Democracy, capitalism, and open debate are the foundations of a free society. They give us political freedom, economic freedom, and intellectual freedom. Dictatorship, socialism, and thought control are the tools of tyranny. Government bureaucrats have refined the art of using claimed crises, like global warming or pandemic, to justify greater and more arbitrary exercises of government power and violations of Constitutional rights. With each crisis government powers grow and more freedoms are surrendered. But, after crises inevitably abate, the increased scope and intrusiveness of government remains.

After just nineteen months of Democrat control of Washington, more than three-quarters of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. Inflation, driven largely by astronomical government spending and the soaring cost of fuel, is melting the salaries and savings of all Americans. The war on our 100-year supply of fossil fuels has crippled America’s ability to easily meet our own energy needs and help our allies counter Russia’s weaponization of gas exports. Parents are told that they have no right to know what their elementary school children are being taught and that last season’s boy’s average athlete is this year’s girl’s record breaker. Our immigration laws are totally ignored by leftists trying to radically change America, allowing many criminals and terrorists to walk over the border and then get secretly transported to communities all across the country. Career criminals and the mentally ill steal and assault, knowing that prosecutors will not prosecute and judges will release without bail, freeing the thugs to commit another dozen crimes before they again stroll through the revolving door of progressive justice. The sultans of social media systematically erase any conservative comments they can find, and journalists arrogantly lie to put and keep their liberal friends in power. These are the issues that any conservative who goes to Washington must tackle and solve.

America is the most heterogeneous nation in the world, and the Conservative Party believes that our Constitutional freedoms, cultural diversity, and opportunity-rich economy make discrimination rare. Systemic racism is a lie. The loudest shouts of discrimination come from those demanding cash and standing they have not earned in an honest and fair merit evaluation.

The New York State Conservative Party is proud of the role it played in supporting and electing our favorite son Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton in 2016, and we believe the “Make America Great Again” revolution will revitalize in 2022 and into the future.

Government is the ultimate necessary evil. It comes about for both good and bad reasons. Government should provide for the common defense, whether that be against a foreign army, or a pack of predatory teenagers. But, it also offers opportunities for ambitious and power-obsessed individuals to acquire power that can be used to subjugate and enslave ordinary people. Increasingly, the contest between the national Republican and Democrat parties has evolved into a battle between freedom and tyranny. The New York State Conservative Party fights for freedom. This National Affairs Platform is our statement of what must be done to defend the Constitution and keep America free.

The United States Constitution is the foundation of our nation of laws. Since the early 20th century, political liberals have made and continue to make a concerted effort to disregard or re-interpret the Constitution. We categorically reject any attempts to undermine the Constitution.

The original Constitution tells us how our government is supposed to function, but the first ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights, is the soul of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights is the Founding Father’s statement that they hoped to build a nation of free, self-governing men and women who would reject the evils of tyranny.  It is crucial to recognize that the first two amendments prohibit the government from censoring speech or disarming law-abiding citizens.  And, the 10^th Amendment makes it clear that the states are to be the source of all laws, except for those expressly assigned to the federal government as inherently national or international in nature. The intrusion of Washington DC into matters that are properly under state authority is unconstitutional and unhealthy for our democracy.

Adherence to the Constitution provides our nation with surety, stability, and the wisdom and original intent of the Founders of our great nation.

The Conservative Party Supports: 

• The appointment of Federal Judges who acknowledge the primacy of the original intent of the Constitution in all legal decisions. 
• The passage of a Constitutional Amendment that fixes the number of Supreme Court Justices at nine, the current number.
• Continued re-affirmation of the 2^nd Amendment Right to Bear Arms against repeated attempts by Democrats to regulate it out of existence.

We applaud the U.S. Supreme Court’s long-overdue decision to find that Roe vs Wade was always a misinterpretation of the Constitution. Each state will now be able to protect the lives of unborn children as their citizens see fit, hopefully totally eliminating inhumane late-term abortions.

The Conservative Party Supports:

• Organizations that prevent abortions by offering counseling, adoption services, prayer, and other assistance to expectant mothers. 
• The appointment of pro-life Justices.
• The banning of assisted suicide.
• Restrictions on taxpayer dollars being used to facilitate abortions.

The printing and giveaway spending policies of the Democrat Congress have wrecked the broadly successful economy crafted by President Trump. The pandemic caused a massive increase in spending with poorly crafted Democratic programs allowing many billions to be stolen through fraud and mismanagement.  This massive increase in spending, coupled with fuel shortages engineered by misguided environmental policies, has caused inflation that diminishes the real income of all workers. Unleashing America’s oil and gas production will roll back most price increases and bring inflation under control.

