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Michael Peroutka Announces Presidential Campaign (December 15)
Radio Liberty and Others ^ | 1/1/2004 | Adam Valle

Posted on 01/01/2004 9:48:48 PM PST by The_Eaglet

On December 15, 2003, Michael Peroutka announced his candidacy for the Constitution Party presidential nomination.

In an interview on Radio Liberty hosted by Dr. Stan Monteith, Mr. Peroutka identified the need to restore loyalty to the Constitution as a key reason for his campaign for the presidency,
"We really do need, Dr. Stan, an American, somebody who understands law and American form of government, to run for president; and I really believe that at this point, there is not such a person in any of the major parties ... because none of them give the slightest fig, I believe, about being loyal, and being faithful, to the Constitution of the United States, and I believe that someone needs to do that."

In response to recent expansions in federal funding of education and the Medicare program, Peroutka explained how federal involvement went beyond Constitutional limits,
"Article I Section 8 lays out those programs for which Congress may tax and spend money, and education just is not listed there. Education may in fact be a good thing, but the federal government has no business being there. If you have no authority to be there, if you can't do it constitutionally, you are not going to do it right. So, that's really a theme of our campaign here, Dr. Stan: they can't do it right, because they can't do it constitutionally."

Peroutka later explained, "The Constitution is a big stop sign that says, `Federal government, here is where you stop.' That's the way that began, and that's what we, frankly, need to return to."

Dr. Monteith and Mr. Peroutka also discussed the work of the Institute on the Constitution, a non-partisan organization that educates the electorate on the founding documents of the United States government, along with their historical and philosophical premises.

With the endorsement of Howard Phillips, the Constitution Party nominee in 2000, Peroutka expressed confidence in becoming the next standard-bearer for the Constitution Party, "I intend to be the candidate for the Constitution Party come next June when they have their convention."

When the host asked for closing thoughts, Mr. Peroutka offered these words, "America needs to return to an American understanding of law and government. That is to say, the purpose of government is to protect and secure God-given rights, and until we return to that understanding, we're going to be in trouble, and I believe that the Constitution Party and my hopeful candidacy will stand exactly for those principles."

In addition to his professional experience as an attorney and organizer of educational resource organizations, Peroutka served the Reagan administration in the Department of Health and Human Services. He now serves as chairman of the Constitution Party of Maryland and president of the Institute on the Constitution.

An audio file of this interview is available from Radio Liberty at http://66.36.228.157:8080/sw_archives/rliberty/rl12-15-03a.rm. This interview was broadcast live on the Internet and affiliate radio programs.


Other sources: Politcs1
American Independent Party of California News & Views
Constitution Party of Florida


TOPICS: Announcements; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; aip; billofrights; bush; clinton; constitution; constitutionparty; cpot; cpow; decision2004; education; election2004; electionpresident; freedomofreligion; howardphillips; iap; iotc; medicare; michaelperoutka; mikeperoutka; peroutka; peroutka2004; peroutka4president; radioliberty; righttolife; stanmonteith; supremecourt; taxpayersparty; tedkennedy; thirdparty; wwwiotconlinecom
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Those who also ran for the nomination are:

William "Bill" Lowry (Michigan)

Bill Lowry started his 2004 Presidential campaign in the America First Party -- the entity founded by the "Buchanan Brigade" folks who broke away from the Reform Party in 2002. But, when the AFP imploded in 2003, Lowry quickly jumped to the Constitution Party to continue his conservative campaign for President. Lowry is a "Born Again" Christian, a divorced father of two children, a "Chartered Herbalist" and touts 25 years experience in various business and sales managerial positions. As for his political resume, Lowry lost prior races for State House and a town office and was briefly a GOP hopeful for Michigan Governor in 1994. Lowry's campaign was largely internet-based -- and few within the CP's leadership viewed him as having any real chance of winning the party's Presidential nomination. He withdrew from the race in September 2003, explaining that his "decision to end the campaign is wholly based on my failure to achieve target goals that I felt would be needed to mount a credible" campaign.

