Citizens Party

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The Citizens Party was an environmental leftist party in the United States that existed from 1979 to 1987.

history

The Citizens Party was founded on May 5, 1979 in Washington, DC , as a rallying party of liberal and left-wing environmental activists . The foundation was initiated by the eco-socialist and biology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Barry Commoner .

In terms of content, the party stood for state control of multinational companies , the nationalization of private oil companies , disarmament , limited price controls, the nuclear phase-out , higher social spending and increased economic democracy .

In the 1980 presidential election , Barry Commoner ran as the party's candidate. The vice-presidential candidate was LaDonna Harris , a Comanche activist and wife of former Senator Fred R. Harris . A becoming known political advertisement on the radio began Commoners words "Bullshit! Carter , Reagan and Anderson , it's all bullshit! ” NBC refused to air the spot because of the expletive language, but Commoner reached out to the Federal Communications Commission for it to go unedited. The election campaign focused on the states of Pennsylvania , New York , Illinois , California and Michigan . The party was supported, among others, by Ralph Nader , who was to become the Green Party's presidential candidate in 2000 . Commoner received just 233,052 votes (0.27%) in the presidential election. After all, this meant well ahead of Gus Hall ( Communist Party , 44,933 votes) fifth out of 21 candidates.

In the 1984 presidential election , Sonia Johnson was the joint candidate of the Citizens Party, the Consumer Party in Pennsylvania and the Peace and Freedom Party from California. Johnson had become famous when the Mormon Church excommunicated her in 1979 for supporting the Equal Rights Amendment . Her runner-up candidate was Richard Walton , who was later active in the Green Party. Johnson received 72,161 votes (0.08%), finishing in fifth place. At the local level, however, the party was able to prevail in Burlington, Vermont and some other communities.

The party's unsuccessfulness is mainly attributed to the political system of the United States , which almost excludes the formation of a “third party” at least at the national level through majority voting. In 1987 the Citizens Party was dissolved. However, their legacy continued in the Green Party .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Bruce E. Stuart: Citizens Parta , in: Encyclopedia of American political parties and elections , edited by Larry Sabato and Howard R. Ernst, Infobase Publishing, 2006, p. 69.
  2. ^ A b Paul Siegel: Communication Law in America , 2007, pp. 507-508.
  3. ↑ Legal Mines , Der Spiegel, September 29, 1980.
  4. ↑ a b Result of the presidential election
  5. ^ Result of the presidential election
  6. ↑ Manfred Brocker: Protest, Adaptation, Establishing Christian Rights in the Political System of the USA , Campus Verlag, 2004, p. 307, note 9.