Natural Law Party Dissolved: Permanent Meditation
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James Joyner | Monday, June 28, 2004 |
Ron Gunzburger reports,
The Natural Law Party — the political party founded in 1992 by followers of purported cult leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi — has been dissolved. Party co-founder and nuclear physicist John Hagelin was the NLP Presidential nominee in 1992, 1996 and 2000 — peaking in support in 1996 with ballot status in an impressive 44 states (110,000 votes – 0.1%). The NLP also regularly ran a large number of candidates for Congress and other down-ballot offices. The NLP made failed attempts in 2000 to grab control of the Green Party, and later the Reform Party. Last year, the NLP officially endorsed Dennis Kucinich for President and seemingly held out the possibility of giving him their 2004 nomination. In an odd twist, a notice posted on the NLP website within the past week states that the NLP leadership voted two months ago to shut down the NLP as a national party. The notice also says that individual state NLP affiliates are each free to continue operating and fielding candidates on their own. It appears that at least a few state NLP groups are still functioning in 2004 — but not many. The NLP seems to have entirely abandoned using electoral politics to advance their New Age agenda and, instead, are now advocating something they call the US Peace Government. They’ve closed the NLP National Headquarters and have subsequently opened Peace Palaces for their make-believe government — with Hagelin as the new “US Peace President” and the Maharishi as the “Founder of the Global Country of World Peace.” I guess the US just wasn’t ready for a President who believed in “yogic flying.”
Dennis Kucinich would have been a perfect fit, especially since I can guarantee he won’t be John Kerry’s running mate.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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