Sep.21

electoral-vote.com

Dem 52

Ties 4

GOP 44

Party Crashers

Today's post is not too upbeat, since we spent the whole thing hammering on Donald Trump's misdeeds. This being the case, we thought we'd end with a little dessert, and a reminder that folks in other nations also sometimes feel like their political system is beyond hope. We wrote several items about the Count Binface Party in the U.K.; here are 10 other "We're Not Gonna Take It... Anymore" political parties from around the world:

1. Fancy Dress Party (U.K.): They had a foolproof plan to reduce unemployment: printing the monthly unemployment report in a smaller font. They also wanted to reform schools by giving students access to beer in their classes and adding spelling to the national kricklum. Oh, and they suggested equipping all police stations with state-of-the-art bathrooms so that, no matter what the crime, the police would always have something to go on.
   
   
2. Two-Tailed Dog Party (Hungary): They promise a one-day workweek, two sunsets per day, free beer, eternal life and world peace. Party leaders observe that these promises are just about as likely to be fulfilled as those made by actual politicians. The Party's slogan is "More everything, less nothing!"
   
   
3. The Rhinoceros Party (Canada): Like the U.K., Canada has a long history of satirical political parties. The Rhinoceroses promised to repeal the law of gravity, to annex the United States (prescient?), to store all nuclear waste on the floor of Parliament (where the country "has been storing political waste for years") and, most importantly, to keep none of its promises.
   
   
4. The McGillicuddy Serious Party (New Zealand): The members of this party did not much care for the processes by which officeholders are nominated and elected, so they came up with creative alternatives. At various times, the Party chose its nominees via a water balloon fight, sword fights with rolled-up newspapers, and a giant game of musical chairs. Their slogan: "If you want to waste your vote, vote for us."
   
   
5. Die PARTEI (Germany): PARTEI is an acronym; the German that makes up the acronym translates to "The Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative." It is a satire of German extremist parties, most obviously the Nazis and AfD, and its platform includes changing the part of the German constitution that says "Human dignity is inviolable" so that TV executives can be excluded, waging a war of aggression against Liechtenstein to unify the German people and rebuilding the Berlin Wall. It does have some real political positions, including protecting the environment, and has actually managed to get two candidates elected to the European Parliament.
   
   
6. The Union of Conscientiously Work-Shy Elements (Denmark): Founded by comedian Jacob Haugaard, the party's platform includes better Christmas presents, better weather, the right to impotency and more bread for ducks in parks. To his surprise, Haugaard actually got elected to the Danish Parliament. The only promise he was able to deliver on was the bread for ducks.
   
   
7. Best Party (Iceland): This party was formed as a reaction to the economic crisis of 2008-11, and was dedicated to improving the lives of "less fortunate" Icelanders. It had some serious policy ideas, like total equality of the sexes, and taking the people responsible for the economic collapse to court. And it had some less serious policy ideas, like a polar bear for the Reykjavik Zoo and the construction of Iceland Disneyland.
   
   
8. Cockroach Janta Party (India): This was founded earlier this year, after conservative Chief Justice of India Surya Kant referred to many activists and young people in India as "cockroaches" and "parasites of society." The Party has yet to register with the Indian Electoral Commission, but it has built a wide following on social media, and uses that to organize protests and community service activities. Though Cockroach Janta describes itself as "a political front of the youth, by the youth, for the youth: secular, socialist, democratic, and lazy," it does have some real political positions, such as reserving 50% of the seats in Parliament for women and banning any person who switches parties while in office from serving for 20 years.
   
   
9. Deadly Serious Party (Australia): The members of this party, which was around for part of the 1980s, promised to freeze everyone's age, and to train an army of killer penguins to protect Australia's coast from an Argentinian invasion.
   
   
10. Independent Royalist Party of Estonia (Estonia): This might be the most successful party on this list, having elected eight members to the Estonian Parliament. Their main plank was that Estonia should be converted into a monarchy, along the lines of Sweden or Norway. That means, of course, that Estonia does not have an existing royal family, so the Independent Royalists proposed to import one. Specifically, they said that Prince Edward of the United Kingdom should be crowned, since he's reasonably popular, and since there is little chance he'll be needed to take over the British throne.

We hope you enjoyed your dessert. (Z)