GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES -
The Green Party --
the informal US-affiliate of the leftist, environmentalist European Greens movement -- is one of the two largest third parties in the nation. The party regularly fields candidates for local, state and federal offices in many states, and has established active state affiliate parties in nearly all 50 states. The Greens scored a major political points when it convinced prominent consumer advocate Ralph Nader to run as their first Presidential nominee in 1996. Spending
just over $5,000, Nader was on the ballot
in 22 states and carried over 700,000 votes (4th place - 0.8%).
In 2000, Nader raised millions of dollars, mobilized leftist activists
and grabbed national headlines with his anti-corporate campaign
message. Nader ignored pleas from liberal Democrats that he abandon
the race because he was siphoning essential votes away from Al
Gore's campaign -- answering that Gore was not substantially different
than Bush. In the end, Nader was on the ballot in 44 states and
finished third with 2,878,000 votes (2.7%). More significantly,
Nader missed the important 5% mark for the national vote, meaning
the party remained ineligible for federal matching funds. Until
2001, the Greens were largely a collection of fairly autonomous
state/local based political entities with only a weak (and sometimes
splintered) national leadership structure that largely served
to coordinate electoral activities. That faction -- formerly named
the Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) -- was the larger
and more moderate of the two unrelated Green parties. The ASGP
voted in 2001 to convert from an umbrella coordinating organization
into a formal, unified national party organization. Nader made
another run in 2004 -- but ran as an Independent. Instead, Green
Party General Counsel David Cobb of Texas won the Presidential
nomination (ballot status in 29 states - 120,000 votes - 6th place
- 0.1%). Cobb argued the party needed to nominate a candidate
who openly belonged to the party (note: Nader had never joined)
and was pledged to building the party at the local level. Cobb
ran what was seen as a "safe-states" strategy -- a controversial
move whereby Cobb only made major efforts to gain votes in states
where a strong Green showing would not compromise the ability
of the Democratic nominee to defeat Bush in the state. Democrats
appreciated the move, but it weakened Cobb's message. For 2008,
the Greens dumped the "safe states" strategy and instead
tried to run a more aggressive campaign wherever possible. Former
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) joined the Greens in 2007,
moved to California, and easily captured the Green nomination
in 2008. McKinney was on the ballot in 32 states and garnered
161,0000 votes (6th place - 0.1%). Physician and progressive activist
Jill Stein was the Green Presidential nominee in 2012 and scored
the party's best showing since the Nader days, capturing 470,000
votes (4th place - 0.4%). Official Green Party links include:
Green Pages (newspaper),
Global Green Network,
Green Party News
Center, Campus Greens,
Lavender Green Caucus,
National Women's Caucus,
Disability Caucus, Coordinated
Campaign Committee, and Green
Party Election Results. The Green
Party Platform sets forth the party's official stances.
CITIZENS PARTY -
Not to be confused with the progressive party by the same name in the 1980s, this new Citizens Party was launched in 2004 as the New American Independent Party. In 2011, the party changed its name to Citizens Party. The CP vows to become a national entity. The CP describe their ideology as a "pragmatic ... mixture of what might appear to be liberal, moderate and conservative views." The party supports fair trade (reciprocity), and opposed free trade policies, NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO; supports gun ownership rights; supports gay marriage and is pro-choice; wants tougher animal cruelty laws; supports legalizing medically assisted suicide; wants to create tax incentives to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US and protect US family farms; opposed the Wall Street bailout; and opposes a "neo-conservative foreign policy." To date the party has only ballot qualified one candidate under its name: a Pennsylvania state legislative candidate in 2006.
COMMUNIST PARTY USA -
The CPUSA -- once the slavish propaganda tool and spy network for the Soviet Central Committee -- experienced a forced transformation in recent years. Highly classified Soviet Politburo records, made public after the fall of Soviet communism in the 1990s, revealed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) illegally
funneled
millions of dollars to the CPUSA to finance its activities from
the 1920s to the 1980s. The flow of Soviet dollars to the CPUSA
came to an abrupt halt when the Soviet communists were ousted
from power in 1991 -- ultimately causing a total overhaul of CPUSA
activities. Founded in 1924, the CPUSA reached its peak vote total
in 1932 with nominee William
Z. Foster (102,000 votes - 4th place). The last national CPUSA
ticket -- headed by Stalinist Gus
Hall and 60s radical activist Angela
Davis -- was fielded in 1984 (36,000 votes - 8th place). While
the party has not directly run any candidates since the late 1980s,
the CPUSA sometimes backs some candidates in various local elections
(often in Northeastern industrial communities) and engages in
grassroots political and labor union organizing. As for issues,
the CPUSA calls for free universal health care, elimination of
the federal income tax on people earning under $60,000 a year,
free college education, drastic cuts in military spending, "massive"
public works programs, the outlawing of "scabs and union busting,"
abolition of corporate monopolies, public ownership of energy
and basic industries, huge tax hikes for corporations and the
wealthy, and various other programs designed to "beat the power
of the capitalist class ... [and promote] anti-imperialist freedom
struggles around the world." The CPUSA's underlying
Marxist ideology remains strong. However, it has evolved now
-- after the death of Hall in 2000 -- into a Gorbachev-style "democratic
reform communist" movement headed by activist Sam Webb. Under
Webb's leadership, the CPUSA now touts a platform of true democratic
socialism and trade unionism, and frequently encourages votes
for Democratic candidates as a pragmatic electoral tactic to defeat
conservatives. Other official CPUSA websites include the People's
World party newspaper, Political
Affairs monthly party magazine, and the Young
Communists League youth organization.
FREEDOM SOCIALIST PARTY -
The FSP was formed in 1966 by a splinter group of dissident feminist Trotskyists who broke away from the Socialist Workers Party to create a new party in the "tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky." The FSP has always emphasized "black liberation and social feminsm" -- thus the reason Radical Women is an official alternate name used by the FSP. The FSP describe themselves as a "revolutionary, socialist feminist organization, dedicated to the replacement of capitalist rule by a genuine workers' democracy that will guarantee full economic, social, political, and legal equality to women, people of color, gays, and all who are exploited, oppressed, and repelled by the profit system and its offshoot -- imperialism." The FSP has party organizations in the US, Canada and Australia, and today remains staunchly Trotskyist in ideology. The FSP occasionally fields a handful of local candidates in Washington, California and New York (often in non-partisan elections). The FSP also fielded their first Presidential candidate in 2012: socialist activist Stephen Durham, who ran as a write-in as he failed to achieve ballot status in any state. Official FSP links include the Freedom Socialist newspaper and Red Letter Press (book publishers).