Lon T. Mabon (Oregon)

Bible teacher and former retirement home owner Lon Mabon has been an strident anti-gay activist in the Religious Right movement since 1986. He started as a conservative Republican -- helped run a 1986 US Senate campaign for a social conservative against a moderate GOP incumbent -- and himself ran as a GOP candidate for US Senate in the 1996 primary. Over the years, Mabon and his conservative Oregon Citizens Alliance have placed a series of state initiatives on the ballot to curtail gay rights. In one court case in 2002, the fiery Mabon was briefly jailed for a few days for contempt of court in 2002 when he refused to with a court order to disclose certain OCA records. Later that same year, he was the Constitution Party's nominee for US Senate (4th place - 2%). Mabon explains his politics as follows: "By Divine Covenantal decree all peoples, tribes, nations and tongues were put under the direct authority of Christ. This does not mean the establishing of a theocracy, for that would require Him to be physically on the earth, but it does mean that during the duration of this Age the separate nations must obey His authority in all things. Therefore, the [government] must consider the righteousness and will of God first and foremost in all of its public policy decisions. I hear the voice of God saying that the [government] must surrender to the requirements of His Holiness. Just as I, an individual soul, must surrender, likewise, the Union and the State must surrender. So must every people, nation, tribe and tongue. So also must every individual living soul. This means that the Governor, U.S. Senators, Representatives and all elected officials should be allowed into office only after they have proven to the Citizens ... that they are indeed obedient to the Will and Holiness of God." Some in the CP leadership speculated that Mabon could be the party's nominee for President if Michael Peroutka ultimately declines to enter the race. But, as it appears Peroutka is running, it is unlikely Mabon would oppose him.

Howard Phillips (Virginia)

Howard Phillips is the founder of Constitution Party -- formerly named the US Taxpayers Party -- and was its nominee for President in 1992, 1996 and 2000. A Harvard grad from a Northeastern Jewish family (although he later converted to Christianity), Phillips almost seems a stereotypical anomaly among his ardent base of Religious Right supporters. Phillips -- a longtime GOP activist and high-ranking Nixon Administration official -- quit the Republican Party in 1974 when he founded the Conservative Caucus (a group he still chairs). He is also President of Policy Analysis, Inc., a conservative public policy research organization. In each of his three prior runs for President, Phillips had hoped that party would attract a "big name" candidate at the head of its ticket: Pat Buchanan in 1992 and 1996 and either Senator Bob Smith or Ambassador Alan Keyes in 2000. Yet, despite public flirtations by those courted individuals, in each instance their candidacies failed to materialize -- and Phillips became the nominee each time (usually to prevent gadfly hopefuls from capturing the nomination by default). In 2003, Phillips endorsed Michael Peroutka (above) for the Presidential nomination. Phillips also said that it was his intent that the party nominate a Presidential candidate in 2004 other than himself. Other related links include Issues & Strategy Bulletin (Phillips' newsletter),

61 posted on 01/01/2004 11:26:08 PM PST by CWOJackson
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Another also ran who just couldn't make up his mind:

Sterling D. Allan (Utah)

Sterling Allan jumped into the Libertarian Presidential contest in October 2003. One month later, he exited the LP contest and entered the race for the Constitution Party nomination. Allan -- a former activist in Independent American Party of Utah (and an IAP nominee for State House in 1990) -- could essentially be described as a theocratic candidate. Of course, that would be within his own vision of what God is mandating as a self-described "Davidic Servant." From his various campaign websites (linked above and below), Allan is dedicated to establishing "Zion", which he defines as "the gospel and government of God working in harmony for the improvement and sanctification of all things. The kingdom of heaven on earth." As for his political views, he explains: "I agree with most of the Republican platform, to which the party gives but lip service, while their actions bespeak more of a move toward a cradle-to-grave socialist state." Where he gets a bit ... umm ... different is when he wrote that his own 2004 candidacy was "foretold in Alphabetics Bible Code." Born and raised as a Mormon, the LDS Church excommunicated Allan for "apostasy" (extremist beliefs related to his religious writings) in 1993. Since then, he has devoted nearly all his time to working to create his vision of God's Kingdom on Earth (and he also sells survivalist emergency supplies online). He also maintains that his election is essential to avoid the coming of World War III. See his various sites for more information: SterlingDAllan.com (personal site), Patriot Saints for the Kingdon of God on Earth (Allan's organization), GreaterThings.com (another Allan organization), RemnantSaints.com (another Allan organization), the Remnant Saints Inter-Continental Congress (another Allan organization), the International Patriot Alliance (another Allan organization), JosephPrep.com (Allan's company), and many, many more. Allan has almost zero chance of capturing the CP nomination. He also intends to seek the Presidential nominations of the the US Independent American Party and other conservative parties in order to run as a "fusion" candidate. Allan wrote that the reason he quit the Libertarian contest was because of the LP's "stance on social issues and lack of acknowledgement that a group of people willfully united takes on a life of its own and has rights."

62 posted on 01/01/2004 11:28:52 PM PST by CWOJackson
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To: The_Eaglet
I've always thought the Constitution party folks were dead right, but I have also always wondered why they didn't run as Republicans where they could not only actually get elected, but also help keep/make the GOP more conservative. Why woud they risk being spoilers when they must know Republicans are fighting, not just Democrats, but the unions, left-wing activists and the media.

