Originally posted May 8, 2007 on my myspace blog.
by Lo
The basics about some third parties. I went directly to their sites for this info. Here’s a one minute quiz to take:World’s Smallest Political Quiz. Here’s a longer one: What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In?
Parties are listed below in alpha order. I’ve concluded with a list of third parties and their websites for you to read more about them if interested.
The two party system isn’t even two separate parties, imo, anymore. The Democratic Party isn’t what it used to stand for, and neither is the Republican Party for that matter. In past elections I’ve said, “The Dems and Reps are so close that they are sleeping together.” Both are owned by the corporations that run the world. Just ask Ralph Nader.
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The Green Party of the United States
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Are you a Libertarian?
Source
Libertarian National Committee
We know that can be a tough question as you may have heard many different definitions of the word “libertarian” or maybe you met a few people who identify themselves as such.
Let’s see what Webster’s has to say about it:
Pronunciation: “li-b&r-‘ter-E-&n
Function: noun
1: an advocate of the doctrine of free will
2 a: a person who upholds the principles of absolute and unrestricted liberty especially of thought and action bcapitalized: a member of a political party advocating libertarian principlesWhile many may quibble with the definition, we think it’s close enough.
Simply put, if you believe that you are responsible for yourself and your family, and not the government, then you belong with us.
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A Populist America
In a Populist America, you will be free. Free to do whatever you want with your self and your property, as long as by doing so you don’t infringe on another person’s freedom to do the same.
In a Populist America, the federal government will obey all ten articles of the Bill of Rights. Not just the ones that the politicians like.
Your person and property will be safe from arbitrary searches and seizures.
Your privacy will be complete so that you’re not exposed to politicians and bureaucrats who think that the greater good of the country gives them the right to spy on your bank account, read your letters or emails, or monitor your life in any way.
You will never be prosecuted for what you think, for what you own, for what you eat, for what you smoke, for what you drink, or for what you put in your body in any way. People will only be prosecuted for the harm they do to others.
You will never be thrown in jail and denied the bill of rights for any reason.
In a Populist America, any federal employee who violates the bill of rights will be subject to censure, dismissal or even prosecution.
In a Populist America, the government will mind its own business. It will make no enemies abroad, and it will rely on a strong defense for peace; rather than trying to rule the world with a strong offense.
The government will not tell other countries what to do. It will not financially support or arm dictators, as such support only helps them suppress people in their own country.
You won’t have to fear that your children will have to fight and die in some other country’s war, or that terrorists will target your city.
In a Populist America, federal regulation will no longer run up the price of everything you buy, keep your wages low, or prevent you from having access to life-saving medicines.
In a Populist America, social issues will be decided by you, your family and your neighbors – in your community only. You’ll always have the ability to vote with your feet, and move to areas not affected by laws you don’t agree with.
We cannot have freedom, peace, and prosperity when the Federal government is telling every American school what to do; when the Federal government is forcing mandates and laws down the throats of state and local governments; and when the Federal government directly taxes every American only to use that money for the expansion of power.
In a Populist America, you will keep every dollar you earn. You’ll be able to spend it, save it, or give it away as you think best; not as the politicians decide. A government limited by the 9th and 10th Amendments will be small enough to get by on today’s tariffs and excise taxes.
IX. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
X. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
In a Populist America, you will be free to say NO! You’ll be able to say no to the politicians who claim that they know better than you how to run your life.
In a Populist America, your government will be local, and therefore, it will be much more responsive than anything we’ve ever experienced in this country.
If all government were local, a locality would not be able to enforce excessive restrictions. People would have the ability to move to another area that gave them what they wanted, or the threat of people moving would prevent the politicians from enacting such measures in the first place.
As power is increasingly handed over to people at the local level, the negative effects of an overbearing federal government progressively reduce as well. When laws are made close to home, we not only understand their costs and benefits more thoroughly, we can also work to affect them more easily.
We come to you not as an advocate of government solutions to problems, but as an advocate of getting rid of government programs in order to solve problems.
Following this line of thought, there are three basic principles in the development of a Populist America:
1. Government power is far too great and must be reduced dramatically. Power must be shifted to the People on a local level.
2. It is morally wrong to try to solve social problems by force. Forcing people to your way of thinking will never solve problems in the long run.
3. Most of today’s social problems were created or worsened by government involvement in the first place. Solving those problems, then, can be done by reducing government power, not by giving it more.Put simply, we want you to be free. Free to live your life as you think best, not as any politician thinks is best for you.
Through decentralized, local government, this can be a reality.
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Socialist Party
What We Stand For
Many people subscribe to the self-defeating philosophy that “socialism” means whatever anyone or any group calling itself socialist declares it means. We maintain that it describes just one very specific goal, that there are certain constant elements of the class struggle which continually generate the potential for a majority interested in the immediate replacement of production for profit with production for use, and that these elements can be codified as a set of principles. These principles we advocate as the basis of organizing for socialism.