THE GREENS/GREEN PARTY USA (G/GPUSA) -
When people talk about "the Green Party" in the US, they are likely NOT talking about this entity. The G/GPUSA is the older, very much smaller, and more stridently leftist of the two Green parties. While the GPUSA also nominated Nader for President back in 2000, Nader rejected the
G/GPUSA nomination (while embracing the other
Green party, listed above). Prominent Nader campaign strategist
Jim Hightower described the two Green factions as follows in 2001:
"There are two Green party organizations -- the [Green Party of
the US] whose nomination Ralph accepted and the much smaller one
[G/GPUSA] ... on the fringes ... [with] all sorts of damned-near-communistic
ideas." Some in the G/GPUSA protested that Hightower's comments
were a bit unfair -- but read the G/GPUSA
2000 Platform (which remains the current G/GPUSA platform)
and decide for yourself. The G/GPUSA largely emphasizes direct
action tactics over traditional electoral politics. A majorty
of the G/GPUSA delegates and large number of party activists quit
the group and bolted to the larger Green Party of the US in 2001
(forming an informal leftist caucus within the Green Party). The
small splinter group remaining within the G/GPUSA are more dogmatically
Marxist. The G/GPUSA maintain formal local
affiliates only Chicago, St. Louis and Philadelphia. The G/GPUSA
has fielded a few state and federal candidates over the years
-- often running them in Green primaries against candidates affiliated
with the larger Green Party of the US. Related G/GPUSA links include
Synthesis/Regeneration (party
magazine), and Green
Politics (quarterly e-newspaper).
INDEPENDENCE PARTY OF AMERICA -
After two years of openly feuding with Ross Perot's allies in the Reform Party, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and his supporters bolted from the party to launch the new Independence Party in 2000.
While
this splinter party shared the Reform Party's call for campaign
finance and other political reforms, the IP shared Ventura's disagreement
with the more social conservative and trade protectionist views
espoused by the Reform Party. The IP -- which describes itself
as "Socially Inclusive and Fiscally Responsible" -- is pro-choice,
pro-gay rights, pro-medical marijuana, pro-gun rights and fiscally
moderate. The IP has fielded crowded slates of Congressional and
state candidates in Minnesota in every election since 2000. While
Ventura initially said he wanted to take this Minnesota party
national and possibly field a Presidential nominee in 2004, few
chapter exist in other states and the party to date has never
nominated a Presidential ticket. Ventura's gubernatorial retirement
in 2002 was a blow to the IP, although former Democratic Congressman
Tim Penny was a credible IP nominee for Minnesota Governor in
2002 (but finished a distant third). Also in 2002, IP co-founder
Dean Barkley became the first IP member to serve in Congress when
Ventura appointed him to the US Senate to complete the two months
of a term left open by the death of incumbent Paul Wellstone (D).
As for a national party organization, the Independence Party essentially
does not really have one. It seemingly consists of a few separately-organized
state affiliates with at most a very informal link to the tiny
central national organization which doesn't seem to coordinate
activities between the states. Thus, each state entity goes its
own way -- and support has clearly dwindled over the past decade.
Surviving state parties include the Minnesota
Independence Party, Independence
Party of Florida, and Independence
Party of New York State.
JUSTICE PARTY -
Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, a former Democrat, created this party in 2011 as a new national political vehicle for disgruntled citizens who believed the Democratic Party was not sufficiently progressive. The Justice Party supports universal health care, economic justice to financial disparity, and LGBT equality, backs the Kyoto Protocols to reduce climate change, and opposes "the wars of the Bush-Obama Presidency" and domestic spying programs. The party fielded Anderson as the party's Presidential candidate in 2012, and he obtained ballot statuts in 16 states (43,000 votes - 7th place - 0.03%). The party has also run candidates for US Senate, congress, and other offices. The goal of the Justice Party is to ultimately supplant the Greens as the leading progressive political party in the US. Party leaders say Anderson is likely to make another Justice Party run for President in 2016.
LIGHT PARTY - The Light Party is a miniscule New Age party almost entirely centered around party founder "Da Vid, M.D., Wholistic Physician, Human Ecologist & Artist." He was also the party's write-in candidate for President in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. The party promotes holistic medicine, national health insurance, organic foods, solar energy, nuclear disarmament and a flat tax. The founder is the only candidate this party has ever fielded for office. MODERN WHIG PARTY - Seizing the name of the long dead Whig Party (1833-1856) of Presidents Zachary Taylor, John Tyler and Millard Fillmore, this new Modern Whig Party was launched in 2008. Nearly all of the party founders and state chairs are Iraq/Afghan War veterans. These new Whigs explain themselves as follows: "We represent moderate voters from all walks of life who cherry-pick between traditional Democratic and Republican ideals in what has been called the Modern Whig Philosophy. This includes general principles of fiscal responsibility, strong national defense and bold social progression." They are centrists -- vaguely claiming they have "tens of thousands of members" -- who support a strong military, energy independence, increased funding of the sciences and education, more spending on veterans and veteran families, and oppose legislating morality. The party has established state party affiliates around the nation and fielded a few candidates for Congress and state legislature. PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION - The
Party
of Socialism & Liberation (PSL) is "a revolutionary Marxist
party" created "to be a vehicle for the multinational
working class in the struggle for socialism ... Only a multinational
party can create the unity necessary to defeat the most powerful
capitalist class the world has ever seen ... We aim for revolution
in the United States ... We want a revolution; and, we work hard
to make it happen." Additionally, the PSL explains that "the
most crucial requirement for [PSL] membership is the dedication
to undertake this most important and most necessary of all tasks:
building a new revolutionary workers party in the heart of world
imperialism." The PSL was founded in 2006 by a breakaway
faction of the communist revolutionary wing of the Workers World
Party. The PSL espouses a pro-Cuba/pro-China view, and the iconic
Che Guevarra's call for continual world revolution against capitalism.
The PSL fielded its first candidates in 2008: a Presidential ticket
and Congressional candidates. Presidential nominee Gloria LaRiva
was on the ballot in 12 states in 2008 and captured 6,808 votes
(11th place - 0.005%). The PSL nominated Peta Lindsay for Presidential
in 2012 -- even though she was constitutionally ineligible to
serve due to being underage -- but she was still on the ballot
in 13 states and captured 9,400 votes (11th place - 0.01%). The
PSL also sponsors and/or directs numerous popular front groups
including International
ANSWER, International Action
Center, Bail Out the People
Network, May 1st Coalition,
and many others. Other related PSL websites include: VotePSL.org
(party campaign site); Liberation
(party newspaper) and Socialism
and Liberation (party magazine).PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
- Founded 
in the 1960s as a left-wing party opposed to the Vietnam War, the
party reached its peak of support in 1968 when it nominated Black
Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver for President. Although a convicted
felon and an odious personality, Cleaver carried nearly 37,000
votes (ironically, Cleaver ultimately became a Reagan Republican
in the early 1980s, and was later a crack cocaine addict in the
late 1980s, before emerging as an environmental activist in the
late 1990s). Famed "baby doctor" Benjamin
Spock -- a socialist and staunch opponent of the Vietnam War
-- was the PFP Presidential nominee in 1972. Since then, the small
party has largely been dominated by battling factions of Marxist-Leninists
(aligned with the communist Workers World Party (WWP), which later
split into the militant revolutionary Party of Socialism &
Liberation (PSL)), Trotskyists, and true democratic socialists.
