Martin Sonneborn leads “The Party,” a German political group that likes to poke fun at the country’s elected leaders. The Party is small; in the 2004 election it gathered only 0.4 percent of the vote, not enough to pass the threshold for recognition as a legitimate political party. As a result, Caroline Winter of Associated Press reports from Berlin (August 13, 2009) that The Party will not be on the ballot for September 2009’s election.
Ms. Winter says The Party’s main platform promise was to rebuild the Berlin Wall. However, there are still plenty of other political parties dedicated to putting some fun into elections.
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
David Sutch, self-styled as Screaming Lord Sutch, founded the Sod ‘Em All Party in 1963 and gathered 208 votes in his first election outing. This eventually morphed into the Official Monster Raving Loony Party (OMRLP) whose motto is “Vote for Insanity – You Know it Makes Sense.”
The OMRLP has become a fixture in British elections with policies that include:
- Adding the Loch Ness Monster to the endangered species list;
- Awarding a knighthood to Ozzy Osborne; and,
- Banning the use of asterisks.
In June 2009, a Loony candidate, Lord Toby Jug, ran for a council seat in the town of St. Ives, Cambridgeshire.
The Cambridge News reported (June 7, 2009) that, “Despite failing to win the seat, Lord Toby Jug, Cambridgeshire’s first Official Monster Raving Loony Party Candidate, was celebrating his best ever result in decades of political campaigning by winning 566 votes – well ahead of Labour’s two candidates who finished last.”
Certainly, a bit of an embarrassment for the party that currently holds power in Parliament.
Canada Richly Served by Whacky Political Parties
Canadians had the Rhinoceros Party to liven up elections from the 1960s to the 1990s.
The party claimed that the rhinoceros was an appropriate symbol for a political party because like politicians they are “thick-skinned, slow-moving, dim-witted, can move fast as hell when in danger, and have large, hairy horns growing out of the middle of their faces.”
The Rhinos ran 121 candidates in 1980 and polled 110,000 votes. And, as reported by CBC News (August 8, 2007), “Some measure of individual success also come in 1980 when professional clown/comedienne Sonia Côté came second in Quebec’s Laurier riding, beating both the New Democrat and Progressive Conservative candidates.”
Some platform highlights from the Rhinos include:
- Genetically altering mosquitoes so they hatch in January and die from the cold;
- Repealing the law of gravity; and,
- Storing the country’s nuclear waste on the floor of the Senate, because “we’ve been storing political waste there for years.”
Canada has been well served by joke parties and among the ones that have come and gone are: The Absolutely Absurd Party; The Canadian Extreme Wrestling Party; The Party Party; and The Prince Edward Island Draft Beer Party.
Americans Enjoy a Political Laugh
In 2003, Robert Anton Wilson founded the Guns and Dope Party. His idea was to create a coalition between right-wing gun owners and left-wing drug users that would, he said, form an unstoppable majority. Among other things, the Guns and Dope Party wants to replace one third of the seats in Congress with ostriches.
Much earlier, in 1940, the Surprise Party got its first and only shot a political power. Gracie Allen, the wife of George Burns, ran for president under slogan “down with common sense.” She had a whistle-stop tour, a kangaroo named Laura as her mascot (it was a leap year), and gave policy speeches filled with jokes.
Other radio personalities such as Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor, had run for president, but Gracie Allen’s campaign actually gained some traction. The good people Monominee, Michigan (population 10,000) elected Gracie as their mayor.
Of course, she didn’t win the presidency and neither did comedian Pat Paulsen who campaigned for America's highest office in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, 1992, and 1996 and said “If elected, I will win.”
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