On November 4, the Constitution Party nominee for Coroner of Marshall County, Alabama, received 35% of the vote, so the Constitution Party is now ballot-qualified for four years in that county, for the purpose of running future candidates for partisan county office.
Marshall County is in northeast Alabama and has a population of 93,000.
Alabama is one of the few states in which a party can enjoy qualified status in a county, even if that party is not qualified statewide. Other states in which this is possible are Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania (in a sense), Tennessee, and Texas.
I congratulate the Constitution(al) Party candidate on this achievement. I only wish they will improve the impression they have made to the voters of Marshall County, Alabama by (1) correcting the proper usage of their party name to that of CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY,(2)focus on immediately recruiting and offering candidates for other offices which are to be voted on by the voters of Marshall County in 2016 and 2018, and (3) if statutes permit, utilize the Primary as the means of nominating their candidates instead of doing so in the backroom of some restaurant in Marshall County.
3rd parties should act no different than a major party when it comes to carrying out the day to day image of the party. 3rd parties, are not private clubs, which exclude those who do not cross their “t’s” and dot their “i’s” just like the party leadership claims they must.
While a 3rd party can and should have principles of which they publicly espouse, they must do so in a democratic manner, and not in the totalitarian manner as is done by some 3rd parties.
And one last suggestion I have to make – to not only the Constitution(al) Party – but also to other 3rd parties in Alabama. Do whatever is necessary to make the word ALABAMA as the first part of the name of your party name – just as the Alabama Democratic Party and the Alabama Republican Party do. Alabama parties – by statute – are placed on the ballot by alphabetical order. In this last election (2014) both the Constitution(al) Party and the Libertarian Party simply used the words; for example, the Constitution(al) Party of Alabama, and this caused them to be placed on the last line of the ballot AFTER the Alabama Democratic Party and the Alabama Republican Party. If the Constitution(al) Party had used the correct name of ALABAMA CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY, they would have been placed on line A of the ballot in Marshall County and Elmore County (the 2 counties where they made the ballot) and could conceivably have received more votes by having the first line on the ballot. It has been said by ballot experts, that many voters will vote for the first name they see on the ballot.
So again, congratulations to the Constitution(al) Party on this milestone accomplishment. I trust the next time I have something to write about you in B.A.N.,I can proudly address you as the ALABAMA CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY.
They will not change the name… Well it could be possible that they would ann Alabama to the front of the name they will not make it constitutional party, because the people of the party are constitutionist not constitutionalist…….
(The following is taken from the FAQ section or the webpage for the national Constitution Party)
WHY DOES THE CONSTITUTION PARTY USE THE TERM “CONSTITUTIONIST”?
According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, a constitutionist is, “one who adheres to the constitution of the country,” ‘constitution’ meaning the document which founded the country. The same dictionary defines the word constitutionalist as “an adherent to the constitution of government,” the word ‘constitution’ referring to how the government is structured and functions, rather than to a specific document.
The current government functioning in Washington D.C. is not constituted in the same manner as outlined in the U.S. Constitution, which founded the country. It is a bloated bureaucracy, continually acting in defiance of the Constitution at every turn. It is controlled by a two-party system not authorized in the Constitution, which enacts unconstitutional legislation, and usurps authority where none is given, no matter which party is in charge. The Constitution Party cannot support this Liberty-destroying system, which falsely describes itself as operating under the Constitution, or “constitutional”. In this sense, we are not constitutionalists.
A Constitutionist, on the other hand, believes in the principles of the original Constitution, and is firmly committed to keeping those principles intact, from all enemies – foreign and domestic. We believe that by returning to the limited federal government, as authorized in the Constitution, we will see Liberty and Prosperity return to the nation. In order to separate ourselves those who wish to keep the current government functioning outside the Constitution, we call ourselves Constitutionists and call for a complete re-establishment of the original American Constitutional Republic.