The PFP today is small, with activities centered only in California.
In 1996, the PFP successfully blocked an attempt by the WWP to
capture the PFP's Presidential nomination (and a California ballot
spot) for their party's nominee. In a sign of the party's serious
decline in support, the PFP's poor showing in the 1998 statewide
elections caused the party to lose its California ballot status.
The PFP finally regained California ballot status in 2003 -- and
immediately fielded a sizable slate of candidates. Native American
activist Leonard Peltier -- an imprisoned cop killer (or innocent
political prisoner, depending on your views) -- was the PFP nominee
for President in 2004 (ballot status in one state - 27,500 votes).
In 2008, the party let consumer activist Ralph Nader use their
California ballot line in support of his Independent run for President.
In 2009, the party announced plans to try expanding into "a
nationwide electoral party dedicated to socialism, feminism, democracy,
environmentalism, and racial equality." The communist PSL's
candidates captured several key PFP statewide candidate nominations
in California in 2010, but then lost control again in 2012 when
the PFP nominated comic actress Rosanne Barr for President. Barr
was on the ballot in 3 states and captured 67,500 votes (6th place
- 0.05%).
SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE PARTY
- Socialist Alternative, founded in 1986 and originally named the Labor
Militant, split from the Labor Party in the 1990s in order to pursue a
more radical leftist and anti-globalization party. The party is the US
member of the Committee for a Workers'
International (CWI), an international association of
Trotskyist political paries from nearly 50 nations. SocAlt is not as
radical as some Marxist parties, as they espouse democratic socialism
and have formed alliances of convenience with non-socialists for
political advantage. for example, the party backed Ralph Nader (Green)
for President in each of his four runs because they thought his
candidacy would help "accelerate the trend of disintigration of the
two-party system." The party wants to build a socialist mass workers
movement, and is critical of the Leninist-Stalinist historical
dictatorships as a perversion of true Marxism. The party supports a $15
national minimum wage, universal free health care, a guaranteed
$500/week minimum income for all, public ownership of major banks,
forcing bankrupt companies into public ownership, free college
education, and slashing the military budget. In a major upset in 2013, Kshama Sawant
became the first party member to win an election when she won a seat on
the Seattle City Council -- and another candidate nearly won a seat on
the Minneapolis City Council on the same day. The party currently has
chapters in 15 states. The party also publishes a newspaper named Socialist Alternative
SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY - Founded in 1877,
the SLP is a militant democratic socialist party. More moderate
members of the SLP bolted to create the Socialist Party USA in
1901. The SLP ran Presidential tickets in every election between
1892 and 1976 (the SLP's final presidential candidate won 9,600
votes in the 1976 race). The high cost of fielding a Presidential
ticket and restrictive ballot access laws caused the SLP to abandon
fielding Presidential tickets after 1976, and instead concentrates
on nominating candidates for lower offices. The SLP -- which bills
itself as the party of "Marxism-DeLeonism" -- still fields a few
local candidates (mainly in New Jersey). The site features party
history, info on Daniel
DeLeon, a Marx-Engels archive, links and more. The SLP newspaper
The People, first printed
in 1891, also publishes regularly updated online editions. The
SLP held its most recent national convention in 2007.
U.S. PACIFIST PARTY - This
tiny political party fielded party founder Bradford Lyttle as
a write-in candidate for President in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2012
(and ran a US Senate candidate in Colorado in 1998). In 2008,
for the first time, Lyttle achieved ballot status in one state
(110 votes). The USPP opposes military actions in all circumstances
and wants to transform the US military into "a non-violent defense
and humanitarian service corps." The USPP platform advocates generally
left-wing political stances and slashing the military budget to
"zero."
WORKING FAMILIES PARTY
- The WFP, founded in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions, was
for many years a one-state party which operated only in New York.
During 2006-08, the WFP expanded by launching new chapters in
a few other states. By 2008, the WFP obtained ballot access and
nominated congressional candidates in New York, Connecticut and
Oregon. The WFP essentially operates as a "fusion" party
which co-nominates candidates of established parties. This fusion
move allows WFP candidates -- who are almost exclusively Democrats
-- to appear on a second ballot line in the same election. Fusion
"gives voters a way to 'vote their values' without spoiling
an election," explain the WFP's website. The WFP exists to
advance a pro-labor union political agenda focused almost entirely
on liberal economic and employment issues.
PANSEXUAL PEACE PARTY
- The PPP is a generally left-wing party that has yet to field
any candidates -- they don't take themselves too seriously --
and, oh yeah, and the PPP is founded on Wiccan (i.e., witchcraft)
roots. Check out the PPP platform plank on sexual issues, which
carries the title: "Sex is Good! Sex is Great! Yea, Sex!"
The PPP site also contains a short but harsh anti-libertarian
essay. To date, the PPP's political activities seem confined to
printing some PPP t-shirts and bumper stickers. Jimi Freidenker
is the founder and "Chairentity" of the PPP.
even more parties:
http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm
The Green Party --
the informal US-affiliate of the leftist, environmentalist European Greens movement -- is one of the two largest third parties in the nation. The party regularly fields candidates for local, state and federal offices in many states, and has established active state affiliate parties in nearly all 50 states. The Greens scored a major political points when it convinced prominent consumer advocate Ralph Nader to run as their first Presidential nominee in 1996. Spending
just over $5,000, Nader was on the ballot
in 22 states and carried over 700,000 votes (4th place - 0.8%).
In 2000, Nader raised millions of dollars, mobilized leftist activists
and grabbed national headlines with his anti-corporate campaign
message. Nader ignored pleas from liberal Democrats that he abandon
the race because he was siphoning essential votes away from Al
Gore's campaign -- answering that Gore was not substantially different
than Bush. In the end, Nader was on the ballot in 44 states and
finished third with 2,878,000 votes (2.7%). More significantly,
Nader missed the important 5% mark for the national vote, meaning
the party remained ineligible for federal matching funds. Until
2001, the Greens were largely a collection of fairly autonomous
state/local based political entities with only a weak (and sometimes
splintered) national leadership structure that largely served
to coordinate electoral activities. That faction -- formerly named
the Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) -- was the larger
and more moderate of the two unrelated Green parties. The ASGP
voted in 2001 to convert from an umbrella coordinating organization
into a formal, unified national party organization. Nader made
another run in 2004 -- but ran as an Independent. Instead, Green
Party General Counsel David Cobb of Texas won the Presidential
nomination (ballot status in 29 states - 120,000 votes - 6th place
- 0.1%). Cobb argued the party needed to nominate a candidate
who openly belonged to the party (note: Nader had never joined)
and was pledged to building the party at the local level. Cobb
ran what was seen as a "safe-states" strategy -- a controversial
move whereby Cobb only made major efforts to gain votes in states
where a strong Green showing would not compromise the ability
of the Democratic nominee to defeat Bush in the state. Democrats
appreciated the move, but it weakened Cobb's message. For 2008,
the Greens dumped the "safe states" strategy and instead
tried to run a more aggressive campaign wherever possible. Former
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) joined the Greens in 2007,
moved to California, and easily captured the Green nomination
in 2008. McKinney was on the ballot in 32 states and garnered
161,0000 votes (6th place - 0.1%). Physician and progressive activist
Jill Stein was the Green Presidential nominee in 2012 and scored
the party's best showing since the Nader days, capturing 470,000
votes (4th place - 0.4%). Official Green Party links include:
Green Pages (newspaper),
Global Green Network,
Green Party News
Center, Campus Greens,
Lavender Green Caucus,
National Women's Caucus,
Disability Caucus, Coordinated
Campaign Committee, and Green
Party Election Results. The Green
Party Platform sets forth the party's official stances.CITIZENS PARTY -
Not to be confused with the progressive party by the same name in the 1980s, this new Citizens Party was launched in 2004 as the New American Independent Party. In 2011, the party changed its name to Citizens Party. The CP vows to become a national entity. The CP describe their ideology as a "pragmatic ... mixture of what might appear to be liberal, moderate and conservative views." The party supports fair trade (reciprocity), and opposed free trade policies, NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO; supports gun ownership rights; supports gay marriage and is pro-choice; wants tougher animal cruelty laws; supports legalizing medically assisted suicide; wants to create tax incentives to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US and protect US family farms; opposed the Wall Street bailout; and opposes a "neo-conservative foreign policy." To date the party has only ballot qualified one candidate under its name: a Pennsylvania state legislative candidate in 2006.
