It is not the function of government to meddle in the conduct of private enterprise and it is equally inappropriate for the government to rescue failing business.

The federal government is notoriously inept at running a business. The solution is to divest the government of all commercial enterprises and sell them to competitive, private businesses.

The primary concern of government at all levels should be the safety of the lives and property of law-abiding citizens, not the rights of criminals. The most effective deterrent against crime is the certainty of apprehension, speedy conviction, and fitting punishment. Fitting the punishment to the crime requires restoration of the death penalty for crimes of violence and for treason. It also rules out plea bargaining and demands greater uniformity of sentencing for convictions for the same crime. We support the autonomy of local law enforcement.

We favor restitution laws, where possible, requiring criminals to reimburse those injured by their crimes. They should also be required to perform useful work to defray the costs of the imprisonment. We oppose the continued moves of the federal law enforcement to federalize crimes heretofore under the jurisdiction of the states.

The present crisis in education must be solved in stages and at several levels. First, so that no parents need defy the law by refusing to send their children to schools of which they disapprove, compulsory attendance laws should be repealed. Second, the control of schools should be returned to the local system by congressional limitation of the jurisdiction of federal courts and by an end to busing for racial balance. Third, the federal government should be eliminated entirely from interference in local schools by putting an end to federal aid. There should be no federal government control of textbooks. The selection of textbooks and approval of their content must be the responsibility of parents and local boards of education. We oppose the federal government's role in education including, but not limited to, the Federal Department of Education, "Goals 2000", "No Child Left Behind", and the total National Education Association agenda.

Fourth, the only permanently satisfactory solution to the many problems of general education - busing, curricula, discipline, drugs, the ban on prayer in schools - is decentralization of the educational system and the adoption of free enterprise methods. The education of children is the God-given responsibility of their parents, and private schools should be available without the additional burden of public (government) school taxes. Control over school policy and subject matter must be vested in the parents. To this end the American Party applauds those parents who are courageously offering their children academically superior education in private schools or at home, and extends the grateful thanks of the nation to them for refusing to relinquish the education of their children to the state.

The manner of conducting elections is the prerogative of the states according to the Constitution and this responsibility is not to be usurped by the federal government except the qualfications for the offices of President and Vice-President which are set forth in Article II, Section 1 paragraph 5 of the United States Constitution. The Federal Election Commission serves chiefly to harass independent and minor party candidates. In so doing, it abrogates the Constitutionally guaranteed franchise of many voters. It should, therefore, be abolished.

The appropriation of tax money to finance conventions and candidates is using money paid under compulsion to promote programs to which, and persons to whom many taxpayers are strongly opposed. Such use of public funds is, therefore, immoral and should be abolished.

A family consists of a man and a woman joined by matrimony and children - whether natural or adopted. If one of these parents, through death or divorce is removed, the family unit still exists and is the basic unit for stability in the life of the individual and the strength of the community and nation. We applaud those States which have passed joint custody laws for children. Children have a mother and a father.

Our forefathers in their wisdom did not include the regulation of family life in our limited federal constitutional government. We affirm the rights of families to direct the upbringing of children as well as the care of elderly and handicapped members. Child care or the regulation of child care is not a legitimate function of the federal government but is an unconstitutional intrusion into the private affairs of American families. We oppose the intrusion into the family by any state government agency unless absolutely necessary to protect children or adults from truly abusive situations. Even in these situations due process must be accorded all parties involved. There shall be no presumption of guilt based on anonymous "tips" and those accused must have the right to face their accusers in a court of law.

Federal Courts have for too long indulged in widespread judicial legislation which is a clear usurpation of power. They should be returned to the proper function of interpretation and adjudication by any or all of several means. The simplest is congressional limitation of the powers of the Supreme Court and other federal courts, as provided in Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution. We also favor the impeachment of judges who cannot cite clauses of the Constitution to defend their decisions.

Countries which do not observe the rules of evidence of U.S. courts should not be allowed to introduce evidence into U.S. trials.

Labor rates must be established by the marketplace and not by government. Union membership and dues must be entirely voluntary. We favor the repeal of the National Labor Relations Act. We support Right-to-Work laws.

The use by unions of labor, donations, equipment, and money obtained from union dues and pension funds to control the candidates of political parties is both immoral and illegal. Those guilty of giving or receiving such funds should be prosecuted just as certainly as corporations which break the laws concerning campaign contributions.

Government workers hold their jobs as a privilege, not a right, and essential government services must not be interrupted by strikes by public employees. Collective bargaining by public employees must therefore be made illegal.

