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One of the main differences is that the Constitutional party has
a pro-life platform and will endorse only pro-life
candidates. The Republican party has a pro-life platform but still
endorses candidates, like Governor Ridge, who are
pro-abortion. The Constitutional party believes in smaller
government, but still recognizes the need to look out for the
little guy. The Republican party believes in smaller government
for the betterment of big business and at the expense of the little guy.
The Libertarian philosophy seems an almost Utopian belief in the
goodness and rationality of everyone. Consequently, Libertarians consider
invalid virtually any form of governmental regulation. The Constitutional
party believes that government regulation is often necessary, since people
are not always either good or rational,
but that regulation should be the
least which accomplishes the public good, and implementation of any policy
should be done at the most local level, for maximum effectiveness. The
Libertarian party considers abortion a personal freedom right; the
Constitutional party views abortion as the negation of the most basic
right - every human being's right to life - and therefore the negation of
the basis of all other rights. The Constitutional party considers unborn
children to be entitled to all the rights and freedoms guaranteed in our
laws and Constitution.
Peg's philosophy is in line with the Catholic Church which
allows the legality of the death penalty, but restricts its use to the
cases where there is no other way to defend society. Having the death
penalty legal serves as a deterrent, especially for violent
life prisoners.
Because gun control does not work. Violent crime skyrocketed in New York City and Washington, DC, when tight gun control was enacted. Evidence is now conclusive that gun control increases violent crime. After the Brady Bill passed several years ago, rape increased 4% nationwide, as did other violent armed crimes. Women and inner-city minorities have proven to be by far the greatest beneficiaries of liberalized gun availability, for guns are truly the "great equalizer." The only crime category that decreased after the Brady Bill was auto theft. [Auto theft, interestingly, increases when guns are made more available, apparently because increasing the number of armed citizens makes crimes against persons more risky; hence, property crimes seem more attractive to criminals.] That gun control increases violent crime is now proven beyond doubt (see John R Lott, More Guns, Less Crime, 1998, for a review of evidence which also clearly shows that freer access to gun ownership reduces violent crime). Criminals in jurisdictions where guns are tightly controlled steal their guns from police and military armories. But they do get guns. There are almost 300 million unregistered handguns in this country. Taking guns from honest citizens will not keep them out of the hands of criminals. Criminals, by definition, are not impeded by laws. That's what makes them criminals. Taking guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens has increased crime everywhere it has been tried in this country, as is almost universally agreed by police chiefs, nationwide. There are a small number of tragic gun accidents each year; many involve children. Some of these tragedies might perhaps be prevented by gun control. However, gun control has consistently been proven to result in much larger numbers of people raped or killed than the number who die of gun-related accidents. More people die because of gun control than from gun-related accidents. The Second Amendment was also written as a check against government oppression. Power still corrupts, just as it did in 1776, and governments still have a tendency to encroach on their citizens rights, as we increasingly see in this country. So opposing gun control may not be "politically correct," but it is sound policy, anti-violent crime, pro-life, and Constitutionally-sound. The Luksik/Clymer
team has produced an in-depth video report Guns & CRIME.
To obtain your copy, contact the campaign at
1-800-801-2027.
There are many issues under the heading "environment." Peg does not consider human beings to be the enemy of the planet. She favors responsible stewardship of the environment, with commonsense regulations where needed to protect reasonable public health and safety. Enforcement of current regulations would solve the illegal toxic dumping problems we have encountered around the state, some of which have impinged on community drinking water and on agricultural land. No one has the right to pollute someone else's food or water, nor to violate existing law. Factory pig farms create enormous smell (even respiratory) problems for those living and working nearby; they create huge - sometimes unmanageable - amounts of sewage which in some areas have worked their way into community water supplies and in raw form into rivers and streams. Current laws on these matters are not being enforced, for reasons perhaps best known to the Governor. They should be, for the good of the environment, and for the health of the local economy. (The Luksik/Clymer team has produced an in-depth video report on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. To obtain your copy, contact the campaign at 1-800-801-2027.) Compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act can be obtained more
effectively through incentives for new car purchase than through
emissions testing.
Also, use of MTBE as
a fuel oxygenator has caused more air pollution and lung problems
than it has solved.
Peg believes in the dignity of every human being, born or unborn. No person should be subjected to special punishments because of his or her sexual orientation; at the same time, no person should obtain special rights or privileges on such a basis. Marriage is between one man and one woman. The law should protect all persons, equally, including unborn men and women. |
