From the American Solidarity Party website--
"Amar Patel was born to Indian immigrants who came to this country in the late 1960s. His father worked as a civil engineer for the city of Chicago and his mother worked as a union laborer in cleaning supply factory. His parents sponsored the immigration of many family members during his childhood and he grew up with several aunts, uncles, and cousins in his family home at once. He received Bachelor’s Degrees in Math, Chemistry, and Psychology and a Master’s in Education from the University of Illinois. After meeting his wife at the Newman Center during college they moved to the Chicago suburbs where they have been teachers for the last 20 years. They have two children in high school.
Amar has spent years on many committees for school and curriculum development, given talks at state conferences, worked on several church councils, and organized major speech competitions. He has coached speech team, math team, tennis, golf, soccer and basketball. He serves his community through the Knights of Columbus and other local organizations. He is a published novelist, lead singer for a band, member of a competitive softball team, but his passion is in building community and bringing people together."
https://solidarity-party.org/
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Q: I understand you became interested in politics via the pro-life issue, starting with voting for President Bush in the 1992 election. Did you remain an active Republican voter until you joined the ASP? Had you ever considered running for office before now?
I voted Republican in the larger state wide and national elections and would sometimes crossover on local elections when the position was basically non-partisan. I wasn't always happy with the Republican candidates and choosing the lesser of two evils definitely began to weigh on me.
Q: Had you ever considered running for office before now?
Not before the last couple of years, no.
Q: Where the Libertarian Party, generally speaking, has a progressive social policy combined with a conservative economic policy the ASP seems to be the polar opposite with what would be considered a conservative social policy combined with a progressive economic policy. The ASP uses the concept of Catholic Social Teaching as a foundation for the Party. Can you summarize for us what CST means?
Catholic Social Teaching as a concept refers to the applications of moral attitudes in public life. Issues like economic justice, subsidiarity, promotion of the common good, and the role of the state can be understood with reason based on natural law but have been studied back to the time of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. The focus of CST would be a particular attention to the flourishing of human dignity.
Q: I see the allied term "Whole Life Party" used frequently for the ASP. What is that?
Often, you see the Republicans touting themselves as Pro-life for their abortion stance and the Democrats decrying the GOP for not valuing life after birth through societal protections like healthcare, welfare, and social security.
In the ASP, we declare that all policy decisions should be weighed on its impact towards the flourishing of all human life and that the common good is best served when society sacrifices their own personal interests for the benefit of the least among us.
Q: I'm curious if you are aware of or have any contact with the American Free Soil Party? They appear to be the General Lutheran Church, Inc. version of your party. Has there been any effort to work with other American Christian or faith-based political parties?
The founder of the AFSP is a current member of the ASP. They have 30 followers on Facebook where we almost have 10000. While we subscribe to principles of traditional Christian Democracy as formulated most clearly in Europe and South America, we consider our platform to be a secular platform that can be appreciated by both people belonging to faith traditions and those who don't.
Q: In a recent election the Illinois ASP, which is your territory I think, endorsed conservative Democratic Congressman Dan Lipinski over an actual Nazi running as a Republican for US Congress. How unusual is it for the ASP to endorse mainstream party politicians?
That race was clearly a race that wasn't going to involve the lesser of two evils. I met with Congressman Lipinski at the March For Life and told him that he is a rare candidate that seeks the common good in his policy making and politicking.
Q: Out here where I live in rural western Washington I have evangelical Protestant neighbors who believe President Trump is, in the words of one of them, "anointed by God." How do you respond to people who worship Trump with this sort of fervor?
The national media, social media, and politicians have long fueled this intense tribalism that causes erstwhile clear thinking individuals to not only defend the lesser of two evils, but then to double and triple down on their support. I remember doing mental gymnastics to defend the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush years even though deep down I knew they were unjust actions. I feel that the time for a reminder that we are indeed our brother's keeper and loving our neighbor as ourselves are mottoes that should be spoken easier for Christians than "Make America Great Again" or "Build the wall"
Q: Where are your new ASP recruits coming from? I imagine you are having moderate Republicans and blue dog Democrats climbing on board?
Yes and yes, but also people who radically never fell in either party fully because both parties have always fallen short of the Christian Democratic set of principles.
Q: Which political flank gives you the most grief in terms of criticism, the Left or the Right? Or ...?
The toughest thing I have to do is convince passionately pro-life people that refusing to work in a whole life manner is detrimental in completing the mission of saving the unborn in the long run. From the left, we are generally summarily dismissed because we are pro-life so discussion don't get very far.
Q: Your platform states "The natural family, founded on the marriage of one man and one woman, is the fundamental unit and basis of every human society." I take it ASP is opposed to same sex marriage? And if elected would take steps to stop it?
The platform is very clear on what we oppose as a matter of policy and what we emphatically support as a matter of principle. The conclusion of that section of the platform is "In order to promote stable families, it is in the interest of the state to support marriage recognized as the exclusive union of one man and one woman for life. At the same time, we recognize that the state must support the needs of people—especially children, as well as the elderly and disabled—in families of all kinds."
Identifying the ideal doesn't preclude state care of all people.
Q: I realize the ASP is attempting to broaden the popular definition of "Pro-Life," but as I scan various webpages and social media regarding your party I must say the instant first impression of "anti-abortion" is what greets me. How do you go about being seen as something other than a single issue party?
In the upcoming election Brian Carroll and I will be very clear about immigration reform, the environment, economic justice and universal health care. The GOP would like to ignore us and the Democrats have moved so far to the left on abortion that anything short of full term abortion is anti-abortion, misogynistic and a war on women. We will see what we can do.
Q: What is the campaign game plan for 2020 in terms of getting on the ballots? Will you be running candidates for other offices?
There are several states where we will be on the actual ballot and will likely be write-ins in the rest. The exact number will generally come down to elbow grease and fundraising. We have some other candidates who will be running in local races. The exact number will be determined after we fully launch the campaign.
Q: What regions of the USA would you say gives ASP the strongest following?
There is no specific region that dominates. California, Texas, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina all have active chapters.
Q: How do you see the role of being a running mate, the Vice-Presidential nominee?
My primary role is that of support, which is fairly traditional. Since I am also serving as ASP Chair, I am also in a role of creating structures that I hope will out live the campaign and carry us into the upcoming years for more growth and more candidates. One of my aims is to clearly articulate what Christian Democracy is, what distributism is, and what the Consistent Life Ethic is and how the American Solidarity Party falls at the intersection of all three.
Q: Has this nomination as VP taken you outside of some comfort zones? What sort of new challenges are you encountering?
No, "Discomfort" is my middle name. I am sure there will be challenges yet to come. Since we haven't quite gotten our ducks in a row to take "the show on the road" it is hard to predict what will happen.
Q: And finally, the questions I wanted to ask since reading your biography. What is this band you are a lead singer for, what sort of music, and where can people hear you? Also, please tell us about your novelist self.
Ha! My band is called Hard Lockdown. We play once a year at a fundraiser for scholarships for students in my school district. We have a Facebook page that you can look up. I wrote The Joy Of the Lord under my pen name of Mark Andrews.
Q: Thank you Mr. Patel for contributing to this project.