COMMUNIST PARTY USA -
The CPUSA -- once the slavish propaganda tool and spy network for the Soviet Central Committee -- experienced a forced transformation in recent years. Highly classified Soviet Politburo records, made public after the fall of Soviet communism in the 1990s, revealed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) illegally
funneled
millions of dollars to the CPUSA to finance its activities from
the 1920s to the 1980s. The flow of Soviet dollars to the CPUSA
came to an abrupt halt when the Soviet communists were ousted
from power in 1991 -- ultimately causing a total overhaul of CPUSA
activities. Founded in 1924, the CPUSA reached its peak vote total
in 1932 with nominee William
Z. Foster (102,000 votes - 4th place). The last national CPUSA
ticket -- headed by Stalinist Gus
Hall and 60s radical activist Angela
Davis -- was fielded in 1984 (36,000 votes - 8th place). While
the party has not directly run any candidates since the late 1980s,
the CPUSA sometimes backs some candidates in various local elections
(often in Northeastern industrial communities) and engages in
grassroots political and labor union organizing. As for issues,
the CPUSA calls for free universal health care, elimination of
the federal income tax on people earning under $60,000 a year,
free college education, drastic cuts in military spending, "massive"
public works programs, the outlawing of "scabs and union busting,"
abolition of corporate monopolies, public ownership of energy
and basic industries, huge tax hikes for corporations and the
wealthy, and various other programs designed to "beat the power
of the capitalist class ... [and promote] anti-imperialist freedom
struggles around the world." The CPUSA's underlying
Marxist ideology remains strong. However, it has evolved now
-- after the death of Hall in 2000 -- into a Gorbachev-style "democratic
reform communist" movement headed by activist Sam Webb. Under
Webb's leadership, the CPUSA now touts a platform of true democratic
socialism and trade unionism, and frequently encourages votes
for Democratic candidates as a pragmatic electoral tactic to defeat
conservatives. Other official CPUSA websites include the People's
World party newspaper, Political
Affairs monthly party magazine, and the Young
Communists League youth organization.FREEDOM SOCIALIST PARTY -
The FSP was formed in 1966 by a splinter group of dissident feminist Trotskyists who broke away from the Socialist Workers Party to create a new party in the "tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky." The FSP has always emphasized "black liberation and social feminsm" -- thus the reason Radical Women is an official alternate name used by the FSP. The FSP describe themselves as a "revolutionary, socialist feminist organization, dedicated to the replacement of capitalist rule by a genuine workers' democracy that will guarantee full economic, social, political, and legal equality to women, people of color, gays, and all who are exploited, oppressed, and repelled by the profit system and its offshoot -- imperialism." The FSP has party organizations in the US, Canada and Australia, and today remains staunchly Trotskyist in ideology. The FSP occasionally fields a handful of local candidates in Washington, California and New York (often in non-partisan elections). The FSP also fielded their first Presidential candidate in 2012: socialist activist Stephen Durham, who ran as a write-in as he failed to achieve ballot status in any state. Official FSP links include the Freedom Socialist newspaper and Red Letter Press (book publishers).
THE GREENS/GREEN PARTY USA (G/GPUSA) -
When people talk about "the Green Party" in the US, they are likely NOT talking about this entity. The G/GPUSA is the older, very much smaller, and more stridently leftist of the two Green parties. While the GPUSA also nominated Nader for President back in 2000, Nader rejected the
G/GPUSA nomination (while embracing the other
Green party, listed above). Prominent Nader campaign strategist
Jim Hightower described the two Green factions as follows in 2001:
"There are two Green party organizations -- the [Green Party of
the US] whose nomination Ralph accepted and the much smaller one
[G/GPUSA] ... on the fringes ... [with] all sorts of damned-near-communistic
ideas." Some in the G/GPUSA protested that Hightower's comments
were a bit unfair -- but read the G/GPUSA
2000 Platform (which remains the current G/GPUSA platform)
and decide for yourself. The G/GPUSA largely emphasizes direct
action tactics over traditional electoral politics. A majorty
of the G/GPUSA delegates and large number of party activists quit
the group and bolted to the larger Green Party of the US in 2001
(forming an informal leftist caucus within the Green Party). The
small splinter group remaining within the G/GPUSA are more dogmatically
Marxist. The G/GPUSA maintain formal local
affiliates only Chicago, St. Louis and Philadelphia. The G/GPUSA
has fielded a few state and federal candidates over the years
-- often running them in Green primaries against candidates affiliated
with the larger Green Party of the US. Related G/GPUSA links include
Synthesis/Regeneration (party
magazine), and Green
Politics (quarterly e-newspaper).INDEPENDENCE PARTY OF AMERICA -
After two years of openly feuding with Ross Perot's allies in the Reform Party, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and his supporters bolted from the party to launch the new Independence Party in 2000.
While
this splinter party shared the Reform Party's call for campaign
finance and other political reforms, the IP shared Ventura's disagreement
with the more social conservative and trade protectionist views
espoused by the Reform Party. The IP -- which describes itself
as "Socially Inclusive and Fiscally Responsible" -- is pro-choice,
pro-gay rights, pro-medical marijuana, pro-gun rights and fiscally
moderate. The IP has fielded crowded slates of Congressional and
state candidates in Minnesota in every election since 2000. While
Ventura initially said he wanted to take this Minnesota party
national and possibly field a Presidential nominee in 2004, few
chapter exist in other states and the party to date has never
nominated a Presidential ticket. Ventura's gubernatorial retirement
in 2002 was a blow to the IP, although former Democratic Congressman
Tim Penny was a credible IP nominee for Minnesota Governor in
2002 (but finished a distant third). Also in 2002, IP co-founder
Dean Barkley became the first IP member to serve in Congress when
Ventura appointed him to the US Senate to complete the two months
of a term left open by the death of incumbent Paul Wellstone (D).
