A recent article on the “WorldNetDaily” Web site reported that “Minuteman Project” founder Jim Gilchrist might be interested in running for President as the Constitution Party’s nominee. This article quotes CP Chairman Jim Clymer as being excited about the possibility of such a Gilchrist candidacy. Gilchrist’s views on immigration are well-known. John Lofton interviewed him about some other important issues.
Originally found here:
Q: What about homosexual marriage?
A: NO!, no.
Q: Is homosexuality a sin?
A: I don’t know if it is so much a sin as it is a malady. And in Scripture, yes, it is a sin.
Q: Should it be outlawed? Should sodomy be outlawed?
A: (Sighing) Hmmm, you notice I’m stalling here. Why am I stalling? Why am I stalling, John?
Q: I give up. Why are you stalling?
A: Because I am unable to give a yes or no decision. If I have to say yes or no, then I would say, yes, it should be outlawed. It is unnatural. Do I want to go picking fights with homosexuals? No. But would I support any covert attempt to or support any outward attempt to adjust our Constitution to allow homosexual marriage? No, it’s got to remain between one man and one woman, not between one man and several women, not between two men, and not between one women and several men. One on one, one man and one woman.
Q: Should we get the U.S. out of the U.N. and the U.N. out of the U.S. ?
A: As soon as possible.
Q: Treaties, finally. Semi-finally, are there treaties you think we ought to have with any country that requires us to go to war if that country was attacked, and if that country was attacked, what might those countries be? We have many of them by the way.
A: I’m thinking of the countries, and I’m thinking of what happened in Viet Nam and what a mess that was because of the SEATO Treaty. I’m thinking of NATO, and apparently that’s how we got involved in Kosovo, although that wasn’t a blood letting event, that was more of a foreign aid event, and some quiet policing. I would hate to see our mother country, England , I hate to call her our mother, where most of our founders came from - I would hate to see England attacked and over run and us just do nothing. I would have to have some exceptions, because I think once you take down England they’re going to come for us. In the case of a threat as in WWII with Germany , I would have to consider some sort of treaties. The absence of that threat, probably not.
Q: You’ve said that if Sen. John McCain is the GOP Presidential nominee you would think seriously about seeking the Presidential nomination of the Constitution Party.
A: Oh, that would be an easy win. I’d get all the Republicans voting for me.
Q: Does that mean that if the Republicans nominate anyone but McCain that you won’t think seriously about the Constitution Party nomination?
A: No, no, they better nominate someone who first emphasizes bringing order to the rule of law, ending the war in Iraq, preserving our Social Security system, getting the Federal Government out of education and returning it to local jurisdiction, local supervision. And a number of other things, solving the immigration, actually one of the biggest priorities would be the immigration issue.
Q: Sure.
A: To stop the invasion and then fundamental tax reform which would mean the repeal of the income tax and replace that with tariff and excise taxes and national sales tax. Can you imagine for the rest of your life never having to fuss with an income tax form again?
Q: Well, that sounds good, and more than once you’ve embraced the rule of law, and of course everybody in this country babbles all the time how they’re for the rule of law, well, where do you think law comes from, and how do you, Jim Gilchrist, decide if a given law is even law?
A: Excellent question, John, and it’s a stumbling one. I wish I was an attorney —.
Q: Oh, my gosh! Jim, Jim, Jim! I can’t let that go! No, don’t do that! How do we know which laws are valid, and which are just made up by man and — what is the origin and the first source of law?
A: I would say the Bible. And the Bible wasn’t really set laws, it was rules of conduct. It was more like what would Jesus do, sort of applications and they became laws. They became the foundation of our Constitution, of our Bill of Rights, and in addition to that, there are things that maybe aren’t in the Bible, but just simple things you do, you open the door for somebody walking in behind you in a store, I mean you don’t let it slam in their face.
It’s part religion and part common sense, and to me it’s a combination of things, but the heart of it, the root of it comes from religion, which is justice and fairness and other things. And I’m not an expert in the Bible, so that’s why this is a difficult question for me to answer, but I know we have our foundation on religion, and Christianity, and there’s nothing wrong with that, I think it has worked to our benefit and what I don’t want is people like the ACLU getting their influence into legislation - while they claim they have as much right as you or I, or anyone else to have input. But, I disagree with their premise, and their premise is really communism, which is really ignoring that commandment which says thou shalt not steal, which I feel communists are a bunch of thieves. That’s pretty much what I see - that’s kind of harsh language, but I really feel that way.
Q: No, it’s true - sad to say -
A: And so are the anarchists that follow them.
Q: And so is our government in many ways.
A: Oh, yes. It’s organized, it’s legalized, organized crime. And that’s why we have the thing called, irrevocable self-governance, that our founding fathers had been through this back in the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeen hundreds and they knew what it was like to have a government telling you what your were going to do, how you were going to do it, where you are going to live, who are you going to give worship to, etc. All those horrible things that happened under the English rule, and they were going to guarantee that it wasn’t going to happen here as long as we had competent individuals to maintain it. I don’t have all the perfect answers.