As a junior in High School, I thought that it was dishonest that my government teacher in public school failed to disclose her political affiliation; she was a Democrat, but was never honest enough to tell us students…but we knew.

Personally, I have been labeled as liberal by Republicans and as a conservative by Democrats, which provides evidence supporting my assertion that I am independent and nonpartisan.  However, in the vein of full disclosure, the only party that I have actively previously affiliated with to the point of attending county party meetings is the Democratic Party.  Deep down, in my political heart, I was a Jeffersonian; so in the past, I defaulted to be a dissident Democrat.

In 1992, this became particularly embarrassing to me as the Democrats selected Bill Clinton to be their standard bearer.  I recall on the night that he was elected watching him prance upon the stage after his election was assured and I exclaimed at the television that Bill Clinton was a “God damn blind mf’r!!”, so afterwards I referred to Bill Clinton as Oedipus Rex, and continue to do so.

In the conflict between what was a true Democrat, Clinton or a Jeffersonian such as me, I decided that Clinton and not I was the true Democrat; Aristotle’s Politics taught me that point very clearly, but more on that in a later post.

Around that period of time Virgil Goode was still a Democrat and a thorn in the side of Democratic Governor Doug Wilder, whom I subsequently supported in his bid against Chuck Robb in the Democratic primary for Senate.  At the time, while being teased by friends for the incompetent Democratic candidates, I referred to Virgil Goode as the last good Democrat.

Today, Virgil is running for President.  He changed from the Democrat to the Republican Party as a congressman.  Now, he is affiliated on the Virginia ballot as a Constitution Party candidate for President in the 2012 election.  Do I support him now?  No.

To be clear, Goode has not changed; but with experience and thinking hard upon issues of government, I have.  Goode is not an advocate of individual rights; instead he and his new party are focused outside of reality upon a God that does not exist.

Based upon the 7 principles of the Constitution Party, I disagree that:

1. Life begins at conception.  If that was true, then “God” would be the ultimate abortionist.  As a matter of conscious and informed choice, I hold that abortion is a positive good that can advance the life of the woman.
2. God sanctioned that a family should be founded upon one man and one woman.  I disagree as two parents of the same sex can be fit parents to a child without parents.
3. The Constitution should be interpreted as intended by the Founders; however, the Constitution has been amended.  The 14^th Amendment specifically puts equal protection of the laws and due process limits upon the states to be enforced by the federal government; this process has been called “incorporation” by the Supreme Court.
4. The states should have expansive powers to oppose individual rights as imagined by the Confederates.  Who are you for the collective or the individual?  I am for the individual.
5. An anti-immigrant stance is justified because “illegal” immigrants have violated U.S. law.  However, US immigration law is a racist ass created by Senator Ted Kennedy; we need to embrace and bring home Americans who were by accident of birth born elsewhere.  America is not a place so much as an ideology about life; there are people born elsewhere that are ideologically American and some born in the US that are ideologically alien to the idea of government protecting individual rights through the subordination of retaliatory force to objective law.

While I have yet to make an endorsement for President, and will do so now that the conventions have ended; at this point, I would like to be clear that I do not support Virgil Goode’s bid to be the Constitutional Party candidate for President of the United States as he and his party’s platform do not advocate the protection of individual rights.