As for a national party organization, the Independence Party essentially
does not really have one. It seemingly consists of a few separately-organized
state affiliates with at most a very informal link to the tiny
central national organization which doesn't seem to coordinate
activities between the states. Thus, each state entity goes its
own way -- and support has clearly dwindled over the past decade.
Surviving state parties include the Minnesota
Independence Party, Independence
Party of Florida, and Independence
Party of New York State.JUSTICE PARTY -
Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, a former Democrat, created this party in 2011 as a new national political vehicle for disgruntled citizens who believed the Democratic Party was not sufficiently progressive. The Justice Party supports universal health care, economic justice to financial disparity, and LGBT equality, backs the Kyoto Protocols to reduce climate change, and opposes "the wars of the Bush-Obama Presidency" and domestic spying programs. The party fielded Anderson as the party's Presidential candidate in 2012, and he obtained ballot statuts in 16 states (43,000 votes - 7th place - 0.03%). The party has also run candidates for US Senate, congress, and other offices. The goal of the Justice Party is to ultimately supplant the Greens as the leading progressive political party in the US. Party leaders say Anderson is likely to make another Justice Party run for President in 2016.
(sorry, will reorganize the rest soonest!)
LIGHT PARTY - The Light Party is a miniscule New Age party almost entirely centered around party founder "Da Vid, M.D., Wholistic Physician, Human Ecologist & Artist." He was also the party's write-in candidate for President in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. The party promotes holistic medicine, national health insurance, organic foods, solar energy, nuclear disarmament and a flat tax. The founder is the only candidate this party has ever fielded for office. MODERN WHIG PARTY - Seizing the name of the long dead Whig Party (1833-1856) of Presidents Zachary Taylor, John Tyler and Millard Fillmore, this new Modern Whig Party was launched in 2008. Nearly all of the party founders and state chairs are Iraq/Afghan War veterans. These new Whigs explain themselves as follows: "We represent moderate voters from all walks of life who cherry-pick between traditional Democratic and Republican ideals in what has been called the Modern Whig Philosophy. This includes general principles of fiscal responsibility, strong national defense and bold social progression." They are centrists -- vaguely claiming they have "tens of thousands of members" -- who support a strong military, energy independence, increased funding of the sciences and education, more spending on veterans and veteran families, and oppose legislating morality. The party has established state party affiliates around the nation and fielded a few candidates for Congress and state legislature. PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION - The
Party
of Socialism & Liberation (PSL) is "a revolutionary Marxist
party" created "to be a vehicle for the multinational
working class in the struggle for socialism ... Only a multinational
party can create the unity necessary to defeat the most powerful
capitalist class the world has ever seen ... We aim for revolution
in the United States ... We want a revolution; and, we work hard
to make it happen." Additionally, the PSL explains that "the
most crucial requirement for [PSL] membership is the dedication
to undertake this most important and most necessary of all tasks:
building a new revolutionary workers party in the heart of world
imperialism." The PSL was founded in 2006 by a breakaway
faction of the communist revolutionary wing of the Workers World
Party. The PSL espouses a pro-Cuba/pro-China view, and the iconic
Che Guevarra's call for continual world revolution against capitalism.
The PSL fielded its first candidates in 2008: a Presidential ticket
and Congressional candidates. Presidential nominee Gloria LaRiva
was on the ballot in 12 states in 2008 and captured 6,808 votes
(11th place - 0.005%). The PSL nominated Peta Lindsay for Presidential
in 2012 -- even though she was constitutionally ineligible to
serve due to being underage -- but she was still on the ballot
in 13 states and captured 9,400 votes (11th place - 0.01%). The
PSL also sponsors and/or directs numerous popular front groups
including International
ANSWER, International Action
Center, Bail Out the People
Network, May 1st Coalition,
and many others. Other related PSL websites include: VotePSL.org
(party campaign site); Liberation
(party newspaper) and Socialism
and Liberation (party magazine).PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
- Founded in the 1960s as a left-wing party opposed to the Vietnam War, the
party reached its peak of support in 1968 when it nominated Black
Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver for President. Although a convicted
felon and an odious personality, Cleaver carried nearly 37,000
votes (ironically, Cleaver ultimately became a Reagan Republican
in the early 1980s, and was later a crack cocaine addict in the
late 1980s, before emerging as an environmental activist in the
late 1990s). Famed "baby doctor" Benjamin
Spock -- a socialist and staunch opponent of the Vietnam War
-- was the PFP Presidential nominee in 1972. Since then, the small
party has largely been dominated by battling factions of Marxist-Leninists
(aligned with the communist Workers World Party (WWP), which later
split into the militant revolutionary Party of Socialism &
Liberation (PSL)), Trotskyists, and true democratic socialists.
The PFP today is small, with activities centered only in California.
In 1996, the PFP successfully blocked an attempt by the WWP to
capture the PFP's Presidential nomination (and a California ballot
spot) for their party's nominee. In a sign of the party's serious
decline in support, the PFP's poor showing in the 1998 statewide
elections caused the party to lose its California ballot status.
The PFP finally regained California ballot status in 2003 -- and
immediately fielded a sizable slate of candidates. Native American
activist Leonard Peltier -- an imprisoned cop killer (or innocent
political prisoner, depending on your views) -- was the PFP nominee
for President in 2004 (ballot status in one state - 27,500 votes).
In 2008, the party let consumer activist Ralph Nader use their
California ballot line in support of his Independent run for President.
In 2009, the party announced plans to try expanding into "a
nationwide electoral party dedicated to socialism, feminism, democracy,
environmentalism, and racial equality." The communist PSL's
candidates captured several key PFP statewide candidate nominations
in California in 2010, but then lost control again in 2012 when
the PFP nominated comic actress Rosanne Barr for President. Barr
was on the ballot in 3 states and captured 67,500 votes (6th place
- 0.05%).
SOCIALIST PARTY USA - The
SPUSA are true democratic socialists -- advocating left-wing electoral
change versus militant revolutionary change. Many of the SP members
could easily be members 
of
the left-wing faction of the Democratic Party. Unlike most of
the other political parties on this page with "Socialist" in their
names, the SP has always been staunchly anti-communist. The original
Socialist Party USA was founded by labor union leader, ex-Democratic
elected official and pacifist Eugene
V. Debs in 1900, the SP was once a mighty national third party.
Debs himself was the SP nominee for president five times between
1900 and 1920. Debs received over 900,000 votes (6%) in 1912 --
the SP's best showing ever. Former minister and journalist Norman
Thomas was the SP Presidential nominee 6 times between 1928
and 1948 -- his best showing being 883,000 votes (2.2%) in 1932.