In our view, creating a worldwide system of production for the satisfaction of human needs, individual and social, rather than for private profit, requires a majority that is socialist in attitude and commitment. Events since the beginning of the World Socialist Movement (going back as far as 1904) have demonstrated the validity of this judgment. Socialists are committed to one overriding goal: direct, immediate abolition of capitalism, and the establishment of a truly democratic, socialist form of society — through the ballot. Accordingly, membership in any of the companion parties of socialism requires a general understanding of and agreement with the basic principles of scientific socialism. But of course, thinking is no crime, and there is always room for differences of opinion in a socialist party. In contrast to principles, relatively few in number, there are a multiplicity of matters upon which socialists may have all kinds of conflicting views.
The following statements deal with the areas of most general confusion to people who seek to get a better understanding of what socialism means. If you agree with these statements, you are a socialist and belong with us.
1) To establish socialism, the working class throughout the world must gain control of the powers of government through their political organizations.
2) The present, capitalist, society, even with “repair” and reform, cannot function in the interests of the working class, who make up the majority of the population in most of the world today.
3) The World Socialist Party does not support, directly or indirectly, any political party other than our companion parties in the World Socialist Movement.
4) The form of society once in effect in the Soviet Union, and still more or less in effect in China and Cuba now, was not and is not socialism or communism.
5) Trade unionism is the institution by which wage and salary workers attempt by various means to sell their working abilities, their mental and physical energies, at the best possible price and to improve their working conditions.
6) The World Socialist Party rejects the theory of leadership.
7) The socialist point of view rests solidly on the materialist conception of history, a way of looking at things that focuses on how human communities meet their actual survival needs by producing what they need to live (their economic systems, in other words). Out of this process the human brain weaves its ideas, which eventually exert their own influence on the cycle, causing it to become more and more complex as society evolves.
This approach, known as historical materialism, is a scientific method for helping us understand how and why capitalism does what it does.
8) Socialists hold that materialist explanations of human society and the rest of nature supersede supernatural ones.
More info:
The Need For Socialism
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Read more about it:
Major Third Parties
Communist Party USA – www.cpusa.org
Constitution Party – www.constitutionparty.com
Green Party – www.gp.org
Labor Party – www.thelaborparty.org
Libertarian Party – www.lp.org
Natural Law Party – www.natural-law.org
Reform Party – www.reformparty.org
Socialist Party USA – www.sp-usa.org
Workers World Party – www.workers.org
Working Families Party – www.workingfamiliesparty.org
See
Pick Your Candidate – Take the Survey (video no longer available)
Should You Be President? Take the Survey
Neoliberalism: The economic model: origins, theory, definition (2005)
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I forgot that I posted the Political Compass on my old blog a couple of years ago. Just reposted it on this blog: Political Compass by Lo (survey)
Hi Right Democrat, thanks for the link to additional info. I took what the Populist party said about itself directly from their website.
I would define populism somewhat differently more of a mix of economic progressivism and social traditonalism.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/17/in-search-of-ideologues-in-america
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I took issac’s test too:
Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -7.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.90
On the short quiz I am way way Liberal.
On the long quiz I am:
Democrat 100%
Green 92%
Anarchism 92%
Socialist 75%
Communism 33%
Republican 0%
Fascism 0%
Nazi 0%
I call myself a progressive, although I could easily be labeled as a populist or socialist. Liberal is too broad a term, the Founding Fathers all had independent viewpoints to varying degrees but they ALL were liberals. USA was the first country in thousands of years to be established that said the people themselves are the rulers. It was at the time a radically liberal idealism. Now what our political philosophies have evolved to now is another issue…but the way the Republicans slander the concept and even the word Liberal itself is both shocking and comical.
Isaac, thanks for the link to the other quiz.
I agree with you and the first one is made by a Libertarian group if I remember correctly, so it’s going to have that bias.
Both those quizes are too narrow. but the short one is way to narrow. it focuses on a few issues that the libertarians definatly win on, and not enough on general policy. a better quiz is Political Compass it focuses on a broad range of policy issues, and the site even has a cool map showing where many figures throughout history lie on the map.
Thanks, Ken for the link to the poll.
The manufacturing guys over at Evolving Excellence are running a poll on which candidate would be best for manufacturing, and undeclared Bloomberg is right on top. The rest follows a more predictable pattern, at least from a management perspective. Which is also apparent in the “manufacturing issues poll” in the same post.
http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2007/11/best-presidenti.html
Ken
David, you are right, the Libertarian section is smaller than the others. I just took what the parties had on their respective sites. It wasn’t intentional. There are source links to each party for further info.
Glitzqueen, have you taken any of the surveys on the issues to see what candidate fits for you?
Hi, Lo! This is cool. First test showed me to be definitively a Liberal and I’ll agree with that most happily. The second one — and I believe this attributable to the extremity of the questions posed — made me out to be even more liberal than I am.
The definition here given of Populism suprised me. The term hasn’t been in general use for so long (since even before “my time”) that I doubt many people have a clue what they might be saying when they use it. Personally, I think of it (and apply it) just as a catch-all for anti-corporatism. So perhaps it no longer REALLY HAS these libertarian overtones associated with it historically.
Interesting post, though I think you slighted Libertarians with just that simple definition while the others you elaborated on more thoroughly.
I definitely think I lean towards Populism. It always puzzles me why this movement never gains ground…maybe because the movement itself is grassroots and decentralized–too many small successes and not enough BIG successes–no cohesion for massive change across the board.