the other or of the common good. Rather, the anti-trust
laws must be applied equally to all monopolies, whether of business or
labor. Whenever the public welfare is seriously endangered because of
disputes affecting quasi-public businesses and utilities we favor the
compulsory arbitration of labor-management disputes. Employee
- Employer Rights Every individual has certain basic and fundamental
rights. A person's right to join or not to join a labor union without
affecting his employment and his
right to work for an employer willing to hire him must be protected. Likewise,
employees and employers must be free to bargain and to contract as they
wish. Mass picketing, rioting, terrorism, and all other forms of violence
and coercion, secondary boycotts and industry-wide bargaining should be
prohibited. Individual
and States' Rights Our founding fathers recognized the importance
of both individual and states' rights, and determined to preserve them
by making the Bill of Rights an integral part of our Constitution. During
recent years there has been an increasing tendency toward an undesirable
concentration of power and authority in the federal government. This tendency has two principal causes: (1)
the ever-growing power and influence of the 'military - industrial complex,'
and (2) a widespread tendency of groups of citizens to look to the federal
government for the protection of rights and the satisfaction of needs
which they feel are not adequately cared for by state and local governments
or by private enterprise. To deal with the first of these causes, we
pledge the utmost vigilance in resisting the growth of militarism and
to maintain the constitutional principle of civilian supremacy over the
military. To deal with over centralization we urge more
vigorous action by state and local governments for the protection of the
rights and the promotion of the welfare of their people, greater resort
to the solution of local community problems through the voluntary action
of existing or new civic and other non-governmental assocations, where
this is feasible, and the increasing pursuit by private business concerns
of policies which promote the public interest. We pledge ourselves to action that will preserve
all legitimate individual rights and will maintain among the several states
their constitutional place in our system of government. Civil
Rights We maintain that all American citizens, regardless
of race, religion, or National origin, are entitled to equality of treatment
under the provisions of our constitution and under the laws of our land.
No person or group of persons shall be subjected to ostracism, humiliation,
or embarrassment because of color or national background. At the same
time we must deplore the use of violence and/or arbitrary pressure tactics,
from whatever source, as a means of seeking to resolve tensions and divergencies
of opinion among our citizens. We are opposed to those proposals which would
destroy our neighborhood school systems through a program of artificial
integration or convey special privileges to any minority group. Public
Morality and Law Enforcement Moral and spiritual considerations must be
primary factors in determining both state and national policies. We deplore
the gross neglect of such matters by the dominant political parties, culminating
in the shocking revelations of crime and of political and economic corruption
which have characterized recent years. We charge these parties with basic
responsibility for the rapid decline in moral standards which followed
repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. We believe that the program of nullification
of law through non-enforcement which led to repeal contributed greatly
to the disintegration of public morals, to a general deterioration of
standards and to a lowering of values among our people. We pledge ourselves to break the unholy alliance
which has made these things possible. We propose to strengthen and to
enforce laws against gambling, narcotics, and commercialized vice, to
emphasize the basic importance of spiritual and moral values to the development
and growth of an enduring nation, and to maintain the integrity of of
democracy by careful enforcement of law and loyal support of our Constitution. World
Peace We live in an age of atomic and hydrogen bombs,
in an era of missiles and jet propulsion, in a world filled with animosities
and cruel hatreds. Instruments for the destruction of civilization have
been developed. Under these conditions, we pledge ourselves to search
for peaceful solutions to international conflict, by seeking to deal creatively
and constructively with the underlying causes of international tension,
and, to strive for world peace and order based upon the teachings and
practices of the Prince of Peace. National
Sovereignty We declare our belief in national sovereignty
and oppose surrender of this sovereignty to any international group. Military
Training Although we seek for world peace and order,
we declare our firm belief, under existing world conditions, in a sound
program of national preparedness. At the same time, we seriously question
the desirability of the existing program of peacetime compulsory military
training. We doubt that it represents a genuine safeguard to world peace.
Rather, we believe it to be contrary, in principle, to our American way
of life, to place an unnecessary burden upon our peacetime economy, to
threaten us with possible military dictatorship, and, as currently conducted,
to permit and very often to promote the moral and spiritual deterioration
of our Youth. Therefore, we declare our opposition to any program of peacetime
compulsory military training and urge a complete evaluation and re-orientation
of our entire program of national preparedness. Nuclear
Weapons Testing Many of the leading scientists of our day have
warned that radioactive fallout, resulting from testing of nuclear weapons,
endangers the health of human beings throughout the world, and, if continued,
will increase the number of seriously defective children who will be born
to future generations. It is unjust that the people of the world, and
especially those of nations not engaged in the development of nuclear
weapons, should be exposed to
such peril. The danger and the injustice will become progressively greater
with any additional testing. In addition, there is the danger that continuation
of the armaments race will lead to an atomic war of annihilation. In our 1960 platform, we urged that, 'as a
step toward world disarmament, all testing of nuclear weapons be indefinitely
suspended on a multilateral basis and that our government seek with renewed
vigor and persistence an agreement among all nuclear powers for the permanent
and complete cessation of nuclear tests for military purposes.' It appears
that some progress has been made toward realization of this goal. We insist
that continual attention must be given to this problem. Religious
Liberty We believe in religious liberty. Freedom of
the individual to worship, to fellowship with others of similar faith,
to evangelize, to educate and to establish religious institutions, must
be preserved. When religious liberty is lost political liberty will perish
with it. We believe, also, that our government should take a firm, positive
position against religious intolerance and persecution anywhere in the
world. Marriage
and Divorce Ordained of God, the home is a sacred institution.
