Some of you may have heard of Alan Keyes, and it's a pretty safe bet that if you live in the Chicago-land area, and have watched the news in the past ten years, or so, you have definitely heard of Alan Keyes. Currently, he is running as the America's Independent Party candidate for President of the United States. What else is there to know? Here is what I could gather up about Alan Keyes.

Alan Lee Keyes was born August 7, 1950 in Long Island, New York to Allison and Gerthina Keyes. His father was an Army sergeant and his mother was a teacher. Due to the life in the military, Keyes' family moved around the country and to Italy while he was growing up. He attended Cornell University where he studied political philosophy. He later left Cornell after recieving death threats for refusing to take part in a demonstration against the war in Vietnam. His father served two tours in Vietnam, and his family was a strong supporter of the war. Keyes was never drafted. He spent a year in Paris, France as a part of the Cornell study abroad program.

He recieved his B. A. degree in government affairs from Harvard in 1972, and his PhD in 1979. A year before finishing his PhD, he joined the State Department. In 1979, he was appointed to the consulate in Mumbai, India, where he met his future wife. The next year, he served at the embassy in Zimbabwe, and in 1981, served on the State Department's Policy Planning Staff. In 1983, he was appointed as an Ambassador to the UN until 1985, when he was appointed as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations.

In 1988, he ran a failed campaign for the U. S. Senate in Maryland, and again in 1992. He sought the Republican nomination for President in 1996, and during the primaries, he was detained by Atlanta police for attempting to force his way into a debate to which he wasn't invited.

He again campaigned for the Republican nomination four years later. His best showing was a meager 20% of the votes in the Utah primary. He decided to take a step back from the Presidential race, and instead, ran for the Illinois Senate in 2004. He was chosen to step in after the Republican nominee, Jack Ryan, withdrew over a sex scandle involving wife, Jeri Ryan. With only 86 days to prepare a campaign, he lost to Democratic candidate, Barack Obama.

He again attempted to gain the Republican nomination for the 2008 election, but did not gain a lot of support from Republicans, and his best showing was far lower than his 2000 run for the Republican nomination. He then stated his desires to run for the Constitution Party candidacy. He came in second to the party's 2004 vice-presidential candidate, Chuck Baldwin. He considered running as an independent, but instead, chose to form his own party; America's Independent Party.

Keyes wrote a book, Masters of the Dream: The Strength and Betrayal of Black America. In the book, he talks about the problems that affect black America. He is a Catholic, and a third-degree Knight of Columbus.

Alan Keyes is outspoken on many issues, but many people don't know where he stands, because a lot of people don't even know who he is. I checked alankeyes.com, and all I got was a form to fill out to donate money to his campaign. Nothing to click on about the issues, but I did find a few things on his stances on most of the issues.

