In 2016 When Third Parties Can Make a Difference?

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.

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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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.")

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.

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even more parties:
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