The SP also elected congressmen, mayors and other officials throughout
the 20th Century (largely during the 1910s through 1950s). The
party withered and splintered so much that, by the last 1972,
it barely existed. The Democratic Socialists of American and the
Social Democrats USA -- both linked above -- are the other splinter
groups from the original Debs/Thomas SP entity. Activists from
the old SP reconstituted the party in 1976 and began to again
field SP national tickets for the first time in over two decades.
Community activist Stewart Alexander was the SPUSA President nominee
in 2012 (ballot status in 3 states - 4,430 votes - 14th place).
The party's youth wing -- the Young
People's Socialist League -- has been in existence since the
early 1900s. Other SPUSA sites: Socialist
National Committee / VoteSocialist.org (campaigns/candidates)
and The Socialist
WebZine.
of
the left-wing faction of the Democratic Party. Unlike most of
the other political parties on this page with "Socialist" in their
names, the SP has always been staunchly anti-communist. The original
Socialist Party USA was founded by labor union leader, ex-Democratic
elected official and pacifist Eugene
V. Debs in 1900, the SP was once a mighty national third party.
Debs himself was the SP nominee for president five times between
1900 and 1920. Debs received over 900,000 votes (6%) in 1912 --
the SP's best showing ever. Former minister and journalist Norman
Thomas was the SP Presidential nominee 6 times between 1928
and 1948 -- his best showing being 883,000 votes (2.2%) in 1932.
The SP also elected congressmen, mayors and other officials throughout
the 20th Century (largely during the 1910s through 1950s). The
party withered and splintered so much that, by the last 1972,
it barely existed. The Democratic Socialists of American and the
Social Democrats USA -- both linked above -- are the other splinter
groups from the original Debs/Thomas SP entity. Activists from
the old SP reconstituted the party in 1976 and began to again
field SP national tickets for the first time in over two decades.
Community activist Stewart Alexander was the SPUSA President nominee
in 2012 (ballot status in 3 states - 4,430 votes - 14th place).
The party's youth wing -- the Young
People's Socialist League -- has been in existence since the
early 1900s. Other SPUSA sites: Socialist
National Committee / VoteSocialist.org (campaigns/candidates)
and The Socialist
WebZine.
SOCIALIST ACTION - Socialist
Action is a Trotskyist political party of "revolutionary
socialists" originally founded by expelled members of the
Socialist Workers Party. While the SA shares the SWP's pro-Castro
views, the SA still tries to retain its Trotskyist ideological
roots (versus the SWP, which has drifted away from Trotskyism
towards a more Soviet communist ideology). The SA states that
they "oppose the Democrats and Republicans, all capitalist political
parties, and all capitalist governments and their representatives
everywhere ... [and] Stalinist and neo-Stalinist regimes from
the ex-Soviet Union to China." This communist party has fielded
some local political candidates in the San Francisco Bay area
over the years, and ran its first congressional candidate in 2010
(in Connecticut). Other official sites: Socialist
Action Newspaper, Youth
for Socialist Action and VoteSocialistAction.
SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE PARTY
- Socialist Alternative, founded in 1986 and originally named the Labor
Militant, split from the Labor Party in the 1990s in order to pursue a
more radical leftist and anti-globalization party. The party is the US
member of the Committee for a Workers'
International (CWI), an international association of
Trotskyist political paries from nearly 50 nations. SocAlt is not as
radical as some Marxist parties, as they espouse democratic socialism
and have formed alliances of convenience with non-socialists for
political advantage. for example, the party backed Ralph Nader (Green)
for President in each of his four runs because they thought his
candidacy would help "accelerate the trend of disintigration of the
two-party system." The party wants to build a socialist mass workers
movement, and is critical of the Leninist-Stalinist historical
dictatorships as a perversion of true Marxism. The party supports a $15
national minimum wage, universal free health care, a guaranteed
$500/week minimum income for all, public ownership of major banks,
forcing bankrupt companies into public ownership, free college
education, and slashing the military budget. In a major upset in 2013, Kshama Sawant
became the first party member to win an election when she won a seat on
the Seattle City Council -- and another candidate nearly won a seat on
the Minneapolis City Council on the same day. The party currently has
chapters in 15 states. The party also publishes a newspaper named Socialist Alternative
SOCIALIST EQUALITY PARTY - The Socialist Equality Party
(SEP) 
was originally named the
Workers League (WL). The WL was founded in 1966 as a Trotskyist
communist group closely associated with the electoral campaigns
of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). The goal of these Trotskyist
groups was a build a working-class labor party in the US affiliated
with the International Committee of the Fourth International (the
global Trotskyist umbrella network). They believe that "the egalitarian
and internationalist legacy of the Russian Revolution" could have
succeeded, but was "betrayed by Stalinism" and its progeny. When
the SWP drifted away from Trotskyism in the early 1980s, the WL
broke with the SWP and began fielding its own candidates. The
WL fielded its first Presidential ticket in 1984. The WL later
renamed itself as the Socialist Equality Party in 1994. The Michigan-based
SEP regularly fields Congressional and local candidates, mainly
in Michigan and Ohio. The SEP is very realistic about its candidates,
acknowledging a campaign is an opportunity to "present a socialist
alternative to the demagogy and lies of the establishment parties
and the mass media." Frequent SEP Presidential nominee Jerry White
was on the ballot in three states in 2012 and captured 1,279 votes
(21st place). The SEP's news site -- the World
Socialist Web Site (WSWS) -- is updated daily with articles,
analysis, history, etc., written with a hardcore internationalist,
Trotskyist perspective.
was originally named the
Workers League (WL). The WL was founded in 1966 as a Trotskyist
communist group closely associated with the electoral campaigns
of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). The goal of these Trotskyist
groups was a build a working-class labor party in the US affiliated
with the International Committee of the Fourth International (the
global Trotskyist umbrella network). They believe that "the egalitarian
and internationalist legacy of the Russian Revolution" could have
succeeded, but was "betrayed by Stalinism" and its progeny. When
the SWP drifted away from Trotskyism in the early 1980s, the WL
broke with the SWP and began fielding its own candidates. The
WL fielded its first Presidential ticket in 1984. The WL later
renamed itself as the Socialist Equality Party in 1994. The Michigan-based
SEP regularly fields Congressional and local candidates, mainly
in Michigan and Ohio. The SEP is very realistic about its candidates,
acknowledging a campaign is an opportunity to "present a socialist
alternative to the demagogy and lies of the establishment parties
and the mass media." Frequent SEP Presidential nominee Jerry White
was on the ballot in three states in 2012 and captured 1,279 votes
(21st place). The SEP's news site -- the World
Socialist Web Site (WSWS) -- is updated daily with articles,
analysis, history, etc., written with a hardcore internationalist,
Trotskyist perspective. SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY - Founded in 1877,
the SLP is a militant democratic socialist party. More moderate
members of the SLP bolted to create the Socialist Party USA in
1901. The SLP ran Presidential tickets in every election between
1892 and 1976 (the SLP's final presidential candidate won 9,600
votes in the 1976 race). The high cost of fielding a Presidential
ticket and restrictive ballot access laws caused the SLP to abandon
fielding Presidential tickets after 1976, and instead concentrates
on nominating candidates for lower offices. The SLP -- which bills
itself as the party of "Marxism-DeLeonism" -- still fields a few
local candidates (mainly in New Jersey). The site features party
history, info on Daniel
DeLeon, a Marx-Engels archive, links and more. The SLP newspaper
The People, first printed
in 1891, also publishes regularly updated online editions. The
SLP held its most recent national convention in 2007.
