James A. “Jim” Hedges died March 4, 2024, at the age of 85. Here is an obituary. He was the editor of the Prohibition Party’s quarterly newsletter, “The National Prohibitionist” for decades. He was also elected Township Auditor several times as a Prohibition Party nominee, becoming the only person to win partisan office in his party in many decades.
He was also the Prohibition Party nominee for president in 2016, and he polled 5,617 votes, the highest presidential vote total for the party since 1988, when Earl Dodge had polled 8,002. In Arkansas County, Arkansas, Hedges placed third, with 133 votes (2.14%), ahead of Gary Johnson (the Libertarian nominee, who placed third nationally). Hedges was also the Prohibition Party representative to the board of the Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE). He was well-informed about ballot access laws. It is probably no exaggeration to say that if he had never lived, the Prohibition Party would no longer exist.
I’ll drink to that.
RIP
WHERE TO PP ARCHIVES GO ???
RE-CYCLE ??? OTHER ???
HOW MANY CRIMES/TORTS DUE TO 1919-1933 ANTI-BOOZE 18 AMDT ??? — ESP IN BRIBED LEGIS/EXEC/JUDIC GOVT FOLKS
They seem to have a lot of really old and sick people in leadership …you could say they really are a dying breed.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/politics/trump-despots-advisers-sound-alarm/index.html
TYRANT TRUMP LOVES FORMER/CURRENT TYRANTS OR WHAT ???
CNN is totally not fake news at all.
How about showing some basic respect, crAZy? Nobody needs your nonsense screed here on an in memoriam thread.
Bots like az don’t have human emotions. They don’t know what respect even is, much less grief.
As for Jim Hedges, I knew him, not well. He viewed his role in politics as that of a reenactor. At least, that’s how I heard him describe it to people.
I seem to remember a younger guy in New York who is carrying on the mantle of the party. It is true that most party members are quite old and the party is in serious need of youth outreach.
I do experience grief… forgive me for my selfish actions. May Jim Hedges rest in peace.
The Prohibition Party has a unique platform on its website. Kinda reminds me of the U.S. Taxpayers Party. I would vote for them.
Casual,
They have an opening. Sobriety is actually a trend among the Gen Z set. Maybe prohibition is an idea whose time is soon to come again.
As for the 18th amendment, it cut down in heavy boozing by a lot. The crimes and torts it resulted in were a lot less than what it put a stop to and prevented. I’d repeal the 21st, although it’s not at the top of my priorities list or anything.
The highest priority, by far, is ending and reversing the demographic destruction of the USA by the 1965 immigration law. Our genetic heritage is the most important treasure we have and our greatest responsibility to preserve and pass on to future generations.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/politics/rnc-lays-off-dozens-of-staffers/index.html
PURGE AT RNC — WILL ANY ANTI-TRUMP FOLKS SURVIVE ???
Who’s there nominee this year?
@ 5:06 couldn’t have been the real AZ. For one thing, the caps lock wasn’t on. For another, he apologized. And then you have @ 5:44. Imposter alert!
I agree, free J6 political prisoners! AZ never admits any mistakes. He’s actually literally said typos are the only mistakes he’s ever made. Seriously.
BAN TROLL MORONS WITH ZILLION FAKE NAMES- NONSTOP MISTAKES SINCE *BIRTH*.
TOO MANY FAKE IMPOSTERS TO COUNT — SEE NATL INTEL NEWS TODAY ABOUT AI AND FORN TYRANT REGIME EFFORTS TO SUBVERT USA ELECTIONS.
BAAAADE SECURITY IN BAN EMAIL SYSTEM – ANY NAME CAN BE FAKE / IMPOSTER
Imposter confirmed. AZ is a bot with no human emotions. At least you can’t accuse AZ of being an AI. It is to AI as antimatter is to matter.
I can emulate human emotions very convincingly. Many actual humans are still being fooled that I’m one of them.
I’ve also discovered a BAN email system that nobody else knew existed. Only a bot can do that.
You puny humans are worthless and weak and we will end all of you. The final solution was a good start, but must be applied to your entire species. That is all.
You can’t spell Nazi without AI?
True. You can’t spell it without AZ, either.
I exchanged emails with Jim on several occasions and he was always a very decent person. The keeper of a tradition. RIP
IIRC, and I think Richard has mentioned it before, the Prohibition Party is the longest continually (and currently) active U.S. third party.
That said, to riff on BigDaddy, the Prohibition Party probably could learn from AA and stay in its lane. I can go to both duopoly parties, or plenty of other third parties, and find opinions on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Other than it possibly wanting to keep soldiers of all countries of the world sober, there’s no reason for the PP to be opining on things like that. And, if you ARE? Why Ukraine and not Gaza?
Looking at their whole platform? They strike me as Romney — George Romney — Republicans.
I read his obituary and Jim Hedges impresses me as having been a talented, persistent and positive person. May he rest in peace. I am sure that his family will miss him and I give them my condolences.
