The National Committee of the Constitution Party, meeting in Harrisburg, PA, has, by unanimous

resolution, adopted on April 30, 2011, put itself on record urging former Virginia Congressman, Virgil Goode, to seek the Presidential nomination of the Constitution Party!

Immediately upon conclusion of Virgil Goode’s speech; one in which he extolled the virtues

of protecting America’s national sovereignty, condemned foreign aid and demanded the the United States start taking care of America’s problem first instead of meddling in the affairs of

the rest of the world, providing a rousing climax to the 2011 Spring National

Committee of the Constitution Party; a motion from the floor was made, urging Goode to seek the Constitution Party’s Presidential nomination. The motion was quickly seconded and was passed unanimously by the party’s national committee.

This resolution should not be confused with a nomination (which can only be made by the national convention–the highest authority of the national party) nor even an outright

endorsement, however it can certainly be viewed as a statement of deep

appreciation for Virgil Goode’s activities in the Constitution Party over the past two years and may equally be viewed as a clear statement that the National Committee views Virgil Goode as an excellent choice to be the Constitution Party nominee for President of the United States and for that reason strongly encourages him to seek its nomination.

Goode has made it clear to members in private and public comments at the meeting and prior thereto that he has a strong interest in seeking the party’s nomination, though he has made no public announcement to that effect as of yet. Many Constitution Party leaders are hopeful that Goode has a strong campaign well underway by the time of the Constitution Party National Convention in mid-April of 2012, and it was hoped that this resolution would encourage him to take the steps necessary to become a full-fledged candidate.

By every measure…attendence…energy and enthusiasm….reception for the speakers….and simply in terms of overall accomplishment…the Spring 2011 Constitution Party National Committee Meeting and Conference in Harrisburg was considered a major triumph! Many said it was the best they ever attended, though travel for many of the members coming from the South and Midwest got off to a very rocky start due to storms across much those parts of the country.

Once everyone was finally assembled–and even before some arrived– the meeting hit a positive stride on Friday morning with dramatic presentations by Ohio’s Robert Owens, and Pennyslvania’s Peg Luksik on Friday morning followed by a tour of the beautiful

Pennsylvania State Capitol Building. On Friday afternoon John McManuns, president of the John Birch Society, provided a sobering picture of the history of the United Nations and

Chelene Nightingale

put the magic of her dynamic personality on display during a

powerfully motivational address where she reviewed her 2010 campaign for Governor in California and exhorted everyone to continue to make the greatest possible effort to build the Constitution Party.

The Friday Night banquet featured a lively auction conducted by Midwestern StatesCo-Chairmen, Randy Stufflebeam (IL) and Scott Bartlett (SD) which raised money for the national committee’s operational fund.

The featured speaker, Sheriff Richard Mack received a thunderous standing ovation after he completed his address on the role of the County Sheriff in saving our Republic. Mack endorsed numerous Constitution Party candidates in 2010, It is certainly hoped that he will not be a

stranger at Constitution Party events in the future. Many at the meeting voiced a hope that he would play a high profile role for the Constitution Party in the upcoming 2012 election.

Also highlighting the banquet were two awards presented to three term national CP chairman, Jim Clymer–the America First Award presented on behalf the the Constitution Party’s National Veterans Coalition and the Excellence in Leadership Award presented on behalf of the Lancaster (PA) County Committee of the Constitution Party.

The energy remained at a high level on Saturday the 3oth. The morning was kicked-off with an informative and entertaining portrait of Pennsylvania provided by Jim Panyard, former President of the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Association, followed by an intriguing and warmly received review of the current political situation, including the work of the so-called Human Rights Tribunals, provided by Victor Chiasson a political conservative from Ottawa Canada with very close ties to the Constitution Party. Without a doubt, Dr.Taylor Haynes of Wyoming, who secured about 8% of the vote as a write-in candidate for Governor in 2010 was one of the real crowd favorites. A newcomer to the Constitution Party, Dr. Haynes is a man of enormous personal accomplishment–any one of the items on his lengthy resume’ would probably

thrill most us–yet great humility. His discussion of the 2010 campaign, which he centered on the Constitution and the Ten Commandments, inspired everyone in attendance. provided an information packed overview of the situation in the

