Citizens Party of the United States - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Citizens Party of the United States (Citizens Party) is a contemporary political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Founded by Michael Thompson in Wayne, Pennsylvania

Wayne, Pennsylvania

Wayne is an unincorporated community located on the Main Line, centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. While the center of Wayne is in Radnor Township, Wayne extends into both Tredyffrin Township in Chester County and Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County...

in 2004 as the New American Independent Party (NAIP), the first meeting took place in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

The Village of Valley Forge is an unincorporated settlement located on the west side of Valley Forge National Historical Park at the confluence of Valley Creek and the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania, United States. The remaining village is in Schuylkill Township of Chester County, but once...

on the day of the general election in 2004. The New American Independent Party officially changed its name to the Citizens Party in January 2011. The full transition to the Citizens Party lasted several months.

Ideology

The Citizens Party claims to seek a more sustainable, self-reliant America through a platform combination of liberal, moderate

Moderate

In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who is not extreme, partisan or radical. In recent years, political moderates has gained traction as a buzzword....

, and conservative positions. The Citizens Party focuses heavily on middle class

Middle class

The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

economic issues and government reform. The Citizens Party supports campaign finance reform and does not accept campaign contributions from political action committee

Political action committee

In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...

s (PACs). super PACs, labor unions or registered lobbyists.

Member engagement

The Citizens Party describes itself as the most open and accessible political party in the United States for the average citizen. According to the party website, the average American will have the opportunity to rank the critical issues and help craft the party platform. Citizens can also submit questions and vote on questions through social media

Social media

The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...

that all Citizens Party presidential candidates are required to answer before the convention. Members of the public can suggest potential candidates and draft candidates to run as party candidates. The party claims that it is the first and only political party to require the use of social media

Social media

in the party's presidential nominating process by requiring their presidential and vice-presidential candidates to achieve a minimum number of online endorsements through social media

Social media

before qualifying for the nominating convention ballot.

Main Street Platform

The following is from the 2011 Citizens Party platform. The platform is copied verbatim; the numerous instances of inappropriate capitalization that occur below also occur on the website.

Support fair trade agreements (not free trade agreements)
Get out of the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...

, Central American Free Trade Agreement and North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
Eliminate the U.S. trade deficit
Stop outsourcing American jobs and technology
End tax breaks that reward companies for shipping jobs overseas
Put in place a national manufacturing strategy
Encourage the purchase of American-made goods
Rebuild and redesign crumbling national infrastructure
Keep vital American infrastructure in the hands of American companies
Invest in research and development
Secure U.S. ports and borders
Seek U.S. energy independence through clean, renewable domestic sources
Pass real financial reform (bring back Glass-Steagall Act and end "too big to fail
Too Big to Fail
Too Big to Fail is a television drama film in the United States broadcast on HBO on May 23, 2011. It is based on the non-fiction book Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The TV film was directed by Curtis Hanson...

")
No more Wall Street bailouts
Audit the Federal Reserve
Eliminate the national debt
Balance Federal, State and Local budgets and end wasteful pork spending
End corporate special interest/lobbyist influence over elections and the legislative process.
Create a fiscally sustainable health care system that dramatically cuts health care costs providing for greater access for legal citizens.
Legalize the use of industrial hemp to boost the agriculture and industrial sectors
Fight employer hiring policies that discriminate against the long term unemployed
Get the unemployed back to work (including the long term unemployed - 99ers)
Protect the family farmer, reduce factory farms
Increase Veteran Benefits (health, job training, education)
Use the U.S. military only when it is in the national interest
Secure the homeland and stop actual terrorist threats
Give local law enforcement and fire companies the funds they need for security and emergency prevention & response
Use natural gas as a bridge fuel until renewable energy is more plentiful with regulations to protect from fracking
Require oil and gas companies to contribute to a special emergency/spill/cleanup fund
Require environmental impact assessments before approval for drilling for oil and natural gas
Promote organic agriculture and a safe food supply
End subsidies that pay farmers not to grow crops
Support involved foreign policy but oppose isolationist and interventionist foreign policy
More common sense neutral stance on Israeli/Palestinian conflict
Seek a stable and sustainable U.S. population
Enforce illegal immigration laws by punishing employers who hire illegal workers.
Common sense H1B and L1 foreign work visa limits to protect jobs in technology and other sectors for Americans
Limit incentives that encourage unsustainable population growth from the influx of illegal foreign nationals
Protect the environment (clean water, air, land) and preserve and expand national parks and wildlife preserves
Uphold the separation between church and state
Preserve social security
Fund education, reform education (all students in all neighborhoods deserve a quality education), make higher education more affordable
Support the right to bear arms
Harsher penalties for gun and weapons crimes
Work to remedy inequalities so we can begin phasing out affirmative action programs- instead use empowerment programs for all citizens.
Create a sensible tax policy with a simplified tax code
Cut taxes through cutting spending - but, no tax cuts during wartime and no tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy
Oppose any attempts to amend U.S. constitution to ban gay marriage
Support an individual's right to same-sex marriage
Support gay rights in anti-discrimination laws such as equal housing laws
Oppose anti-choice legislation, this includes both abortion and end of life issues, i.e., assisted suicide
Post all proposed congressional legislation on the internet for at least 10 days prior to a vote to allow public viewing and input.

