William Joseph Bayes, April 26, 1951 (Amsterdam, N.Y.) -
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (aka Independent) (2016)
Running mate with nominee: James Arthur Hedges (b. 1938)
Popular vote: 5,623 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Jim Hedges of Needmore, Penn. filed for US President with the FEC as the nominee of America's oldest active third party, the Prohibition Party, on Oct. 22, 2015.
Hedges held the distinction of being the only member of the Party to hold public elected office since 1959. He served as the Tax Assessor for Thompson Township, Fulton County, Penn. for several years starting in 2002. A veteran of the US Marine Corps with a strong interest in music (tuba player), geography (masters degree), and history, Hedges had been active with the Prohibition Party for some time, rising to the office of Executive Secretary. He was nominated for President by conference call, July 31, 2015. His running-mate was Bill Bayes of Hattiesburg, Miss.
The 2016 Prohibition Party platform was an interesting mixed bag, slightly retooled from the 2012 document and perhaps just a tiny bit less extreme Right wing--
PREAMBLE -
We, the delegates to the 38th Quadrennial Prohibition National Convention, assembled by telephone conference on 31 July 2015 after several weeks of emailed discussions of the agenda. recognizing Almighty God as the Source of all just government, and with faith in the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, do hereby pledge to serve the needs and to preserve the prerogatives and freedoms of the citizens of the United States of America.
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT -
We affirm our loyalty to the Constitution of the United States of America. We will protect it from violation by legislation, by evasion, or by judicial usurpation of rights belonging to the executive and legislative branches of government or reserved to the States and to the people.
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE -
We will conduct foreign affairs with the preservation of American Liberty and independence as our chief objective. We are jealous of American sovereignty; we are opposed to the interference of America in the like sovereignty of other nations.
American garrisons in foreign counties should not exceed the level required to protect American diplomatic missions, unless specifically authorized by Congress.
We support volunteer armed forces, well trained and highly motivated; we oppose conscription except in time of Congressionally declared war.
FOREIGN TRADE -
The importing of goods from and the off shoring of services to other nations are the primary causes of lost jobs and impoverished communities in America. We favor free trade only on a reciprocal basis among equals. We will impose balancing tariffs on all goods imported from countries whose wage scales, labor benefits, and environmental protections are not similar to our own.
No nation which fails to protect the civil rights of its citizens may be accorded "most favored nation" status.
MONETARY POLICY -
The Constitution mandates that Congress shall have the sole power to coin money and to regulate its value. We will abolish the Federal Reserve System. establishing in its place a government-owned National Bank. Predatory lending activities and punitive rates of interest will be banned. We will encourage the formation of state banks where qualified entrepreneurs can borrow money for investment in job-creating enterprises at minimal interest.
SECOND ADMENDMENT RIGHTS -
We support the right of citizens to own and to carry fire-arms for personal defense and for sport; we encourage instruction in gun safety.
LABOR AND MANAGEMENT -
We will defend the right of all workers to freely choose to join or not to join a union. Toward that end, we urge all states to adopt right-to-work laws. We will index the pay of Congress and of federal officials to changes in the federal minimum wage.
TAXATION AND SPENDING -
We favor a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution
SOCIAL SECURITY -
We advocate an actuarially sound federal Social Security System.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION -
We would deploy sufficient resources to stop all illegal traffic in people and drugs across America's land and sea borders. We would not provide drivers' licenses, educational subsidies, or welfare benefits to illegal aliens, except that the medical conditions of gravely ill illegal's would be stabilized before they are deported. We strongly oppose granting citizenship to "anchor babies" born to illegal-alien mothers.
MARRIAGE -
We deplore the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on same-sex marriage as an abomination to God. We call for a Constitutional amendment, which shall read as follows: "Marriage is. historically. an Institution and Sacrament of the Church. Only the Church shall decide what qualifies as a 'marriage.' For the purpose of two individuals who need only legal protection, such as for inheritance and for power of attorney one for the other, the state may license Civil Unions.''
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY -
We find a constitutional right of individual citizens to believe, worship, fellowship, educate, evangelize. and organize religious institutions. Voluntary prayer and other religious activities shall not be prohibited in schools and other public spaces.
EDUCATION -
The 10th Amendment gives to the States and to the people full responsibility for education. The major emphasis in primary and secondary schools should be on science, mathematics, citizenship, American History, and English. We advocate free tertiary education for all qualified citizens. We would promote re-training programs for displaced workers, paid for by tariffs on imports.
PRO-LIFE -
We consider abortion lo be morally repugnant. We will implement policies to minimize the number of abortions without infringing on the doctor/patient relationship and without thrusting government into family decisions about child rearing. Abortion procedures should not be funded by government.
