# Nut Job Political parties in US (Not a political discussion) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993 "2004-06-01T01:20:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Logitech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19b73/32.png) [@Logitech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Logitech)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/1 "2004-06-01T01:20:34Z")
I’m not interested in a discussion of the merits of the various political parties. What I am interested in is knowing about the weird National political parties in the US. Here in Canada we only hear about the two major political parties (Democrats and Republicans). But in Canada we have a number of nut job political parties like the [Rhinocerous Party of Canada](http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Rhinoceros%20Party%20of%20Canada) , (BTW, I know the Rhinocerous party doesn’t exsist anymore, but it did exsist at one point) the green party, the Marajuana party, and the communist party. What I want to know is, in the US are there any nut job political parties that run nationally? (the Aforementioned Republicans and Democrats do not count as nut job, as they are mainstream parties). ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/2 "2004-06-01T01:38:07Z")
Well, depending on who you talk to, there’s the Libertarians and the Greens. Lyndon LaRouche runs nationally but IIRC he nominally identifies as a Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/3 "2004-06-01T02:01:25Z")
IIRC the last presidential ballot in Sangamon County, Illinois listed: Democrat Republican Libertarian Green Communist US Taxpayers Party (ultra right-wing, IIRC) Two or three others that I don’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/4 "2004-06-01T02:06:50Z")
Neither the Libertarians nor the Greens are nutty. They disagree with the Democrats and Republicans more often than the Dems and Repubs disagree with each other, but that’s hardly surprising. The Reform Party under H. Ross Perot was nutty because Perot was a fruitcake. The party Pat Buchanan fronts for is nutty because Buchanan is a whackjob. Do you want personality cults to be included in this list? There are many parties which will never field credible candidates. This includes the American Communist and Nazi Parties, the America First Party, and a whole list of increasingly nutty ones from there. All of those parties are, in theory, national, but they often have never appeared on a ballot and will never be worth listening to. [American National Political Parties](http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm). Your source for various members and non-members of the political landscape. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/5 "2004-06-01T02:08:58Z")
**HeyHomie** : Odd… I’ve never noticed the Communists on any ballot I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/6 "2004-06-01T02:23:33Z")
Offhand I can think of the Libertarians and the Greens. The Libertarians are big on civil liberties. They want to restrict the government’s power as far as possible. The more extreme members are basically anarchists. The Green Party are environmentalists. There’s also Ross Perot’s Reform Party (from the early 90’s), but from what I hear they’re pretty much defunct. In any given election, there will be a number of very minor parties that are only on the ballot in one or two states. Around here, they tend to be named something like “National Workers Party.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/7 "2004-06-01T02:43:30Z")
New York has the Liberal and Conservative parties, who only continue to exist because they co-nominate the Democrat and Republican candidates, respectively. As far as I know, New York is the only state that allows a person to run on more than one ticket simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/8 "2004-06-01T02:47:45Z")
Then there’s the Natural Law Party. In the presidential ballot in 44 states in 1996, with a platform based on Transcendental Meditation. > [@](#): > > The NLP – under the slogan “Bringing the light of science into politics” and using colorful imagery – advocates holistic approaches, Transcendental Meditation, “yogic flying,” and other peaceful “New Age” remedies for much of our national and international problems. During the Kosovo air strikes, for example, \*[then-candidate John]\*Hagelin held a press conference to suggest the deployment of 7,000 professional Transcendental Meditation counselors into the Kosovo region to “quickly calm the tensions [and] end the bloodshed” – for a cost of “just” $33 million in tax dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/9 "2004-06-01T02:56:32Z")
Natural Law party…riiiight. I imagine I’d be reading articles like, “Yet another Flying Yogi was shot down over Bosnia today, making a total of 8 Yogis lost this month…” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/10 "2004-06-01T03:03:19Z")
Then there’s the [Prohibition Party](http://www.politics1.com/prohibition04.htm). And the start-up Personal Choice Party, a Libertarian organization whose VP candidate is Marilyn Chambers and that’s in the ballot in Utah already. Heck, [this site](http://www.politics1.com/p2004.htm) seems to have a huge list of minor party pretenders. Third parties have trouble in the USA since the system is, of course, run by the two majors to begin with. Truly wacko parties have even worse problems. BTW, the NLP for some reason endorsed Dennis Kucinich in '04! (Its 92/96/2000 candidate, Hagelin, jumped to the Perot wing of the Reform Party.) ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/11 "2004-06-01T03:23:11Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > **HeyHomie** : Odd… I’ve never noticed the Communists on any ballot I’ve seen. I’m pretty sure I remember seeing the CP on the ballot in NY. Remember, to get on the ballot in any given state, there have to be enough supporters to sign the required number of petitions. It doesn’t surprise me that you haven’t seen the CP on the ballot in Big Sky Country! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/12 "2004-06-01T03:23:12Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Third parties have trouble in the USA since the system is, of course, run by the two majors to begin with. Truly wacko parties have even worse problems. … specially when you consider that to run aon a party (or independent) ticket you have to try to get a spot on the ballot (pay filing fees, gather endorsement signatures, file disclosure reports, etc.) in **each** of the 50 states plus DC **separately**. So at best your truly nutjob party may get a proper ballot spot in, say, Nevada, Wyoming, Arkansas and Delaware, but then have a dissident group get in on the same party name in Alaska, and running as independents in South Carolina and Vermont. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/13 "2004-06-01T03:38:07Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Heck, [this site](http://www.politics1.com/p2004.htm) seems to have a huge list of minor party pretenders. Here’s a listing of over 200 [American Political Parties](http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/PartyLink.htm), including the Planetary Engineering Party, the Royalist Party of America, the Neo Whig Party, the National Barking Spider Resurgence Party, and the Utopian Anarchist Party of Maryland. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/14 "2004-06-01T04:06:26Z")
> [@](#): > > and the Utopian Anarchist Party of Maryland. Finally! A party I can really believe in! Where do I sign up? ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/15 "2004-06-01T11:34:51Z")
In the UK we’ve got the [Monster Raving Loony Party](http://www.omrlp.com/) ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-job-political-parties-in-us-not-a-political-discussion/247993/16 "2004-06-01T12:53:33Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Neither the Libertarians nor the Greens are nutty. They disagree with the Democrats and Republicans more often than the Dems and Repubs disagree with each other, but that’s hardly surprising. I wasn’t trying to suggest that they were. I was merely listing my own personal experience with presidential ballots so the readers could get a snapshot of what one particular ballot in one particular county at one particular time looked lot.