Politics aside, there have been incredibly stupid political parties. However, which have been the dumbest political parties throughout history? Today we will find out.
Most of these parties are fringe groups today, however, some have seen major support in the past. Some of these parties are centrist, others are liberal and others are conservative.
15. Modern Whig Party
Students of history may remember the Whig Party of old. Despite the Whig Party of old being disbanded in 1856, the Modern Whig Party claims to be the modern adaptation of the old Whig Party.
Just as with the Whigs of old, the Modern Whig Party is a blend of traditional conservatism and liberalism. However, the Modern Whig Party is still one of the dumbest political parties.
This is mainly due to the fact that the Modern Whig Party hasn’t actually evolved from those policies that caused them to disband the first time. Because of this, the Modern Whigs have struggled to gain office in most elections.
14. American Vegetarian Party
Vegetarianism is something that has taken hold in recent years, with many people becoming vegetarians. However, that hardly warrants a political party based on it!
Surprisingly, however, the party was actually founded in 1947. Originally, the party was founded to promote vegetarianism and its benefits. Due to this, especially in the 1940’s, almost no one has voted for them!
Many people, both then and now, view the American Vegetarian Party as one of the dumbest political parties on Earth. As such, when candidates have run for president, they have failed spectacularly.
13. United States Marijuana Party
At Politic-Ed, we do not condone the use of drugs. However, that doesn’t mean that the United States Marijuana Party isn’t one of the dumbest political parties ever!
Unlike other political parties, where making marijuana legal is just one of many political stances, the USMP is solely for the legalization of marijuana. However, the party also has a stance of ending the war on drugs.
The party was first started by Loretta Nall in 2005. She started the party after being arrested for possession of marijuana. However, Nall resigned in 2006 to run for governor of Alabama.
Despite this setback, the USMP still has members in several states. The USMP also maintains alliances with other marijuana parties around the world. Currently, the party has no seats in any electoral body.
12. Miss Great Britain Party
It’s often said that politics is as much about policy as it is about popularity and media attention. Clearly, someone took this a bit too far, when they created the Miss Great Britain Party.
Despite it having been dissolved in 2009, it is one of the funniest and dumbest political parties I have ever heard of! All of the candidates for election were former entries into the Miss Great Britain beauty contest.
Their slogan was “Make Westminster sexy not sleazy”.
As you can probably imagine, the British public were not interested in the party- who provided no real benefit to voters. As such, the party never had a member serve in Parliament or in councils.
11. Libertarian National Socialist Green Party
Ok, this party is one of the weirdest parties, not to mention one of the dumbest political parties. As their party logo might imply, and despite their name having the words “libertarian” and “socialist”, they are fascist in nature.
In fact, they have created their own brand of fascism- ecofascism. If elected, this brand of fascism would see not only a totalitarian dictatorship but also a place where carbon emitters were banned or heavily taxed.
Due to this, they have struggled to gain a following in recent years, and currently hold no offices in any part of the US.
10. Rent is Too Damn High Party
Many liberals and libertarians complain that conservatives have made it so that young people can’t afford to buy their own home. Many of these liberals and libertarians also claim that conservatives have made rent too high as well.
To counter this, many of these same liberals and libertarians founded the “Rent is too damn high” Party. Yes, seriously, that is the name of the party!
Mostly, the party is active in New York state, where the party’s founder and current leader, Jimmy McMillan, lives and works. As the name would imply, the party primarily campaigns on forcing landlords to lower rent.
However, the party also goes beyond just rent and hopes to end poverty and hunger in New York. The party also supports gay marriage and is against those conservatives who are against gays, but pro-gay conservative.
Presumably, if they were to become a national party, they would also aim to do these policies nationwide. As of the time of writing, there are only three party members, none of whom are currently serving in elected office.
9. Objectivist Party
The Objectivist Party is one of the oddest political parties on the planet! The Objectivist Party was founded in February 2008 with the aim of becoming the third major party in the US and a genuine competitor to the Democrats.
The party’s chairman and founder Tom Stevens ran as the party’s nominee for president in both 2008 and 2012. However, it failed spectacularly when the party could not provide a solid answer for what it would do if elected.
As such, after 2012, the party was all but forgotten and did not run in the 2016 election, nor does it plan to in the 2020 election.
8. Surprise Party
The Surprise Party isn’t really a political party… and never really was meant to. The Surprise Party was meant as a publicity stunt by Comedy husband-and-wife duo George Burns and Gracie Allen.
Over their lives, they pulled several publicity stunts as jokes and to get media attention to their comedy show. The most famous was the Surprise Party, who’s ticket Gracie ran on for president with her husband as vice president.
