Reform Party is a political party in the United States that promises to reform national politics. Ross Perot, a wealthy Texas businessman, founded the Reform Party in 1995. It quickly became the most successful third party since Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive or “Bull Moose” Party of 1912. But in 2000, arguments over the choice of a presidential candidate divided and weakened the party.
The Reform Party’s platform calls for balancing the federal budget, repaying the national debt, and simplifying the nation’s tax code. The platform urges stricter laws to regulate campaign financing and limit gifts to officeholders to ensure that “elected officials must have as their first loyalty the entire citizenry they represent, not just the people who funded their campaign.” The party also supports strict limits on the practices of lobbyists, people who attempt to influence the decisions of government officials.
The Reform Party also urges elimination of the United States trade deficit. It calls for trade policies that would protect home industries from outside competition, and it opposes free-trade agreements.
In August 2000, at the Reform Party convention in Long Beach, California, the party split into opposing factions because delegates could not agree on a presidential nominee. The larger faction named Patrick J. Buchanan as its candidate. Buchanan is a columnist, broadcaster, and former presidential adviser known for his conservative views. The other faction chose John S. Hagelin, a physicist who was the presidential nominee of the Natural Law Party. Hagelin was also the Natural Law Party’s candidate in 1992 and 1996. In the 2000 election, Buchanan and Hagelin each received less than one percent of the popular vote.
