Members of the Utah Populist Party held their first state convention at the Salt Palace Saturday, electing delegates from several counties to represent the party in upcoming elections.
In addition, four people from the party plan to run for state and federal offices: Rita Gum, governor; E.O. "Doc" Woods, state representative, District 25; Jim Klaproth, 2nd Congressional District; and Anita Morrow, U.S. Senate.If elected governor, Gum said she would "clean up the laws and judiciary elements of government." To accomplish that, she said she would form volunteer committees "to work out solutions to the state's problems."
Gum, of Salt Lake City, said she believes Americans are losing their freedoms because they have become so distracted by sports and TV that they have failed to learn about the danger of the "New World Order."
Gum and other Populist candidates said they are not professional politicians but patriots who want "America first."
"I am the servant of the people," said Gum. "I will sign the bill the people want."
Klaproth, who moved to Salt Lake County recently, has similar ideals. If elected to Congress, he would work to limit the powers of the Internal Revenue Service, re-establish a sense of national allegiance to Christain principles, re-establish America as an industrial nation and work to combat crime through a reformation of the judicial system.
"Our judicial system has become a mockery of our Constitution," said Klaproth. "We need to re-educate our people to recognize when they sit on the grand jury, they have more power than the president. Above all, we must work to elect men and women who are not politicians but are true patriots so we can take back our country and again become a nation of `We the People.' "
Klaproth said that the American establishment is selling the people's sovereign rights to the United Nations and that, if it is not stopped, all rights will become "null and void."
The Populist Party believes Republicans and Democrats have abandoned Americans in favor of special-interest groups. So the party has created a 10-point program "to help return America to greatness." The points include:
- Implement a flat tax of 10 percent and a homeowner's amendment that would allow each family the right to own one home tax-free.
- End illegal and strictly limit legal immigration.
- Reform the welfare program so that recipients work on public projects while receiving welfare. In addition, any recipient with a drug problem would be denied aid until the problem is "cured."
- End Affirmative Action and live by the motto "Equal rights for all, special privileges for none."
- Adamantly oppose the "New World Order," which the Populists believe is a system to end American sovereignty and integrate the country into a one-world system under the auspices of the United Nations. They endorse the Constitution and would eliminate all amendments, including the Bill of Rights.
To accomplish its goals, the Populist Party endorses James "Bo" Gritz, a highly decorated Green Beret commander of the Vietnam War, for president.
Gritz has accused U.S. government officials of drug trading and going to war in the Persian Gulf to deter attention from domestic problems.
Gritz's platform includes "restoring constitutional government, returning our prisoners of war while they are still alive, winning the war on drugs and putting accuracy, accountability and integrity into American government."
The Populist Party was formed in 1987. In January 1992, Murrow said, "I was called and asked by the national campaign coordinator, Jeff Wilkerson, Florida, to be the Utah State Populist party chairman."