On the Fringe
Tired of the Democrats and Republicans?
Educate yourself ahout other political ontions.
By Kathleen Beman
You hear a lot of rhetoric, particularly
from the Independent Party, about how
America needs a third party for variety and
to re-focus on our nation’s core values. I’m
a big supporter of that "more variety, less
predictability" thing. But who is really able
to articulate what our nation’s "core val
ues" should or shouldn’t be in the year
2000?
"Fringe" candidates challenge the sta
tus quo, think outside the box, and run to
see if maybe, just maybe, the majority of
Americans are ready for their ideology.
This year’s alternative candidates push the
Fringe candidates think outside the box
and run to see if the majority of
Americans are ready for their ideology.
envelope further than traditional parties.
Here’s a rundown of the other candidates
you could be looking at.
Independent Party
The Independents are running little
J known Howard Phillips (aipca.org/
Candidates/candidates.html), a hardcore
l adherent to the Constitution whose main
priorities as President would include
returning certain lands to corporations
and the U.S. government, and "a signifi
cant reduction in Federal intervention in
the economy."
Green Party
Ralph Nader (votenader.com) is
arguably the most famous Green candidate
, (greenparty.org). An aggressive propo
nent of more variety in the American polit
ical system and staunch defender of Green
values such as grassroots political discus
sion, Nader’s campaign platform focuses
on "looming problems" caused by "con
centrated corporate power." These include
ecological decline, urban poverty and the
increased power of commercialism.
Libertarian Party
The Libertarian Party, one of the more
fringe of the fringe, was founded in late
1971. Harry Browne (harrybrowne
2000.org) is running because "No one
but a Libertarian will reduce your taxes
dramatically, allow you to live your life as a
free American, and restrict the federal gov
ernment." He also, though, wants to "end
the nightmare of drug Prohibition," which
seems like an, um, interesting angle.
Peace and Freedom Party
If you’re a crunchy Californian, you
might chose to vote for a candidate from
the Peace and Freedom (peaceand
freedom.org) Party, California’s answer to
socialism.
Reform Party
The Reform Party (reformparty.org)
spun off from the Republican Party in
1992 under the direction of Ross Perot.
The party is running Pat Buchanan (gopat
go.com) in 2000. If the Republicans
aren’t conservative enough for you, this is
your party.
For cause-focused activists,
watchdog group Common Cause
(commoncause.org) includes
financial information on their site.
Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)
looks out for candidates with good
voting records on human rights. The
National Organization for Women
(now.org) touts itself as a nonpartisan
organization devoted to analysis of voting
related to women.
If you’re interested in articles and analy
sis about the election in general, voter.com
Not your father's candidates (clockwise from top
left): Nader (fight corporate power): Buchanan
(can't get farther right); Howard Phillips
(“significant reduction in Federal intervention in the
economy"): and Harry Browne (“end the nightmare
of drug Prohibition").
and Election Search 2000 (election
search2000.org) are easy to search. Portal
news tracker services like Yahoo! and Excite
offer more mainstream campaign news. •
To learn more about third-party candi
dates, go to steamtunnels.net and search
using keyword “Third.”
Beyond the fringe
Alan Garuba (New Jersey)
Caruba (pictured at right), head of the “Boring Institute,” is run
ning a humorous campaign for President. He promises that his
campaign will be “far less boring than” the other campaigns.
Caruba said he is prepared to “campaign vigorously so long as it
doesn’t involve leaving home too much.” He wants to be
President for the perks and the “chance to drive the members of
Congress nuts.”
boringinstitute.com/recentevents/campaign2000.htm
Bruce Muckian (Washington)
Muckian’s campaign is entirely facetious and—he concedes—his
chances of winning are “somewhere between astronomical and
totally outrageous!” He’s really running for the fun of it and, he
claims, to raise money for a family trip to Ireland on the Concorde. With his cousin Mike
as a running mate, he has several clever campaign slogans including: “At least they’re not
the Clintons,” “You’ve Done Worse” and “Vote for Muck —The Others Suck!”
members.aol.com/bmuckian/
Jack Grimes [Delaware!
Grimes bills himself as the "Leader and Director of the United Fascist Union." His defini
tion of "Fascist"? To restore a New World Order based upon the governmental style of
Imperial Rome. And it gets weirder: his platform addresses "the dilemmas now facing
America: Democracy, Christianity, UFOs, government cover-ups and others." Crimes pre
dicts that "the United States will be reduced to a small triangular-shaped land mass
through the loss of its coastal states." geocities.com/Area51/Chamber/7344