My name is Edgar J. Steele.
The Constitution Party of Idaho doesn't think I am good enough to be a common member, let alone a candidate for state office on its ticket in 2010. Chairman Paul Venable said so when he returned my membership application with the the word "REJECTED" stamped across its face in giant, red block letters.
Good Enough
I've been good enough to vote for Constitution Party candidates since the days it called itself the Taxpayers' Party. I've been good enough to get out the vote for Constitution Party candidates, as followers of my writings well know.
Readers will recall that I encouraged financially supporting Constitution Party candidates in the past, notably Chuck Baldwin, 2008 candidate for President on the party ticket.
I was good enough to generate tons of support and money for Ron Paul, who ultimately endorsed Chuck Baldwin.
My family was good enough to contribute money with which we could ill afford to part.
Not Good Enough
But I'm not good enough to be a member of the very party I have supported so vigorously down through the years. I'm not good enough to help select Idaho Constitution Party officers or participate in crafting its agenda or message.
I'm not good enough.
Paul Venable, Idaho Constitution Party Chairman, says so.
REJECTED
"REJECTED." That's Mr. Venable's opinion of my worthiness to be even a rank-and-file member of the Idaho Constitution Party.That's why I won't be allowed to vote at the upcoming North Idaho Constitution Party organizational meeting to be held in Coeur d'Alene just three days from now. Though I will attend this meeting at which officers will be elected, I anticipate that Mr. Venable, who has called the meeting, will have me removed because I am not a member - by force, if necessary. It could be quite a spectacle. You should come watch if you are in the area Wednesday night.
Why was I found unfit for membership? Well, you will have to ask Mr. Venable, since he never bothered to give me a reason for stamping "REJECTED" on my membership application, but I presume it is because he disapproves of my writings on race relations in America. You see, Paul Venable is Black. During my one phone conversation with Mr. Venable, he made it clear that he disapproved of my writings on race, though I had the distinct impression that he had read only out-of-context excerpts like the one he threw in my face. He admitted to never even having looked at my book.
Despite telling me that they were thinking of not even running a candidate for governor, so as to concentrate on more "winnable" races, it was during that phone conversation with Mr. Venable, in which I had sought the party's blessing to run as Governor on the party ticket, that he pledged to "find someone" to run against me in the 2010 Idaho Constitution Party primary election for nomination for Governor if I decide to run, anyway.
A Nation of Cowards
Recently, Black US Attorney General Eric Holder stated that we are a "nation of cowards" because we are afraid to discuss race. He was right. I promptly sat down and wrote Mr. Holder a letter, enclosing a copy of my book, Defensive Racism, An Unapologetic Examination of Racial Differences as evidence of the fact that not all Americans have been afraid to discuss race. I sent another copy of my book under cover of a similar letter to President Obama. Mr. Holder sent back a nice note, thanking me. I like to think that I haven't received anything similar from the White House because Mr. Obama is waiting to finish reading it before acknowledging my attempt to discuss race with him via my book. After all, he did promise to be President for all of us.
Already a member of the National Constitution Party, I applied for membership to the Idaho State chapter because I have been considering running for Governor in next year's election on the Constitution Party ticket. Like Chuck Baldwin, who merely is "affiliated" with the Constitution Party, I previously have avoided joining any parties or groups so as to maintain the degree of separation necessary for credibility both in courtrooms and outside them.
You see, for years I have defended, for free, oppressed members of American society in courts up and down the West Coast on matters where important Constitutional rights were being trampled by our increasingly-authoritarian governmental authorities. These have been largely futile efforts, of course. "There is no justice for the politically incorrect," as I like to say.
Or, as Attorney General Holder says of those who, like I, attempt to discuss race in America: We risk "...at best embarrassment and at worst the questioning of one's character."
Well, Mr. Holder was absolutely correct, because Paul Venable apparently thinks I lack the character necessary to be an ordinary member of the Idaho Constitution Party.
Never mind my years of unstinting dedication to defending the Constitution in courtrooms against all comers, at the expense of my career.
Never mind all the writing I have done defending Constitutional principles - principles that Mr. Venable discards out of hand by rejecting me.
Never mind the individual rights guaranteed to each and every American, regardless of race, creed or religion, by the US Constitution.
Constitutional Irony
The irony of Paul Venable and the Idaho Constitution Party denying me mere membership in the state chapter of the party will not be lost upon students of the US Constitution, since Mr. Venable thereby denies me many of the rights guaranteed every American under the US Constitution:By denying me membership in the Idaho Constitution Party, Paul Venable denies my constitutional right to run for office.
Paul Venable and the Idaho Constitution Party deny my constitutional right to free speech because I am not allowed to speak out during local party meetings.
Paul Venable and the Idaho Constitution Party deny my constitutional right to free association because I am not allowed to attend local Constitution Party meetings.
Paul Venable denies me equal protection under the law because others who have not personally offended him are allowed to be members, to speak out during meetings and, even, to run for office.
Paul Venable and the Idaho Constitution Party deny me my constitutional right to due process by summarily rejecting me without providing reasons or an opportunity to appeal or, even, to be heard concerning my party membership rejection.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
Who Will Save the Constitution?
Reportedly, when Mr. Venable, a newcomer from Ohio, first arrived in North Idaho to help organize the local chapter of the Idaho Constitution Party, he announced that he was "here to save the Constitution" for us local residents. Who is going to save the Constitution, not to mention the Constitution Party, from Paul Venable?
Indeed, since Mr. Venable gets to reject members at all, let alone without cause, leads one to ask just how one becomes a member of the Idaho Constitution Party unless one first passes muster with Mr. Venable's personal prejudices.
Yes, Let's Do Talk About Race and Racism
Whites in America have suffered affirmative action due to a false sense of guilt about the treatment of blacks we never knew by whites with whom we have nothing in common except skin color. Today's action by Paul Venable and the Idaho Constitution Party makes clear that we merely were trading places with those who had been discriminated against in the past. I long have spoken out against affirmative action, racial quotas, set-asides and racial preferences of every stripe. The racial pendulum has swung much too far in America and it is long past time that we brought it back to center and rendered true equality among the races.
We offered Blacks equal opportunity, but they have demanded and received equal outcome, with no regard for merit in the process.
We offered Blacks a leg up, but they have rewarded us by stepping upon us in the process.
Enough, I say. Far too much, in fact.
Clearly, Paul Venable is a racist in every sense of the word.
This abjectly racist conduct by Paul Venable and, through him, the Idaho Constitution Party cannot be allowed to stand. If you allow them to do it to me, they can do it to anybody, including you ... and will, rest assured.
Speak Out
Speak out on this and:1. Demand my immediate instatement as a member in good standing of the Idaho Constitution Party.
2. Demand Paul Venable's resignation as Idaho's party chairman so that he is unable to continue his campaign of perversion of the very principles upon which the Constitution Party is founded.
Contact information for the national headquarters of the Constitution Party:
Chairman: Jim Clymer
Constitution Party
P.O. Box 1782, Lancaster, PA 17608
http://www.constitutionparty.com/
On-line email: https://secure.giftwrapplus.org/cpnc/eu/contactus/
(though the on-line email link seems to yield an error, click through to the form anyway - unable to find a proper email address at the national headquarters anyplace on line)
Contact information for the Idaho headquarters of the Constitution Party:
State Chairman: Paul Venable
P. O. Box 695, Parma, Idaho 83660
www.CPIdaho.org
chairman@cpidaho.org
