NEW TERRORISM PLANK IN A.I.P. PLATFORM

Reed R. Heustis, Jr
Aug. 19, 2002

The following plank is amongst the many new additions to the official platform of the American Independent Party (AIP), which is the California Affiliate of the national Constitution Party.

The AIP recently held its state convention in Fresno, CA, and elected new officers, updated its platform, selected new National Committee members, and set sail to a new course of optimistic enthusiasm. The Convention is briefly recapped in the current "News & Views" section here.

TERRORISM

America is engaged in an undeclared war with an ill-defined enemy [terrorism], a war which threatens to be never ending, and which is being used to vastly expand government power, particularly that of the executive branch, at the expense of the individual liberties of the American people.

The "war on terrorism" is serving as an excuse for the government to spend beyond its income, expand the Federal bureaucracy, and socialize the nation through taxpayer bailouts of the airlines, subsidies to the giant insurance corporations, and other federal programs.

The American Independent Party [California Affiliate to the Constitution Party] is unalterably opposed to the criminal acts of terrorists, and their organizations, as well as the governments which condone them. Individuals responsible for acts of terrorism must be punished for their crimes, including the infliction of capital punishment where appropriate. In responding to terrorism, however, the United States must:

• Act within the constitutional mandates which limit the power of government, not annul the Constitution, or abridge the rights of American citizens;
• Avoid acts of retaliation abroad which destroy innocent human lives, creating enmity toward the United States and its people; and
• In accord with the views of our Founding Fathers, disengage this nation from the international entanglements which generate foreign hatred of the United States, and are used as the excuse for terrorist attacks on America and its people. The "War on terrorism" is not a proper excuse for perpetual U.S. occupation of foreign lands, military assaults on countries which have not injured us, or perpetual commitment of taxpayer dollars to finance foreign governments.