Utah Independent American Party
Utah Independent American Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairman | Greg Duerden |
| Founders | Will Christensen, Wayne Hill, John Poulson |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Ideology | Ultraconservatism Paleoconservatism Mormon interests |
| Website | |
| iaputah | |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in the United States |
|---|
 |
The Utah Independent American Party (UIAP) is a third party in Utah that runs a national party named the Independent American Party which promotes Ultraconservative, Paleoconservative, and Mormon values.
History
[edit]The UIAP was founded in 1993 by Will Christensen, Wayne Hill, and John Poulson, Mormons in Utah that wanted a "truly conservative" party, in line with the teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, the 13th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[1][2] The party has claimed that the Republican party are too Progressive, and that there are no parties more conservative than the UIAP.[3][4] The party picked its name in reference to a prophecy from Joseph Smith recorded by Mosiah Hancock that both the Republican and Democratic parties would be destroyed by an "Independent American Party."[2][3] The party is based on Benson's speech titled The Proper Role of Government which establishes "15 Principles for Liberty and Good Government."[2]
In 1995 the party became the Utah state affiliate of the American Party (AP), however, following the failure of the AP to secure a national ballot line for the 1996 election the UIAP called an internal straw poll in 1998 where members where presented three options; remain affiliated with the AP, affiliate with the nascent National U.S. Taxpayers Party (today the Constitution Party), or form a "National Independent American Party" (NIAP), with the members choosing the third option with 79% in favor.[2] The party often uses 1998 as their foundation year.[3] In 2001 the party created additional affiliates in Minnesota and Tennessee.[4]
The Independent American Party of Minnesota isn't a registered party, rather they've registered as a PAC.[5][6] The PAC was involved in the Draft Ron Paul movement in 2001 for the 2004 election.[7]
In 2021 Wayne Hill and Will Christensen died within 30 days of each other, in November and December respectively, and since John Poulson had died some years earlier the UIAP was left without strong coherent leadership.[2] Greg Duerden eventually rose to become the party's chairman. In 2023 the party surpassed 80,000 registered members, and announced plans to open branches to represent Mormon colonies in Central and South America.[2] The party has been supported by Cliven Bundy, made famous for his Bundy standoff against various federal police forces.[8]
2024
[edit]During the 2024 United States Senate election in Utah UIAP candidate Carlton Bowen was given a spot during the debates between Republican candidate John Curtis and Democratic candidate Caroline Gleich.[9] Bowen campaigned on reducing the size of National monument protected areas, for rejecting any and all environmental protections, and being stringently pro-life with no-exceptions to rape or incest.[10] Bowen ultimately got 5.74% of the vote.[11] During the 2024 Utah gubernatorial election the party ran Tommy Williams who got 1.84% of the vote.[12]
Criticism
[edit]After the 2016 election the UIAP saw a surge in registration, however, UIAP's voter registration and performance in polls is highly exaggerated due to Independent and Unaffiliated voters mistakenly registering for the party as anyone who registers as "Independent" actually registers for the UIAP.[13][1][8][3] Utah County clerk Josh Daniels said that "90% of people who are registered with the IAP don’t realize they’re registered with an actual political party."[3] For example, in 2022 there where 61,321 registered members of the UIAP, despite the party only having 9,194 active voters.[3] This became a more serious problem in 2021 when the Utah state government passed a bill that cut off Utahns’ ability to switch political party affiliation months before primary elections, which saw a huge surge in the party's numbers as voters thought registering as "Independent" meant being an Independent Voter.[14] This fact that the vast majority of registered members aren't remotely in line with the party's views has been admitted by the party's chairman Greg Duerden but that regardless it fulfills their divine mission of abolishing the two major parties, as outlined in Smith's prophecy.[3][8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Johns, Courtney. "Utah's fastest growing political party". KTVX. ABC. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "HISTORY OF THE IAP". iaputah.org. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Coombs, Carlene. "Why confusion between registering as independent vs. unaffiliated might be causing this third party to grow". Deseret News. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ a b "The Independent American Party" (PDF). Chapman University. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ Tau, Byron. "Venn expands health offerings with Brooks, Cumberlidge and Garrigan — FP1 brings on Denherder as partner". Politico. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
- ^ "Independent American Party National Committee Elect New Chief Coordinator for Minnesota". Yahoo Finance. Marketwired. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
- ^ "Organizations Officially Endorsing "Ron Paul for President 2004"". Independent Citizens and Parties for Congressman Ron Paul for President 2004. 2003-08-22. Archived from the original on 2003-10-08. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
- ^ a b c Jones, McKhelyn. "Utah's Independent American Party is seeing explosive growth, but it's unclear what's driving it". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ Winslow, Ben. "Third-party candidates increase presence on Utah debate stages". KSTU. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ Gehrke, Robert. "'Our public lands are under attack': Candidates spar over climate, federal overreach in U.S. Senate debate". moabtimes. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ "Utah U.S. Senate Election Results". The New York Times. November 5, 2024. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
- ^ "2024 Utah General Election". enhancedvoting.com. November 5, 2024. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
- ^ Means, Emily. "Unaffiliated voters, assemble! Here's what you need to know about Utah's primary election". KUER-FM. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ McKellar, Katie. "Limits on voters switching parties before primaries passes Utah Legislature". Deseret News. Retrieved 6 December 2024.