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"Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse."
George Washington



"Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master!"
Thomas Jefferson



"America is great because America is good - and if America ever ceases to be good - America will cease to be great."
Dwight D. Eisenhower



"The electoral process laws enacted by the Republicans and the Democrats, and supported by judges belonging to these two parties, has, for several decades, effectively assured their political dominance over the many other fervently active American political parties. This too will end."
James Adrian, A. F. E. Party Chairman



U. S. Debt Clock



Introduction

The American Free Enterprise Party is unflinchingly optomistic about the future of the United States. Despite corruption, activism for socialism, and the financial crisis, the American people are ready to correct our course and return to adherence to the Constitution of United States of America.

The American Free Enterprise Party stands for service to the citizens of the United States. It vigorously advocates policies that protect the welfare and well being of all citizens, whether they are workers, the elderly, or children, or the sick, or the disabled. At the same time, the party believes that resources should not be wasted on services and projects that could best be done by the private sector or is merely the result of attempts to bribe voters. We can care for the needy while safeguarding life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness because we have a tradition of employing the most productive system ever devised: Free Enterprise.

Nothing about Free Enterprise is antithetical to cooperation, generosity, or to assisting the disadvantaged. The communal building of dwellings and many other sorts of cooperative and humanitarian activities have been characteristic of Free Enterprise economies throughout the centuries. During each of 2007 and 2008, Americans gave over $300 Billion to charity. This is at least six times the Russian Defense Budget.

Of all the 195 independent countries of the world, the United States has the greatest number of citizens who are millionaires and also has the greatest number of citizens who are billionaires. This can only be a good thing for America. It means that American citizens can afford to employ American citizens.

Free Enterprise is not currently used to the fullest. Many existing departments and offices of government should be privatized. The government needs to focus on service to our citizens -- not service to those who happen to know government officials personally. The necessary functions of the government are to safeguard life and liberty; and to allow freedom to make the pursuit of happiness practicable. By these means, effective service to all Americans can be handily achieved without over taxing citizens of working age.

Free Enterprise is a long standing feature of American economics. It presumes the existence of private property and, just as importantly, it strives to preserve its potential for individuals to excel, despite the economic circumstances of their birth. A true free enterprise economy (one that is not merely capitalist) permits its citizens to earn wealth without having been born to it.

The American Free Enterprise Party opposes the excessive expansion of government functions affecting the private business of citizens, and opposes unwarranted government actions that increase the cost of starting small businesses. Any economic system that prevents individuals from climbing economic ladders and enjoying upward mobility is unjust. The upward mobility inherent in free enterprise must be unrestrained by misguided policies on the part of government, or by self-serving contrivances on the part of those who have already attained great wealth. The American Free Enterprise Party stands for the defense of free enterprise against unfair business practices and corruption.

Capitalism is the use of wealth for economically productive purposes. Where it is not corrupt, and where it does not unfairly constrain new competition, it is exceedingly important to the economic well being of the people of the United States. Capital is most effectively managed by people who have earned it; by people who know how to earn it); by people who put their own hard-earned money at risk; however, our government has paid too little attention to unfair business practices and to government policies that stifle the smallest of businesses. This only serves to convince the poor that they will always be poor.

Free Enterprise is a natural phenomenon that is older than money. At the close of the hunter-gatherer stage of our development, and long before the invention of writing, fixed settlements came into existence that were primarily engaged in the domestication of plants and animals. The right of assembly was exercised without any suspicion that this right needed to be granted. People discovered that they differed in their knowledge and skill. Tools and tables were traded for food and garments. Whatever one could do well could be a service traded for the other necessities and comforts of life. Much later, gold become a popular medium of exchange.

Like the right of assembly, the right to engage in free enterprise was long tacitly assumed. Then there came an age of principalities. This provided each village with security from marauders. This was achieved by means of an organized guard force commanded by a prince. Taxes paid the prince. The prince paid the guards. The prince and the guards could then control the marauders; but, the prince and the guards quickly learned that they could also control the villagers. After countless abuses and rebellions, governments evolved various systems of laws -- some (as in the United States) are based upon democracy and human rights. Maintaining democracy and human rights is not always easy. There is a tendency for powerful representatives to gravitate toward self dealing and corruption. There are also some in government who want to diminish the power of voters in favor of the presumed relative excellence of the judgment of the representatives. This leads to big government and corruption. It remains a continual struggle which requires our unwavering vigilance.



