National Chairman's Letter

Seasons Greetings

December 2002

Dear Members and Friends of the Independent American Party,

Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year! to all of you from the State and National Officers, and Executive and National Committees of the Independent American Party. May we be grateful to our Savior for His blessings upon our nation, and may we petition him for freedom and peace in the coming years.

2002 has been a positive year for the IAP. We held two excellent National Conferences at which we drafted and adopted our prized National Platform. Our Platform contains sections on Christian Heritage, Family, Citizenship, Unalienable Rights, Education, Economy, Society, Natural Resources, U.S. Constitution, Government, Defense and U.S. Sovereignty. We felt inspired when we were drafting this. We also held our first-ever Regional Conferences in the Southern states and Western states.

We ran four candidates of our own in Tennessee and Minnesota. And we adopted over 50 candidates from like-minded parties in several other states. We began the year with State Contacts in 15 states. We now have formal representation in 21 states -- Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. We have individual members in over 40 states. We added about 50 new Viewpoints articles to our www.usiap.org web site.

But we also suffered several losses. Dan Hansen, founder of the IAP of Nevada, was killed in an auto accident while returning home from our National Conference in January. Sandra Richter, our national Vice Chair and a founder of our national party, died from a short bout with cancer in July. Larry Garske, our national advisor and also a founder of our national party, died from a year-long bout with cancer in July. We sorely miss them!

Looking ahead to the new year, as we gear up for the 2004 elections: We will hold a National Conference in January and will tentatively hold another one in July. We will also likely hold regional conferences in our Eastern, Midwestern, Southern and Western states regions. We are working to establish representation in all 50 states and Washington, DC. We hope to organize this year in as many of those states as possible. We want to launch early ballot access petition drives where permitted.

Our upcoming National Conference will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday & Saturday, January 17-18, 2003. On Friday, we will hold a series of standing and special committee sessions for the Rules, Issues, Events, Membership, Media and other committees. Friday evening will be a restaurant social with four featured speakers. On Saturday, we will hold our National Committee business meeting, followed by our Freedom Forum with three more featured speakers. Following are details of the conference:

All National Conference events (except the restaurant social) will be at the Salt Lake County Government Center - North Building, 2001 South State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah. All events are open to the public, free of charge (except for meals), and casual dress.

Friday, January 17, 2003
> 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Standing and special committee sessions (in Room N4010)
> 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Restaurant social and Speakers Forum (location to be announced)

Saturday, January 18, 2003
> 9:00 am - 2:30 pm National Committee business meeting (in Commission Chambers)
> 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm Freedom Speakers Forum (in Commission Chambers)

The business of our conference will include: Consideration of a proposed Preamble and minor changes to our National Platform. Possible consideration of resolutions. Consideration of minor changes to our party Constitution and Bylaws. Discussion on recruiting, organizing, training, media, candidates, fund-raising, etc. Discussion for a new party symbol or logo. We will also elect national officers for a two-year term.

One of our key topics for discussion will be the 2004 presidential race: Which candidates are now or likely to become available? Do we want to choose candidates from within our own party or open our selection process to candidates of other parties? Are we open to nominating a coalition candidate? Should we hold an early National Convention (like in 2003)? These and other questions ought to lead to some interesting discussion.

Our featured speakers for the Friday evening forum will be: Ken Bowers (UT), Grant Solomon (UT), and Will Christensen (CA). Our featured speakers for the Saturday mid-afternoon forum will be: Michael Holcombe (FL) and Bruce Bangerter (UT). Please watch the Events page of our web site for further conference details.

I would like to invite comments or input from each of you on any of the following:
a)    Who ought we to consider for our presidential candidate for 2004?
b)    What changes or additions should we make to our National Platform?
c)    Our party symbol is the Betsy Ross 13-star flag. What might be a better symbol or logo?
d)    What possible resolutions ought we to consider? (Please give a draft or the key points)
e)    If the IAP is not represented in your state, would you consider being a State Contact?
f)    What other ideas or comments do you have?
Please email your comments to contact@usiap.org or mail them via post to 793 W. Green Oaks Dr., Murray, UT 84123.

I have long felt that 2004 would be the year of the Independent American Party; and that 2003 would be an important prelude to it. If by the Grace of God this is our time -- and it should soon be obvious if it is, then all you valiant ones are needed to prepare your hearts for the battle as candidates, leaders, workers and messengers in our great cause to restore America's legacy!

Yours for Freedom!

Bruce Bangerter
IAP National Chairman