Originally posted to the Constitution Party of Illinois website:
My name is Randy Stufflebeam. I am a retired Marine, with over 22 years of honorable active duty service to my country. I am the only husband to the only wife in a marriage of over 34 years. I am the father to three and the grandfather to four. I am the National Vice-Chairman of the Constitution Party and the Chairman of the Constitution Party of Illinois. Most importantly [to this letter], I am a Constitutionist.
Most would consider my political views to be “conservative” and many in our day of national (im)morality, would consider my views to be extreme. However, I believe my views to be in align with those of our founding fathers of whom many were the framers of the Constitution of these United States of America, which gave rise to our country becoming the greatest nation to have ever existed on the face of this planet.
As of November 4th, 2014, the Republicans have captured the majority of both the House and the Senate. Many are celebrating this as a victory. I’ve learned over the years to NOT HOLD MY BREATH.
I watched closely after the elections in 2010 to those people who were considered “Tea Party Candidates.” Without exception, I can take you down each of them and demonstrate that ALL of them have caved in to voting for some unconstitutional legislation or another, and I’ll just say, “take FY 2012 NDAA for instance.”
Over the past 14 years specifically (and the past 40-50 years generally), Liberty in this nation has been in a tailspin with a certainty of crashing soon (just how soon, I don’t know) and it has not mattered one iota the mixture of Democrats and Republicans –> whether or not there was a majority in either the House of Representatives or the Senate, or both; and whether or not that majority enjoyed a president from the same party or not.
It’s hard to debate whether more liberty was lost while the Republicans enjoyed a majority in both houses of Congress and had a Republican President or while the Democrats enjoyed a majority in both houses of Congress and had a Democrat President – or which one violated more constitutional principles. Certainly, you would be hard pressed to provide any evidence that liberty was gained.
CONSERVATIVES TAKE NOTICE!!
The Republican Party is no longer the party of liberty and conservatism, so DO NOT waste my time, or yours, with your mantras of “A Third Party can’t win” or “You’ll split the vote!”
Number 1: Splitting the vote of one liberal candidate against another is of no concern of mine. The “lesser of two evils” argument has only garnered more evil for this country in lost liberty regardless of which party has had a majority and to what extent.
Number 2: It is time for the antiquated two-party-system (which I call the two-party-duopoly) to be replaced by a multi-party-system that provides for more choice and REAL COMPETITION in the political arena; where more political ideologies are infused in our governments than those provided by the duopoly; which consequently (or subsequently) would provide a much more realistic system of representation for WE THE PEOPLE.
Number 3: (Most Importantly) People are tired of having to always vote “against a candidate,” as demonstrated by the record low voter turnout in the 2014 Illinois Primaries and resources are saying that [nationally] the 2014 General Elections may be the lowest turnout since WWII. People are far more motivated to vote FOR A CANDIATE, than having to vote against another one. Interestingly, RARELY (if ever) does voting against a candidate produce a better representative for the people.
The Constitution Party is on the rise!!
Conservatives, you DO NOT HAVE TO BE ENSLAVED to a party that no longer represents your values and especially, your morals.
THIS IS THE TEME!!
Yes, I know the party is small, compared to the two major parties. Yes, I know that we face what seems to be insurmountable odds.
Fortunately, we have several precedents that have been set before us. Consider that less than 10% of Americans defeated a far more superior tyrannical government in 1783. Consider that the Republican Party had only been in existence for about 4 years prior to Abraham Lincoln becoming the first Republican President.
Further consider that less than 40% of eligible voters came out to vote in the past election. That means there are more than 60% of the voters who are looking for something else. (NOTE: I don’t believe it is because of “voter apathy,” but voter “hopelessness.” They have given up on the two party system representing them.)
LET’S GIVE THEM A CHOICE!!
Let me ask you. Did you happen to notice how many races were unopposed?? This is entirely unacceptable.
LET’S PROVIDE SOME OPPOSITION!!
Here in Illinois, we have a vision of organizing 51 of the 102 counties, and we are well on our way. There are two primary objectives to county organization: 1) Recruit and Elect local candidates, and 2) Assist the state in gaining ballot access for the entire state.
Will you become a part of the rising tide that takes a stand against a government(s) that is overstepping its boundaries?
If so, contact me, Randy Stufflebeam at [email protected].
LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO RESTORE THE PRINCIPLES THAT THIS COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED UPON!!
Yours in Liberty
Randy Stufflebeam
I believe Rand Paul will definitely run for president in 2016, no doubt about it.
I don’t believe he will get their nomination, but I think he has a pretty decent chance at the Republican VP nomination.
Good point. And a great opportunity for us since we could help or hurt either of them so they both have an incentive to listen to us.
Most of the went to non-voting. It was the lowest turnout since 1942, with primarily Democratic constituencies being the bulk of those who didn’t vote, given how uninspiring Democrats have been in office. In 1942, many people didn’t vote because they were off fighting in WWII or recently moved from one state to another to work in wartime industries and not yet registered to vote at their new address. The other low was in the early 1920s when women were newly allowed to vote but many had not yet registered or started to actually vote. Other than that this election is the lowest turnout of the 20th or 21st (to date) centuries.
One good thing about that is that it will be easier to qualify ballot initiatives, alt parties and independent candidates in the many states where the number of signatures to do so will be a function of turnout in this past election.
And most of the initiative and referendum news from most states on both social and economic issues was good in this past election from a libertarian perspective, although certainly not all.
I had the pleasure of meeting Randy over eight years ago at the Wisconsin State CP Convention in Madison. He’s a good man and he has worked very hard to build the CP in the state of Illinois. But I’m afraid I have to agree with Cody. Given the age range of party members, the fact more and more young persons are not as religious as previous generations and the failure to use the Tea Party movement to build a broad-based party when the opporutnity presented itself 4-5 years ago, the CP has fallen behind the LP, even the Greens in the non-major party firmament. That’s why Chuck Baldwin is in Montana and not in politics anymore.
I was right the LP and other independent candidates would make an impactin the 2014 mid-term elections but wrong on which party it would do so. The LP cost the Democrats the governorship of Florida, a U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina, an independent cost the Democrats the governor’s office in Maine and I’m sure there’s other campaigns out there where the votes to non-major party candidates did it’s fair share of damage. This is important because it goes to show it works both way. Neither party is invulnerable to non-major party candidates, especially when it comes to the LP. It’s it’s true younger voters turned away from the Democrats in 2014, we know where their votes went.
I’ll say it again, if Rand Paul doesn’t win the GOP nomination (and right now I tink it’s 50-50 he doesn’t run at all). Gary Johnson and the LP are going to be well positioned for 2016 between the two major party, perhaps the best position on the questions in the party’s history.
Sorry Randy, but the Religious Right & social conservatives are too GOP loyalist to the core and would never bolt to a party like yours in significant numbers. In fact your party seems to instead attract those extremists that think America must be governed by ‘biblical law’ over the U.S. Constitution itself.
And your party also got knocked off the ballot in four states and even lost a office-holder or two. So the CP is not on the rise.
But the LP sure is.