Despite endorsement from Harvard University, the stunt failed and Gracie dropped out of the race. Because of all of this, the Surprise Party is considered to be one of the dumbest political parties on Earth!
7. Pirate Party
Unlike most of the parties on this list, the Pirate Party isn’t just one party. Instead, the Pirate Party is a label given to a group of political parties with the same ideologies and leadership structure in different countries across the world.
As the name would imply, the Pirate Party do not believe in things such as patents or copyrights. As such, if they were to be elected in to office, they would immediately begin to “reform” (get rid of) copyright and patent law.
The Pirate Party also support policies such as net neutrality and anti-corruption. Despite this however, they haven’t been able to gain sufficient votes in order to be elected into any office as of the time of writing.
6. Youth International Party
Do you remember hippies from the 1960’s? If you do, you might have heard of this party. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Youth International Party (or “Yippies”) were the political party that hippies voted for.
Although support for the Yippies has waned in recent years, once, they nominated a pig for president! The Yippies have a left-leaning agenda as they are part of the counterculture movement.
Because of their participation in the counterculture movement and the bad press from “Pigasus”, they have never really gained any credibility an no active member has ever held office for the party.
5. Donald Duck Party
The Donald Duck Party is one of the dumbest political parties on this list, if not the dumbest! In fact, the Donald Duck Party was on the ballot for several years without actually being a party itself…
The party currently has no policies, with the party consisting solely as a joke rather than a serious political party. The Donald Duck Party is the most famous joke party in Sweden, akin to the British Monster Raving Loony Party.
As it exists solely as a joke, and not to actually be elected, the party has no set beliefs or base. During elections, the party runs as a protest vote for those who don’t like the candidates of either of the two major parties.
Because of this, the party has never amassed more than 250 votes in any election ever.
4. Australian Sex Party
Although the Australian Sex Party has been forced by the Australian government to rename itself after a merger, the basics of the Australian Sex Party still remain.
The Australian Sex Party (now called Reason Australia) is a left-leaning party with decidedly left-leaning ideologies. For instance, they want to reform drug, gambling and prostitution laws to be more lax (similar to conservatarian philosophies).
Despite the name change and having policies that the public seems to want, the party has been a complete flop. The main reason is that they are too late- the policies that they want enacted are already mainstays of “mainstream” parties.
3. Prohibition Party
For many Americans, they were taught about the era of prohibition. They were taught about the measures the government put in place and the genius that crime lords employed to get around them.
However, one party wants to bring that back. In fact, it was the very party that enacted prohibition almost 100 years ago that wants to bring it back. Naturally, this party is seen as one of the dumbest political parties on the planet.
The party is both liberal and progressive in nature. Obviously, the Prohibition Party wants to make alcohol illegal as it was in the 1920’s however, the party also supports policies such as equal pay and equal rights.
Due to this, the Prohibition Party hasn’t garnered many votes in recent years. As of the time of writing, the Prohibition Party has no seats and has no one elected in any state legislatures.
2. Rhinoceros Party of Canada
The Rhinoceros Party of Canada is one of the most famous, yet dumbest political parties on earth. The party is known for being Canada’s “mainstream” joke party, similar to the Donald Duck Party in Sweden.
In fact, the current Rhinoceros Party of Canada, is actually the second Rhinoceros Party to exist, with the first being dissolved in 1993. However, in the spirit of the first Rhinoceros Party, a second was established in 2006.
As the party is meant to be a joke, it has no real policies. A vote for the Rhinoceros Party of Canada is a protest vote against the two major Canadian political parties.
1. Monster Raving Loony Party
The Monster Raving Loony Party is one of the most famous political parties in Britain. Despite this, the Monster Raving Loony Party is one of the dumbest political parties on the planet.
For years, the Monster Raving Loony Party has been seen as a protest vote. The entire party is based on being a joke. As a Brit, I can can attest to the Monster Raving Loony Party’s “authenticity”.
During elections, the Monster Raving Loony Party competes with both the Conservative and Labour Party. Unlike the Conservatives and Labour, the Monster Raving Loony Party doesn’t have a “base”.
Instead of having a base of followers as the Conservatives and Labour do, the Monster Raving Loony Party campaigns on being bipartisan and nothing more than a vote against the two major parties.
In all honesty, the Monster Raving Loony Party has no real chance of being elected. Since its inception, they haven’t really been elected to anything more than city councilors, never having been elected to Parliament.
Which of the dumbest political parties are your favorite? Tell me in the comments!