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ACU's Statement of Principles
The following statement was adopted in December 1964.
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 We
believe that the Constitution of the United States is the best
political charter yet created
by men for governing themselves.
It is our belief that the Constitution is designed to guarantee
the free exercise of the inherent rights
of the individual through strictly
limiting the power of government.
We reaffirm our belief in the
Declaration of Independence, and in particular the belief that
our inherent rights are endowed by the Creator. We further believe
that our liberties can remain secure only if government is so
limited that it cannot infringe upon those rights. |
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We believe that capitalism is the only economic system of our time that is compatible with political liberty. It has not only brought a higher standard of living to a greater number of people than any other economic system in the history of mankind; more important, it has been a decisive instrument in preserving freedom through maintaining private control of economic power and thus limiting the power of government. |
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We believe that collectivism and capitalism are incompatible, and that when government competes with capitalism, it jeopardizes the natural economic growth of our society and the well-being and freedom of the citizenry. |
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We believe that it is the responsibility of the individual citizen, whenever his inherent rights are threatened from within or without, to join together with other individuals to protect these rights, or, when they have been temporarily lost, to regain them. |
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We believe that any responsible conservative organization must conduct itself within the framework of the Constitution; in pursuance of this belief we refuse to countenance any actions which conflict in any way with the traditions of the American political system. |
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The American Conservative Union is created to realize these ends through the cooperation in responsible political action, of all Americans who cherish the principles upon which the Republic was founded. |
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The American Conservative Union will welcome all Americans who are prepared to fight for the realization and preservation of these principles through political action at the local, state and national level. |
The Sharon Statement
The following is the first statement of principles of the modern conservative movement, written by former ACU Chairman M. Stanton Evans and adopted in conference at Sharon, Connecticut (at the home of early ACU supporter William F. Buckley Jr.), on September 11, 1960.
In this time of moral and political crises, it is the responsibility of the youth of America to affirm certain eternal truths.
We, as young conservatives, believe:
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That foremost among the transcendent values is the individual's use of his God-given free will, whence derives his right to be free from the restrictions of arbitrary force; |
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That liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom; |
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That the purpose of government is to protect those freedoms through the preservation of internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice; |
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That when government ventures beyond these rightful functions, it accumulates power, which tends to diminish order and liberty; |
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That the Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government to fulfill its proper role, while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power; |
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That the genius of the Constitution—the division of powers—is summed up in the clause that reserves primacy to the several states, or to the people, in those spheres not specifically delegated to the Federal government; |
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That the market economy, allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand, is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of personal freedom and constitutional government, and that it is at the same time the most productive supplier of human needs; |
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That when government interferes with the work of the market economy, it tends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the nation; that when it takes from one man to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both; |
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That we will be free only so long as the national sovereignty of the United States is secure; that history shows periods of freedom are rare, and can exist only when free citizens concertedly defend their rights against all enemies; |
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That the forces of international Communism are, at present, the greatest single threat to these liberties; |
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That the United States should stress victory over, rather than coexistance with, this menace; and |
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That American foreign policy must be judged by this criterion: does it serve the just interests of the United States? |
Source: Young Americans for Freedom
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