We affirm our loyalty to the Constitution of The United States of America. We will protect it from violation by legislation, by evasion, or through judicial usurpation of those rights belonging to the executive and legislative branches of government, to the states, and to the people.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

We will conduct foreign affairs with the preservation of American liberty and independence as our chief objective. America cannot continue to borrow money to subsidize other nations. Except for emergency humanitarian help, foreign aid should be phased out. We favor free trade only on a truly reciprocal basis. We oppose 'Most Favored Nation' trade status for nations with a history of human rights violations, especially in regard to forced abortions, as in China.

TAXATION AND SPENDING

Some forty percent of American's earnings are taken by government taxation, yet the federal government is still adding hundreds of billions to our national debt each year. We favor: 1. A balanced budget; 2. A limit on the taxing powers of Congress; 3. The sale of government owned businesses; and 4. A return to the gold standard.

A FREE ECONOMY

We will protect the free-enterprise system by preventing both monopoly and excessive governmental regulation. We will seek to protect the consuming public from irresponsible and 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 and withdraw The United States from the World Bank.

LABOR AND MANAGEMENT

Anti-trust laws must be applied both to business and to labor. We will enforce laws against strikes by federal employees. We will protect the worker's right to join or not to join a union. We will cease governmental interference in the collective bargaining process and in management's employment decisions.

STATES' RIGHTS

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.

INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

We support the equality of treatment of all American citizens before the law. We call on Congress to take action to end all discriminatory quotas in employment, education, and housing. All political subdivisions should be apportioned without reference to race or religion of the citizenry. We will abolish those districts which are already established on the basis of race.

RIGHT TO LIFE

Over 1,500,000 Americans are killed each year by abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. Both dominant parties have placed pro-abortion judges on the bench, thereby perpetuating this holocaust. We will enact a Human Life Amendment to restore the right to life which the signers of the Declaration of Independence said was our right from the Creator.

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS

We pray for peace and rejoice that the prospects of America going to war have lessened. We favor a sound program of military preparedness based upon well-paid, highly motivated, volunteer armed forces. American military personnel should be withdrawn from wealthy nations such as Japan and Germany, which can well afford to pay for their own defense.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

We recognize that good laws make men free. However, without adequate enforcement and punishment, violation of the law is encouraged. Law enforcement officials at all levels, from local policemen to federal agents, should be empowered and encouraged to support the Constitution.

NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

We believe in national sovereignty and oppose any surrender of this sovereignty to any international organization, including the United Nations.

WELFARE

The Prohibition Party pioneered in offering assistance to the handicapped, the aged, the chronically ill, and families without a breadwinner. We favor retraining programs and public service work for the truly deserving who can work. We will stop payments to the undeserving, who look on welfare as a lifetime 'right.' We oppose welfare payments to illegal aliens.

THE FAMILY

To protect and preserve marriage, an institution ordained by God, we favor:

1. More stringent and uniform marriage and divorce laws;

2. An end to all tax rates which discriminate against married people;

3. Disallowance of any legal benefits of marriage to persons living together in an unmarried state; and

4. Repeal of all laws and rulings which allow governmental interference in parental authority.

We oppose the proselytizing actions of the homosexual community which are detrimental to the American family and to the stability of society. Homosexual behavior should not enjoy governmental protection through anti-discrimination laws.

The Tenth Amendment reserves education to the states and the people. We will end all federal interference in education and abolish the federal education establishment. Tax dollars spent at the state and local levels will stretch much farther than those that lose 50% in Washington, D.C. and that carry many controls for those who accept them. We support full freedom for private schools and home schooling.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

We believe in the right of individuals to believe, educate, worship, fellowship, evangelize, and establish religious institutions in accordance with their beliefs. We will end the discrimination suffered by religious schools, broadcasters, and other religious groups and individuals at the hands of federal, state, and local branches of government.

