Natural Law Party

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Main article: Transcendental Meditation

The TM organization founded the Natural Law Party in 1992 in support of candidates for public office dedicated to promoting both TM and Maharishi's far-reaching political goals at all levels of society. The Natural Law Party was a trans-national political party with national branches in over 80 countries. The party was the political arm of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation movement.

The party based its platform on the Transcendental Meditation view that natural law is the supreme organizing principle that governs the universe. All the problems of humanity are caused by people acting against the natural law. The Natural Law Party claimed that it could realign humanity with this organizing priniciple through the practice of Transcendental Meditation, and all problems would disappear.

There was some controversy regarding the party's legitimacy, with some claiming that the real purpose of the "party" is to take advantage of Electoral laws in democracies where parties are entitled at election times to free delivery of leaflets, and party political broadcasts on TV and radio. This has long been a problem dating back to the 1960s when small businessmen would stand in elections simply to take advantage of the cheap advertising it afforded—and in more recent years in the UK the so-called "Value Party" candidates run in Scotland by the now defunct What Every Woman Wants clothes store chain. This has resulted in various changes to electoral rules in order to stop the abuse. Despite the controversy over its legitimacy, the Natural Law Party claimed a worldwide following.

In April of 2004, the Natural Law Parties of the United States and of the United Kingdom formally disbanded.

1 The UK Natural Law Party
2 U.S. Natural Law Party
3 Related articles
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] The UK Natural Law Party

The first Natural Law Party was launched in the UK, with Dr Geoffrey Clements as Party Leader. The party fielded candidates in approximately 300 out of a total of some 600 constituencies. A significant number of constituencies were contested by nationals of countries outside the UK, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India, as British electoral law allows any member of a Commonwealth country to stand for Parliament. Former Beatle George Harrison performed in a fund-raising concert during the campaign.

The UK manifesto, like all other NLP platforms in the subsequent decade, was founded on two assertions: (1) that the development of consciousness, in particular through the practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program including Yogic Flying, can enhance individual capability to resolve societal problems, and (2) that the practice of these techniques by a critical mass of the population, or else their group practice, in particular the group practice of Yogic Flying, results in overall improvements in society, including reduced crime, accidents and hospital admissions and improvements in prosperity, security and quality of life. The party quoted peer-reviewed published scientific research for many of its assertions.

In the first UK campaign, as in most subsequent campaigns in other countries, Natural Law candidates gained an average of approximately 0.4% of votes. In Australia, some candidates gained as much as 10% of the vote in some electorates. Owing to the compulsory preferential voting system in that country, this figure has the capacity to cause a marginal seat to change hands, and could precipitate a change in government. In the preferential system, votes allocated to an unsuccessful candidate are transferred to the next preferred candidate, until they are eventually lodged with either the final winner or the runner-up. A party's recommendation or allocation of preferences can thus create a swing sufficient to unseat a marginal incumbent. As a result, major parties at times assiduously court minor parties for their preferences (mainly during election times). It is not clear whether Natural Law Party candidates at any time precipitated a spill in a marginal electorate in Australia. However, following the formation of the NLP, a large number of small parties were launched, transforming the country from a largely two-party electoral system (Labor and Coalition with Democrats and Greens as minor parties) to a slightly more diverse political mix.

In the UK and most other countries in which the Natural Law Party was active, the party was discontinued after about 2001.

[edit] U.S. Natural Law Party

Main article: United States Natural Law Party

The U.S. Natural Law Party, led by Dr. John Hagelin, ran as a third party that was largely center-left in ideology. It took liberal positions on abortion and gay rights, promised that it had scientific solutions to combat social ills such as poverty, crime, racism, bigotry and came off as being politically moderate to conservative on economic issues.

The NLP ran Dr. John Hagelin, a physics professor at Maharishi University of Management, for president of the United States in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 elections, when he received fewer than 84,000 votes -- or less than one tenth of one percent of the total number of votes[1].

According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the NLP spent nearly $2.3 million on its presidential campaign in the 1999-2000 election cycle [2]. The Natural Law Party did not run a candidate for president in the 2004 U.S. election and it is no longer a registered party in the United Kingdom.

In 2000 Hagelin made a bid to create an independent coalition between the Natural Law and Reform political parties, that failed when Patrick Buchanan took control of the Reform Party.

The Natural Law Party made some efforts between 2000–2004 to try to create an independent coalition of voters interested in election law reform. In 2002 the party endorsed Independence Party of Minnesota candidate for Minnesota Governor, Tim Penny. In 2004 the Natural Law Party endorsed Democratic Party presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich for President. Not long afterwards the Natural Law Party headquarters announced that it was shutting down and many state chapters followed suit. Hagelin went on to start the US Peace Government.

It is not clear why the Natural Law Party dissolved. It was seen as one of the more organized third political parties in America, along with the Constitution Party, Green Party and the Libertarian Party. In 1996, it ran more than 400 candidates in 48 states and was attracting support from Democrats, Republicans and independents.

The Idaho Natural Law Party remained active, and was prepared to have three candidates on the ballot for state and federal office in 2006 by entering into a coalition with the new United Party, and thus remained the only Natural Law Party still active in the United States of America. However, on June 16th the Idaho Natural Law Party changed its name to the United Party, effectively ending the Natural Law Party's presence on American ballots.