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Citizens Party | |
|---|---|
| Founded | November 2, 1979 (1979-11-02) |
| Dissolved | ~1990 |
| Preceded by | People's Party |
| Succeeded by | New Party (United States) Progressive Dane Progressive State Parties (WA,OR,MN,VT) |
| Ideology | Environmentalism[1] Progressivism Green politics[2] Social justice[1] Left-libertarianism[3][4] |
| Political position | Left-wing[1] |
| Colors | Green |
TheCitizens Party was apolitical party in theUnited States. It was founded inWashington, D.C., byBarry Commoner, who aimed to gather under one banner a nationwide political organization ofprogressive,environmentalist andliberal groups, many of which were unsatisfied withPresidentJimmy Carter'sadministration, for the first time since the dissolution of the nationalProgressive Party in the 1960s. The Citizens Party registered with theFederal Election Commission at the end of 1979. Commoner, aprofessor ofenvironmental science atWashington University in St. Louis, was the head of the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems inSt. Louis,Missouri and editor ofScience Illustrated magazine.
The Citizens Party platform was very progressive, pro-science, and environmentalist. Some[who?] have claimed that it was possiblysocialist as well, but this claim arose from a misunderstanding of theeconomic democracy platform of the party, which appears to be a form ofcorporatism.[citation needed] Commoner repeatedly espoused opposition to socialism for parts of the economy other than essential infrastructure. His economic democracy idea stated that the business of business is to do business, but that the business of government is to regulate business to prevent abuses.[citation needed]
In all, the party was founded around four essential platforms, including economic democracy.
The first Citizens Party National Convention met inCleveland,Ohio, in the Cleveland Plaza Hotel from April 10 to 13, 1980. There were 260 delegates from 30 states present. The "proposals presented at the convention reportedly numbered some 300 items, a list largely irreducible to a manageable platform ... Units of the party organization on the state level thus became more or less responsible for delineating their own briefer versions of the list of goals" (Kruschke, p. 46). The party nominated Barry Commoner andLaDonna Harris (then, at that time, the wife ofDemocraticsenatorFred Harris ofOklahoma) for president andvice president respectively. La Donna Harris was "a leadingfeminist and aComanche Indian [who] labeled herself as 'a woman of color.'"
In order to increase public awareness of its existence, the Citizens Party ran a commercial on 600 radio stations which used profanity (the advertisement began with an actor exclaiming: "Bullshit! ... Carter,Reagan andAnderson, it's all bullshit!"). Several of the radio stations tried to remove the profanity, but theFederal Communications Commission forbade them to do so.[5]
As the party's presidential candidate in 1980, Commoner achieved ballot status in 29 states (22 and DC under the Citizens Party label, six as an Independent, and inPennsylvania with theConsumer Party), although his major activity was centered in the large states ofCalifornia,Illinois,Michigan,New York, and Pennsylvania.
In addition to the national ticket in thepresidential election, twenty-two other Citizens candidates appeared on the ballot in various states, including three for the U.S. Senate and eleven for theU.S. House. Commoner received 221,083 votes. Although Commoner did not garner more than one percent in any state, the party received enough support to be the firstminor party to qualify for federal matching funds (about $157,000) for the1984 elections.
In 1981, the Citizens Party won an election for the first time whenTerry Bouricius was elected to the board of Aldermen inBurlington,Vermont. In 1982, the Citizens Party fielded two candidates for governorships (Pennsylvania andTexas), three candidates for the Senate (Pennsylvania, Texas, and Vermont), and 15 candidates for the U.S. House.
In 1984, the Citizens Party held its second national convention atHamline University inSt. Paul,Minnesota, from August 10 to 12, 1984. There were 125 delegates from 30 states present. The convention nominatedSonia Johnson ofVirginia, “a radical feminist,” for president andRichard Walton ofRhode Island for vice president. Johnson had been excommunicated from theLDS Church in 1979 as a result of her outspoken support of theEqual Rights Amendment.[6] In 1982 Johnson undertook a publicized 37-day fast which was meant to encourage the Illinois legislature to ratify the ERA.[7]
Two other minor parties endorsed the Citizens ticket in 1984. TheSocialist Party USA National Convention inNew York City from September 3 to 5, 1983 voted to try to run a joint ticket with the Citizens Party, and thePeace and Freedom Party in California endorsed Johnson for president (although it ran Emma Wong Mar for vice president).
Despite the two additional endorsements, the Citizens Party suffered serious setbacks during 1984. It ran fewer candidates for office: one for the Senate (Illinois), one for Governor (Vermont), and two for the U.S. House. Johnson appeared on the ballot in thirteen states as the Citizens candidate, two as an Independent, one (Arkansas) as the Citizens Group nominee, and one (Pennsylvania) as the Consumer nominee. The Citizens Party vote fell by two thirds, to 72,153, although Johnson significantly improved upon Commoner's totals in Pennsylvania andLouisiana.
In the1986 election, the Citizens Party once again offered four candidates: two for governor (Pennsylvania and Rhode Island), one for the Senate (Pennsylvania), and one for the U.S. House (Minnesota). The Pennsylvania candidates used the Consumer Party label.
After the disappointing number of votes cast in favor of the Citizens Party nominees, it dissolved. The 1987 Socialist Party National Convention nominated its own ticket ofWilla Kenoyer (a former co-chair of the Citizens Party) andRon Ehrenreich forthe 1988 presidential election, while theConsumer Party in Pennsylvania resumed its separate existence, picking up the remaining pieces of the Citizens Party.
| Year | Presidential candidate | Vice presidential candidate | Popular votes | % | Electoral votes | Result | Ballot access | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Barry Commoner | LaDonna Harris | 234,294 | 0.27% | 0 | Lost | 26 / 51 | Wretha Hanson was the candidate for vice-president inOhio | [8] |
| 1984 | Sonia Johnson | Richard Walton | 72,161 | 0.08% | 0 | Lost | 19 / 51 | also endorsed by theSocialist Party USA (SPUSA) | [9][10][11] |
Their platform covered a diverse group of left-wing issues including environmentalism and social justice
However, the party remained alive (16,000 members in 1982), scoring some local electoral victories. New members moved it leftward and began to identify themselves as the US version ofDie Grünen (German Greens). Feminists prevailed in the intra-party struggle with other factions.