Candidates (2012)

Several Citizens Party candidates have already announced for the 2012 elections, including:

James Pirtle for the U.S. Congress (Colorado)
Max Riekse for U.S. President
Mark B. Graham for U.S. President
Keith John Ferguson for U.S. President
Charles Earl Harvey for U.S. President
JL Mealer for U.S. President

The Citizens Party encourages members to start draft campaigns to convince qualified individuals to run for office as Citizens Party candidates. Citizens Party members have started over two dozen 2012 draft campaigns so far including
Dylan Ratigan

Dylan Ratigan

Dylan Jason Ratigan is an American television host primarily covering financial markets, the global economy, and politics. He is host of The Dylan Ratigan Show which airs weekday afternoons on MSNBC. He is also a frequent contributor on The Huffington Post.- Early life :Ratigan was born in the...

(President), Frank McEnulty

Frank McEnulty

Frank Edward McEnulty is an American businessperson and politician. In the 2008 presidential election, he was both the Vice Presidential nominee of the Reform Party of the United States of America and the presidential nominee of the New American Independent Party. His running mate was Bobby...

(President), Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

(U.S. Senate), Hillary Clinton (President), Dawn Stensland (U.S. Congress), Charlie Crist

Charlie Crist

Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician who was the 44th Governor of Florida. Prior to his election as governor, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General...

(President), Pat Choate

Pat Choate

Patrick Choate is an American economist who is perhaps most known for being the 1996 Reform Party Vice President candidate, the running-mate of H. Ross Perot...

(President), Lou Dobbs

Lou Dobbs

Louis Carl "Lou" Dobbs is an American journalist, radio host, television host on the Fox Business Network, and author. He anchored CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight until November 2009 when he announced on the air that he would leave the 24-hour cable news television network.He was born in Texas and lived...

(President), David Walker

David Walker

-Musicians:* Dave Walker , British musician, member of the band Fleetwood Mac* David Walker , American opera singer* David Walker , American singer of Southern Gospel music...

(former U.S. Comptroller General)(President)), Richard Lamm

Richard Lamm

Richard Douglas "Dick" Lamm is an American politician, Certified Public Accountant, college professor, and lawyer. He served three terms as 38th Governor of Colorado as a Democrat and ran for the Reform Party's nomination for President of the United States in 1996.He is currently the Co-Director...

(President), Paul Craig Roberts

Paul Craig Roberts

Paul Craig Roberts is an American economist and a columnist for Creators Syndicate. He served as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration earning fame as a co-founder of Reaganomics. He is a former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and...

(President) and John Medaille (U.S. Senate) among others.

Citizens Questions

The Citizens Party requires all of their declared Presidential candidates to answer a set of "Citizens Questions" at least 30 days before the 2012 Citizens Party National Convention. The "Citizens Questions" are selected from questions submitted by Citizens Party members via the party website or Youtube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

. The party states that the responses to the "Citizens Questions" will be posted on the internet for the public to view.

Previous candidates (2006-2010)

In 2006, Michael Thompson ran as the party's first candidate when he ran for State Representative in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

and received 4% of the vote.

In March 2008, the New American Independent Party nominated Frank McEnulty

Frank McEnulty

as its first presidential

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

candidate. In July, McEnulty also became the vice-presidential

Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

nominee of the Reform Party

Reform Party of the United States of America

The Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...

. He continued his campaign as the NAIP presidential nominee in states where the Reform Party was unable to obtain ballot status. McEnulty received 828 votes (placing 15th of 23 ballot-qualified Presidential tickets nationwide) as the New American Independent Party nominee and 481 votes on the Reform Party ticket (placing 22nd out of 23 ballot-qualified Presidential tickets nationwide).

In October 2009, the NAIP endorsed independent candidate Chris Daggett for Governor

Governor of New Jersey

The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...

of New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. Daggett finished third with 6% of the vote.

In 2010, the NAIP endorsed Jana Kemp, an Independent candidate running for Governor of Idaho.

In 2011, the Citizens Party announced that the party would no longer endorse independent candidates or candidates of other political parties.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Ideology

Member engagement

Main Street Platform

Candidates (2012)

Citizens Questions

Previous candidates (2006-2010)

External links