5 Strangest Political Parties

When Tom Stevens started the Objectivist Party on Feb. 2, 2008, he didn't pick the date at random. On that day in 1905, the Russian-American novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand was born. Best known for "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead," Rand's literary imprint has also bled into the political realm since much of her work focuses on themes of defending self-interest and freedom from government intervention [source: Rand]. The Objectivist Party skews toward the conservative end of the spectrum and bases its guiding principles on Rand's zealous support of laissez-faire capitalism and the function of government as a protector rather than a provider [source: Objectivist Party]. Rand, however, would likely loathe being associated with conservative politics, preferring to summarize her philosophy as "radical objectivism," hence the party name [source: Ayn Rand Lexicon].

In 2008 and 2012, Objectivist Party founder Tom Stevens was selected to represent the Rand acolytes as their presidential candidate.

Not to be confused with the Tea Party movement now in Congress or the 18th-century protest against British taxes, the Boston Tea Party was a political offshoot of the Libertarian Party that emerged in 2006 and features the snappy tagline: "Time to party like it's 1773!" [source: The Boston Tea Party]. Taking the Libertarian ideals of limited government a few steps further, the Boston Tea Party rallied for legalized marijuana, withdrawal from worldwide military outposts and ending legalized government surveillance [source: Byrnes]. During its May 2012 convention, the party broadened its stance against government tinkering with all domestic affairs whatsoever, calling for an end to what it termed the "war on poverty" and "war on civil liberties." Such extensive changes would probably be enacted through the Boston Tea Party's intent to dissolve a majority of the federal budget, as well as the federal government's property and assets.

Also in 2012, the political outlier ran into some internal troubles within its own ranks, initially nominating a presidential candidate, then later revoking the vote. In fact, that may have been the group's death knell, considering that it publicly disbanded soon afterward on July 22, 2012 [source: The Boston Tea Party].

The Pirate Party isn't interested in actual looting or pillaging, although some might assume that those are members' virtual intentions. The United States Pirate Party is affiliated with the Pirate Parties International, which bands together Pirate Party operations in more than 20 nations around the world [source: Pirate Parties International]. Although agendas may shift on a country-by-country basis, the major crux of the Pirate Party mission is defending online privacy, which includes allowing people to freely share files across the Internet and preventing online censorship. As of 2012, the United States Pirate Party exists in only seven states, but its designated captains and first mates that head up statewide organizations are working to broaden the pro-Internet freedom agenda.

To grow its numbers, American Pirate affiliates might be wise to look at how the party has penetrated traditional government structures in Germany. In 2012, the Web-savvy German cohorts won four parliamentary seats and wooed enough followers, reportedly weary of old-school politics, to potentially make it the nation's third-largest party [source: Kettmann].

It turns out that the mid-1940s were the salad days of sorts for vegetarianism due to meat shortages brought on by World War II [source: Iacobbo and Iacobbo]. As a result, Symon Gould, editor of American Vegetarian magazine and leader of New York's Vegetarian Society, decided to capitalize on the moment and transform the dietary and lifestyle choice into a political cause. In 1947, Gould and a group of naturopathic doctors, who relied on nutrition and fasting rather than medicine to treat ailments, organized the American Vegetarian Party. The group selected as their presidential candidate 84-year-old vegetarian restaurateur John Maxwell, who told TIME magazine he had "tasted no meat for 45 years" [source: TIME].

Maxwell didn't just run on an anti-meat platform, however. The American Vegetarian Party also eschewed alcohol, tobacco and medicine [source: Pearson]. Although the veggie-loving group didn't stick around long enough to make a dent in politics, the American Vegetarian Party did achieve its initial goal of spreading the word about living the meat-free life.

Perhaps the strangest thing about the 1940 Surprise Party was its almost instant success. Long before comedian Stephen Colbert would launch his faux run for president, comic Gracie Allen announced her intention to become America's first female president on her radio show "The Burns and Allen Show," which she co-hosted with George Burns. The bit was merely a gimmick to drum up press for the comedy duo, but listeners took her announcement seriously and were overwhelmingly supportive of Allen's Surprise Party ticket. In response, Allen embarked on a railroad tour from Los Angeles to Omaha, delivering stump speeches to impressive crowds along the way [source: NPR]. Even after she bowed out of the race, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt easily won his third term, Allen still received thousands of write-in votes.