The Constitution Party of the United States

In 1992 a group of paleo-conservatives believed that the Republican party had strayed from its conservative ideals, split from the party and formed a new third party called the U.S. tax payers party. In 1999 the party officially changed it's name to the Constitution Party of the United States. Some state affiliated parties operate under different names. Nationally it has the third highest number of registered voters after the Republicans and Democrat. As of July of 2006 it had about 358,000 registered voters.

The Constitution Party of the United States believes that the federal government has grown exponentially out of size and should strictly adhere to the contents and ideals of the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. It also takes a very conservative position on social issues believing the US should base its policies on biblical principles.

The Constitutionalist have a number of positions considered out side of the main stream by the two major political parties. When it comes to fiscal policy, they believe in greatly reducing the budget of the United States by eliminating regulations and cutting spending on discretionary programs. They believe that most of these programs are unconstitutional under Article 1 of the constitution and the tenth amendment. They would also eliminate the Department of Education, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Health and Human Services, and foreign aid.

They believe that the United States should have a very non-interventionist foreign policy and enact somewhat of a Monroe Doctrine. They wish to decrease our country's participation in the United Nations, withdrawal from many treaties, and reducing foreign troop presence and aid dramatically.

Immigration is one of the big issues for the Constitution Party. They are strongly against immigration, both illegal and legal, and actually want a more restrictive policy on legal immigration. The party wants to end all welfare and taxpayer funded aid to illegal immigrants. They even call for the use of federal troops to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border.

Since its formation the Constitution Party has not had very many election successes. Currently they hold very few positions. In fact, there is only one state level representative and four county level representatives that the Party's website discusses. However in the presidential election in 2004, the number of voters voting for the constitution party increased by 83% as opposed to their 2000 campaign. Currently the Constitution Party. Has ballot access in 14 states.