10 Of The Strangest Political Parties In The U.S.

The US has two main political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. However, throughout history a series of third parties existed that have been linked to weird happenings, crazy stories and wacky platforms. They’ve all been active only for brief periods of time and never really officially made it, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting. We’ve gathered the ten of the strangest third parties in the US politics in our list below. We’re sure you don’t know about many of them and some of them will blow your mind.

American Vegetarian Party

The American Vegetarian Party (AVP) was originally established in 1947. The party’s primary focus was forcing an ending of meat consumption alongside alcohol and tobacco consumption. Of course, it died out very soon.

Anti-Nebraska Party

In 1854, the US government decided to create new territories called Kansas and Nebraska and forced slavery into those states. The Anti-Nebraska activists formed a party that acted on a national level. The only thing they were trying to achieve? Get Nebraska to stop being an actual state as long as slavery is included in the deal.

Utah Liberal Party

When Mormon settlers founded Utah in the mid-1800’s, the system they established was based on church authority. In the 1860’s, the church was losing their influence and loads of new parties were formed, including the Liberal Party. Their platforms were absolutely anti-Mormon, focusing on the economic and political angle.

Home Rule Party

The Home Rule Party of Hawaii was formed with the goal of representing Hawaiian concerns more effectively on a national scale. It wasn’t really effective either because its representatives couldn’t speak English and lacked the knowledge and political skills.

Christian Freedom Party

The Christian Freedom Party was founded by Thomas Harens who wasn’t happy with the traditional political parties in 2004. He felt that Christians weren’t properly represented on a national level so he formed a party that was supposed to support godly policies in politics. The party started and ended in the 2004 elections when Bush won.

Youth International Party

The Youth International Party or more commonly known as Yippys was a far-left organization of young political demonstrators that soon turned into a third party. Their primary goals were enforcing looser restrictions on drugs, strict antiwar policies, and sexual liberation.

Proletarian Party Of America

The Proletarian Party of America was a second coming of the Communist Party USA. The main point of the party was educating people about communism and its benefits in order to be able to enforce communism when they have masses on their side. It, of course, never happened.

New Party

New Party was a mildly successful political party in 1990’s. Its main goal was to try and reform the whole electoral process. They wanted to form it a way it would give more chances to third parties. It never worked as they never got enough public support or endorsement.

Anti-Masonic Party

Most people have heard of the Freemasons but do not that much about them. However, in the 1820’s most American people thought that the Freemasons were a secret conspiracy society whose goal was to bring down the US government. Therefore the Anti-Masonic Party was formed and not soon after their candidates were running and actually winning local elections.

Raza Unida Party

The Raza Unida Party was formed in Texas in the 1970s and was run through a number of spontaneous grassroots political organizations. The politicians who ran the party requested autonomy and nationalism for the Mexican Americans. There were absolutely no obstacles for anyone to join. They strived towards more radical and idealistic solutions during their later years.