Saturday, September 13, 2008

And now ...

... meet your other Presidential Candidates for this year's election. For so long, America has been known as a bi-partisan "democracy." We've always had Democrats and Republicans. Well, somewhere along the lines, folks started getting fed up with the foolishness that is this bi-party system and we now have Independents, Socialists, Constitutionalists, Libertarians, Prohibitionists and a partridge in a pear tree. OK, so I did throw in that last one, but you've gotta admit, that's a lot of political parties. I always wondered what the basis of them all are, and lucky for you, I've done the research for you. First up, you got the Independent American Party. Beliefs and Principles According to Wikipedia *ahem* they believe that freedom is founded upon faith in God and the existence of moral law and that our rights come from God, not government and the function of government is to protect those rights. They also believe that the Constitution of the United States is inspired by God. It is a compact between the peoples of the states of that union which the officers of government have a duty to obey. Everybody oughta be familiar with Ralph Nader. He's only been a candidate in the last five or six elections. He's never really had enough folks voting for him to make him viable, but he did have enough votes in 2000 that could have possibly swayed gotten former vice president Al Gore elected or President Bush elected fairly. The remaining candidates are Kelcey Wilson, Frank Moore, Alan Keyes, and Jackson Kirk Grimes. The only one I know of is Alan Keyes and that is because that is the black guy the GOP got to run against Sen. Barack Obama for the Illinois Senate seat in 2004. I'm surprised he's making a run at the White House since he's never even made it to Capitol Hill, but hey, to each his own, right? Next up is one Cynthia McKinney. If her name sounds familiar, it should. She's the state representative who punched a Capitol Hill police officer after he tried to stop her from entering the Longworth House Office Building without passing through the security check point. According to reports, she was not wearing her lapel pin that identifies her as a member of Congress. He went to retrieve her and she punched him. Anyway, the Green Party is apparently a fan of her right hook and extended her the invitation to be their nominee for President of the United States. Here's what I found on the party's Web site about their beliefs. "In the United States, the Green Party has been active as a third party since the 1980s. The party first gained widespread public attention during Ralph Nader's presidential runs in 1996 and 2000. Currently, the primary national Green Party organization in the U.S. is the Green Party of the United States, which has eclipsed the earlier Greens/Green Party USA. There are Green Parties in many nations, with total membership being about a million people. Greens emphasize environmentalism, non-hierarchical participatory democracy, social justice, respect for diversity, peace and nonviolence." Onto the Socialists, their candidate is Brian Moore. I have never heard of this guy. The Web site states that the party: "strives to establish a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control -- a non-racist, classless, feminist socialist society where working people own and control the means of production and distribution through democratically-controlled public agencies; where full employment is realized for everyone who wants to work; where workers have the right to form unions freely, and to strike and engage in other forms of job actions; and where the production of society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of a few." I couldn't find a pic of him that was worth using so you'll have to click the link to get a look at him. Next up are the Constitutional and Liberatarian parties. All I know about the parties and candidates is what I got from Google and their sites. I lumped them together because both parties have managed to get candidates who look like pedophiles. The Constitutionalists have Chuck Baldwin. According to Wikipedia: "the Constitution Party is a paleoconservative United States political party. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers Party in 1992. The party's official name was changed to the Constitution Party in 1999; however, some state affiliate parties are known under different names. The Constitution Party advocates a Bible-based platform which it claims to reflect original intent of the U.S. Constitution and the principles of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.[3] The party seeks "to restore American jurisprudence to its original Biblical common-law foundations."[4]" The Libertarians have this guy, Bob Barr. Wikipedia says, "The Libertarian Party is an American political party founded on December 11, 1971. It is one of the largest continuing Third parties in the United States, claiming more than 200,000 registered voters and more than 600 people in public office,[2] including mayors, county executives, county-council members, school-board members and other local officials. It has more people in office than all other third parties combined.[3] The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects that group's particular brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, and non-interventionism in foreign policy that respects freedom of trade and travel to all foreign countries." All of that is fine and good, but they still look like pedophiles. New American Independent Party Frank McEnulty The New American Independent Party is a political party in the United States, founded by Michael Thompson in Wayne, Pennsylvania on election day in 2004. The New American Independent Party claims to seek a more sustainable, self-reliant America through a platform of both liberal and conservative views. The New American Independent Party focuses heavily on middle class issues and government reform. Party for Socialism & Liberation Gloria La Riva/Eugene Puryear The Party for Socialism and Liberation is a Marxist party in the United States founded to promote revolutionary change.[2] It was originally created as the result of a split within the ranks of the Workers World Party. The San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington, D.C. branches of WWP left almost in their entirety to form the PSL. The PSL has since established branches in several additional urban centers across the United States. Prohibition Party Gene Admondson/Leroy Pletten The Prohibition Party is a political party in the United States. The party advocates effective action concerning the use of beverages containing alcohol including dealing with the starter/gateway drug, tobacco Socialist Workers Party RĂ³ger Calero/Alyson Kennedy The Socialist Workers Party, or SWP, is a communist political party in the United States. The SWP claims that most of its members are industrial workers and trade union members. One of the SWP's main priorities is supporting Pathfinder Press, which publishes titles by past and present SWP leaders (James P. Cannon, Farrell Dobbs, Evelyn Reed and Jack Barnes) as well as by revolutionaries from Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky to Malcolm X and Che Guevara. Now, with all that said, who do you guys think will actually be on the ballot come November? The more important question is do you even care?

1 comment:

Sheletha said...

This was interesting, very very interesting.