Independent American Party of Utah

Independent American Party of Utah
Basic facts
Location:	Salt Lake City, Utah
Type:	Political party
Affiliation:	Independent American Party
Top official:	Greg Duerden, Chair
Year founded:	1993
Website:	Official website

The Independent American Party of Utah is the Utah state affiliate of the national Independent American Party. The group is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Background

The national Independent American Party (IAP) was founded in 1993 as the Utah Independent American Party. The group became the Utah state affiliate of the national American Party in 1995, but broke from the group in 1998 to establish the national IAP. By 2001, the Independent American Party of Utah (UIAP) was one of three organized IAP state parties in Minnesota, Utah, and Tennessee. According to the national party, the group aims to "restore our Constitutional Republic, restore Constitutional Law, and restore all rights, liberties, and properties rightfully belonging to the people and to the states" with an emphasis on Judeo-Christian principles.

Though party engagement dwindled by 2004, UIAP and the national party reenergized and supported a large slate of candidates during the 2014 election cycle.The UIAP backed 19 candidates across Utah in local, state and federal 2014 elections.

The UIAP is a qualified political party in Utah. According to Utah voter registration statistics, there were more than 11,000 registered UIAP voters in the state as of March 2016.

Platform

The party's stated platform is composed of 14 main issues:

• Declaration of Independence
  "'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'"
• Unalienable rights
  "We believe that God has endowed men with certain unalienable rights as set forth in the Declaration of Independence and that no legislature and no majority, however great, may morally limit or destroy these; that the sole function of government is to protect life, liberty, and property and anything more than this is usurpation and oppression."
• Constitution
  "We believe that the Constitution for the United States was prepared and adopted by men acting under inspiration from Almighty God; that it is a solemn compact between the peoples of the States of this nation which all officers of government are under duty to obey; that the eternal moral laws expressed therein must be adhered to or individual liberty will perish."
• Government functions
  "We believe it a violation of the Constitution for government to deprive the individual of either life, liberty, or property except for these purposes: Punish crime and provide administration of justice; Protect the right and control of private property; Wage defensive war and provide for the nation’s defense; Compel each one who enjoys the protection of government to bear his fair share of the burden of performing the above functions."
• Limited powers
  "We hold that the Constitution denies government the power to take from the individual either his life, liberty, or property except in accordance with moral law; that the same moral law which governs the actions of men when acting alone is also applicable when they act in concert with others; that no citizen or group of citizens has any right to direct their agent, the government to perform any act which would be evil or offensive to the conscience if that citizen were performing the act himself outside the framework of government."
• Bill of Rights
  "We are hereby resolved that under no circumstances shall the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights be infringed. In particular we are opposed to any attempt on the part of the Federal Government to deny the people their right to bear arms, to worship and pray when and where they choose, or to own and control property."
• Socialism
  "We are unalterably opposed to Socialism, either in whole or in part, and regard it as an unconstitutional usurpation of power and a denial of the right of private property for government to own or operate the means of producing and distributing goods and services in competition with private enterprise, or to regiment owners in the legitimate use of private property, especially through the use of public taxes."
• Individual taxation
  "We maintain that every person who enjoys the protection of his life, liberty, and property should bear his fair share of the cost of government in providing that protection; that the elementary principles of justice set forth in the Constitution demand that all taxes imposed be uniform throughout the nation and that any tax imposed on persons within our borders be at the same impartial rate."
• Monetary policy
  "We believe in honest money, the gold and silver coinage of the Constitution, and a circulating medium convertible into such money without loss. We regard it as a flagrant violation of the explicit provisions of the Constitution for the Federal Government to make it a criminal offense to use gold or silver coin as legal tender or to issue irredeemable paper money."
• State sovereignty
  "We believe that each state is sovereign in performing those functions reserved to it by the Constitution and it is destructive of our federal system and the right of self-government guaranteed under the Constitution for the Federal Government to regulate or control the States in performing their functions or to engage in performing such functions itself."
• Federal taxation
  "We consider it a violation of the Constitution for the Federal Government to levy taxes for the support of state or local government; that no state or local government can accept funds from the Federal and remain independent in performing its functions, nor can the citizens exercise their rights of self-government under such conditions."
• Private property
  "We deem it a violation of the right of private property guaranteed under the Constitution for the Federal Government to forcibly deprive the citizens of this nation of their property through taxation or otherwise, and make a gift thereof to foreign governments or their citizens."
• Foreign policy
  "We believe that no treaty or agreement with other countries should deprive our citizens of rights guaranteed them by the Constitution."
• Defense and national sovereignty
  "We consider it a direct violation of the obligation imposed upon it by the Constitution for the Federal Government to dismantle or weaken our military establishment below that point required for the protection of the States against invasion, or to surrender or commit our men, arms, or money to the control of foreign or world organizations or governments."

Rules and bylaws

Candidate ballot access
Find detailed information on ballot access requirements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

See also: Rules of the Independent American Party of Utah

The state party is governed by a set of rules and bylaws. Typically, these give structure to the different levels of organization—local, county and state committees—and establish protocol for electing committee members. The bylaws also typically give details on the party's process for nominating and sending delegates to the national party convention during presidential elections. The following is a summary of the Independent American Party of Utah's rules. This summary focuses on the structure and governance of the party:

• The Independent American Party of Utah is a state affiliate of the national Independent American Party. The state party may authorize county-level parties.
• The state party is organized into caucuses according to congressional districts, state senate districts, state house districts and precinct districts.
• The executive officers of the state party include the chair, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer.

Convention

The date of the 2016 convention for the Independent American Party of Utah was April 23, 2016.

Leadership

The following individuals hold leadership positions with the Independent American Party of Utah:

• Greg Duerden, Chair
• Jake Oaks, Vice chairman
• Mike Carpenter, Secretary

Recent news

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See also

• List of political parties in the United States
• Independent American Party
• Ballot access requirements for political parties in Utah
• Utah

External links

• Independent American Party of Utah homepage
• Independent American Party of Utah on Facebook
• Independent American Party of Utah group forum