Statesman, P.O. Box 2635, Denver, Colorado 80201)rnThe Libertarian Party’s national platform is the most intellectuallyrnrigorous of any third party’s, but in actual practice thisrnparty becomes unpredictable. It favors eliminating taxes, endingrncentral banking, stopping foreign aid and interventionism,rnbut also opening borders completely (thereby one-upping JulianrnSimon) and repealing state-level restrictions on pornography.rnThe national party has trumpeted NAFTA and fallenrnsilent on foreign policy, and so increasingly the real action hasrnshifted to the state level. Recall that New York radio porno-jockrnHoward Stern was briefly a Libertarian gubernatorial candidate.rn{Libertarian Party News, 1528 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washmgton,rnD.C. 20003)rnThe Grassroots Party has an appealing name, until you figurernout that it is a pun. Its single issue is the repeal of lawsrnagainst marijuana, plus a more robust enforcement of the Billrnof Rights. It makes large and seemingly exaggerated claims forrnthe glories of hemp, its potential use in clothing, timber, etc.rnIt takes no position on economic issues or on foreign policy, butrnin Iowa this party merged with the Libertarians. (The Canvass,rnP.O. Box SOU, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108)rnThe Natural Law Party, founded in 1992, is to politics whatrnUnitarianism is to religion, a way to be involved without sectarianrnstruggles. Rather than agitate for this or that particularrnpolicy, the Natural Law Party favors various stress-reducingrnmeditationist strategies (“TM-Sidhi”) for achieving worldrnpeace and ending domestic violence. Its actual program favorsrn”limited government,” “universal education,” decentralist solutionsrnto public problems, and an end to American subsidiesrnfor European militaries. “America should not be the world’srnpoliceman,” the platform says, although the United Statesrnshould take a “parental” role in fostering world prosperity. Arnmove is under consideration to merge the Libertarians and thernNational Law Party before 1996. {Solutions, 51 West WashingtonrnSt., Fairfield, Iowa 52556)rnThe Green Party operates in 72 countries, but the UnitedrnStates only got its version in 1984, and it did not become nationallyrnactive here until 1989. It favors environmentalist policiesrnand nonviolent solutions to social problems, decentralism,rn”grassroots democracy,” noninterventionism in foreign affairs,rnmulticulturalism in social affairs, a “post-patriarchal” social order,rnand more social responsibility. It opposes foreign aid generallyrnbut would like to strengthen the role of the United Nations.rnIt is very active in seven states in opposition to bothrnparties and fought NAFTA tooth-and-nail. Asked why it tookrnso long for the United States to have a Green Party, a spokesmanrnpointed to the peculiar “winner-take-all” electoral systemrnof this country. {Green Horizon, RFD 2, Box 3292, Bowdoinham,rnMaine 04008)rnThe New Party is mainstream progressive, and it recentlyrnjoined with the Wisconsin Labor-Farm Party. It is an attemptrnto create a nondogmatic leftist party, opposed to full-blownrnsocialism but favoring a single-payer medical system. Inrnpractice, its politics are close to the black caucus of the DemocraticrnParty. It tends not to run candidates but to endorserncandidates who are already running. Generally, it avoidsrnforeign policy. {Progress Report, 111 West 40th St., #1303,rnNew York, New York 10018)rnThe Socialist Party was founded in 1901 and claims, probablyrnrightly, to have had an enormous influence on Americanrnpublic affairs from that time to the present. Today, they say,rn”Socialism is not mere government ownership, a welfare state.rnor a repressive bureaucracy,” but rather “a new social and economicrnorder in which workers and consumers control production,rnand community residents control their neighborhoods,rnhomes, and schools.” Hmm. Although it is not clear why thernUnited States needs yet another social-democratic party besidesrnthe Republicans and Democrats, the Socialists do appear to bernmore independently minded on foreign policy. {Socialist, 516rnWest 25th St., #404, New York, New York lOOOI)rn^ Y H “I” ^ 0 P°”*’65 are arnM J^ tax-gouging cartel.rnX ^ ^ ^ ^ How nice if theyrnwould disappear, to be replaced byrnhonestly named parties, including thernAmerica First Party, the SouthernrnLeague, the Western IndependencernParty, and the Property Rights Party.rnThen we could see how many peoplernwould vote for the Foreign Aid Partyrnor the GATT Party.rnI admit to feeling silly when I asked the woman on thernphone what the Gommunist Party stands for, and she seemedrnto get suspicious when I did. This is the party of Gus Hall, whornhas sounded much like a Democratic candidate in years past:rnfavoring more national concern for workers and for the poor,rnsupporting socialized medicine, and the like. Today, thernparty is roughly Gorbachevian in domestic affairs and relativelyrnisolationist on foreign policy, which puts it to the right of thernfollowing Trotskyite groups. {People’s Weekly World, 239 Westrn23rd St., New York, New York 10011)rnThe Socialist Workers Party {The Militant, 406 West St.,rnNew York, New York 10014) is the quintessential AmericanrnTrotskyite party, with splits in every decade for 50 years. It competesrnwith offshoots, including the Workers League {The Bulletin,rnP.O. Box 5174, Southfield, Michigan 48086) and thernWorkers Wodd Party {Workers World, 55 West 17th St., NewrnYork, New York lOOll). Without getting into the internecinernstruggles—they do not acknowledge each other’s existence—rnthere is little hope among these groups of uniting in the commonrnstruggle on behalf of exploited workers and peasants.rnIn addition to all these national parties, which are necessarilyrnlimited due to national election rules, there are also hundredsrnof parties at the state level. Only a baker’s dozen havernfielded candidates in the last two years, however. With the revivalrnof states’ rights/Tenth Amendment concerns in everyrnstate in the country, these are probably due for a growth spurt.rnThe Alaska Independence Party (745 East 4th Ave., #500,rnAnchorage, Alaska 99501), once solidly secessionist, is thernNOVEMBER 1994/23rnrnrn