Council of Conservative Citizens

Calling itself the most effective multi-issue conservative organization in the United States, but termed an extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League, People for the American Way and other organizations, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) believes "Single issue groups, while performing an important role, are too narrowly focused. We know that conservatives can rebuild their political power only by beginning at the “grass roots,” unifying our efforts and focusing our resources. Our local groups work at the local level on local issues, and cooperate nationally to bring their power to bear on the important national issues. "

Its platform:

1. The United States is a Christian country.
2. The United States is a European country and that Americans are part of the European people.
3. The United States is a sovereign and independent nation.
4. The United States is a constitutional republic
5. We believe in States’ Rights, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the Bill of Rights
6. The traditional family is the basic unit of human society
7. Private property and free enterprise are the foundations of our economy.
8. Cultural, national, and racial integrity.
9. A Strong National Defense.
10. America First Foreign Policy.
11. America First Trade Policy.
12. Traditional Education under Local Control.
13. Strong and Just Law Enforcement.
14. Protection of the Environment and Natural Heritage.

Policies

Christianity

"We therefore oppose all efforts to deny or weaken the Christian heritage of the United States, including the unconstitutional prohibitions of prayers and other religious expression in schools and other public institutions.

Eurocentricity

It is a matter of basic policy that the United States is a European country, Americans are part of the European people, and the American people and government should remain European in their composition and character. CCC opposes, therefore, massive immigration of non-European and non-Western peoples into the United States that threatens to transform our nation into a non-European majority in our lifetime. They are intent on all possible measures to stop illegal immigration and deport illegal aliens. CCC opposes "all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called “affirmative action” and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races."

Sovereignty

"All treaties, agreements, conventions, international organizations, and institutions must recognize and respect our national sovereignty and independence. We therefore oppose the so-called “New World Order” and its attempts to abolish national sovereignty and independence and to construct a one-world state in which America would vanish and Americans would be enslaved. We call for the U.S. government to withdraw from membership in the United Nations, the World Court, the International Monetary Fund, NAFTA, and the World Trade Organization. We oppose any attempt to place American military personnel under foreign command." Because they believe it diminishes national sovereignty, they "oppose any effort to place Americans, military or civilian, on trial before, or subject them to legal punishments by, international courts or organizations."

Constitutional issues

Based on an assumption that the "Constitution can be changed only by the proper procedure of amendment or constitutional convention and not by court decision, popular majority, political whim, or legislative fiat," they are opposed to judicial interpretation, and the existence of government agencies that are not explicitly authorized by the Constitution. Such agencies include the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

States Rights and Arms Rights

Based on the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, CCC tis against all efforts by the federal government to dictate to the states and local governments and communities, and we oppose federal efforts to engineer or impose behavior and beliefs on citizens and communities.

They believe that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids “gun control” in all forms and demand that all such legislation and policies be repealed.

"We also oppose all such legislation as so-called “hate crime” or “bias crime” laws. Such laws merely penalize thought and expression rather than genuinely criminal action and are a dangerous and frightening step toward government Thought Control. Similarly, we oppose all so-called “politically correct” speech codes and “sensitivity training” in schools, colleges, universities, and businesses that punish free expression, restrict thought and study, intimidate dissent, and generally demean and diminish human communications and community.

"We also oppose, as stated, all efforts to deny Americans their rights of religious expression and worship as guaranteed in the First Amendment, as well as efforts to deny rights of assembly and association.

Family values

We believe in the traditional family as the basic unit of human society and morality, and we oppose all efforts by the state and other powers to weaken the structure of the American family through toleration of sexual licentiousness, homosexuality and other perversions, mixture of the races, pornography in all forms, and subversion of the authority of parents.

Domestic economy

"We oppose efforts by the state to regulate, plan, manage, control, or nationalize private property in any form. We oppose the ruinous taxation that government has imposed on working Americans and we call for real tax reform that will allow working men and women to retain what they have earned. We support the repeal of the estate tax. We believe that tax policies and other economic legislation and policies should reflect the importance of small businessmen, the family farm, and other independent, locally and privately owned and operated enterprises.

"While we accept the need for some public welfare, health care, unemployment, and old age assistance, we believe in such programs only as a last resort for those who truly need them. We believe tax laws should encourage private charity rather than public support for the poor, the disabled, and the sick and elderly who are unable to care for themselves. We support welfare programs that seek to return recipients of welfare to productive work as soon as possible. We oppose all welfare for immigrants, whether legal or illegal.

