Why CAP?
CAP Manifesto
CAP's Founder
How to Help
Schedule a CAP Speaker
How CAP would eliminate the Personal Income Tax
Interesting Websites
Because the Republicans do not see the political merit of being unequivocally on the right side of the great moral issue of our era, either. Incredibly, just as the Democrats totally depart the playing field, the Republicans begin withdrawing to the sideline, too, babbling about the need to have a "big tent." During their 1996 national convention, the Republicans expended more energy avoiding "divisiveness" over abortion than on any other goal.
Makes one wonder if the GOP's critics aren't right when they call the Republicans the "stupid party." (In 1992 the Republicans gave prime time to "divisive" Pat Buchanan and got a big bounce in the polls for Bush against Clinton. In 1996 they muzzled Buchanan, and Dole remained in a double-digit lag against Clinton. Go figure.) In any event, the Republican Party is historically the party of big business. A new party replacing the Democrats will have the potential to form a new electoral majority by appealing to small business, independent professionals and blue collar workers--and by reaffirming its commitment to the most important thing in the world to all these economic groupings: the family.
So, that's the situation. The Democratic Party, given majority status by Franklin Roosevelt, is locked into a quarter- century-old factionalist ideology that is steadily whittling away its base. The Republican Party, given majority status in the middle of the 19th century by the clearsighted moral vision of Abraham Lincoln, is now too nearsighted to see the great moral issue facing politicians at the end of the 20th.
This is not to say that there are not other pressing issues besides abortion facing Americans as we prepare to enter the 21st century. There are many:
The new Constitution Action Party will grapple seriously with these issues, and it will do so with a passionate commitment to its principles. If you find yourself in sympathy with CAP's Manifesto, then you owe it to yourself, your country and your children to join together with others of a like mind in forming the majority party of the 21st century.
CAP will make every effort to roll back the powers of the federal government, and to reduce its potential for becoming tyrannical. But we will studiously avoid giving any encouragement to the idea that federal tyranny can be prevented by force of arms. It cannot. The founder of CAP is a Vietnam veteran who knows that pitched warfare between the armed forces of the United States and the so-called militias can end only in the swift crushing of the militias. And such conflict would create political forces leading even more rapidly to a federal tyranny. The only sure route to restoration of the freedoms Americans have always treasured is through the ballot box. Americans disgusted with the steady growth of centralized power should repudiate the major parties which seek or tolerate the consolidation of federal power. They should join CAP, identify with its manifesto and vote accordingly. In the meantime, they should join all other decent Americans in condemning the "evil cowards" who murder innocent children with their bombs. That much, at least, the President has gotten right.
At the very top of CAP's list of priorities will be the restoration of the constitutional order bequeathed to us by our forefathers. This priority is reflected in the new party's name: the Constitution Action Party.
Why the Constitution Action Party? Because the traditionalist camp has heretofore been marked, above all, by its inaction. It has analyzed, theorized, deprecated, described, prescribed, proscribed, inscribed, ascribed and circumscribed, but it has failed miserably at the indispensable task of coming up with specific solutions for specific problems, mobilizing popular support for the idea and getting it done.
Longtime readers of the various publications of the Right might not have serious disagreements with their analysis of the country's problems. But we would be hard put to cite practical and particular ideas they have set forth to solve the problems.
CAP set forth a series of such practical solutions in its newsletter, published between August 1995 and August 1996. (See How to Help for information on ordering back issues.)