SOCIALIST
WORKERS PARTY - Originally
a pro-Trotsky faction
within the Communist Party USA, the SWP was formed in 1938 after
the CPUSA -- acting on orders from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
-- expelled the American Trotskyites. The SWP was for many years
the leading voice of Trotskyism in the USA. Since the 1980s, the
SWP has drifted away from Trotskyism and moved towards the brand
of authoritarian politics espoused by former Cuban leader Fidel
Castro's style of Marxism (the SWP sites calls communist Cuba
"a shining example for all workers"). The SWP has run candidates
for President in every election since 1948 -- plus many federal
and local candidates nationwide. Marxist political organizer James
Harris -- the party's three-time SWP Presidential nominee -- was
again the candidate in 2012 (ballot status in six states - 4,117
votes - 15th place). The party's weekly newspaper The
Militant is the party's only online presence.
a pro-Trotsky faction
within the Communist Party USA, the SWP was formed in 1938 after
the CPUSA -- acting on orders from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
-- expelled the American Trotskyites. The SWP was for many years
the leading voice of Trotskyism in the USA. Since the 1980s, the
SWP has drifted away from Trotskyism and moved towards the brand
of authoritarian politics espoused by former Cuban leader Fidel
Castro's style of Marxism (the SWP sites calls communist Cuba
"a shining example for all workers"). The SWP has run candidates
for President in every election since 1948 -- plus many federal
and local candidates nationwide. Marxist political organizer James
Harris -- the party's three-time SWP Presidential nominee -- was
again the candidate in 2012 (ballot status in six states - 4,117
votes - 15th place). The party's weekly newspaper The
Militant is the party's only online presence.
TAX WALL STREET PARTY
- This new progressive party, founded in 2013, seems to have adopted
the populist anti-corporate message of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The party supports a 1% sales tax on all Wall Street transactions, wants
to "nationalize" the Federal Reserve to make it more responsible to the
public, supports single-payer nationalized health care for all, and
wants a 15% protectionist tariff (tax) on all imported goods. The party
ran a canidate for NYC Mayor in 2013, and a US Senate candidate in
Nebraska in 2014.
U.S. PACIFIST PARTY - This
tiny political party fielded party founder Bradford Lyttle as
a write-in candidate for President in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2012
(and ran a US Senate candidate in Colorado in 1998). In 2008,
for the first time, Lyttle achieved ballot status in one state
(110 votes). The USPP opposes military actions in all circumstances
and wants to transform the US military into "a non-violent defense
and humanitarian service corps." The USPP platform advocates generally
left-wing political stances and slashing the military budget to
"zero."
VETERANS
PARTY OF AMERICA - The 
Veterans
Party was founded in 2003, but legally disolved in 2013.
In 2014, the group began a new attemp to reorganize because of their
anger over the 2013 federal government shutdown. The party explains it
was "formed when Congress chose to balance the budget by reducing the
cost of living allowance for military retirees, including those
medically retired after sustaining injuries during combat with the
enemy." The party describes itself as "moderate and inclusive." It's platform can be viewed on their website.
Veterans
Party was founded in 2003, but legally disolved in 2013.
In 2014, the group began a new attemp to reorganize because of their
anger over the 2013 federal government shutdown. The party explains it
was "formed when Congress chose to balance the budget by reducing the
cost of living allowance for military retirees, including those
medically retired after sustaining injuries during combat with the
enemy." The party describes itself as "moderate and inclusive." It's platform can be viewed on their website.
WORKERS WORLD PARTY - The WWP
was formed in 1959 by a pro-Chinese communist faction that split
from the Socialist Workers Party. Although the WWP theoretically
supports worker revolutions, the WWP supported the Soviet actions
that crushed worker uprisings in Hungary in the 1950s, 
Czechoslovakia
in the 1960s and Poland in the early 1980s. The WWP was largely
an issue-oriented revolutionary party until they fielded their
first candidate for president in 1980. The militant WWP believes
that "capitalist democracy produces nothing but hot air" and that
"the power of the workers and the oppressed is in the streets,
not in Washington." FBI Director Louis Freeh attacked the WWP
in his May 2001 remarks before a US Senate committee: "Anarchists
and extremist socialist groups -- many of which, such as the Workers
World Party -- have an international presence and, at times, also
represent a potential threat in the United States" of rioting
and street violence. The more revoltionary wing of the WWP broke
away in 2006 to form the Party of Socialism & Liberation (PSL).
In 1980-2004, the WWP fielded presidential tickets. In 2008, however,
the WWP declined to field a Presidential slate and instead endorsed
Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney. The WWP described McKinney's
campaign as "Black-led, anti-imperialist, working-class-centered
and has a multinational radical base with the potential of unlimited
growth." No WWP Presidential candidate again in 2012. Other
official site: Workers World
(WWP news site).
Czechoslovakia
in the 1960s and Poland in the early 1980s. The WWP was largely
an issue-oriented revolutionary party until they fielded their
first candidate for president in 1980. The militant WWP believes
that "capitalist democracy produces nothing but hot air" and that
"the power of the workers and the oppressed is in the streets,
not in Washington." FBI Director Louis Freeh attacked the WWP
in his May 2001 remarks before a US Senate committee: "Anarchists
and extremist socialist groups -- many of which, such as the Workers
World Party -- have an international presence and, at times, also
represent a potential threat in the United States" of rioting
and street violence. The more revoltionary wing of the WWP broke
away in 2006 to form the Party of Socialism & Liberation (PSL).
In 1980-2004, the WWP fielded presidential tickets. In 2008, however,
the WWP declined to field a Presidential slate and instead endorsed
Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney. The WWP described McKinney's
campaign as "Black-led, anti-imperialist, working-class-centered
and has a multinational radical base with the potential of unlimited
growth." No WWP Presidential candidate again in 2012. Other
official site: Workers World
(WWP news site).WORKING FAMILIES PARTY
- The WFP, founded in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions, was
for many years a one-state party which operated only in New York.
During 2006-08, the WFP expanded by launching new chapters in
a few other states. By 2008, the WFP obtained ballot access and
nominated congressional candidates in New York, Connecticut and
Oregon. The WFP essentially operates as a "fusion" party
which co-nominates candidates of established parties. This fusion
move allows WFP candidates -- who are almost exclusively Democrats
-- to appear on a second ballot line in the same election. Fusion
"gives voters a way to 'vote their values' without spoiling
an election," explain the WFP's website. The WFP exists to
advance a pro-labor union political agenda focused almost entirely
on liberal economic and employment issues.
