Communications With The Maryland Constitution Party

Upon the defeat of Brian Murphy for the Republican nomination to run for Maryland governor, I looked at the website of Eric Knowles, the MD Constitution Party nominee to run for that office.  Here is what I found on that site regarding his position on abortion and what should be done about it.  You do have to scroll down quite a bit to see it.  I copied and pasted it here and I put in bold the statements that cause me to raise my eyebrows.

• Roe vs. Wade was shining example of a usurpation of Constitutional power by the Judicial Branch of government. The fact that we treat a decision of the Supreme Court as a law throughout the land shows a serious lack of understanding of our Constitution. The Supreme Court was merely meant to interpret the existing laws throughout the nation and determine if they undermine, compromise, or violate our Constitution. The Congress is the ONLY branch vested with the power to create laws federally, and the states have their own legislative branches that are intended to craft laws at a state level. Neither the Judicial Branch nor Executive Branch has any power to create laws that affect the common citizen. ALL ‘laws’ such as this one need to be struck down on the merit that they are a violation of the enumerated powers given to this branch under the Constitution. As a person who has sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, I cannot abide by such attacks at the fabric of our law.   The issue of Abortion is a states issue. Individually, each of the 50 states should be the governing bodies over this type of legislation as they are over issue of the death penalty. Thusly, this would allow for people to be able to vote with their feet by moving to whichever state best represented their personal views on subjects such as these, as was intended in the inception of our nation.  Personally, I am not here to legislate your morality. That is a personal decision to be worked out between you and your Creator. When the structure of our law is corrected at the Federal level and this issue is put forth to the Maryland Legislature, if this bill passes both houses and finds its way to the desk of the Governor I may someday have to decide which side to come down on. And as I too must one day meet my Creator, as we all must, I would not be able to sign away the lives of innocents. This would weigh too heavily on my soul. However, if my veto were overridden, as it would then be the will of the people of Maryland, I would abide by the legislation in accordance with my duties as Governor. But I pray, for the lives of those innocents, that we as a society would not make that decision. I ask that we let other states do that if that is their will.

I then emailed Mr.Knowles to get further clarity on his abortion position.  Here is the email, in italics.

Mr. Knowles, before I begin, please be advised that I intend to circulate this email widely, along with all follow-up communications arising from this email.

I am a Maryland citizen who is both a devout Catholic and who has been active in the pro-life apostolate for almost 20 years. As such, I have taken a vital interest in political events in all levels of government.

I examined your stance on the abortion matter as stated in your website and would like to ask some questions:

• If you are elected to the office of governor, will you work to ensure protection for unborn children in Maryland?
• If the answer to the above question is “yes”, what specific steps will you take to bring about such protection?
• Will you support any effort to pass a human life amendment to the United States Constitution? 
• If the answer to either the first or third question is “no”, would you please explain why?

As the general elections are less than two months away, I’d appreciate a reply no later than close-of-business on Wednesday September 22nd.

Thank you for your time.

He did reply within that timeframe, and I append that below - again, in italics.

To answer your questions in order;

1. Yes.
2. In my research I have found that Maryland taxpayers paying for abortions. No one should be forced to pay for these through taxes. The State has limited things that it should be funding, and this is not on that very short list.
The idea that a minor can have any medical procedure without the knowledge of their parents I find to be disturbing and should be addressed. Minors have to have a parent present to receive a piercing in this state, why should the parents not even be notified of their child having a procedure done that could potentially cause harm to them?
Also in my research and in my understanding of the Roe v Wade law, the court ruled on a woman’s right to privacy, but does not clearly define when a person gains their rights under our system of government. It is in my opinion that our rights, as Thomas Jefferson stated, are endowed by our creator, and that government is instituted to secure those rights. This should not need to be stated as it should be self-evident, but I think at this time when we are quick to dismiss our natural rights in this country, especially at a federal level, it may be a great challenge to the court’s ruling for the state of Maryland to define our rights as being received and protected at the time of conception.
3. Unsure
4. When proposing to amend the Constitution, it is wise for all to take a measured and cautious pace as this is the supreme law of the nation. How can one state support for an amendment or even a law that they have not read the specific language on? Though this amendment you are proposing has a great title how am I to know if it violates any other rights that are in our Constitution? The 9th amendment states that no amendment is to be used to deny or disparage any other right retained by the people. I need to see the exact language.
Lastly as it stands now, this is an issue for the states to address since there is no language in the Constitution and as I have to one day meet my Creator and since I am running for Governor, I will do my best to affect this issue at a local level. In the foreseeable future, this is the most efficient way to handle this issue; at the state level

I will comment on all this in the next post.  If you want to be able to refer to these two posts side by side, you can print them out, or open up an additional browser window to see both posts at the same time.