Why wouldn't they help conservatives instead of attempting to mortally wound us? Weird.

63 posted on 01/01/2004 11:34:01 PM PST by Deb (My Tag Skies to Gotham & Con-Fabs With Net Prexies)
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To: politicalwit
Party loyalty has NOTHING at all to do with it.

Fringe party candidates have no chance ,whatsoever, of EVER winning a national election;let alone the presidency. Even should every single FREEPER and their family members, old enough to vote, voted for a fringe candidate ( and they wouldn't all agree to which fringe party would suit! ), a candidate from, one of the two major parties would still win. That's reality.

And, President Bush AS taken some baby steps and shall take more. We didn't get to this point, quickly, and incrimentalism is the ONLY way we can someday attain our goals.No, it probably won't happen in our lifetimes, but it took decades to get here from there.

Look up the definition of " pseudo "...you don't know/understand it!

64 posted on 01/01/2004 11:35:37 PM PST by nopardons
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To: onyx; Extremely Extreme Extremist; John R. (Bob) Locke; agrandis; TheEaglehasLanded; ...
Actually if you support someone like Michael Peroutka you _are_ grooming a more conservative candidate for 2008.
65 posted on 01/01/2004 11:38:55 PM PST by The_Eaglet (Conservative chat on IRC: http://searchirc.com/search.php?F=exact&T=chan&N=33&I=conservative)
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To: The_Eaglet
"Actually if you support someone like Michael Peroutka you _are_ grooming a more conservative candidate for 2008."

Of course, we've seen how successful all those protest third party votes in the last six elections have been in getting you a GOP candidate you can support...NOT.

Actually you should be paying more attention to 2004 and less to 2008.

66 posted on 01/01/2004 11:46:52 PM PST by CWOJackson
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To: The_Eaglet; Jim Robinson
Actually if you support someone like Michael Peroutka you _are_ grooming a more conservative candidate for 2008.

OMG. Fantasy and delusion on a grand scale.

Two party system. Choose one, or, for the foreseeable future, find yourself on the sidelines of politics.

Better to support and work for a Repubilcan conservative. Your third party people cannot win. Maybe you like to lose? Maybe you enjoy bitching?

Between the dead and the illegal voters cancelling a number of votes, I'll certainly not waste my precious vote. I'll vote for the Republican every time.

67 posted on 01/01/2004 11:58:32 PM PST by onyx (Your secrets are safe with me and all my friends.)
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To: Deb
I've always thought the Constitution party folks were dead right, but I have also always wondered why they didn't run as Republicans where they could not only actually get elected, but also help keep/make the GOP more conservative. Why woud they risk being spoilers when they must know Republicans are fighting, not just Democrats, but the unions, left-wing activists and the media

I've found that many in the Constitution Party do support conservatives in other political parties. For example, Howard Phillips supported Bob Barr earlier campaigns, and I also supported him. Many support Ron Paul. In the past I have supported the campaigns of conservative Republicans such as Marsha Blackburn.

My personal approach is to look at the statements and record of individual candidates, and not necessarily vote by party ticket.

68 posted on 01/02/2004 12:02:51 AM PST by The_Eaglet (Conservative chat on IRC: http://searchirc.com/search.php?F=exact&T=chan&N=33&I=conservative)
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To: CWOJackson; born again; vetwife
Of course, we've seen how successful all those protest third party votes in the last six elections have been in getting you a GOP candidate you can support...NOT.

Actually, I voted for GHW Bush in 1992 and that didn't get me anywhere. In retrospect I wish I had voted to hold him accountable, but I didn't know about Howard Phillips or Ron Paul.

I'm not going to reward the current Bush for his usurpations , either. We need a president who will veto unconstituional legislation, not sign it. If there are any other candidates with such courage, please let us know and I would consider them.

69 posted on 01/02/2004 12:10:38 AM PST by The_Eaglet (Conservative chat on IRC: http://searchirc.com/search.php?F=exact&T=chan&N=33&I=conservative)
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To: The_Eaglet
If you can't manage loyalty to one party and work to make it the strongest party possible, you're kidding yourself into thinking you matter.

All the crap about "voting your principles" and "people over party" is garbage. Mental masturbation. But I love all the lofty, superior smugness of those "principled conservatives" who pride themselves in their lack commitment to the only party capable of actually doing something to stop the Left.

That Constitution party is relevant...really.

70 posted on 01/02/2004 12:24:37 AM PST by Deb (My Tag Skies to Gotham & Con-Fabs With Net Prexies)
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To: billbears
"And what do children do when faced with a decision between two items? They pick the lesser of the two knowing full welll neither suits their needs."

I'd say the children have it over the 3rd party ideologues. At least the children can see that there are TWO REAL choices.

