Can’t vote for Mitt Romney? Won’t vote for Barack Obama? Last week I had opportunity to interview Tom Hoefling, the America’s Party candidate for President of the United States. I asked him about several issues and his answers below are complete.
On Abortion: “Make no mistake, our Constitution explicitly and imperatively requires equal protection for all persons. “No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law.” “No State shall deprive any person of life without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” It is not optional…. My understanding of those facts is what led me to author a document which is also at the heart of our America’s Party Platform, the America’s Party Leadership Pledge, and my campaign platform.”
On The Role of Third Parties: “Political parties are nowhere mentioned in our Constitution. George Washington, in his Farewell Address, strictly warned us against the dangers of party factionalism. Instead, he rightly said that we should consider ourselves first and foremost to be Americans, united in one just cause, and pointed us to the only foundation upon which this republic, or any nation, could sustain itself in liberty: a shared moral basis.
“The supposed “two-party” system that has developed here is, in fact, more of a one-party state at this point. One beast with two legs, but always headed in the same general unprincipled, unconstitutional, socialist, statist direction, no matter which leg happens to be swinging forward at any given point.
“Sadly, most of the so-called “third” parties that have developed in the modern era lack a principled moral basis as well, and/or merely seek to duplicate what the Republicans and the Democrats already are. They don’t have a plan to change anything fundamentally, they simply seek to replace one of the existing two legs. Of course, predictably, they have all failed miserably.
“America’s Party, which we founded four years ago, is completely different. We have stripped the concept of a political party down to its bare essence: a clear statement of the moral principles of the Declaration of Independence, the stated purposes and requirements of the U.S. Constitution, the obligations of all officers of government to fulfill their sacred oaths made to God, to support that Constitution, along with the practical means to enforce consistent accountability on all who seek to be political leaders at any level of American governance.
“In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower summed up what I believe about political parties very well: “If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.”
“I think most Americans will agree with me when I say that today’s Republican and Democrat parties have become little more than vehicles for self-seeking, self-aggrandizing unprincipled politicians to seize power. These old broken-down vehicles have become a real road hazard to life and liberty. Let’s junk them, and build a vehicle that is principled; one that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
On His Experience and Qualifications: “In the first place, I am qualified by my more than twenty years of demonstrated allegiance in the political arena to the principles and purposes that make up the raison d’etre, or reason for being, of the office.
“Secondly, in terms of my life experience, I believe I truly represent a large majority of the people in this country. As someone who has always had to work for a living to keep my family fed, clothed and housed, whether it was working for someone else or running a small business, I have walked in their shoes. I have personally experienced their struggles. I identify and empathize with them, and, once folks hear my story, they readily identify with me.
“In a system that is supposed to be one of representative self-government, based in principle, I think those are pretty good qualifications.”
Closing Remarks: “In my opinion, the country can’t be put back on the right track until conservatives return to the core principles of the country, which are primarily moral principles, and stop compromising them for the sake of any perceived political expediency.”