Darrell Castle

Middle East raising very justifiable questions concerning the role that has been played by the United States over the years in the part of the world. His presentation brought specific praise from the last speaker, former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode who, as noted above said that it is time that America start taking care of its own serious problems rather than trying to

cure the rest of worlds ails. The general consensus was that it was Goode’s finest and most powerful address since he first started attending Constitution Party national meetings in

2009 and was a portent of great things to come.

This is the result of a conversation between three WA state leaders:

The Constitution Party motto is “Principle over Politics ”? What does that mean?

In general, it means that we don’t play favorites, that we will vote for any committed

Constitutionist without regard to political party or no party affiliation.

While we agree that we, as a party, need to continue to put principle before politics, when people who appear to be ’Constitutional’ signup to run as a Republican, they instantly become a bit suspect, though Ron Paul and Roy Moore still pass the test, in many minds.

Another aspect of this is the fact, that while we don’t want to have a partisan mentality, if we are serious about building a viable alternative to the two establishment parties, we can’t afford to back down and not run a candidate just because a constitutionally-correct person decides to run on another party’s ticket. If we do that, we marginalize ourselves and reinforce the perception that we’re not a real party, that we are not a real alternative, that we’re only a protest vote to be used on those occasions when a person just can’t stomach the alternatives offered by the other parties.

At this point, we kind of feel like we’ve been around long enough and have proven ourselves to be serious about what we are doing. We feel that the Republican Party has sufficiently proven itself to be the antitheses of Constitutional conservatism. Therefore, we feel that we have every right to field a candidate in every race and should not be asked to back down just because someone with a Constitutional record decides to run on another party’s ticket.

If two people with Constitutional records both decide to run on different party tickets, which one should be expected to back down? The one from the smaller party with a lesser chance of winning? Or the one running on the ticket of an un-Constitutional party.

If we back down and tell well-meaning conservative folk everywhere to go support the Republican, then we will be subconsciously causing those people to think it’s okay to vote Republican – that voting Republican is what conservatives do – so they may end up voting for a dozen new world order humanist socialists for other offices because we encouraged them to vote for the constitutional presidential candidate.

We are inclined to say that all other parties have had their chance and have proven themselves to not be the valid vehicle for restoring a Constitutional Republic. We have a right to put a constitutionally-correct candidate on the ballot in every race and if a constitutionally-minded person wants to run for a given office, I invite them to run on the ticket of the only constitutionally-correct political party. If they choose to run on another party’s ticket, I have to ask them why they are choosing to oppose our Constitutional endeavors.

Whether Ron Paul, or Roy Moore run as Republicans, I have perfect confidence in the Republican Party’s establishment leadership that they won’t let either man become their party’s nominee. If they run, good people would spend all of their time and money supporting good men in the primaries only to leave themselves too emotional, physically, and financially

exhausted to support a real Constituionist in the general election. In that light, we have to question whether having such men running as Republicans in the primary would actually hurt the Constitutional cause. Good people will support and put their hope in such men all the way up to the Republican convention, then, at the last minute, two months before the election, they will find themselves without a Constitutional choice. And by then, our party’s candidate would have suffered from a lack of funding and support because people were busy giving it to their Republican hopefuls. Our party’s candidate would not look like much of an alternative, and at the last minute, Mitt Romney or Newt “New World Order” Gingrich will be trotted out as the only man who can save us all from the evil Democrat . . . . oh well, you already know how that story goes.

So, we are still in favor of putting “Principle Over Politics”, but we also question the wisdom of backing down and conceding that ”we can’t win, so you should go support Ron or Roy, then when they don’t make it and we can’t win because we didn’t get your support, then you can vote for Newt.”

GIVE US YOUR TAKE ON THE MATTER!