Principles…Schrinciples

From http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=661


Principles…Schrinciples

“…Principles? Of course I have principles! And if you don’t like ‘em,…well…I have other principles.” — Groucho Marx

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By Michael Anthony Peroutka, Publisher

Maybe I’m just a sucker. Or maybe I’m just overly sentimental. Or perhaps I’m naïve. In public speeches and many private conversations, I was led to believe that the leadership of the Constitution Party would stand firmly behind the 100% pro-life platform plank.
However, when faced with a tough decision to defend this pure pro-life position, the National Committee failed to stand up to the task. After the leadership of the Nevada affiliate was caught in a deception revealing that their “no exceptions” platform plank on abortion was in conflict with a self-published voter’s guide indicating that they would allow exceptions in cases of rape, incest, “fetal deformity,” “life/health of the mother,” the Constitution Party National Committee, by failing to declare Nevada to have disaffiliated itself, now has condoned exceptions to it’s pro-life platform.

Was it just me? Was I dreaming to think that there was a political party that would be a true alternative to the Republicrats?
Could I have been so wrong? Could I have been this far ahead of my audience? Or maybe I was way, way behind.

What did I miss? What did I overlook?
When I proclaimed on national television and on many radio programs that the Constitution Party was 100% pro-life with no exceptions, no member of the Executive Committee or the National Committee called me or wrote to me or took me aside to say that I was wrong or mistaken or had overstated our case a little bit. No one did anything like this. My statements on the party’s pro life stance stood as the official word without objection or correction.
If there was a quiet understanding – a sort of gentlemen’s agreement among party insiders that we would put on a pro-life “face” but not defend it vigorously – then I didn’t see the wink. I didn’t get the “secret handshake”. I was out there happily and sincerely promoting what I believed to be true, and real, and strong, and unfailing – our commitment to stop the American holocaust by defending the innocent unborn.

But when it came to light that the chairman of our Nevada affiliate was defining “innocent life” in a way that excluded babies conceived of rape and incest and when it further came to light that other Nevada officials – including a former State chairman – had run for office on a platform that allowed for some abortions – it was time for the National Committee to declare Nevada out of bounds. Instead, the National Committee decided that it would rather live with this dissonance. Some party leaders declared during debate that this issue is not sufficiently important to divide us. We should just “move on” and “build the party”.
Why?
The Party of compromise – the Party of “Schrinciples” — already exists. It’s called the Republican Party. It’s also called the Democratic Party. The Republican Party is very successful at deceiving voters into thinking that it will stand on principle and then acts completely in its own interest, stealing money and aggrandizing power. We certainly don’t need yet another party to follow this pattern. We need an alternative. We need people who, when faced with crisis, will act on principle – not schrinciple.

Once again, I call on the good people, and the good leaders, of the Constitution Party to come to their senses, see what has happened here, and act to repair it. The American people desperately need an alternative. With God’s help, and His blessing, we can be that alternative. But we have to do something that God can bless. We have to stand on the Biblical — and American — principle of the right-to-life that extends to every unborn.