By Jessica Revere
Prohibition was, to the Prohibition Party’s candidate, Gene Amondson, America’s greatest 13 years. The Prohibition Party, known as America’s oldest third party, has been in existence since 1869. Since the repeal of the 18th amendment (Prohibition of the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcohol) in 1933, the Prohibition Party has been working endlessly to bring it back.
Gene Amondson has been the party’s candidate since 2004 and is no stranger to the stigma the party members face on a daily basis, “People think you are pretty weird when you try to fight alcohol,” he said in a recent interview.
Amondson is a fighter at that. He has been known to dress like the Grim Reaper and protest outside of alcohol distilleries, bars and clubs. “It’s important to get the media there and to show the American people why prohibition should come again,” he said.
Amondson began his fight against alcohol during his time at Asbury Theological Seminary when he heard about a speech given by old time baseball player Billy Sunday. Sunday had helped to bring about the close of about 500 bars; upon hearing this, Amondson changed his views on life and began his own fight against alcohol. Amondson also became a believer when he heard a quarter of a million children in Ohio alone are abused by alcoholic parents.
He officially became a member of the Prohibition Party in 1999 and only five years later became their choice for president of the United States.
In addition to wanting to bring back prohibition, Amodson and the Prohibition Party put their focus on many other aspects of the American culture. That includes appealing the following Supreme Court cases, Claude Wickard vs Filburn, U. S. vs California, and U. S. vs Texas, Engel vs Vitale, Baker vs Carr, and Wade vs. Roe. That also includes trying to bring a balanced budget to America, limit the Congress’ taxing power, limit the sale of government owned businesses, bring a return of the gold standard and finally, bring about a systematic retirement of the national debt.
Most importantly, however, the Prohibition Party seeks to bring about stronger and more vigorous laws affecting the sale of tobacco products, fight against gambling, illegal drugs and pornography.
After interviewing legal voters in New Jersey between the ages of 21 and 35 (those most likely to be affected by a return of prohibition and other aspects of the party’s platform), a general consensus was found. Only about one or two of those individuals believed in what the party had to say. Many others believed the party is only seeking to take away “everything fun,” said James Soos.
Soos is a 34 year-old electrician from Tinton Falls and looks forward to a nice cold beer at the end of the day. “It’s not like I’m out there getting smashed every night but after putting in a 10- to 13-hour day, a cold bottle of Heineken really winds me down and helps me to relax.”
Soos is not the only one to feel this way. His wife, Louisa, shares similar views. “The toast at our wedding was one of the most memorable parts of the occasion and while I suppose we could do it without alcohol, what’s a toast without champagne?”
Another legal voter interviewed was 21-year-old Dan Gunn of Sparta. “Even though I am now legal to drink I still don’t find myself doing it all that often. Maybe once in a while I’ll have a beer or something but it’s not something I revolve my life around, but I do smoke cigarettes. And even so this party is just trying to take away our rights as American citizens. No government should be able to tell us what we put into our bodies.”
Twenty-eight-year-old Jeff Marietto from Middletown is another who holds strong views on the matter,
“Yeah I drink and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’ll go out with my friends on a Friday or Saturday night and get plastered. It’s not that big of a deal, everyone does it.”
In response, Marietto was then asked why drinking is such a fun activity for him and his friends to do. He replied, “Why the heck shouldn’t it be? We’re all in our late 20s with stressful jobs, some of us are single and some of us have girlfriends and we know it’s only a matter of time before we work more and get married and we won’t really have time to party. So why not live it up while we can?”
While the Sooses, Gunn and Marietto make up the majority views of the interviewed voters, 24-year-old Ed Callirgos from Keyport is on the opposite side. “My mother is a recovering alcoholic and if prohibition had still been in effect when she started drinking her addictions never would have happened. After going through what I did and seeing what my mother went through, why would I want something so evil around others. No one should have to go through what we did.”
After being asked if he thought prohibition would take away our rights, Calligros replied with, “Rights? Since when is drinking a right? It’s a privilege and privileges can be taken away when one proves they cannot handle the responsibility. I don’t believe Americans can handle the responsibility. I’ve never had a drop of liquor, I’ve never tried a cigarette and I never will.”
Calligros was also asked that if the Prohibition Party was on the ballot in New Jersey, would he vote for candidate Gene Amondson. “Even though I do believe with what he is saying and I would love to vote for him, I don’t think I could bring myself to do it. I hate to say it like this but I believe it would be a waste of my vote because I know he will never get nominated. But even so I am glad there are people out there like him fighting. Someone needs to have a voice for people like me.”
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The Women’s Christian Temperance Union or W.C.T.U. is an organization composed of women who are concerned about the destructive power of alcohol and the problems it causes their families and society. They are also a proud supporter of Gene Amondson and he them. Founded in 1874, this group of women is often called Women Crusaders. The women began their organization by meeting in churches to pray, then marching to saloons and asking the owners to close their establishments. They also believe in much of what the Prohibition Party does. They want to bring back prohibition, as well as make cigarettes illegal, get rid of all illegal drugs and put an end to gambling and pornography.
These women also chose total abstinence from all alcohol as their life style and have adopted the Greek philosopher Xenophon’s stance on temperance, “Temperance may be defined as moderation in all things healthful; total abstinence from all things harmful.”
When asked why he believes in the power of these women so much, Amondson replied, “They are the last group of women who are trying to fight alcohol, these days women are too goofy and don’t care about children.”
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November 7, 2008 at 12:52 pm
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