Last April, I put together a platform for what I believe would be a great party for conservatives. What I did was gather information on the major conservative parties - The Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party - and brought their common ground together along with key points of the New Federalist Platform at Reagan2020.org.

The key here was to find the common ground. For example, the new party would not take a position as a party on an issue like abortion because there are many conservatives on both sides of the issue. A Constitution Party-type person would tell you that abortion should be illegal in all cases because there is no situation that would justify taking a human life in violation of the Fifth Amendment. A Libertarian-type person would posit that the government shouldn't be involved in such matters, interpreting the Fifth Amendment differently, and standing on the idea that there is no other provision in the Constitution to justify the federal government being involved.

Both of these positions are arrived at through a direct interpretation of the Constitution, and therefore are both valid for Federalists. Whether pro-life or pro-abortion, the decision regarding the position the individual will take is dictated by the Constitution, not by some political party or other faction. Each Federalist makes his own decision, and the Constitution is the standard by which those decisions are made.

Recently, we had some suggestions for possible improvements to the platform. These were largely good ideas, but some missed the point. It was suggested, for example, that highways and buildings should not be named after living politicians. Buildings and highways need to have names, and those who build them or finance the projects should be able to name them without interference. To implement this would have been foolish at best given the concept of what this platform seeks to accomplish.

Another suggestion was to disarm citizens who had completed sentences and been released from prison for committing felonies. Again, the Constitution would disagree. The Second Amendment does not make exceptions for anyone, and the due process clause isn't correctly interpreted to deprive citizens of their freedoms once their sentences are complete. If they cannot be trusted, then their release into the populace in the first place is what should be questioned, not their rights once free.

Again, the idea of the platform was to seek the common ground among the conservative factions in this country. Much of the platform is taken directly from its parent platforms, and there should be plenty there for conservatives to rally around as we begin to point America in a new direction, safely away from the Republicans and Democrats.

Hopefully, everyone who loves America will consider the concepts set forth, and take them as their own. We will all be better off if we do.

RWR