The lesser-known presidential candidates' views

[travel23@juno.com (The Traveler)]

[Article carried by the A.P.] 

      Campaigning mostly in obscurity, these lesser-known men and one
woman, have managed to get their names on most if not all 50 state
ballots.
      Here they are:
      Harry Browne, Libertarian Party: A best-selling investment writer,
he's on the ballot in all 50 states. He says the Libertarians ``believe
in individual liberty, personal responsibility and freedom from
government.'' The party seeks to end income tax and ``to reduce
government to the absolute minimum possible.'' Browne, 63, opposes
Internet censorship and supports a repeal of the assault weapons ban.
The Libertarians have been around for about a quarter of a century.
Their platform includes proposals to deregulate the health-care
industry, privatize Medicare and Medicaid and legalize drugs.
      Ralph Nader, Green Party: Primary concerns are environmental, but
Nader has long fought against large corporations in the role of consumer
advocate. Nader's name is on 21 state ballots. The party hopes to
increase that number to 30 and to encourage write-in campaigns in the
remaining states. Nader, 62, plans to use his candidacy as the catalyst
for starting an ``aggressive political force for the future.'' He says
the two major parties have become so similar in their views that voters
are left with little choice.  When Nader was nominated to head the Green
Party ticket, he said, ``It's time this country has a political
alternative -- a progressive mainstream that defends consumers and
workers against corporate welfare.''
      John Hagelin, Natural Law Party: On the ballot in 47 states --
and still trying in New Hampshire, Georgia and Oklahoma -- the Natural
Law Party hopes to ``bring the light of science into politics.'' Its
platform includes prevention-oriented health care, renewable energy and
sustainable agriculture without pesticides.  The party also wants a
cost-effective government with a safety net that promotes well-being,
including a 10 percent flat tax by 2002.  Hagelin, 42, is a
Harvard-educated physics professor and one of the party's founders. In
1992 he garnered less than 40,000 votes. The Natural Law Party advocates
transcendental meditation, contending it can lower the crime rate by
setting up meditation groups in prisons, and can serve as a foreign
policy tool by supporting groups who practice it in other countries.
      Howard Phillips, U.S. Taxpayers Party: Hopes to restore American
jurisprudence to its ``heritage of biblical liberty,'' abolish the
Internal Revenue Service and eliminate federal income taxes, capital
gains taxes and inheritance taxes. Phillips' party also supports ending
legalized abortion and reducing ``the reach, the grasp and take of the
federal government.'' The party platform says that while the United
States should be a friend to liberty everywhere, it should only invest
and fight to guarantee it for the United States. Phillips, 55, supports
dismantling the Education, Housing and Urban Development departments and
end government support of the arts. He is on the ballot in about 40
states.
      Monica Moorehead, Workers World Party: Calls for tripling the
minimum wage, making polluters pay for a clean environment, furthering
affirmative action and ensuring equal rights for women, lesbians, gays
and bisexuals. The party supports big cuts in military spending.
Moorehead's party, which is on the ballot in 12 states, believes the
election is dominated by the rich and considers the Workers World Party
campaign an opportunity to bring working-class politics to a broad
audience. It is opposed to capitalism, advocating socialism instead.
Moorehead, 44, has been a leader in the party since 1979.
      James Harris, Socialist Workers Party: Stands for ``the struggles
of the oppressed and exploited against the increasingly brutal assault
by the wealthy minority the world over,'' according to the party
platform. The Socialist Workers Party supports the right of Cuba to
defend its sovereignty. Harris, 48, a former meatpacker in Atlanta, is
on about 10 ballots. Harris criticizes the government's response to
black church burnings, airline safety and labor unions. The Socialist
Workers Party accuses the major presidential candidates of continuing
``their war preparations in response to the increasing world disorder,
using threats or military force from Cuba to Liberia, from China to
Korea, and by backing the Israeli regime's brutal assault on Lebanon.''