Its sanctity must be protected and preserved. We favor the enactment of
uniform marriage and divorce laws in the various states as an aid to building
strong and enduring homes throughout our nation. Old
Age Insurance We endorse the general principle of an actuarially
sound voluntary social security program which includes all employed groups.
We question the soundness of the existing program. We deplore the widespread
current abuse of the privileges involved; we condemn the maladministration
of its provisions for political ends; we pledge ourselves to correct these
evils. Ballot
Law Reform True democracy requires that the needs and
interests of minority groups be given fair, honest and appropriate consideration.
Instead, in many of our states, ballot laws have been enacted which are
designed to make a two-party system into a bipartisan political monopoly,
keeping minor parties off the ballot. We demand the repeal of all laws
which deny to independent voters and to loyal minority groups the fundamental
right of free political expression. Separation
of Church and State We affirm our continuing loyalty to the constitutional
principle of separation of Church and State. We will expose, and resist
vigorously, any attempt from whatever source to weaken or subvert this
fundamental principle. We declare our belief that the Bible is not
a sectarian book, but is a volume of universal appeal and application
which is woven into our history, our laws, and our culture. We deplore
any interpretation which would limit its use in any area of our national
life. In the area of government, we endorse encouragement
of non-profit educational and religious institutions on a tax-exempt basis,
but we declare strong opposition to all efforts, direct or indirect, to
secure appropriations of public money for private religious or sectarian
purposes. Education It is altogether appropriate that our federal
government should be interested in and concerned about matters pertaining
to all areas of educational growth and development. However, under the
Tenth Amendment, public education is clearly a matter of state concern.
We approve of the work of the Office of Education in collecting and disseminating
essential educational information, but we are opposed to any sort of direct
federal aid to education, believing that each state should both support
and control its own educational program. Agriculture The production and distribution of agricultural
products is of vital importance to the economy of any people. We believe
that those engaged in agricultural pursuits, like other American citzens,
should be free from authoritarian control and coercion. Hence we declare
ourselves opposed to regimentation of farms and farmers and urge a sensible
and orderly return to a free market program. Public
Health The health of our people is a matter of high
importance. We are deeply concerned with this problem in its numerous
aspects. In particular, we insist that genuine caution be taken when dealing
with mental health cases lest there be unjust and prejudiced incarcerations.
Also we deplore those programs of mass medication which many maintain
are in violation of the rights of individuals under our Constitution. Service,
not Spoils In spite of our 'civil service' system, first
sponsored by the Prohibition Party, the dominant political parties are
positively committed to the 'spoils' system and, when in office, have prostituted
governmental power to serve their own selfish party interests instead
of the whole people. This has led to excessive expenditures, higher taxes
and, in some situations, to an unfortunate alliance of crime with politics.
We pledge ourselves to an honest, efficient and economical administration. The
Alcohol Problem The widespread and increasing use of alcoholic
beverages has now become a national tragedy and must be recognized as
a major cause of poverty, broken homes, juvenile delinquency, vice, crime,
political corruption, wasted manpower, and highway accidents. Of all the
unfortunate mistakes of our government and people, none has been worse
than the legalization of the liquor traffic. It can be legitimately said
that no political issue confronting the citizens of our land compares
in magnitude with the need for suppressing the beverage alcohol industry. The sponsors of this national curse are not
only highly capitalized and strongly organized, but are also socially
irresponsible. Out of enormous profits the liquor industry spends huge
sums to promote sales, to create habitual use of its products by both
youth and adults and to encourage a weakening of moral resistance to its
program of social and economic exploitation. It is linked with and supports
a nationwide network of organized gambling, vice and crime. Through its
advertising it has corrupted large segments of the nation's press, and
it is endeavoring to extend its control increasingly to both radio and
television. Unfortunately, the liquor traffic has been
able to extend its power until, in all too many instances, it dominates
our political life and controls our governmental officials. Both of our
major political parties are dominated by it, and neither dares to take
a stand against it. And so long as they continue to be yoked by party
membership with the liquor traffic and the underworld, just so long will
they be unable to make moral principles prevail. The beverage alcohol problem is a matter of
national concern. It has reached proportions which demand immediate action
looking to a solution. First of all, scientific facts about beverage alcohol
must be widely publicized. People must come to know and to understand
the demon which we harbor. Secondly, a program of publicity, education,
legislation and administration, leading to the elimination of the beverage
alcohol industry, must be developed. People must come to know that there
is no satisfactory solution to the problem except through political action
which suppresses it and a political administration which destroys it. Accordingly the Prohibition Party demands the
repeal of all laws which legalize the liquor traffic and the enactment
and rigorous enforcement of new laws which prohibit the manufacture, distribution
and sale of alcoholic beverages. You are urged to elect an administration
pledged to the above program. Such is essential to the permanent solution
of this devastating problem. |