Sovereignty

One of the most serious threats to the long-term security of America is an increasingly advocated call for a world government, financed by global taxes. Some even want this world government to maintain hundreds of thousands of troops in military bases, and want them to be armed with nuclear weapons. Obliging the United States to a consensus formed by other countries would hand over our sovereignty to a large number of communist counties, theocracies, and dictatorships ruled by madmen. Few other countries have free enterprise economies and many are moving toward huge governments engaging in the massive redistribution of earnings. Proposed treaties between the U. S. and other countries should not be signed if the U. S. Supreme Court might be overruled by a World Court, or if they could subvert our defense, or if they might tend to regulate our internal affairs.



Poverty

A tolerable standard of living needs to be clearly described in order to determine the amount of supplemental income that the government might need to provide to citizens who are disabled or older than working age whose other sources of income fall short of providing shelter. The lowest standard of living that citizens could be asked to endure must not necessitate homelessness.

We have homeless citizens today because politicians have spent so much of our income on benefits to people who are not homeless. The motive is simple: Homeless people typically do not vote, and votes from others can, to some extent, be encouraged by government programs. As non-homeless citizens who care about people and the fate of the nation, we should vote on behalf of the homeless and on behalf of opportunity.

We also need to understand that government transfer payments do not maximize benefits to average citizens. Such manipulations cannot compare in efficiency or effectiveness to a plentiful and free market.

The fundamentally corrupt motive to buy votes has led to a massive expansion of government and the unconstitutional practice, in recent decades, of creating government departments by the ordinary enactment of bills in Congress instead of by amending the Constitution to allow the proposed expansion of the Federal Government's powers under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution as the Constitution requires. It will take a tremendous effort over many years to correct this grievous state of affairs.



Greed

Productive ambition becomes greed when, in order to increase ones wealth, one becomes willing to break the law, encourage corruption, or engage in unfair business practices.



Envy

Envy is generated by hopelessness. The expectation that wealth can be obtained by means other than extraordinary luck or miracles dispels envy. Dramatic improvements in upward mobility can be realized if free enterprise is respected and nurtured. Becoming financially well off should be a worker's choice rather than a pipe dream. Far from hopelessness and envy, American citizens can proudly advance progress and the general standard of living by choosing an activity that creates jobs. The standard of living for those who choose other vocations is also enhanced by government policies that empower American citizens to employ American citizens.



Religion

Amendment 1 of our Constitution says the following:






Article VI in part says the following:







The foregoing makes clear the intention of the founders: Despite the predominant religions of the time of the formation of our country, and despite the founders' own religious beliefs, all current and future citizens are to have freedom of religion. This means that it is inappropriate to characterize America as Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindi, Mormon, Buddhist, Shinto, Taoistic, Bahai, Gnostic, or as a country inherently of any particular religion; and, it is simply wrong to suggest that the religion of the founders should be the religion of the United States of America.

Most Americans care about the suffering of other people and are not antagonistic to religion. Whether they believe in God or not, virtually all citizens reject bearing false witness, murdering, or stealing. There is no need for politicians to pander to religious groups; and certainly, they should not advocate a theocratic American government. The American Free Enterprise Party respects belief in any religion as being the prerogative of each individual citizen.

In the absence of any attack on religions or the freedom of religion, speaking out about one's own religion is legitimate, proper, and one's right.



Defense and Education

The American Free Enterprise Party is wholeheartedly in favor of a strong Department of Defense and vigorously advocates that the Department of Defense directs and conducts timely defense-related research.

In the interest of maintaining a robust defense capability that is independent of the whims of other nations, the party is in favor of a strongly industrial economy that is not merely a service economy. Where foreign industrial products are less expensive than those made in the United States, further automation needs to be applied. American progress in robotics and other types of automation has been retarded by a misguided worker protectionism which grossly underestimates the learning that workers routinely demonstrate. At one time, the model for the education of workers seems to have been childhood learning followed by adult productivity in the workplace. The pace of change now renders this model almost useless. Whatever the public schools teach the young, the workers' education and training must be continual, and the source of this education and training must increasingly be the private sector.