OTHER
PARTIES
CANARY
PARTY - Founder in 2011, this new party is entirely
focused upon the issue of health care -- particularly as relates
to autism. According to the party's official history, they were
founded by "a group of parents of children who were suffering
from neurological and autoimmune disorders, and who had been active
for years in their efforts to get mainstream medicine to address
the causes of, and find treatments for, their children's poor
health, faced the realization that while they had been earnest
in their engagement of both the private medical industry and government
public health officials, the medical establishment was not working
in good faith with them." This party believes the pharmaceutical
industry -- abetted by government and medical profession silence
-- have "launched a massive and uncontrolled experiment on
a generation of Americans. In an unprecedented intervention in
human immune development, this complex has succeeded in promoting
an explosion in medical industry revenues and profits; this explosion
has been accompanied, however, by an epidemic of death, disability
and chronic disease, much of which can be traced directly to these
medical and chemical exposures." This single-issue party
wants to address these concerns with federal government action.
CENTRIST
PARTY / CENTRIST MOVEMENT - Professor
Charles Wheelan founded the Centrist Party movement in 2013, based upon
ideas espoused in his manifesto book, as a moderate "insurgency of the
rational." According to the party's website, they believe their platform
"should not be a series of muddling compromises between the two
parties; rather, it should take the best of both parties, cut loose the
tails, and build something better." The party aspires to run candidates
for US Senate, where they believe they can elect candidates by plurality
votes in three-way races in key states. By winning just a few Senate
seats, the party believes they can control the balance pf power in DC,
forcing a shift towards the ideological center between the two major
parties.
DEMOCRATIC
SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA - The DSA is the official US full
member
party of the Socialist
International (which includes UK's Labour
Party, the French Parti
Socialiste and nearly 140 other political parties around the
globe). Unlike most other members of the Socialist International,
the DSA never fields candidates for office. The DSA explains their
mission as follows: "building progressive movements for social
change while establishing an openly socialist presence in American
communities and politics." Thus, the DSA is less like a traditional
US political party and much more like a political education and
grassroots activism organization. DSA, Social Democrats USA and
the Socialist Party USA each claim to be the one true heir to
the ideological legacy of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas (and DSA
disputes the Socialist Party-USA's claim to the title arguing
it is a modern-era creation that simply appropriated the older
name of the defunct party of Debs/Thomasy). The DSA -- then named
the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) -- split
from the SD-USA in 1972 in a rift over the Vietnam War (SDUSA
supported the war and opposed McGovern for President; DSOC supported
McGovern and opposed the war). Official DSA affiliates include:
Young Democratic Socialists,
Democratic Left (magazine)
and DSA Labor Network.
(Note: The Social Democrats of Pennsylvania claim to be the
DSA state affiliate -- but DSA National Director Frank Llewellyn
emailed Politics1: "There has never been a Pennsylvania state
affiliate of DSA. An individual in Pennsylvania, for his own purposes,
has spread this fantasy on several web sites.")
member
party of the Socialist
International (which includes UK's Labour
Party, the French Parti
Socialiste and nearly 140 other political parties around the
globe). Unlike most other members of the Socialist International,
the DSA never fields candidates for office. The DSA explains their
mission as follows: "building progressive movements for social
change while establishing an openly socialist presence in American
communities and politics." Thus, the DSA is less like a traditional
US political party and much more like a political education and
grassroots activism organization. DSA, Social Democrats USA and
the Socialist Party USA each claim to be the one true heir to
the ideological legacy of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas (and DSA
disputes the Socialist Party-USA's claim to the title arguing
it is a modern-era creation that simply appropriated the older
name of the defunct party of Debs/Thomasy). The DSA -- then named
the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) -- split
from the SD-USA in 1972 in a rift over the Vietnam War (SDUSA
supported the war and opposed McGovern for President; DSOC supported
McGovern and opposed the war). Official DSA affiliates include:
Young Democratic Socialists,
Democratic Left (magazine)
and DSA Labor Network.
(Note: The Social Democrats of Pennsylvania claim to be the
DSA state affiliate -- but DSA National Director Frank Llewellyn
emailed Politics1: "There has never been a Pennsylvania state
affiliate of DSA. An individual in Pennsylvania, for his own purposes,
has spread this fantasy on several web sites.")PANSEXUAL PEACE PARTY
- The PPP is a generally left-wing party that has yet to field
any candidates -- they don't take themselves too seriously --
and, oh yeah, and the PPP is founded on Wiccan (i.e., witchcraft)
roots. Check out the PPP platform plank on sexual issues, which
carries the title: "Sex is Good! Sex is Great! Yea, Sex!"
The PPP site also contains a short but harsh anti-libertarian
essay. To date, the PPP's political activities seem confined to
printing some PPP t-shirts and bumper stickers. Jimi Freidenker
is the founder and "Chairentity" of the PPP.
WORKERS PARTY, USA - The WP-USA
is a hardcore Marxist-Leninist political party founded in 1992
by the late Michael Thorburn. The party was established to "bring
the working class out as an independent class force." The WP-USA
shares much of the CPUSA's ideology. While the WP-USA has yet
to field any candidates, the Chicago-based party publishes a bi-weekly
newspaper named The Worker and a quarterly theoretical
journal named -- not surprisingly -- The Worker Magazine.
The WP-USA site features an extensive on-line archive of dogmatic
screeds largely denouncing "monopoly capitalists," Western imperialism,
the USA, etc. -- and praising the working class and "revolutionary
politics." Thorburn's Anti-Imperialist
News Service ("assisting the people's struggles against war
and militarism") is also affiliated with the WP-USA.
WORLD SOCIALIST PARTY OF THE USA - The WSP-USA are seemingly utopian Marxists. They believe true socialism can only work when it is established worldwide.
They renounce violence, Soviet-style totalitarianism, money and
all forms of leadership. They advocate a classless, "wageless,
moneyless, free access society" without any national borders.
They don't run candidates nor endorse other socialist or left
candidates as they believe a vote for ANY candidate under the
current system is a vote in support of capitalism. Understanding
that world socialism "has clearly not yet been established," they
believe that "democratically capturing the State through parliamentary
elections is the safest, surest method for the working class to
enable itself to establish socialism" -- although they have yet
to field any US candidates in the period to date since the international
WSP was founded in 1904.
WORLD SOCIALIST PARTY OF THE USA - The WSP-USA are seemingly utopian Marxists. They believe true socialism can only work when it is established worldwide.
They renounce violence, Soviet-style totalitarianism, money and
all forms of leadership. They advocate a classless, "wageless,
moneyless, free access society" without any national borders.
They don't run candidates nor endorse other socialist or left
candidates as they believe a vote for ANY candidate under the
current system is a vote in support of capitalism. Understanding
that world socialism "has clearly not yet been established," they
believe that "democratically capturing the State through parliamentary
elections is the safest, surest method for the working class to
enable itself to establish socialism" -- although they have yet
to field any US candidates in the period to date since the international
WSP was founded in 1904. even more parties:
http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm
