The United States is on the wrong footing – that’s the message of the Constitution Party, one of five “third parties” fielding candidates on the Nov. 5 general election ballot in Michigan.
But one problem the Constitution Party faces is that it does not appear under its current name, but rather as the U.S. Taxpayers Party, its official name until 1999.
At the time the party sought to change its ballot designation, state election officials told party members changing the name would require thousands of signatures all over again as if the party had just been formed.
So at least through the 2002 election, Constitution Party nominees for office in Michigan will appear with the U.S. Taxpayers Party banner until the party takes up the issue with the state after the elections.
“The government’s only role is to protect you from me and me from you. It’s not to provide things – that’s socialism and communism. But we’ve got a big bloated government in Lansing,” said Clara Pilchak, the Constitution Party nominee for lieutenant governor. “We can downscale government a whole lot.”
The Constitution Party generally favors less taxes, smaller government, few restrictions on gun carrying and outlawing abortion.
“We are very definitely anti-abortion, there’s no reason for it,” Pilchak said. “It’s a B-A-B-Y baby and we don’t believe in murder.”
The party opposes policies it feels are redistributive or discriminatory, such as affirmative action admissions polices at colleges and progressive income taxes.
To Rick Gualdoni, the party’s nominee for the University Board of Regents and a 1984 University graduate, being a Constitution Party regent would mean opposing affirmative action policies and making sure University expansion does not require large tuition hikes. “I think the University should focus more on what schools are for and that’s succeeding in the business world – and that means less research and development,” said Gualdoni, a mobile body shop owner from Flint Township.
Another issue important to Constitution Party members is religion.
To Joseph Pilchak, the gubernatorial nominee and husband of Clara Pilchak, of St. Clair County’s Sapac, the rights American citizens have are spelled out in the Constitution as deriving from God.
Therefore, not believing in God means not believing in those rights. “I think if children want to bring bibles (to school) I see nothing wrong with it,” Pilchak said. “I see nothing wrong with posting the Ten Commandments.”
“What the First Amendment says is we have a freedom of religion, not freedom from religion,” he said. As for believers in religions that do not accept the Ten Commandments and who oppose its posting in schools, Pilchak said, “these groups are very minor and I don’t see why the majority should suffer because of a minority.”
The party has been through some ups and downs, beginning in 1992 when founders started it in the hopes of being the banner under which then-Republican activist Patrick Buchanan would seek the presidency. But he chose other means.
In 1999, the party scored a short-lived coup when U.S. Sen. Robert Smith of New Hampshire left the Republican Party to seek the Constitution Party’s nomination for president, but he dropped out of the running and rejoined the GOP a few weeks later. For the 2000 presidential elections, the party, with founder Howard Phillips as its presidential nominee, achieved full ballot designation in 41 states and could field write-in candidates in six others.
In an interesting turn of events this year, the party decided to team up with the Reform Party – the party that ended up nominating Buchanan for the presidency in 2000.
They are not fielding competing candidates for offices. For example, the husband-and-wife team of Joseph and Clara Pilchak for governor and lieutenant governor will not see its votes split by a competing Reform Party nominee for governor.