Why am I running as a member of the Constitution Party?

The simple answer is that I’m registered to vote as a member of the Constitution Party. I have been since around the time of the 2004 presidential election, in which I voted for the Constitution Party nominee. I had left the Republican Party a few years earlier in reaction to the rise of the neoconservatives within that party. The George W. Bush administration confirmed my opinion that the Republican Party had become a vehicle for followers of a political philosophy which devalues civil liberties and ignores national borders (including those of the United States).

I do not agree with the Constitution Party on every issue. In fact, I completely reject some beliefs that some Constitution Party members probably see as central to their philosophy. I do, though, agree with the Party on most individual issues (if you want to know my position on any specific issue, please ask and I’ll do my best to explain) and I think the Constitution Party could serve a valuable role in U.S. and Louisiana politics. In the coming years, as traditional conservatives continue to be taken for granted by the Republican establishment, I expect that the Constitution Party or some similar party will attract many more ideological refugees.

My ideal political party would probably be somewhere between the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party. I had considered starting such a party (and maybe calling it the “Bill of Rights Party”) to serve as an ideological home for secular paleoconservatives, Rothbardian libertarians, and South Park (ex-)Republicans. I still think that would be a good idea, though it might be easier to simply take over the Louisiana Reform Party, which seems to be adrift right now, and make it into the sort of party I just described.

If anyone wants to take that idea and run with it, please feel free to do so.