Whereas the 3rd party ideologues LACK the common sense held by mere children. The child knows that the 3rd and 4th choices are not viable.

But the ideologue rests in intellectually comforting denial. So self-satisfied by his superiority. So untainted by compromise.

Always unaccountable for the problems, because they aren't his fault. Because he didn't vote for the winning "compromiser."

I for one am sure glad that Harry Browne (blame America first) or Pat Buchanan (blame Israel first) aren't responsible for the real world task of governing and defending America.

At best wasted votes; at worst votes which put the bad guys in power.
71 posted on 01/02/2004 12:26:54 AM PST by truth_seeker
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To: The_Eaglet
"If there are any other candidates with such courage, please let us know and I would consider them."

Okay, just go back to sleep.

72 posted on 01/02/2004 1:04:22 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: The_Eaglet
I wouldn't pay the "You are just throwing your vote away" or "You are a fringer type", crowd any mind. The people who are peeved at Bush for all of his socialist and illegal-alien garbage, will not be voting for Bush anyway, which BTW is about 90+ percent of the Independents(33+ percent of the voting public) and a few Conservatives. But that won't stop them from calling you a traitor or Dem-Hugger, remember it's your vote not theirs so their asinine statements mean squat in the grand scheme of things.

And if Bush does lose the 2004 Presidential race, he will have no one to blame but himself. Three years ago if you had written what you did or even mentioned not voting for Bush I would have been all over you, but that was then. Some of us learn, some do not. The ones that have not will momentarily be posting as to how I am not a True Conservative,I am a Dem-Hugger or some other such nonsense, such is life.

73 posted on 01/02/2004 4:23:06 AM PST by JustAnAmerican
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To: BlkConserv
...No conservative President can dismantle all the socialist programs and federal departments with a snap of his/her fingers - get real...

True, but I wish President Bush would at least try to move in that direction.

74 posted on 01/02/2004 5:50:04 AM PST by GunsareOK
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To: BlkConserv
No conservative President can dismantle all the socialist programs and federal departments with a snap of his/her fingers - get real.

No, but the current "conservative" President has done a great job of increasing the size and power of the socialist programs and federal departments with a "snap of his fingers" and the help of the current "conservative" Congress.

75 posted on 01/02/2004 6:04:29 AM PST by jgrubbs
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To: The_Eaglet
I wonder if Peroutka will make a more formal announcement at the Biblical Foundations of American Law Conference, which will be held on Saturday, January 24, in Lancaster, PA. He will be there with Justice Roy Moore, Alan Keyes, Jim Clymer and Howard Phillips.

http://www.constitutionpartypa.com/upcoming.cfm
76 posted on 01/02/2004 6:27:04 AM PST by jgrubbs
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To: nopardons
Yearning for an immediate roll back, of at least 80+ years of liberal incrimentalism, is childish and delusional.

And asking someone to vote for a party that has no intent by their actions of rolling back 80+ years of liberal incrementalism is not only childish and delusional, it's flat out stupid

77 posted on 01/02/2004 8:01:16 AM PST by billbears (Deo Vindice)
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To: inkling; The_Eaglet
We are a nation at war. This is a time for serious people. We don't have the time to waste on third-party vanity candidates. Wait several years until the grown-ups solve the big problems, then idiots like this guy can get back in the sandbox to play.

In other words, "serious people" can only focus on one problem at a time. Your ideal "grown-up" candidate will worry about restoring our constitutional republic if and when the war on terror is over - and not a moment before. Shouldn't we expect a real leader to be able to multi-task?

78 posted on 01/02/2004 8:09:48 AM PST by sheltonmac
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To: inkling
We are a nation at war. This is a time for serious people. We don't have the time to waste on third-party vanity candidates. Wait several years until the grown-ups solve the big problems, then idiots like this guy can get back in the sandbox to play. 4 posted on 01/01/2004 9:57:35 PM PST by inkling

Needs repeating.

79 posted on 01/02/2004 8:12:00 AM PST by Ann Archy
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To: nopardons
Politics is the realm of the possible!

Yearning for an immediate roll back, of at least 80+ years of liberal incrimentalism, is childish and delusional.

Supporting and voting for a fringe of the fringe party,when so much hangs on the outcome of this election, is suicidal!

Needed repeating... often! Your statements cut to the heart of the foolishness and danger the conservative third-party pushers pose for our country right now. "True conservatives" should be the MOST afraid of America being permanently subjugated to the U.N. and international socialism ... yet our purists seem desperate to kill off the GOP, the only entity standing in the way of this happening!

80 posted on 01/02/2004 9:08:20 AM PST by Tamzee (Pennsylvanians for Bush! Join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PA4BushCheney/)
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