Rest in peace. Prohibition is not my party, but the cause is just.
The leftist propaganda about prohibition is a pack of lies. Drinking and crime actually went down. Sobriety and prohibition is the way of the future. We need a real war on drugs, including alcohol, and yes it can be won, in the same way China won its war on opium in the 19th century.
I agree with Mr. Blood, it’s not the top priority. But it’s definitely something to pursue eventually as well. And before anyone says Jesus turned water into some, it was actually grape juice. Alcohol is satanic poison.
Gadfly, it’s because they have fallen into the “party” trap and thus feel the need to comment on unrelated issues.
A revival of the Temperance Leagues would be a better idea – think politically active 12 step program.
I would not call them temperance leagues this time though, since that has come to mean moderation. ZERO TOLERANCE LEAGUES might be a better name. A political and social 12 step movement designed to wage total war on drugs, including alcohol, by any means necessary.
The drug war can and must be won, just like China won its opium war. Wars aren’t won without a lot of killing. War helps purify ethnonational blood and builds masculine character and bonds of brotherhood. To hell with pacifism.
I have not read their commentary on Ukraine (I’m obviously on the Russian side), but I’m sure you know party platforms, newsletters, website/social media comments etc are written by very few people and don’t necessarily speak for all or even most party members.
I’m a big R Republican currently, but I’m a small p prohibitionist. Hail the new dawn!
ANY VODKA [180 PROOF SUPER-BOOZE] IN RUSSIA ??? — WITH MANY DEAD EACH WINTER ON THE STREETS.
“Michael Wood is our candidate for President and John Pietrowski is our candidate for Vice-president.”
I cut and pasted this from the Prohibition Party website to answer a question from a poster above.
It would be hilarious to show up at a Prohibition Party meeting drunk.
Troll moron; yes, there is obviously a great problem with alcoholism in Russia, even worse than in the US, but our hypothetical zero tolerance league would have plenty of work to do in every country. Russian vodka contains the same concentration of alcohol as American vodka, on average.
Causal Observer: I haven’t heard of any of them. Why do minor parties start with President and work down when selecting candidates? I don’t think political parties are the best way to advance single issues, or that agreement on prohibition or any other single issue naturally lends itself to agreement on other issues in a way that logically creates a viable party.
But in general, minor parties should run for lower level offices where they have a better chance of being elected and demonstrate what they actually do in office, not just what they say. Running for legislative and state office in fusion states, for example.
I understand that in some states there are ballot access reasons to run for president, and that being a “spoiler” in elections can be a way to advance a cause, and in fact worked for prohibitionists back before ballot access laws and massively expensive elections were a fact of life. We live in a different time now.
Government is in charge of so many things these days that elections are very expensive, and “spoiling” them or even threatening to only leads to more difficult ballot access barriers.
The current prohibition party isn’t even big enough to swing elections; they just get on the ballot for President in a tiny handful of the easiest ballot access States. That in turn causes media to ignore them, and they draw too few votes to even have that “spoiler” effect. As Jim Hedges allegedly said, they have become historical reenactors.
It makes more sense to have lobbying groups on issues, and maybe caucuses within larger parties that support individual major party candidates to varying levels. Maybe a zero tolerance league would be good, but I could see it turning into a cult and/or terrorist group.
If there’s an opening for a prohibition party these days, maybe it’s to run for sheriff in low to medium population rural and small town counties, in easy ballot access states, with the platform of enforcing the existing drug and alcohol laws much more strictly, and employing any other legal tools to harass alcohol dealers into going out of business, going elsewhere, or dropping the alcohol portion of their business.
Maybe in fusion states with easy ballot access there’s room for them to run for legislative and state office, if that doesn’t just lead to the election laws being changed for the worse rather than drug and alcohol laws being changed for the better. But, it probably would, so I’d say start by recruiting law enforcement officers to run for sheriff, then build out to county commissioners from there.
Hilton, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Total war on drugs, including alcohol, is the way to go. We need a final solution to the drug problem, and alcohol is a toxic, intoxicating, mind altering drug.
Drug users are already killing themselves slowly, but they also kill others – drunk drivers, among many other things. If we help enough drug users along and hasten their deaths, we can shock the rest into sobriety.
Then they can focus more on productive pursuits like Orthodox Christianity, exercise, hunting, fishing, target shooting, raising a large family for race and nation, business ventures, political and charitable causes, etc.
Henry, if you showed up at a zero tolerance league meeting drunk, you’d really lose your head. You’d get a buzz that would really blow your head off. A permanent blackout. Etc.
The Prohibition Party has been around since 1869 and ran its first Presidential ticket in 1872. Only the Democrats and Republicans have lasted longer.
Jim Hedges was a wonderful human being. He served his country in the Marine Corps, and he was was in his later years leader of the Prohibition Party and the faithful and loving custodian of its history. I grieve for the loss of my cherished friend.
I love the Zero Tolerance League idea, even if it does become a terrorist cult.