The Conservative Party Supports: 

• Lowering taxes on working citizens.
• Reversing the Biden war on American fossil energy.
• Reductions in Federal regulations.
• Using America’s economic strength to negotiate bi-lateral trade deals which benefit American workers, American business, and American farmers. 
• Encouraging American businesses to relocate their offshore plants and operations back to the United States. 
• Free market capitalism vigorously opposes the drift toward socialism.

The world becomes more dangerous when expansionist communist dictatorships think America is led by cowardly and irresolute individuals. Weakness promotes aggression.

Biden’s horrendous handling of our nation’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, leaving behind 9,000 Americans and $84 billion in military equipment, then his failure to vigorously and rapidly support Ukraine against Putin’s invasion and slaughter demonstrates that Biden is incapable of fulfilling his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief.

The Conservative Party Supports: 

• The U.S., in collaboration with NATO, immediately supplied Ukraine with all non-nuclear military equipment needed to stop the Russian invasion. 
• Building the Australia/UK/US military alliance (AUKUS) by providing Australia with a full complement of strategic weapons and expanded basing facilities, and expanding and coordinating regional defense with Japan. 
• The U.S. and its allies expanding military freedom of navigation and flight patrols throughout the South China Sea, including the Taiwan Strait, and determined pursuit enforcement of the 2016 Hague Court decision dismissing China’s claims to territorial waters belonging to Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines.
• Modernization, to the full extent permitted under international agreements, of the U.S. strategic nuclear inventory.
• A declaration that Iran and North Korea are in violation of nuclear weapons agreements, and collaborate with our allies to prevent the deployment of such weapons by these rogue regimes.
• Elimination of “woke” policies that do not support the military’s warrior mission.
• Repairing and improving programs that assist our veterans.
• A resolution deploring Biden’s domestic political exploitation of the Strategic Petroleum and Diesel Reserves, and demanding that the Reserve be restored to its level under President Trump.

President Trump showed that his “America First” policy was simply a recognition that our enemies must be peacefully confronted at every opportunity, and we must work with our allies in a balanced approach that would advance American goals as well as those of our partners. The United States should respect the sovereignty and culture of countries seeking only to maintain their independence and build better lives for their people.

Putin has shown us that today’s Russia is still the country where millions were killed to consolidate the communist state. And, too many American businesses ignore the fact that today’s China, which supports the Russian slaughter in Ukraine, is still the fascist dictatorship built just 60 years ago by Mao on the mass graves of 45 million Chinese. These two regimes are sworn enemies of our free nation and are using every opening, whether overt or covert, to weaken and defeat America.

The Conservative Party Supports: 

• Requiring developing countries to choose between the U.S. or Communist China. Nations that allow their territory to be used to expand Communist Chinese economic and military power should be barred from receiving any American foreign aid and should be subject to punishing tariffs. 
• Expelling Russia from the United Nations Security Council. If the General Assembly does not act, the United States should abandon the U.N. and work to form a new international organization open only to countries that respect human rights and peace.
• Barring Russian and Communist Chinese citizens from universities that host science programs that contribute to America’s military defense.
• Continued moral and economic support for all people around the world under attack for their faith, especially Christians under attack in the Middle East and Africa. 
• Full support of Israel by the U.S. against Palestinian and Islamist terrorism and aggression. 

Democrat progressive refusal to enforce existing immigration laws amounts to a government-approved invasion of America by people from a hundred different countries. We continue our support of legal immigration while we vigorously oppose virtually open borders. Whatever may happen to the people who are already in the U.S. illegally, the current march of illegals into the country must stop now.

The Conservative Party Supports: 

• Completing the wall on our Southern border to block illegal entry. 
• Increased resources for ICE and our Border Control forces. We applaud the brave men and women who are trying to control our borders. 
• Banning immigration from countries that sponsor terrorism.
• Legislation that ends the business of “birth tourism,” whose only goal is to provide US Citizenship.
• Continued enforcement of Title 42 health restrictions on asylum seekers.

The 1^st Amendment Freedom of Speech prevents governments from censoring debate, so students, faculty or guest speakers at state or city universities have the Constitutionally-protected right to discuss any idea or express any opinion, just like candidates can hand out palm cards on public streets because state schools and sidewalks are creations of government. But Yale, Disney, Facebook, and Twitter are non-governmental entities that are not legally required to honor the 1^st Amendment. Still, these private enterprises have immense power, and abuses of immense power may harm the public interest and require a response.

