2008 PLATFORM
The Prohibition Party

The platform committee consisted of:  Gene Amondson, Leroy Pletten, Seth Hinshaw, Jim Hedges, June Griffin, and JB Griffin (the convention sitting as a committee of the whole.)

Preamble

We, the delegates to the Prohibition National Convention, assembled at Indianapolis, Indiana, September 13 and 14, 2007, recognizing Almighty God as the Source of all just government, and with faith in the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, promise that, if our nominees are chosen to administer the affairs of our nation, states, or communities, we will seek to serve the needs and to preserve the prerogatives and guaranteed Constitutional freedoms of the citizens of The United States of America.

Constitutional Government and States Rights

We affirm our loyalty to the Constitution of The United States of America  We support the entire Bill of Rights. We support the integrity of the three branches of government.

    The several states which created the federal government have had many of their rights usurped by all three branches of that government.  We will take strong action to preserve and/or restore the states’ Constitutional rights. 

Foreign Affairs

We will conduct foreign affairs with the preservation of American liberty and independence as our chief objective.  Except for emergency humanitarian help, foreign aid should be ended.  We favor free trade only on a truly reciprocal basis among equals.  We oppose ‘most favored nation’ status for nations with a his- tory of human rights violations.  We are opposed to the interference of America in the sovereignty of other nations.

Taxation and Spending

Some 40% of Americans’ earnings are taken by government taxation, yet the federal government is still adding hundreds of billions of dollars to our national debt each year.  We favor:

(1)   A balanced budget

(2)   A limit on the taxing powers of Congress

(3)   Restoration of the independent Treasury

(4)   Cutting off funding for the National Endowment for the Arts

(5)   Ending ‘death taxes’ completely

(6)   Prohibiting the use of eminent domain to benefit an individual person or
        a corporation

(7)   Minimizing taxes which threaten private ownership of land and real estate

(8)   Emphasizing excise taxes for the financing of government

We support the free enterprise system, and we support the prosecution of irres- ponsible and/or deceptive business practices.

Monetary Policy

The Constitution provides that Congress shall have the power to coin money and to regulate its value.  Therefore, we call upon Congress to terminate the Federal Reserve System for the purpose of reducing the national debt and to withdraw The United States from the World Bank.

Labor and Management

Individual Rights

We support the equality of treatment of all American citizens before the law.  We call upon Congress to take action to end all discriminatory quotas in em- ployment, education, and housing.  All political subdivisions should be apportioned without reference to the race or religion of the citizenry.

Right-to-Life

We recognize that, according to the Constitution, ‘no person’ (including those unborn) ‘shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.’  We support banning ‘partial birth’ abortions.

Military Preparedness

Immigration

We oppose the massive illegal immigration now tolerated by our government.  We support deportation of illegal entrants.  We propose to apply diplomatic pres- sure on those nations to our south to improve the economic and social condi- tions which are at the root of this mass migration.

POW/MIA and Veterans

Concerning the national disgrace of the abandonment of POW’s / MIA’s, we will work co-operatively with all concerned to recover all unreturned POWs and MIA’s, their personal effects, and records, from wherever located.  We favor full benefits, including medical care, for all veterans.

Education

We support excellence in education and the raising of academic standards.  We support the awarding of school vouchers to all students, like scholarships or grants, to then be used at the schools of their choice.  We support the right for private schools and home schooling.

Religious Liberty

We support the right of individuals to believe, fellowship, worship, evangelise, educate, and establish religious institutions in accordance with their beliefs.  We oppose discrimination against religious schools, broadcasters, and other religious groups and individuals at the hands of federal, state, and local branches of government.        

Church and State

    We support the right to prayer and Bible reading in schools and other public institutions.  We favor tax-exemption for all non-profit religious institutions, including parsonages, church publishing houses, and religious schools.

Public Morality

We favor stronger and more vigorous enforcement of laws against the sale of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, against gambling, illegal drugs, pornography, and commercialized vice, and we will seek to provide moral leadership. We oppose the promotion of unnatural lifestyles.  We oppose state lotteries and other legalized gambling.

Ballot Law Reform

Social Security

We support reform of the Social Security System by:

(1)   Placing the system on a sound actuarial basis;

(2)   Restoring Social Security to its original purpose as a retirement plan by placing the
        Medical an Medicaid programs in a separate system;

(3)   Lifting all restrictions on the amount of money Social Security retirement
        beneficiaries may earn.

Agriculture

We will adopt agricultural policies which assist family farmers in staying in farming.  We oppose payment of government subsidies to agribusiness.  We favor repeal of predatory tax levies and artificially inflated land values placed on farms adjacent to urban areas which tend to drive the farmer off his land.

Public Health

We favor continued prohibition of such harmful drugs as heroin, LSD, cocaine, and marijuana.

     Because of the well-documented deadly effects of tobacco products, we oppose the manufacture, advertising, and sale of tobacco products, and we op- pose continued government subsidies for the tobacco industry.  We oppose our government coercing other countries to accept our tobacco products.  We favor maintaining a level of taxes on tobacco equal to the social costs of repairing the damage caused by tobacco.

     We favor government action to discover and implement medical remedies for AIDS; we urge the government to combat the immoral sexual conduct and the illegal drug usage which are responsible for most American AIDS cases.

     Until the liquor traffic is eradicated, we call for the alcoholic beverage industry and its products to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration.

The Environment

Since God has given Man dominion over the Earth, we believe that individuals and local and state governments are responsible for protecting the environment and for safeguarding the air and water that we all must share.

Second Amendment Rights

We recognize the fundamental need of Second Amendment rights to guard against tyrannical government and for personal protection against violent crime.  We support the Constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to own and use guns.

The Alcohol Problem

Alcohol is still a major narcotic drug problem in The United States.  It is a major cause of poverty, traffic crashes, broken homes, juvenile and adult crime, physical and sexual abuse, political corruption, wasted man- power, disability, and premature death We favor maintaining the nation-wide legal drinking age of 21, and we favor establishing a level of taxes on alcohol equal to the social costs of repairing the damage caused by alcohol.

     Our program of leadership, legislation, and education – including publicizing the scientific basis of the correlation between tobacco and alcohol use – will result in a change in societal attitudes toward supporting prohibition of the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverage products.

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