A New Platform!

Recently, the American Solidarity Party released their latest platform, a result of their national convention which met last month, which can be found here. It added a few more sections than our previous platform, and details a more systematic and holistic approach to the policies we care about.

Platform sections include Life, Healthcare, Firearms, Marriage and Family, Education, Criminal Justice, Religious Liberty, Anti-Discrimination and Racial Justice, Freedom of the Public Square, Corporate and Monetary Policy, Labor and the Social Safety Net, Immigration, Local Government and Housing, Electoral Reform, Foreign Policy, and the Environment.

These platform planks combine some of the very best ideas from both parties, and truly embody the Christian Democratic tradition. The following is our platform preamble followed by a brief summary of each section.

The American Solidarity Party is committed to the betterment of our nation and world through prudent policies guided by Christian Democratic values. Our platform is founded on the belief that all people are created with an equal and inviolable dignity before God. Our shared nature as image-bearers is the source of our rights as individuals; it also demands that we pursue justice together, at whatever level of government or society responds best to the needs of our families and communities. Recognizing that governments derive their just authority from God, we seek laws and policies that put the universal call to love our neighbor into practice by promoting authentic human freedom and flourishing.

The American Solidarity Party believes in the intrinsic dignity of the human person from conception until natural death. We have an unwavering commitment to defend life and advocate for the legal protection of the most vulnerable members of society. We seek to ensure that all people have access to everything they need not simply to live, but to thrive. Our whole-life approach guides the entire platform below.

The American Solidarity Party believes that universal health care, which can be achieved through a variety of means, is a common good, a benefit to individuals, families, and society as a whole. High-quality, affordable, and ethical health care oriented toward the preservation of all life is an extension of our core pro-life values. We look forward to a day when the United States leads the world in health outcomes without leading the world in health spending. To that end, we support regulations and programs that fund healthcare access, curb bureaucratic roadblocks, and ensure conscience protections.

The American Solidarity Party recognizes that firearms are uniquely effective tools for both legitimate uses (such as hunting and personal protection) and illegitimate uses (such as criminal homicide and suicide). We also acknowledge that our country has both a long history of private firearm ownership and a current problem of gun violence, and that the root causes of such violence go deeper than access to firearms. We believe that regulations and policies surrounding firearms must be evidence-based and balance the interests of public safety and individual rights.

The American Solidarity Party believes that the natural family, founded on the marriage of one man and one woman, is the fundamental unit and basis of every human society. Family breakdown is a key contributor to widespread social problems in this country. In order to promote stable families, it is in the interest of the state to support marriage recognized as the exclusive union of one man and one woman for life. At the same time, we recognize that the state must support the needs of all people—especially children, as well as the elderly and disabled—regardless of household structure.

The American Solidarity Party believes that education is a right vital to the formation of the human person and the good of society. We advocate for affordable, diverse, and well-rounded educational options.

The American Solidarity Party believes that maintaining public peace and order is a fundamental responsibility entrusted to all levels of government. We also acknowledge that in many cases our justice system is both harsh and ineffective. Despite having the largest incarcerated population in the world, we have failed to make communities safe or address economic and racial disparities in arrests, convictions, and sentencing. We support reforms to simultaneously ensure public safety, secure individual justice, and reduce the excessively punitive nature of the system.

The American Solidarity Party recognizes that a person can have no higher authority than God, an authority which imposes duties on each person. Especially in our pluralistic society, we must take special care to respect those duties as much as possible, and provide protections for religiously-affiliated institutions and persons living out their sincerely-held beliefs. We acknowledge the right of people of all faiths to practice their religion without intimidation, and we oppose secularism that seeks to remove religion from the public sphere.

The American Solidarity Party believes that some citizens, including racial minorities, women, and the disabled, face unique historical and current challenges which can be addressed by anti-poverty programs and by re-examining our cultural biases which oppose the Biblical call to human fraternity.

The American Solidarity Party believes in a government that respects and supports the principles of human dignity and brotherhood. The Bill of Rights and later constitutional amendments have recognized rights stemming from these ideals, including the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech and assembly, a fair justice system, and equal protection under the law. In addition to protecting civil liberties, the government should take steps to promote free inquiry by curtailing consolidation in the media and intellectual property.

The American Solidarity Party believes that political economy is a branch of political ethics, and therefore rejects models of economic behavior that undermine human dignity with greed and naked self-interest. We advocate for an economic system which liberates people from being cogs in a pitiless machine, instead creating a society of widespread ownership, or distributism.

The American Solidarity Party believes that we have a responsibility to advocate for just wages, working conditions, and working relations, along with public assistance for those in need. We believe that while work has inherent value and dignity, it alone does not and cannot provide everything that is essential to human health and flourishing. The state should thus reasonably ensure that work is justly compensated, safe, and does not unreasonably impinge upon those other aspects of life that are essential to the flourishing of the individual, the family, and society. Our goal is to create conditions that allow single-income families to support themselves with dignity.

The American Solidarity Party believes the Biblical admonition to welcome the stranger creates an obligation to migrants and refugees seeking entry to our country. We must enact policies that reconcile the legitimate interest of Americans in secure borders with a core commitment to human dignity. This effort will require addressing not only the crisis at our borders, but also the root causes of migration, many of which concern our country’s use of its military, political, and economic power abroad.

The American Solidarity Party believes that the flourishing of civic life requires more self-governance for local communities, zoning policies friendly to community-oriented businesses, fair housing prices, and accessible transportation policy.

The American Solidarity Party believes that outdated election laws and procedures have contributed to an ossified political oligarchy, polarization, and gridlock. It should be easy to vote and to run for office, as well as for voters to effectively choose third-party and other lesser-known candidates. Electoral reform is vital to deliver political power from the hands of the few to the many.

The American Solidarity Party believes the United States should be committed to a more peaceful world through international cooperation and restriction of the use of military force to a strict understanding of just war theory. Peace is not merely an absence of war, but the positive presence of justice and charity among people and among nations. Administrations of both parties have pursued a policy of reckless overreach, at great cost to both ourselves and other nations. We oppose this tired elite consensus and believe the United States should use its influence to promote an international order that respects the dignity of the human person through means other than aggression.

The American Solidarity Party believes that we are responsible for caring for God’s creation so that present and future generations can enjoy the benefits of a healthy environment, including clean air and water, and the rich biodiversity that is our heritage. The American Solidarity Party rejects the notion that environmental stewardship requires either diminished workers’ rights or population control. Maintaining our environment will require individuals, businesses, and local communities taking responsibility for their contributions; however, due to the national and global nature of our natural resources, we see an appropriate role for our federal and state governments in adopting and enforcing evidence-based policies regarding pollution, climate change, and alternative forms of energy.