Twenty-six years ago, to promote the growth of the nascent internet, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was enacted to protect websites from being sued for distributing what their users posted on their sites or deleting anything the platform’s managers considered objectionable. Justice Clarence Thomas has written that dominant communications tools, like Facebook and Twitter, should now be classified and legally treated like common carrier utilities, required to service everyone. They are today’s telephone and post office, not the bulletin board at a private club, and should not have the right to prevent the distribution of anything that could otherwise be legally delivered by the US mail.

The Conservative Party Supports: 

• The 21st Century FREE Speech Act, which would repeal Section 230 and classify dominant social media platforms as “common carriers.”
• Withholding federal grants and scholarships from private colleges that deny academic freedom of speech.
• Shareholder lawsuits against companies that take political actions that injure the value of their company.

We all agree that conservation of our national parks and wilderness areas for recreational uses, protecting endangered species, and recycling waste are important goals. But, as with all matters of national public policy, these goals must be achieved in a reasonable and balanced manner – taking into account the impact an act will have on an individual’s rights and the economy. When it comes to the Democrat war on carbon fuels, the simple facts are that the frightening predictions made more than 40 years ago by climate warming extremists have not happened. It was these predictions that were the purported reason why we had to stop using fossil fuels, including the internal combustion car engine. Only now, we are finally starting to talk about the serious toxic waste disposal dangers that dead solar panels and thousand-pound car batteries pose.

The Conservative Party Supports: 

• Cancellation of all Biden Executive Orders that block America’s energy independence.
• Immediate completion of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
• America’s withdrawal, again, from the Paris Climate Accords.
• Stopping all Federal and state efforts to establish a carbon tax on fuels for electricity and transportation.

We must never allow the threat of pandemic flu to again crush our economy and undermine our confidence in honest elections.

The Conservative Party Supports:

• Recognition that natural exchanges, leading to herd immunity, can be an alternative to vaccination. 
• Eliminating American funds spent on disease research in China, except to identify the origin of pathogens that may have come from Communist Chinese sources.
• Barring funding for any international health organization, like WHO, that cannot demonstrate objective independence.

The primary responsibility of government is to protect citizens from crime and violence, apprehend and punish criminals, and uphold the rule of law. Any person who advocates “defunding the police,” because they think the justice system is racist is unfit for any elective office. The rights of victims and the safety of officers legally performing their duties should be the highest priority of law enforcement.

The Democrats who control the most dangerous urban cities do nothing to find the guns that gangbangers, robbers, and killers use, but they never stop trying to disarm decent citizens who obey the law.

Under Democrat administrations, national law enforcement and investigative agencies, like the DOJ, FBI, IRS, and CIA, have been used to selectively intimidate, surveil, and prosecute critics of progressive policies. Parents trying to question radical school boards have been labeled terrorists by the DOJ, but pro-abortion mobs are allowed to illegally threaten the families of Supreme Court justices right in front of their homes. Antifa riots, attacks on pro-life centers, and wolf pack looting are ignored by leftist prosecutors. A conservative President will clear out the crooks who have violated their oath of office.

The Conservative Party Supports:

• Canceling federal law enforcement grants allocated to jurisdictions that defund their police or nullify qualified immunity.
• Denying locales that do not fully cooperate with immigration enforcement any access to federal criminal databases, such as fingerprint, ballistic, and firearms registration matching.
• Removal of a US Attorney who fails to enforce federal criminal laws against rioting, civil disturbance, or destruction of federal property.
• Protecting every law-abiding citizen’s right to self-defense by limiting local restrictions on the Constitutional right to bear arms.

The Conservative Party was formed in 1962 to restore a meaningful choice to the voters of New York State. At that time, the three existing political parties espoused the doctrinaire liberal philosophy of the welfare state at home and the collectivist ideology abroad. In just four short decades, the party has grown from a small band of conservative-minded men and women to a statewide organization dedicated to the traditional American values of individual freedom, individual responsibility, and individual effort.

