Draft:Peter Sonski 2024 Presidential Campaign

The American Solidarity Party candidate for 2024 is, Peter Sonski a former radio host ( ref) and. Sonski won the ASP primary and nomination of the party for President of the United States on June 3rd 2023. The primary was conducted by an online members' vote. The vice presidential nominee, Lauren Onak, was selected by Sonski before the national convention in early July in Plano, Texas, and she was formally nominated there. .As of July 2024 the party will be on the ballot in Arkansas and Hawaii but is hoping to be on the vallot in 11 States come the time of the election.

Background
The American Solidarity Party, founded in 2011, first contested a presidential campaign in 2016 getting ballot access to one state and earning 6,697 votes. In 2020 they were on the ballot on 8 States and recieved 42,305 votes. For their 2024 attempt it was announced on June 2, 2023, that Peter Sonski had won their party's online primary, which lasted from May 24 to June 1 of that year. Sonski was nominated in the first round of ranked-choice voting with 52%. Sonski then selected Lauren Onak as his vice president, who was then officially nominated via unanimous consent.

Sonksi and Onak
Peter Sonski (born July 11, 1962) is an American former radio host, who served as an elected member of Connecticut's Regional School District 17 Board of Education and as director of the Knights of Columbus Museum. In his professional life, Sonski spent seven years as the Director of Communications for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Before that, he was Assistant Editor at National Catholic Register. Sonski was also a United States Marine.

Lauren Onak was born and raised in the suburbs of Ft. Lauderdale. She studied English literature at Barnard College of Columbia University and received a Masters in Adolescent Education from Hunter College. She is a stay at home mom to three young children and resides in the Boston suburbs.

Campaign
Christianity Today reported that Evangelicals disaffected with the two main parties were beginning to get their support

The campaign and party were profiled by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention in June of 2024 in one article in four part series on the options in the election.

Sonski and Onak were profiled by the National Catholic Register in January of 2024.

The campaign was reviewed by the National review who characterisedw them as the only currentt prolife party over and against the democrat but especially the Republican party.

Ballot Access
Correct as July 13 2024

Summary
As a proponent of Christian democracy, Sonski supports a consistent life ethic, being against abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia. He additionally supports social justice initiatives. He is against the legalization of same sex marriage and believes that gay couples should not have the same adoption rights as straight couples. He has endorsed Robert P. George's initiative to rebrand June as Fidelity Month. He believes the US should continue to support Ukraine.

Sonki purports to beleive that the state should be pluralistic while upholding a vision of the common good of all informed by Christian tradition and acknowledging the primacy of religion in each person’s life.

Sanctity of Life
For Skonski Human life is sacred, from conception until natural death,life is a gift, and its protection is the preeminent right of every human being. The ASP thus opposes abortion seeing it as " the direct killing of human life", euthanasia " the abandonment of human life" and hold that the death penalty is an unnecessary measure to protect human life. On the whole the ASP sees these practices as things which "have served only to devalue people"

Social Justice
Sonski affirms that people and thus government has a special collective responsibility to the most vulnerable members of society and call for societal structures that uphold the equal value and dignity of each person, regardless of any personal characteristics.

Community-Oriented Society
The ASP holds that Humans are created to live in communities, and the proper organization of our communities is necessary for the flourishing of our societies. Society consists of various institutions and communities, like families, governments, and religious groups, whose primary authority over their own affairs should be respected and defended. Higher levels of government should serve to empower and support lower levels of authority, rather than replace them. Furthermore the ASP promotes the principles of subsidiarity and sphere sovereignty, holding that what families and small communities can initiate and manage should not be usurped but protected and supported by higher social structures.

Centrality of the Family
Natural marriage and the family are the central institutions of society and must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. As the family provides for the nurturing of children, it is the imperative of the state to advance the wellbeing of all families, while respecting the duty of family members to fulfill their roles freely.

The ASP upholds the biblical precept of marriage as the union of husband and wife. I endorse that position, often called traditional marriage. Science and faith both give understanding to the complementarity of the sexes. Parents are the nurturers and principal formators of their children. The children of a conjugal bond, grow in community and become the building blocks of society – and civilization. Government must uphold and support the natural institution of marriage for the welfare of individuals and society at large.

Economic Security
The state and subsidiary organizations must act to remedy economic injustice by creating conditions for widespread ownership of property and production. Personal, cooperative, and social ownership are all valid in a just society. Workers’ rights and a family wage must be ensured, and those who cannot work should receive income adequate for full participation in society.

Sonski holds that capitalist industrialization in America, and rising Marxist ideology in europe had one failure in common "limiting workers and, consequently, families from the just outcomes of labor" .Sonski supports "the fundamental role of government to protect and provide for its citizens’ interests, including the right to productive work, to just wages, to participation in labor unions, to private property ownership, and to economic initiative".

Care for the Environment
Cultivation and good stewardship ought to characterize the relationship between humanity and creation. The earth and its fruits are universally destined for the benefit of all people. Both government and civil society have a responsibility to protect natural resources.

Clean water and air are needed by all for basic survival, and renewable sources of energy are a benefit to all. Sonksi sees it as "both a moral and ethical obligation to sustain a healthy living environment".

Foreign affairs
Aid and trade policies must advance justice, sustainability, and human flourishing. Diplomatic and nonviolent means of resolution must be exhausted before violent means can be considered. Military action must strictly adhere to just-war principles.

American foreign policy is inconsistent, and can favor interests other than advancing international harmony. Solidarity, at its core, is the pursuit of peace and justice. Sonski believes that if "America is to use persuasion or action in this international quest, it must first address ideological differences and eradicate racial, ethnic and economic injustice within its own borders."

Endorsements
Mike Maturen - 2016 ASP Presidential Candidate