CHURCH AND STATE

Like America's great George Washington and other founders, we believe that 'it is impossible to govern the universe without God and the Bible.' We believe that God should not be separated from America's public life. We oppose the use of tax money for sectarian purposes. We support the restoration of our traditional rights to prayer and Bible-reading in schools and other public institutions. We favor tax-exemption for all non-profit religious facilities, including parsonages, church publishing houses, and religious schools. We call for the repeal of the Social Security tax imposed on religious bodies.

PUBLIC MORALITY

We will strengthen and enforce laws against gambling, illegal drugs, pornography, and commercialized vice and seek to provide the moral leadership so sadly lacking in the dominant political parties. We oppose the promotion of unnatural lifestyles. We oppose state lotteries and other legalized gambling. Gambling hurts the poor most of all and inculcates the deceptive 'something for nothing' philosophy in many young minds.

BALLOT LAW REFORM

Republicans and Democrats have created a two-party monopoly by enacting increasingly repressive laws that keep most independent and third-party candidates off the ballot in most states. We will enact a federal law to restore all legitimate political rights to all third-party and independent persons and groups. We support term limits for all members of Congress.

SOCIAL SECURITY

We will reform the present discriminatory and actuarially unsound Social Security System by:

1. allowing workers the option of enrolling in private plans in lieu of Social Security;

2. placing the system on a sound actuarial basis;

3. restoring Social Security to its original purpose as a retirement plan by placing the Medicare and Medicaide programs in a separate system, and;

4. lifting all restrictions on the amount of money Social Security retirement beneficiaries may earn.

AGRICULTURE

We propose a return to the free market and an end to all government production controls and subsidies. This will free farmers from government coercion and spare consumers from paying artificially higher food prices.

PUBLIC HEALTH

We favor continued prohibition of such harmful drugs as heroin, LSD, cocaine, and marijuana. We oppose advertizing and government subsidies for tobacco products, which now kill over 400,000 Americans yearly. We oppose our government coercing other countries to accept our tobacco products. We favor goverment action to facilitate medical answers to AIDS. We urge the government to combat the immoral sexual conduct and illegal drug use 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. Such a change will speed up investigation of health problems relating to alcohol.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Since God has given man dominion over the earth, we believe that individuals and local and state governments should do all within their power to protect the environment and safeguard the air and water that we all must share. We reject extremist views which assign equal value to people, animals, and trees. Remedies for pollution must be carefully crafted to avoid widespread unemployment and large increases in the price of economic necessities.

SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

We support the constitutional right of law abiding citizens to own and use guns. We favor imposition of long term prison sentences for those convicted of using firearms to commit a crime. We deplore the irresponsible actions and mishandling by the BATF and FBI in their dealings at Ruby Ridge and Waco.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

We will end the massive illegal immigration now tolerated by our government. We will provide for prompt deportation of first time illegal entrants and jail terms for repeat offenders.

THE ALCOHOL PROBLEM

We are encouraged by the nation-wide legal drinking age of 21 and the sharp decline in booze sales, plus a 44% abstinence rate in America. Alcohol is still America's #1 drug problem, causing death to over 400,000 Americans each year due to accidents, homicides, and health problems. It is the chief cause of poverty, broken homes, juvenile crime, political corruption, and wasted manpower in the United States.

The liquor industry is linked to and supports a nation-wide network of gambling, vice and crime. It exercizes a large measure of control over the two major political parties and much of the governmental life of our nation. Our party, alone, offers a program of publicity, education, legislation, and administration leading to the prohibition of the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of all alcoholic beverages. Americans already believe in prohibition (of LSD, cocaine, heroin, etc.) We will help Americans to realize that alcohol's harmful effects far outweigh those of all illegal drugs, combined.

 

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world" - Margaret Mead, Anthropologist

 For earlier versions of the Prohibition Party Platform, see: Donald Bruce Johnson and Kirk H. Porter (eds.) - "National Party Platforms." The book is updated every four years.

Return to the Prohibition Party Background Page