Capitalism and Free Enterprise

In the frame of mind of capitalism, the task of earning money can seem to be a matter of the judicious use of money already on hand. If you only have a part-time minimum-wage job, or you just lost every material thing you had, you might have a difficult time understanding your future in terms of capitalism. Free Enterprise is a broader concept in at least two ways: First, there are many kinds of capital. Our society is filled with information that is free for the reading. One might be young and able-bodied. One might have vast experience. A pleasant way with people can be valuable. Speaking, writing, and volunteering can each lead to improved circumstances. The list of kinds of capital is very long. Secondly, very small amounts of money, saved over whatever length of time is needed to save it, can facilitate the beginning of self-employment. Of course, if you are without hope, you won't save the money; or if you do, you won't risk it on a library card and a some tools.

The minimum-wage worker who saves up for a part-time business activity usually trades his or her knowledge and time for money until savings permit other methods. The capitalist seeks a return on investment. Neither of them can do without hope. Both of them can do without unfair business practices and lawlessness.



Schooling and Free Enterprise

The business training available today really only prepares the student for employment and not for self-employment; and its doubtful that many entrepreneurs were inspired by their teachers or guidance councilors. Currently, encouragement comes from family, friends, and media, if it comes at all. This might change, but the need is not fully recognized. For example, one might think that anyone could start a small business, especially with enough savings; yet inheritances are often lost, lottery winnings are often entirely lost, and businesses routinely fail. No matter how intelligent one might be, knowledge and skills are needed to keep transactions profitable. Some training or investigation beforehand can save years of frustration. The American Free Enterprise Party is encouraging and supporting not-for-profit efforts to make this information and training available. As practical information is more widely disseminated, the future is likely to become even brighter.



Space

Several key inventions are still needed in order to make space travel reasonably safe. Even laboring under the current risks, space missions that involve people are many times as costly as missions that do not. The current plan for space exploration calls for NASA to develop the tools at the tax payers' expense. NASA is not incorporated to earn money. Its focus is not on mining material, or mining energy, or in any way realizing a profit from the resources available in space. Meanwhile, U. S. companies are tooling up for the mining of the asteroid belt, Mars, and the Moon (no matter what NASA does). In 2008, NASA funding (from taxes) was $17.1 Billion. The engineers and scientists working for NASA and generating patents for NASA should be working and inventing for private companies instead. The only agency of the U. S. government that needs to go beyond the atmosphere is the Department of Defense.



Limitations of Federal Power

Article I, Section 8

Clause 1

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States:

Clause 2

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

Clause 3

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

Clause 4

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

Clause 5

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

Clause 6

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

Clause 7

To establish post offices and post roads;

Clause 8

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

Clause 9

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

Clause 10

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

Clause 11

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

Clause 12

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

Clause 13

To provide and maintain a navy;

Clause 14

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

Clause 15

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;

Clause 16

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

Clause 17

To exercise legislations in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; And

Clause 18

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

Amendment X - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.



Other American Political Parties Advocating Free Enterprise

America First Party American Heritage Party American Moderate Party American Party American Patriot Party American Centrist Party American Conservative Party America's Independent Party American Independent Party American Reform Party Centrist Party Conservative Party of New York State Constitution Party Florida Whig Party Independence Party of America Independent American Party Jefferson Republican Party Libertarian Party National Directorate Party Populist Party Populist Party of America Prohibition Party Reform Party of the United States of America



Two-Party Monopoly

Over the last eighty years the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have cooperated to make laws intended to keep the candidates of other political parties off the ballot in all states. This is why the occasional rise of a third-party has depended upon the financial support of a multi millionaire or a billionaire. This is not the way the country was. The electoral process laws enacted by the Republicans and the Democrats, and supported by judges belonging to these two parties, has, for several decades, effectively assured their political dominance over the many other fervently active political parties in the United States. This limits choice. It is not democratic and it is not republican (representative). It is corrupt.

The voluminous and tedious regulations in each of the states are all different. This means that an enormous legal effort is associated with any attempt to create a national candidacy. Most of the media is complicit in this outrage. Their question is not why this lack of political competition exists, but which (of the two) party's candidates will be adversely affected by any additional political party. Any remedy would require an enormous legal effort.



This page was last updated on 2/27/2010.



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