AHC: U.S. gov't goes hardcore against Church of Scientology regarding "Operation Snow White."

. . . Or as far as more niche parties on the extreme right.
the U.S. Libertarian Party not extreme right, but are hidebound and doctrinaire about “free enterprise” system, including the aspects which don’t seem to be working well!

Anyway, U.S. LP pretty successful overall at getting ideas into mainstream of discourse and even policy, but then again, things a good chunk of people tend to believe in anyway. So, hard to know how much credit to give to tiny little party.

The Reform Party (starting with Ross Perot in ‘92) seems to have faded.

Other U.S. third parties are pipsqueak parties.
 
the U.S. Libertarian Party not extreme right, but are hidebound and doctrinaire about “free enterprise” system, including the aspects which don’t seem to be working well!

Anyway, U.S. LP pretty successful overall at getting ideas into mainstream of discourse and even policy, but then again, things a good chunk of people tend to believe in anyway. So, hard to know how much credit to give to tiny little party.

The Reform Party (starting with Ross Perot in ‘92) seems to have faded.

Other U.S. third parties are pipsqueak parties.

I'm old enough to remember the Wallace/Lemay third party run. They gathered a fair bit of leaderships & money for that election. Then it fell apart for the usual reasons. If the Republicans are not supporting the evangelicals enough, then similar organizing talent might be gathered & push through to better than 5% of the vote in a presidential election & get a few local candidates elected.
 
I'm old enough to remember the Wallace/Lemay third party run. . .
Wallace’s run in ‘68 worries me.

Because I usually take the view, such as the upsurge in anti-immigrant feeling in 2016, that it’s scapegoating due to a declining middle class. That with the erosion of manufacturing jobs, not enough different somethings have taken the place of the large number of good-paying jobs which have been lost.

But we can’t say this for 1968 because the U.S. middle class society was still very healthy.
 
...
But we can’t say this for 1968 because the U.S. middle class society was still very healthy.

Perception is everything. Wallaces effort was supported by people who felt threatened, or felt they had lost something. The white supremacists, middle class or working class, of the latter 1960s felt they had lost a great deal. Even tho their situation had improved economically in the previous three decades. There are some analogs between them and the white middle class voters who are voting for the Red Hats these days. Also separately there were and are now upper class members who see advantages in supporting/manipulating these radical right movements.
 
... & as Eric Hoffer described; the demagogue plays on this perception, manipulating his audience into thinking their situation has declined, from some past era of prosperity or power. "Make (insert buzzword for target group) Great Again!!!" Often it does not take much manipulation, so fast forward to the vision of restoration & support for the hero on the white horse, or TV sound bite, who will defeat the ursupers and lead the way up the hill.
 
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