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE -
America must not allow itself to be dependent upon other, sometimes hostile, countries for its energy supply. We advocate increased research on and development of non-fossil fuel resources, tax breaks for companies engaging in such, and subsidies for consumers wishing to change from fossil fuels to renewable domestic sources of energy.
THE ENVIRONMENT -
We believe God has given Man dominion (responsible use) over all the Earth. We will safeguard the biosphere, soil, water, and air which we all must share. However, pollution abatement projects must balance costs with benefits.
We believe that climatic change is an existential threat to civilization. and we will co-operate with other nations in mitigating its effects.
HEALTH CARE -
We prefer state-level health care programs to federal programs. We will find ways to reduce the 33% inefficiency imposed on American health care by insurance industry overhead and profits.
PUBLIC MORALTY -
We would agitate against all forms of gambling, including state lotteries, which prey on the poor and the poorly educated. We believe schools should place more emphasis on developing self-discipline and habits of good citizenship.
RECREATIONAL DRUGS -
The alcohol question is the Prohibition Party's unique, signature issue. Beverage alcohol is America's #1 narcotic drug problem. We also oppose tobacco in all its forms: Alcohol and tobacco together are responsible for 40% of America's health care costs. Cannabis and so-called "hard drugs" such as heroin and cocaine account for a smaller, but still significant, share of the total public health bill.
Prohibitionists oppose the traffic in all of these drugs - their production, transportation, and sale, except for medicinal use as regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration. We believe a sustained program of education and legislation, building from the local to the national, is the best way to strengthen community disapproval of drug indulgence and enable a return to National Prohibition of all recreational drugs.
We consider it immoral for government to subsidize the cultivation of tobacco and to promote exporting tobacco products to other countries; We would end business expense deductions for advertising tobacco and alcohol products. We support programs to assist tobacco farmers and vineyard owners in switching to alternative crops.
Hedges was one of the entries in the non-binding American Independent Party primary in California, where he finished 6th with 10.56%.
Running-mate Bayes' political views were considerably even more to the Right than the Party's platform. A look at his Facebook posts during the 2015-2016 campaign season presents a neo-Confederate Christian nationalist stance with polemic memes.
Bayes was a recent convert to the Party. A former Republican, he told Larrison Campbell of Mississippi Today, "But they keep leaning more and more left and I keep going, ‘Why are they doing this?’ When the state party supported John McCain in ’08, that was it. Because he may have an ‘R’ after his name, but everybody knows he’s a liberal Democrat."
On his status as the VP nominee, Bayes continued, "They wanted somebody a little bit younger, though I did turn 65 yesterday. A lot of them are older. They wanted to bring young blood in ... Prohibition, it’s not really the driving force of the Prohibition Party now. It is one of the planks. And of course it is the name, but primarily the Prohibition Party, and what drew me to it, is it’s the states rights party." On that subject he elaborated, "When you read about the founding of this country, and you see where we are today, you say, ‘Wait a minute. How did we get here?’ Of course, I believe it all changed in the Civil War ... What was the Civil War about? Well, it wasn’t about slavery. It was about an ever-encroaching federal government."
His following quote to Ms. Campbell seems a bit ironic since the Prohibition Party was one of the earliest political groups to champion the cause of women being full participants in the political process: "I will say I’m very pro-female, but females make a lot of decisions based on emotions. You’re emotional creatures far more than other people are. So with males, we think more logically, women think more emotionally. And the Democrats have always played on the emotions."
Hedges/Bayes were on the ballot in three states: Arkansas (0.42%), Mississippi (0.06%), and Colorado (0.01%). In Arkansas, a state where dry counties exist to this day, they placed 6th out of 8 on the ballot, ahead of the Constitution Party. In Arkansas County, Ark., they finished in third place. They were also registered write-ins in at least five other states.
Nationally they finished in 16th place. It was their greatest number of popular votes since 1988, over 10 times higher than 2012. In fact, their total combined vote from 1992-2012 was just slightly higher, 5,724 compared to 5,623 for 2016 alone.
Bayes' story will continue as part of the 2020 Prohibition Party VP profile.
Election history:
2017 - Hattiesburg (Miss.) City Council (Republican) - primary - defeated
2020 - Constitution Party nomination for US President - withdrew
2020 - US President (Prohibition Party) - withdrew
Other occupations: high school band director, manufacturing business
Notes:
Full disclosure: I have been honored by an occasional email correspondence with Mr. Hedges, who has graciously assisted me in the past with compiling some profiles. He has been unfailingly intelligent and thoughtful. He has also afforded me an opportunity to contribute a few small tidbits to the Prohibition Party's historical website.
Some sources list Bayes as "Bill V. Bayes."