From a humble beginning garnering 141,000 votes on ballot Row F, our principles have attracted Empire State voters in sufficient numbers to raise the Party to Row C and twice received over a million votes for our candidate in a statewide election. From the founding of the party, it has been successively chaired by Kieran O’Doherty, J. Daniel Mahoney, Serphin R. Maltese, Michael R. Long and Gerard Kassar. Through the leadership of these men and the hard work of committee members, the Conservative Party elected James L. Buckley to the U. S. Senate, William Carney to the House of Representatives, Serphin R. Maltese to the State Senate, Rosemary R. Gunning, Charles Jerabek and Angela M. Wozniak to the State Assembly. History was made in New York City with the 2001 election of then Conservative Party Executive Vice Chairman James P. Molinaro as the Borough President of Staten Island and his reelections in 2005 and 2009.

The 1994 elections were a breakthrough for the Conservative Party as we provided the margin of victory for Governor George E. Pataki with the 326,605 votes cast on our line. Attorney General Vacco narrowly defeated radical Karen Burstein by 88,340 votes. He received 305,961 votes on the Conservative Line. In 1998, 348,272 votes for Governor George E. Pataki were cast on the Conservative line, over 20,000 more than in 1994, an anomaly in political history.
In the past 60 years, the Conservative Party has played many pivotal roles in electing officials from every political division from Supreme Court Justices to Village Justices, County Executives to Village Board Members, Mayors and City Council Members to Ward Leaders, and will continue to play a pivotal role in the process of electing those who are committed to conservative values.

Our strong support of term limits was instrumental when New York City voters went to the polls two separate times and defeated proposed changes to the term limits for the offices of Mayor and the City Council previously enacted.

In 1990, conservative savant, Herb London, ran for governor on the Conservative Party line only and garnered 827,614 votes, just 1% less than the republican candidate.

In 1997, the Conservative Party led the citizens of New York in defeating the $2.4 billion School Bond Act. Liberals outspent us 6 to 1 in trying to pass what would have been nothing more than a colossal waste of taxpayer money. And, we defeated the proposal for a Constitutional Convention; twenty years later, in 2017, we led a coalition to defeat passage of a Constitutional Convention again. In the year 2000, we were instrumental in defeating the most expensive transportation bond issues ever placed on the ballot. In November 2003, we were instrumental in defeating the “non-partisan election” ballot question in New York City and the raising of the debt limit for small city school districts. In 2005, we led the way to defeat the ill-conceived “Power Grab” by Albany’s legislators.
In 2009, the Conservative Party’s candidate for the 23rd CD, Doug Hoffman, running on the CPNYS line alone, garnered 45.98% of the vote. The race energized a grassroots response seldom seen in politics; and helped give birth to the “TEA Party” movement.
In 2010, the Conservative Party regained Row C when Carl Paladino was our gubernatorial candidate and provided the margin of victory to numerous elected officials; in 2014 and 2018 voters solidly reaffirmed our position on Row C.

In 2011, the Conservative Party provided the margin of victory in a special election to Bob Turner who took back a Congressional Seat held by Democrats for eighty years.

In 2016, the Conservative Party endorsed Donald J. Trump for President. President Donald J. Trump noted “It’s not easy to be an unapologetic conservative in one of the most liberal states in America, but your loyalty to the cause of freedom have paid off with a growing and thriving Party.”

In 2017, we helped pass a Constitutional Amendment that requires any elected official convicted of a felony related to their duties to forfeit their pension.

In 2019, the Conservative Party vote was the margin of victory in many important races including the flipping of several County Legislatures and Towns including Hempstead, the largest town in the United States. Additionally, enrolled members of the Conservative Party enjoyed victories ranging from State Supreme Court to Town Councils, making 2019 a banner year.

In 2020 the Conservative Party elected eight members to Congress.

In 2021 we successfully led the opposition to three NYS Ballot proposals that would have increased partisan gerrymandering and the potential for election fraud.

In 2022 we actively participated in a successful effort to overturn a highly political gerrymander of the New York State’s Congressional and State Legislative lines.

In recent years, statewide, the Party has forged strong links to Republicans and a few Democrats with compatible views and has helped prevent a complete leftward drift of state government. Although we are not formally affiliated with any national conservative organizations, we are recognized as the influential New York branch of the American conservative movement and maintain a close and cordial relationship with conservative organizations and public officials in other states and Washington, D.C.

President Ronald Reagan stated; “The Conservative Party has established itself as a preeminent force in New York Politics and an important part of our political history.”

President Donald J. Trump noted “It’s not easy to be an unapologetic conservative in one of the most liberal states in America, but your loyalty and commitment to the cause of freedom have paid off with a growing and thriving Party.”

With your help, the Conservative Party will continue its vital role in reshaping the political agenda of the State and Nation.