The United States must defend itself against espionage, sabotage, subversion, sedition, and terrorism, or it will succumb to its foreign and domestic enemies. The full power of the Federal Government should be applied to the apprehension, conviction and punishment of persons guilty of these high crimes. We call for the reestablishment of and vigorous support for the House Internal Security Committee, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, and the Subversive Activities Control Board. All loyalty and security risks should be dismissed from government service.

Treason is defined by the Constitution and specified as a capital crime. We call for the enforcement of this provision of the Constitution.

Neither Congress nor the federal courts should infringe the rights of state and local governments to enact constitutional laws restricting public obscenity, pornography, and illicit sex acts, especially prostitution and homosexuality.

Tax dollars must not be used to finance immoral art, literature, speech or actions.

The paramount responsibility of any government is to protect the life of each person within its juirisdiction. Though it may be superficially plausible that a pregnant woman should have complete control over her own body, neither she nor anyone else may extend that right of control to the body of the unborn child she carries. Government is obligated to protect the life of both child and mother and, if necessary, to protect the life of the child from the mother.

The intentional termination of life at any time after conception is murder. We oppose abortion and euthanasia as such and any doctor, nurse, assistant, or anyone else involved must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Taxes should be levied and collected solely for the financing of the constitutional functions of government. If every government program were to be judged by this criterion, and if those which could not be justified by constitutional sanction were eliminated, the cost of government would be drastically reduced. We call for such a scrutiny of federal programs and for the elimination of those which are unconstitutional, to be followed at once by a reduction of taxes to a level at which the federal budget would be balanced.

Bank accounts should be immune to inspection by federal agencies. We believe that the solution to the injustices and intimidations committed by the Internal Revenue Service is the elimination of the IRS. Only then can American citizens be protected from capricious intrusions by the Federal Government into their private financial affairs. Most taxpayers cannot risk possible financial ruin by contesting dubious or even outrageous IRS rulings in administrative courts where the virtually inexhaustible legal resources of a powerful branch of the Federal Government can be pitted against them.

Any government which taxes some of its citizens in order to win elections by subsidizing favored factions of the electorate, is incompatible with freedom and property. It encourages fraud, sloth, and disrespect for the law, and at the same time, discourages potential employers, savers, and investors. All taxes should be direct, highly visible, and apportioned so that everyone has an equal interest in keeping them minimal.

To the extent that revenues are necessary to finance the constitutional functions of the Federal Government, we propose that such revenues be derived only as specified in the Constitution.

Federal welfare programs are unconstitutional, needlessly expensive, and riddled with corruption. They should be abolished, leaving such concerns to the several States, counties, municipalitities, churches and private charities.

Abolishing or phasing out these federal programs will reduce the need for welfare to a level with which State and local government can cope.

We have enemies whose purpose is to destroy America and the free world. It is suicidal for this country to disarm. We must have a military establishment able to defend our sovereign nation against any combination of enemies. We oppose the transfer of goods, money, or technology to our enemies or to their suppliers. We should not lose our freedom by surrender and default. We call for military systems such as the Strategic Defense Initiative which can and will defend this country against our enemies. Strong civil defense is an essential component of national preparedness.

Our armed forces should treat as hostile all military craft of foreign nations which trespass our air space or coastal waters.

"New World Order" means world socialist government. This great evil is promoted as a way for the United Nations to function as envisioned by its founders.

Necessary companions of world government are world taxation, centralized world regulation of commerce, international control of the production and consumption of oil, a single world currency, and a world army to enforce the above.

A casualty of implementing the "New World Order" will be national sovereignty and the Constitution of the United States. The American Party is unalterably opposed to world government and to the "New World Order."

It is for this reason we oppose such treaties as NAFTA, GATT-WTO and other UN conventions as destructive of national sovereignty and as attempts to circumvent the Constitution of the United States.

Americans are not secure in their Constitutional rights if such rights can be superseded by provisions of any treaty.

The President does not have the Constitutional authority to terminate treaties without the consent of the Senate. We call for the establishment of normal diplomatic relations with the Taiwanese government.

The Genocide Convention must be repealed. No world court or other international body has jurisdiction over American citizens. No U. S. citizen may be tried by the ICC.

Since the United Nations has been in existence, more people have lost their lives, homes, possessions, and freedoms than in any similar period in history. Totalitarian Communist-Socialist regimes cast hundreds of vetoes in the UN Security Council to make the world safe for themselves, and they and their satellites control the UN General Assembly while the American taxpayer foots the lion's share of the bill for keeping the UN going.

All financial support to the United Nations and to any of its agencies must stop immediately, and all foreign delegates, staff and other employees should be required to leave the United States at once.

We support the courage and convictions of military personnel who refuse to be compelled to serve as U. S. soldiers under UN command and we oppose all attempts to force U. S. military to serve under U. N. command or wear U. N. insignia.