Body Snatchers in Tampa?
By:  Reed R. Heustis, Jr.
April 29, AD 2006

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Exactly fifty years ago movie director Don Siegel stunned America with the 1956 science fiction thriller, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The picture was so startling and revealing that a remake, starring Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum, was released in 1978; not to mention a more modern version starring Gabrielle Anwar in 1994.  In the story, which was based upon the classic Jack Finney novel, the human race slowly began to be replaced with clones through the use of "pods" sent from outer space. The unbeknownst victims, after falling into deep sleep, would be replicated by the creepy pod plants, which ultimately duplicated the victims' bodies. The victims themselves of course were never seen again, and the clones began to take over the world.

I cannot help but to think of Invasion of the Body Snatchers when I ponder with horror the action of the national Constitution Party* (CP) last weekend in Tampa, Florida at the Constitution Party National Committee (CPNC) meeting. Since its 1992 founding (originally it was named the U.S. Taxpayers Party), the CP has always prided itself on its uncompromising and unyielding pro-life position. Although the party itself featured a variety of issues in its national platform, the Sanctity of Life plank has always been its pride and joy. When it came to the issue of Life, the CP was as serious as a heart attack. Nobody messed with the Life issue, and I mean nobody.

Until now.

The first time in my life that I voted for a non-Republican was when I cast a ballot for CP founder Howard Phillips for President in 1996. At that time I was still a Republican activist and supported Pat Buchanan for President during the primary election, only to watch helplessly as Buchanan was destroyed by the globalist-controlled GOP establishment hell bent on crushing any vestige of "Buchananism" in the party. Robert Dole ultimately captured the Republican nomination.

Fellow Republicans urged me "to be a team player" and unify the Republican Party by supporting Dole against Democrat Bill Clinton. "Quit being divisive." "Quit splitting the vote." "Don't give Clinton the election." "Quit being so narrow-minded." However, I repeatedly replied that I vote principle above politics, and that it was my desire to support a 100% pro-life candidate — a candidate that will neither sway nor yield from the pro-life position, no matter how great the political pressures. In accord with this principle, I voted for Phillips without regret.

It was Howard Phillips who ultimately turned me on to the CP, the party that I would later excitedly and enthusiastically join in 2002. Finally I had come home. From 1996 through 2002, never, not even once, did it occur to me that Mr. Phillips could cast a vote upholding the legitimacy of abortion in the party he founded. Mr. Phillips and the Life issue were synonymous. Nothing on this planet would change that.

Imagine my horror when I learned that my hero Phillips, last week cast a vote in Tampa upholding a CP state affiliate whose officers embrace legal killing of deformed fetuses and rape- and incest-conceived babies. Horrified and mortified.

Last month I wrote about this intra-party fiasco in two consecutive commentaries of The Heustis Update: "SD GOP Shows Up Constitution Party" and "I Call 'em As I See 'em". In both articles I explained how the CPNC would decide whether to disaffiliate the Nevada party for electing and upholding a pro-abortion chairman. I begged any person to offer a rational explanation as to how any party may legitimately consider itself to be pro-life if any of its state affiliates elect pro-abortion chairmen? Many different arguments were subsequently offered to rationalize the upholding of a pro-abortion state party, but not once has anybody answered my question on point.

This does not surprise me, because no explanation exists. It is absolutely impossible for any national party to be legitimately pro-life when it allows its own chief executive officers to advocate pro-abortion positions.

Imagine for a moment how ludicrous it would be for a supposedly conservative pro-family organization to elect and uphold an admitted homosexual as one of its state chairmen. Imagine further that this same organization promotes and markets itself as being totally pro-family and pro-traditional values. Such a marketing campaign would be drenched in dishonesty and deceit. A truly conservative pro-family organization would never elect and uphold a homosexual as one of its officers.

But such is now the case with the national CP regarding abortion. With a majority last week in Tampa, the CPNC voted to uphold the pro-abortion Nevada party—a party whose leaders explicitly proclaim the right to abort certain kinds of children. Even during the debate in Tampa, a Nevada officer explained the ecclesiastical reasons, rooted in Mormon theology, why its leaders support abortion rights. The entire CPNC, including Mr. Phillips, therefore voted with full knowledge of Nevada's unbiblical and unconstitutional pro-abortion view.

As a result of the vote, the CP may no longer in good conscience and with a straight face promote itself as being wholly committed to the Life issue. From now on, any CP state affiliate may elect pro-abortionists without any fear of being disaffiliated by the CPNC.

Such a precedent a true pro-life party does not make.

In the wake of the Tampa vote, Mr. Phillips released a statement in which he said, "The Constitution Party does not condone abortion," and rationalized that the "real issue" was about the CP Constitution and Bylaws. He then asserted that because Nevada remains in full compliance with Article II, Section 2.2 of the Bylaws, it cannot be disaffiliated.

The only relevant requirement of this Section is sub-section (a), which mandates a state affiliate to pledge "adherence to the Constitution Party platform." Mr. Phillips argued that Nevada pledged such adherence with a previous resolution, thereby keeping itself in compliance.

But actions speak louder than words. Simply because a state affiliate "pledges adherence" to the national platform does not mean that it in fact is in adherence. The actions of electing pro-aborts to executive positions speak louder than any supposed pledged adherence. In the case of Nevada, the Nevada party pledged adherence out of one side of its mouth, but deliberately elected and upheld pro-abortion chief officers out of the other. Mr. Phillips chose only to scrutinize Nevada’s words, not its actions.

Moreover, this logic now empowers any CP state party to elect any chairman it so desires, no matter how repugnant his views, just so long as the state party merely "pledges adherence" to the national platform – whatever that means. Such a rationale theoretically paves the way for state parties to elect more pro-aborts, homosexuals, socialists, and even anti-Constitutionalists. What would Mr. Phillips say if a state party elected a sodomite as chairman?

Will the real Howard Phillips please stand up?

Is this the same Howard Phillips I voted for in 1996? Say it ain't so! In my mind, the real Howard Phillips would have never offered such a flimsy argument upholding a pro-abortion state party. Never in a million years! He would have relied on the Holy Bible and the U.S. Constitution, not party bylaws. During the nineties, Mr. Phillips was the single most principled and hard-core pro-lifer in politics. He was a giant among men, bar none. He led countless thousands to the CP, leading them to believe that there will never be compromise on this issue in this party. Nobody could hold a candle to Mr. Phillips. Not in this lifetime. Not ever.

I am therefore honestly puzzled and baffled, and I cannot figure out what is actually going on behind the curtain. Pods, perhaps?

Maybe I'll cook up some of my famous homemade Reed popcorn, kick off the loafers, dim the lights, and enjoy a video of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. At this point, any sci-fi flick would be light-years better than having to endure the reality of watching my beloved CP fall asleep to become a GOP clone.

*[Note from Author:  On 9/10/2006, I resigned from the Constitution Party, and have since joined the American Heritage Party, America's only explicitly Christian party.]

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