• ABORTION: Pro-life. Says that the principles in the Declaration of Independence prohibit abortion. Wants a Constitutional Amendmet defining life from conception. Wants to nominate only judges who refuse to legislate from the bench. Is opposed to stem-cell research. Opposes tax funding for organizations that promote abortion. Wants to do everything he can to overturn Roe v Wade. Says the only exception is to preserve the life of the mother.
• BUDGET & ECONOMY: Wants to rein in out-of-control spending and balance the budget. Supports a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Supports more money for defense, NASA and parks and less for Agriculture, education and the arts. Said that seeing people as just consumers is bad for America's moral fiber.
• CIVIL RIGHTS: Feels that the current usage of separation of church & state is a misinterpretation of the Constitution. Feels that gay marriage is invalid because gay couples cannont reproduce. We should protect religion from the state, but not the other way around. Feels that the right to acknowledge God is the foundation of all of our rights. Supports the Ten Commandments and prayer in schools. Feels that conducting government business in Spanish, assaults our linguistic unity. Wants to fight 'uniform irreligion'. Feels that affirmative action partonizes blacks and women. Says that black heritage comes from survival in America, not Africa. Feels that it is wrong to treat sexual behavior like race. Supports a Constitutional ban on gay marriage. Has said that gay sex is selfish hedonism. Signed a pledge to reinstitute ban on gays in the military. Cut off financial support to his own daughter after learning she was a lesbian.
• CORPORATIONS: Feels that corporate elites want cheap immigrant labor. Wants to protect workers' pensions when companies go bankrupt.
• CRIME: Feels that the death penalty is sometimes essential to respect for life. Opposes lowering the age for trying children as adults. Opposes hate crimes legislation. Wants to prosecute all illegal adult pornography. Feels that sentencing gang members to death sends a strong social message. Supports stricter penalties and truth in sentencing.
• DRUGS: Supports stricter drug penalties and more border security. Feels that the drug problem is a symptom of government's lack of discipline. Supports increasing penalties for selling drugs.
• EDUCATION: Feels that sex education is a private responsibility, not for school. Supports equal funds for abstinence as contraceptive-based education. Feels that violence in schools is due to a loss of moral heritage. Wants to empower parents to choose schools that reflect their values. Wants to replace the Department of Education with parental control. Supports vouchers. Supports removing government control from education. Supports prayer in schools. Supports tax-credited programs for Christian schools. Feels that the Constitution does not forbid prayer in schools.
• ENERGY & OIL: Feels we need to develop proper alternative fuels. Supports exploring and drilling in ANWR, with respect to the ecology. Against the Kyoto Treaty. Supports abolishing CAFE standards.
• ENVIRONMENT: Supports marketable pollution credits and against regulations.
• FAMILIES & CHILDREN: Feels that a two-parent household rears kids with better health and education. Respect the God-given institution of the natural family. Feels that we should not lower the crime age as a result of adult moral failure. Feels that health insurance is a family responsibility, not the government's.
• FOREIGN POLICY: Feels that a commitment to Israel is a moral obligation. Does not support sending troops to Darfur, but supports regional aid. Feels that routine military intervention is wrong. Says we should not send money to Africa for AIDS, because money won't cure AIDS. Feels that China is an abuser of human life and human rights. Against paying the UN until the reform.
• FREE TRADE: Feels we gave away a portion of our sovereignty when we entered WTO. Feels that the North American Union Superhighway subverts sovereignty. Free trade gives excessive authority to international groups. Supports trade sanctions on Saudi Arabia for persecuting Christians. Feels that trade with China should be contingent on human rights issues and product safety. Supports withdrawl from the WTO.
• GOVERNMENT REFORM: Focus on moral sovereignty, tax reform and sealing the border. Opposes union, foreign and corporate donors to election campaigns. Disallow lawsuits that stop public officials from invoking God.
• GUN CONTROL: Feels that the gun control agenda mistrusts ordinary citizens. Supports Second Amendment, and says it is a fundamental duty of free citizens to bear arms. Feels that the gun control mentality leaves guns in the hands of only criminals. Supports no federal role in gun safety; leave it to states and parents. Supports teaching high school students how to use guns. Against banning guns because that won't end gun violence. No bans on legal firearms, allow concealed carry.
• HEALTH CARE: Feels that euthanaisa violates right to life. Opposes government controlled health care. Opposes mandated insurance and universal coverage. Supports protecting disabled and vulnerable people. Supports and insurance reward for avoiding tobacco, alcohol & obesity. Supports giving people generic drug information to save them money. Supports sensible cap on malpractice awards. Feels that AIDS is a moral crisis based on licentious behavior. Feels that allocation of research funds should not be a political decision.
• HOMELAND SECURITY: Feels that killing innocents by terror is that same evil as abortion. Supports allowing Christian symbols in national war memorials. Opposes student visas to citizens of terrorist states. Supports developing a plan that will get us away from our oil dependence. Opposes Patriot Act. Supports preemptive action only if a probable threat exists. Supports rapid development and deployment of anti-missile defense system. Supports banning homosexuals in the military. Supports keeping some forces abroad, but we should avoid globalism. Support missile strikes against terrorists abroad. Opposes women in Citadel and VMI, and opposes women in combat.
• IMMIGRATION: We should enforce existing laws against illegal immigration. Feels that sovereignty is betrayed when our borders are not defended. Supports legal immigration. Opposes colonization and guest worker program. Feels that excessive mulitculturalism weakens our American culture. Supports rescinding Bush's order to allow Mexican trucks on US roads. Opposes amnesty and guest worker program until unemployment is under 5%. Feels that extending privileges to non-citizens invites illegal immigration. Supports expanding legal immigration and stronger stance on illegal immigration.
• JOBS: Feels that we need family farms to sustain character, not for food. Supports ensuring job creation as a means to provide health insurance. Opposes 'sexual orientation' in Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Feels that government is not here to create jobs, businesses are.
• PRINCIPLES & VALUES: Feels we face a crisis of moral values and principles. Catholic and third-degree Knight of Colubus. Website donors are asked to take a pledge for America's revival. Keyes' top issues: defend life, respect for God, restore character. Core values" life, liberty, faith, family and freedom. Feels that Chirstianity is the best, but that the Declaration of Independence will do. Feels that the black liberal leadership are a 'generation of toadies.' Keyes' core beliefs based on 'unalienable rights'.
• SOCIAL SECURITY: Feels we should keep promises but give choice of market investments. Supports personal retirement accounts. Supports privatization of Social Security and S.S. Lockbox.
• TAX REFORM: Supports FairTax. Supports replacing income tax with national sales tax. Supports income tax exemptions for descendants of black slaves. Feels that sales tax is more progressive than income tax. Feels it is wrong to have to pay income taxes before basic necessities. Supports replacing income tax with tariffs and duties.
• TECHNOLOGY: Supports applying broadcast indecency rules to cable networks. Supports taxing the Internet. Supports the spiritual component of space exploration. Supports regulating 'offensive violence' on TV, not all violence.
• WAR & PEACE: Would not have chosen Iraq, but would not have asked UN either. Feels that Bush focuses on democracy for Iraw and the security of America. Feels that withdrawing before your enemy stops is called defeat. Feels that the War on Terror is about survival, but the war in Iraq is about morale. The Iraq war reduced chance of attack from Saddam Hussein to zero. Feels it is naive to think that Saddam Hussein had no connections to Al Qaeda.
• WELFARE & POVERTY: Supports volunteering for community service, not via government funding. Supports shifting welfare from the government to the faith sector.