National defense

We believe in the strongest possible defense for the United States. We oppose the presence of homosexuals and women in the military services and especially of women in combat roles.

Foreign Policy

We believe that in the aftermath of the U.S. victory over Soviet Communism, the United States has little need to retain the political and military commitments to allies made during the Cold War. While we wish these allies well, we believe we cannot continue to support their defense budgets, guarantee their security, fight their wars, or finance their governments and economies through foreign aid. CCC wants the U.S. to withdraw from NATO.

We therefore call for a comprehensive review of all U.S. diplomatic commitments and U.S. withdrawal from those alliances and commitments that no longer serve our national interests or that threaten to entangle us in unnecessary foreign wars, conflicts, and quarrels. They oppose sending American troops on U.N. peace-keeping missions or into similar unconstitutionally undeclared wars under the names of “police actions.” We oppose sending American military personnel into wars and conflicts that do not concern our national security and interests. We oppose ever sending American military men into combat without the intention to achieve victory. We oppose using American prisoners of war as diplomatic “bargaining chips” under any circumstances.

"We oppose all foreign aid and call for its termination. We support the investigation of lobbying groups that represent the interests of foreign states or foreign powers and the enactment of legislation that will outlaw lobbying Congress or the executive branch on behalf of foreign states."

International economics

We believe that just as our nation has legitimate international political and military interests, so it also has a legitimate international economic interest. We believe our trade policy should reflect our national economic interest and that the protection of our economy, including the jobs of our workers, our farms, and our manufacturing industries, is a vitally necessary duty of our national government.

Education

Education, in their view, is principally of concern to families and communities. They oppose federal aid to, or control of, education. CCC also believes that education should present Western, Christian, and American traditional values, and is against all “sex education” as well as so-called “multiculturalist and “Afrocentric” curricula, “Outcome-Based Education,” and similar radical indoctrination in the schools.

We oppose all efforts to inflate grades, adulterate or “dumb down” tests and examinations, and introduce irrelevant and wasteful courses for the purpose of advancing some backward students over others more talented or more productive. They support private schools and homeschooling.

We support the authority of teachers and school administrators to discipline students, including the authority to expel them from school if students will not abide by the rules and laws of the community.

Criminal justice

CCC believes in individual moral and legal responsibility, rewarding good behavior, and punishing bad behavior. They support capital punishment for murder, rape, treason, and espionage. They oppose the substitution of the pseudo-sciences of psychiatry, sociology, and “rehabilitation” for real justice.

CCC believes law enforcement should be mainly a function of local and state government, and we therefore oppose all efforts to establish a national police force or to nationalize law enforcement; we oppose similar efforts to create a global or international police force and to “globalize” law enforcement.

They oppose international extradition to courts in countries whose laws U.S. citizens have not agreed, and they oppose all international criminal tribunals. "While we support and deeply respect all law enforcement officers, we also insist that law enforcement at all levels operate within the law, that law enforcement respect the rights of all citizens, and that spying on and harassment of loyal and law-abiding citizens by law enforcement agencies, by the military services, or by intelligence services at any level of government should be strictly forbidden and severely punished."

Environmentalism

"We believe that the natural environment and resources of a nation are among its most precious, valuable, and irreplaceable treasures. We believe in the protection of the environment from reckless greed as well as from irresponsible government. We support the protection of truly endangered species of wildlife and areas of natural beauty."

Politics

Elected officials that spoke before CCC include Senator Trent Lott, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour; Mississippi state Senators Gary Jackson and Dean Kirby, several Mississippi state representatives, and governors Guy Hunt of Alabama and Kirk Fordice of Mississippi also spoke at CCC meetings. Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, addressed CCC on two occasions. Bob Barr spoke to them, but, along with Lott, has distanced himself.

Extremists

Others that have spoken to CCC audiences:

• Jared Taylor, American Renaissance, multiple occasions in 1998
• Edward Butler, Christian Identity, 1998
• Michael Collins Piper, Liberty Lobby, 1998
• David Duke, 1995
• Kirk Lyons, 1994; head of the Southern Legal Resource Center; lawyer for Louis Beam and James Wickstrom