America's oldest 'third party, the Prohibition Party, has been striving since 1869 to enhance the freedom and dignity of the individual and to protect the welfare of the family. We're interested in many problems which directly impact the home: debt, gambling, job insecurity, trivialized education, spouse and child abuse, intrusive governmental regulations, drinking, and more.  We're interested in helping people help themselves by voluntary association in a private enterprise economy.  We're interested in teaching personal responsibility.  We're Americans, original, old, and new, who love our country and what it stands for.

When you vote for the 'lesser of two evils,' that's exactly what you get.  But, when Prohibition Party candidates earn large protest votes, major party politicians notice.  When we join together and vote our consciences, we do make a difference.  If your state election officials do not recognize the Prohibition Party, then register in another and influence that party by voting in its primary, but please support the Prohibition Party with your gifts and vote for Prohibition Party candidates at the general election.

If you are a reform-minded conservative and a non-drinker, the Prohibition party wants you!

• Click here for The Prohibition Party Platform as adopted by the 2012 convention
• Other Party Platforms

The 34th quadrennial convention of the Prohibition National Committee resolved to discontinue publishing The National Statesman.

Our Logo, the Camel

Influential political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902), he who gave the pachyderm to be the symbol of the Republican Party and the jackass for that of the Democratic Party, also gave the camel to the Prohibition Party. Nast drew for Harper's Weekly during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Nast chose the camel to represent the Prohibition Party because, like Prohibitionists generally, camels don't drink very often, and, when they do drink, they drink only water. Originally a dromedary, the symbol was later changed to the Bactrian camel in order not to be associated with the camel logo on Camel Cigarettes.

What About Those Bible Wines?

One of the most vexing disagreements between alcohol prohibitionists and moderationists concerns the use of the word 'wine' in the Bible. Each side quotes its own favorite verses of Scripture to justify its own viewpoint. And taken literally, the King James Version and most other translations do contradict themselves about 'wine.'

The issue can be resolved in one of two ways:

1. People who reject the doctrine of Biblical Inspiration consider the Bible to be a collection of oral traditions derived from several Middle Eastern societies. Some of these societies approved of drinking, others did not. The contradictions among the Bible sources are therefore real but are of no consequence.

2. People whose faith tells them that the Bible was inspired consider the contradictions to be only apparent (not real) and explain them away as errors in interpretation. The word 'wine' in olden times was used indiscriminately to mean either fresh grape juice or fermented (alcoholic) grape juice. The context in which the word is used tells the reader which meaning is appropriate.

American English today uses the word 'cider' in the same way—'cider' can be either fresh apple juice (sweet cider) or fermented apple juice (hard cider). The context in which the word is used tells the reader which meaning to infer.

Two excellent books on the subject of Bible wines are Stephen M. Reynolds "The Biblical Approach to Alcohol" (US Council International Organization of Good Templars, 2926 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55407) and Charles Wesley Ewing "The Bible and its Wines" (Prohibition National Committee, Box 2635, Denver, CO 80201).

Professor Reynolds has organized a foundation and charged it with producing a new Bible translation in which the 'wine paradox' and other contradictory passages in existing translations are reconciled. This 'purified translation' is now being published and is available from the Lorine L. Reynolds Foundation, 702 Custis Road, Glenside, PA 19038.

--Editor

National Committee of the Prohibition Party 2003-2007

All actions of the private, invitational meeting of selected Prohibition National Committee members, held last June, held at Lakewood, Colorado, were declared null and void by an absolute majority of PNC members, meeting at Fairfield Glade, Tennessee on 5-6 September 2003.

An alleged "2003 nominating convention" of the Prohibition Party was held at the Chairman's home in Lakewood, Colorado on June 12-13, 2003. Some members of the National Committee were not notified in advance that the meeting was being held, and others were told by Chairman Earl F. Dodge that they would not be admitted. Eight people were present: Chairman Dodge, his two daughters, and five other members supportive of Dodge. In addition to failing to observe the By-Laws requirement for prior notification, there was not a quorum.
      Members of the Action! Prohibitionists Caucus subsequently obtained signed convention-call petitions from 17 other members of the National Committee — an absolute majority of the 29 members (one additional member had died recently). This group, 16 Prohibition National Committee members in person and by proxy, met at Fairfield Glade, Tennessee on 5-6 September 2003 and declared all actions of the Lakewood meeting null and void. This convention took the following actions:

Officers

Don Webb of Dothan, Alabama was elected Chairman of the Prohibition National Committee.

Richard Swift of Bloomfield, Missouri was elected Vice-Chairman.

Leroy Pletten of Sterling Heights, Michigan was elected Secretary.

Bill Bledsoe of Milton, Florida was elected Treasurer.

The officers appointed James Hedges of Needmore, Pennsylvania to be Executive Secretary to the Prohibition National Committee.

The post office address of the Prohibition National Committee is       Box 11, McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania 17233 The email address of the Prohibition National Committee is       hedges@prohibitionists.org

Executive Committee

The National Committee of the Prohibition Party designates a nine-member executive committee, which makes any necessary policy decisions between national conventions. Day-to-day operating decisions are made by the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the chairman.
      In addition to the four officers (listed above) and the Executive Secretary, the executive committee includes as members:

Richard K. Whitney of Massachusetts
Don Webb of Alabama
(vacancy)
(vacancy)

National Committeemen

(It was former Chairman Earl F. Dodge's policy to assign people to the PNC, sometimes without their knowledge or consent. The new officers are in the process of contacting potential members of the new National Committee; more names will be added as the verification process continues. The officers anticipate that there will be about 40 members from 30 states, when all is done. This would restore the National Committee approximately to its 1995 size. [The Lakewood group proposed a National Committee of 25 members from 15 states.])

Alabama -- Don Webb (Dothan)
Alaska -- Gene Amondson (Anchorage)
Colorado -- Earl Higgerson (Arvada), David Livingston (Colorado Springs)
Florida -- Bill Bledsoe (Milton), Edra Whidden (Tampa)
Georgia -- H.A. Miley (Hahira)
Indiana -- Eunice Hansen (Noblesville), Mary Ann Freeman (Marion)
Kansas -- Sarah Boyd Jedlicka (Ness City)
Maine -- Ray Perkins (Waldoboro)
Massachusetts -- Richard K. Whitney (Boston), Roger Williams (Worcester)
Michigan -- Leroy Pletten (Sterling Heights), Barbara Gamble (Pontiac)
Missouri -- Richard Swift (Bloomfield)
New York -- Russell Hallock (Washingtonville)
Ohio -- Donald Gose (North Canton)
Oklahoma -- Luther Lee Kennicutt (Salina)
Pennsylvania -- James Hedges (Needmore)
Tennessee -- June Griffin (Dayton), Toby Davis (Memphis)
Utah -- Gary Van Horn (Sterling)
Virginia -- Sam Armstrong (Newport News)

Each of the 50 states is entitled to two representatives on the National Committee. There are many vacancies in the above list. If you or someone you know would like to fill one of those vacancies, please contact the Prohibition National Committee.

Click here to read the By-Laws of the Prohibition National Committee.

"Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart"
- Galations 6:9(NKJV)